Tariq straightened and took hold of the guard’s shoulder as he caught his breath.
Aisha looked around at the clusters of people, confused and scared, and spotted the small boy from earlier, tucked safely beneath someone’s arm. Their eyes met briefly before he was ushered away.
Thank the gods.
Dust swirled in the air, clinging to their skin and settling into the folds of their clothes.
‘We need the names of everyone who’s missing,’ Tariq said. ‘And clear a space for the injured—away from the dust.’
Kaidon nodded, then dashed off again.
Aisha couldn’t hold the question in any longer. ‘How long have you known?’
Tariq shifted his weight to one foot as he dragged his gaze to hers. ‘I didn’t know for sure?—’
‘How long?’
He looked almost ashamed. ‘A while.’
‘Is that…?’ She struggled to ask the question because she was afraid of the answer. ‘Is that why you chose me?’
Tariq’s throat bobbed in place of an answer.
She felt sick suddenly. Sick and foolish. ‘I see.’
He had deceived her. Lied. He didn’t just want a better trading partnership or a strong queen at his side. He wanted a covenweaver.
Chapter 15
The silence on the journey home was intense. Dust still clung to their clothes, a visual reminder of what had happened. They had spent hours helping with the aftermath of the collapse, taking stock of the wounded and searching for the dead.
Seven men and a fourteen-year-old boy had died.
Tariq had to keep reminding himself that it would have been hundreds if it weren’t for Aisha. She had saved those lives, after he had sent them back in there to die.
He snuck a glance at Aisha, who was riding beside him. She hadn’t looked at him once. Her back was straight as a flagpole, her gaze fixed on the road ahead. The breeze sent loose strands of hair across her face, which she didn’t appear to notice.
While they had been fortunate to have the warning, that warning had come at a price. Tariq had been forced to expose his motives for choosing her much sooner than anticipated. He had always planned to tell her eventually, but not at the beginning when they were still learning to trust each other.
He had truly botched that.
Tariq was aware of Kaidon’s stare pressing into his back, no doubt wondering how he planned to claw his way out of the mess he had made. He rolled his shoulders, trying to rid himself of the sensation, but it did nothing to relieve him of the weight of Aisha’s silence.
They followed the sun on its journey west until Tariq noticed Aisha sinking in the saddle, fatigued. ‘Let’s stop for a bit,’ he told the guards ahead of him.
She sat up. ‘Why?’
‘Because you need to rest.’
They pulled off to the side of the road. Tariq dismounted and went to help Aisha down, but she quickly slid off by herself. He stopped and looked at Kaidon, who shrugged.
Aisha took her waterskin and wandered away from the group without saying a word, plonking herself atop a rock at the edge of the tree line. He thought about telling her to come back but suspected she wouldn’t listen in her current mood.
‘Give her time,’ Kaidon said, patting Tariq on the back as he walked by him.
Tariq ran a hand down his face, then returned to his horse for his flask. As he was drinking, he saw Aisha brushing dust from her clothes. He wanted to speak to her and fix things between them, but she clearly wasn’t ready to hear from him.
As he watched her, the small hairs on the back of his neck rose. He lowered the flask, listening and watching. His stomach dropped when he saw the brush behind Aisha shift.
