was, standing outside the well house, arms crossed, as she approached. He wore his customary tunic and boots, his scimitar hanging at his side, his hand resting on the hilt of his dagger. The breeze ruffled his hair, but as Tahira neared, there was no welcoming smile, and as she drew her camel to a halt, his expression was blank, his eyes hard, the utter lack of emotion more intimidating than any show of anger.
‘You shouldn’t be here. Not tonight of all nights. Are you mad?’
It took all her courage to command her camel to its knees and to dismount, her knees trembling, her fingers too, as she fumbled over the simple task of tethering the beast, conscious all the time of Christopher watching her, unmoving. ‘I had to try to explain,’ Tahira said, turning to face him.
‘That you have been lying to me from the first moment we met? Poor little rich princess, forced to loll about in the lap of luxury, with her jewels and her silks and her sweetmeats, pretending that all she wants is to get her manicured hands dirty digging up the past.’
‘I have never pretended, Christopher, I...’
‘And my amulet. Did you know from the start that it belonged here in Nessarah? The diamonds which I went to such lengths to compare, were you laughing up your sleeve at me, knowing full well that they matched the crown jewels? Then there’s the turquoise from the mine which your brother owns. You had it on your wrist today and yet you let me risk life and limb to obtain a sample. Are you still wearing it?’
He grabbed her arm, and there was the bracelet she had in her haste forgotten to remove. ‘My brother had it made for me, from the first of the ore. I wore it for the first time today and only to remind me of you.’
‘To remind you of the man who had bared his soul to you, on the day you became betrothed to another,’ Christopher snapped, releasing her with a sneer of distaste. ‘As my amulet would forever remind me of you, if I still had it. “A connection,” you claimed. How disappointed you must have been when I decided not to return it to your family. An apt double symbol of the trust you betrayed. I am doubly glad I buried it.’
‘Don’t say that,’ Tahira said, covering her face.
‘It is the truth.’ He yanked her hands away, forcing her to meet his cold, judgemental gaze. ‘I bared my very soul to you, trusted you with the sordid truth of my origins, and all the while you were concealing yours.’
‘I had to, Christopher...’
‘It is ironic, isn’t it, that the first person I place my trust in after these nine months living in Hades proved to be yet another person who was not who I thought she was. If I had not stumbled upon that amulet and the document with it, I’d still be quite oblivious of who I am. If I had not stumbled across you today, at the camel race, I’d have been forever oblivious of who you are. A painful parallel I’d rather not have been forced to draw, your Royal Highness.’
‘Don’t call me that.’
‘Why not, it’s your name.’
‘My name is Tahira.’
‘Princess Tahira. You duped me, just as the Fordyces did, and Lord Armstrong too. And I had never thought of myself as gullible either.’
‘Stop it!’ His voice dripped with sarcasm that ripped at her flesh. ‘I didn’t dupe you, I didn’t betray your trust, and I didn’t lie to you.’
‘That very first night...’
Tahira stamped her foot in frustration. ‘I didn’t tell you the truth the first night because if I had, I’d never have seen you again. And then, having started the subterfuge, the next night I had even more to lose. And the next night, and the next—the more I knew you, the more you knew me—with you, I could be myself, Christopher, not a princess, not—’
‘Defined by your blood,’ he cut in viciously. ‘“Whatever blood flows in your veins, it does not change the man you are.” That is what you said to me. But the blood that flows in your veins does define you, doesn’t it?’
She flinched. ‘Yes, it does. And if you’d known who I was, my blood would have put an end to our nights together. While you thought me some ordinary woman, you were happy to consort with me.’
‘I have never thought you ordinary.’
‘I wish I was,’ Tahira said wearily. ‘You are angry with me, and I don’t blame you. I tried to find the courage to tell you the truth on several occasions, but we had so little time, and I could not bear to risk losing you, the one person who couldn’t care less about my bloodline, my pedigree, my connections. All the things you are thinking now, Christopher. Perhaps it was selfish of me to keep the truth from you, but—oh, I have said it all. I didn’t want our acquaintance to end, it is as simple as that.’
‘Acquaintance! If I had known you were a princess, do you think I would have—?’
‘I am certain that you would not have!’ Tahira interrupted vehemently. ‘That’s exactly my point. If you had known I was a princess, you would have run a thousand miles across the desert in another direction, and while you may wish that you had done so, I do not. Whatever you feel now, I cannot regret that we have been—that we have...’
She was trembling. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tried desperately to get her emotions under control. ‘I cannot regret a minute of the time I have spent with you. Choose to believe me or not, Christopher, it is the truth.’
His momentary flash of anger was gone. He had himself completely under control again, his expression inscrutable. ‘How did you get here?’
‘My camel...’
‘How do you escape from the harem? I have always imagined you climbing out of a window, but today, I took a good look at that quaint little cottage of yours, otherwise known as the Royal Palace of Nessarah. It’s like a fortress, guards everywhere. So how do you do it—wear a cloak of invisibility?’
‘There’s a tunnel.’ He was still angry, she could see the betraying tic in his throat. At least anger was better than indifference. ‘A door hidden in the wall of the courtyard which my divan looks on to,’ Tahira continued quietly, ‘leading down to a tunnel that goes under the palace and emerges in what used to be the old slave market. You can guess its previous use. I came upon the original plans for the palace in the library some years ago, and when I realised what they could mean, I asked to move my quarters.’
‘You escape through a tunnel which was once used to bring slaves—concubines into the palace?’ Christopher said with a bitter little smile. ‘Some would call that sweet vengeance.’
‘It was my first archaeological find.’ Despite the tension between them, she couldn’t help but smile at the memory. ‘You can’t imagine how excited I was, when I finally located...’
‘You told me your first find was a piece of pottery. Another lie.’
Deflated, she found herself at a temporary loss for words. What had she expected, after all? That he would sweep her into his arms and forgive her?
‘Your broken betrothals,’ Christopher said, and her heart sank further at his tone. ‘I saw you once, the day after we met in fact, with your sisters, although I had no idea it was you. You were going shopping at the bazaar. I remembered then, that Prince Kadar was engaged to the eldest princess of Nessarah. He wasn’t long crowned when I met him. His brother was—’
‘Killed falling off his horse. Prince Butrus,’ Tahira interrupted flatly. ‘I was originally betrothed to him, and then Prince Kadar inherited me, along with the throne. A most flattering alliance, that would have been.’
‘Why did he break the betrothal?’
‘I don’t know and I don’t care, I’m simply glad that he did.’
‘Murimon is a far more liberal kingdom than Nessarah. You wouldn’t have been locked away in a harem. No need to tunnel out at night, you could have...’
‘I