“I surmised as much.” She chuckled. “I am happy to hear it, though.” She put her hands on his cheeks. “Say it to me often.”
He kissed her neck, his hands running down her back. The cacophony outside blurred as he prepared to lose himself in her entirely.
She held him off, pushing back enough to look at him. “Michel,” she said. “I do want to tell you something, though.”
“I don’t care what it is,” he said, wondering how quickly he could get out of his pants. “As long as you are mine.”
But he didn’t get to hear what it was she wanted to say.
The nagging noises from outside suddenly hit a peak as the door to their small apartment crashed open. Michel and Eve shot up in the bed as uniformed men poured into their space. Michel, up in a flash, leapt in front of her, ready to take each of them apart. He cataloged his space. His sword was within reach, but he would need luck to get it. He didn’t know who they were or what they wanted. He wouldn’t let them take Eve, that much he did know.
“Back up,” Michel shouted. “You may not enter,” he blustered.
The men—six, eight, twelve of them pouring into their space—ignored him and advanced before splitting into two lines. An older man, decorated in the same symbol as the rest but clearly the one in charge, cut their ranks, entering the room.
“Enebish,” said the man, bowing to her and looking right through Michel.
“Sain baina uu, Khuyag,” Eve greeted him in Mongolian. Michel felt her hand on his back in a warning as she came out from behind Michel to bow her head to the man.
As she did, she gave Michel a look that told him to stay down. He trusted her direction, but remained tense, understanding nothing more than that Eve did not feel threatened by this ambush.
“We have searched the sky and sea for you, my lady,” the man said to her, continuing in Mongolian.
“You have found me safe and unharmed,” she affirmed. Michel heard her voice free of emotion, though he could see the tension in her body.
He then gave a menacing look to Michel, which Michel responded to with his own protective posture. “Has this man given you trouble?” Khuyag asked.
“No, Khuyag. He is a warrior. Call off your dogs.” She indicated to the soldiers in the room. Then she flipped into that Mongolian dialect Michel did not understand. Their voices stayed neutral at first, but then they seemed to argue. Her voice rose as she indicated toward Michel this time. Michel couldn’t keep up. He knew she’d become upset. He could tell she was arguing on his behalf, but for what, he didn’t know.
Finally, Eve clicked her tongue. Then she turned back to Michel.
Her eyes were full of sadness and regret, but otherwise she remained stoic. “Michel,” she directed in French, he assumed to keep the others from understanding. “These men are going to take you prisoner, and we’ll be returning to my home. Do not fight them, they are my kin.” She took a breath, her posture straight, her voice holding none of the warmth he’d grown used to. “My father wants you, but you’re going to have to trust me that I won’t let anything harm you.” Then, before he could respond, she turned and exited the room, the leader Khuyag following her.
“Eve!” he called. He didn’t understand. “Eve!” he yelled again, but he lost track of her in the confusion, the soldiers swallowing him up.
As one man went to bind his arms, Michel came out of his shock. “Who are you?” he demanded, resisting this capture. “Where’s Eve?” His eyes swung around, looking for her. “Is she safe?”
No one responded or acknowledged his words. He tried to pull away, but he didn’t fight. Eve had told him not to.
“Do you know who I am?” Michel ranted at them, his frustration having nowhere to go.
The two guards who secured his hands ignored him while the older man reappeared among them. He cocked his head to look at Michel, and Michel saw the same mottled eyes as Eve. He raised his eyebrows. “Do you know who she is?”
Michel lost all fight. His body slumped and his heart sank. Because seeing this, he realized that, no, he did not.
Eve was once again surrounded by the markings of her family and she felt she was protected, completely safe now. No one would harm her. No one would even say a bad word in her direction.
But she was devastated to leave the life she had just decided to have with Michel.
She took the steps down to the courtyard, which had been filled with men from her homeland. They parted so Eve could pass. She went through the stonework arch, which led into the marketplace. Instinctively, she had grabbed her shawl, and now she started to pull it over her head. But she stopped, seeing her family’s markings around, letting the shawl drop around her shoulders.
Khuyag joined, standing by her side.
“When will we depart?” she asked.
“Immediately,” Khuyag said. “My lady,Gonji.” He paused to touch her arm, tenderness in his voice. “Are you sure you are well?”
“Of course, Khuyag,” she said. She knew he must have questions about her situation, about Michel, but it would be improper to ask. Instead, she turned to him. “How did you find us?” She corrected herself. “Me,” she said. “How did you find me?”
