“What is it, Ela?” he asked, his voice gentler now.
She plucked at her abaya with uncharacteristic unsureness. The smile had slipped away now, vanished into doubt and uncertainty.
“Has something happened?” he pressed.
“My vizier asked me to tell him where I am. He says that he needs to know for security reasons.” She looked at him with those beautiful feline eyes which curved up in a way which never failed to turn him on. Even when she’d infuriated him, he’d had to fight an equally strong arousal.
He frowned. “Did you tell him?”
“No. But I wanted to. I’ve grown up with the man. He knows everything about me. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to reassure him. He says he’s terribly worried about me.”
“Don’t tell him.”
“But I have to tell someone, some time. I can’t stay here forever.”
“Don’t tell him,” he repeated. “Until we find the person who sent you that letter it’s not safe to tell anyone.”
“Okay,” she said, in a surprisingly meek tone. It hurt him to see her diminished and living in fear. He almost wished to see her imperious attitude return. Almost. She looked down at the towel he held. “Are you going somewhere?” Her tone was as wistful as her expression. He hadn’t seen her eyes quite so vulnerable before. Shakira’s advice repeated in his brain.
“Yes.” He paused but couldn’t bring himself to walk away from her. “Would you care to join me?”
Her face lit up and his heart sank. “That would be lovely. I can’t bear the thought of being cooped up here a moment longer. Where are you going? To the mountains?”
He frowned. “Why would I go to the mountains?”
The light in her face faded a little. She shrugged. “It’s where I always head when I want time out.”
“Why?” He was quite perplexed at the thought.
“Because it’s quiet and beautiful and it’s my place. But… you’re not going there.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m going to the beach. I swim every morning.” It was her turn to look perplexed.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because,” he said firmly, “it’s quiet and beautiful and it’s my place.”
There was a pause before they both burst out laughing at the same time. It was Ela who spoke first.
“You and I are opposites, aren’t we?”
“In some way, most definitely. But you’re still welcome to join me if you can put up with the beach.”
“I’d like that. And then, maybe, when it’s safe, we can go to the mountains.”
It would have been churlish of him to refuse, and the look in her eyes definitely didn’t make him want to.
“Of course. AndI’dlike that.” He didn’t know why he added that. The words emerged out of some deep impulse. “Come on then.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Absolutely. It’s private. No staff, no public, only the royal family and their most honored guests have access to these rooms, and the path to the beach.”
“Right.” She nodded and gave him a half-hearted smile. Her unsureness rattled him. “Right,” she repeated, trying to sound more confident. It didn’t work.
He opened the door. “This way.”
She halted in the impressive vaulted hall, as he knew she would. They were surrounded on all sides by decorative tiles and columns and gilded portraits of previous royalty, which she wouldn’t have seen in the darkness of the previous night. They exchanged glances. “This is beautiful,” she said, arching her neck to look up to where the morning light streamed through the clerestory windows. “And cool.”