"I do have a bruise." She touched a faint blue mark where his thumb had grasped her hip. She chuckled. "But I suppose that doesn't count?" She lifted herself on one elbow to look at him. "You believe they're going to cast their votes for unity, don't you?"

"I don't know what to believe. I'm so close…" His hand closed on the flap of the tent. "Perhaps I'm afraid to hope."

She knew she should distance herself from him again, but she could not do it now when he looked so alone. "Then I'll hope for you."

"Will you, kilen?" A brilliant smile lit his face. "Then all will be sure to go as it should. How could fate deem otherwise?"

She knew the result as soon as he walked into the tent.

"Unity!" She ran across the tent and threw herself into his arms. "Who reigns?"

"My humble self." He swung her in a circle. "But we're still very far from our goal. A system of laws has to be hammered out, and there's bound to be an uproar at the first dispute. Now that the union is formed, I have to find a way to hold the alliance together."

"You'll do it. Who else could accomplish so much as you have already? You won't let all that go."

"No." He pulled her down on the cushions, cradling her in his arms, his face boyish with eagerness. "Dear God, unity." He rocked her back and forth. "It's happened, Tess!"

"Hakim?"

"Voted with the rest. Unity."

"What next?"

"We go back to Zalandan, and I make plans for how to shape the laws to my satisfaction and not Hakim's. The sheikhs meet there in a month's time."

"Viane departed with her escort this afternoon. She said to tell you farewell." She nodded at the cage in the corner. "She left Alexander with me. I didn't know where we would have to go after the council, and I thought Viane and I could exchange messages."

"I don't care if she left you every bird in her entire aviary. I don't care about anything." He gave the bird in its wicker cage only a passing glance as his arms tightened about her. "Unity!"

She loved him.

No inner arguments, no self-deception. The knowledge was there before her, stark and inevitable as it had been from the beginning. He was a man worth loving, and she loved him. So simple.

No, not so simple. She desperately wanted freedom in a land that offered none to women, and this joy she was privileged to share with him might well signal the end for them. Unity meant his need for her was enormously lessened.

A child. He still wanted a child. She grasped desperately at the hope. A child in his image that she could love…

"You're very quiet." His lips caressed her ear.

She was no fool. She could find a way to work out their difficulties. She tilted her head to look up at him lovingly. "I believe we should have a celebration."

"Indeed?"

She nodded as she began to unfasten the ribbon that bound his queue. She pulled it free and tossed it on the cushions. "A very special celebration. You promised to teach me the manner in which kadines give pleasure."

"Then I must certainly do so." He laid her back on the cushions of the divan. "You're right, I believe that would constitute a splendid celebration."

She ran her fingers through his dark mane of loosened hair. The expression on his face held both tenderness and sensual savagery. "I thought you'd agree," she whispered.

A child…

Chapter 11

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Several times during the night Tess wakened to the sound of horses' hooves and the creak of wagon wheels. By dawn the festival encampment was nearly deserted, and the only tents remaining were those of the El Zalan.

Sacha's brows lifted quizzically as Tess came out of the tent. "What a springy step, what glowing cheeks. You appear remarkably fit, considering your horrendous ordeal."

She smiled serenely. "I recover quickly."

"But you must have some aftereffects of your experience." He brought the back of his hand to his forehead in mock horror. "What screams, what cries of distress."

Tess's cheeks flushed. "You heard."

"How could I help it? I was about to come to your rescue when I realized—"

"What?"

He grinned. "That I had heard just that kind of scream before and hoped to hear it many times again before I reach my dotage."

She quickly changed the subject. "What are you doing here?"

"Galen sent me to make sure you were ready to go. A messenger just rode in from one of the hill tribes, and he's talking to him now."

Her gaze flew to his face. "Trouble?"

Sacha shrugged. "We'll have to ask Galen." He nodded to Galen's approaching figure. "But he doesn't look pleased. "

"No." On the contrary, Galen's expression was exceptionally grim. "Tamar?"

Galen shook his head. "A troop of men wearing Tamrovian colors was sighted heading toward Zalandan."

"My father?"

"Presumably. Who else?"

"How far away?"

"Perhaps two days' journey."

She felt an instinctive shiver of fear, and suddenly she was a child again, trembling before the wrath of her father. "Then we must go and meet him." She straightened her shoulders. "I'm ready."

He shook his head. "Not you." He turned to Sacha. "Will you come with me? Your presence may help, but it will mean publicly aligning yourself against the royal family."

"Would I miss a chance of tweaking my dear uncle's august nose?"

"I'm not afraid to face him," Tess lied.

"Your presence would only complicate things and add fuel to the fire," Galen said. "You'll stay here under Yusef's protection until I send for you. Your father would be foolish to launch an attack on Zalandan with only a token force. It will be a matter of threats, not battle."

"Then why hide me here? I can't—"

"No," he said sharply. "I won't risk you being taken from me."

She was bursting with happiness. There was no doubt about the possessiveness of his manner. "Very well, I'll stay here."

Sacha chuckled. "Such meekness. The chastising you gave her must have robbed her of spirit, Galen. Perhaps old Hakim had the right of it."

Galen ignored him as he stepped closer and gently brushed the hair back from Tess's face. "I'll send for you as soon as I deem it safe. I'll prepare a welcome for your father that will illustrate both Zalandan's military power and wealth." He smiled. "Don't worry, dealing with the reigning head of a country is entirely different from confronting the sheikh of one tribe. We'll come to an agreement."

"By paving Axel's journey back to Tamrovia with gold?" Sacha asked dryly.

"Without a doubt. It will be worth it." Galen dropped a kiss on Tess's forehead. "I'll leave Yusef a full troop of men for your protection. Promise me you won't be foolish."

"I'm never foolish." But his expression was grave with concern, and Tess again felt a burst of golden happiness. "I promise."

Sacha shook his head mournfully. "She's just a crushed flower, a ghost of the Tess I knew."

"Be silent, Sacha," Tess said without looking at him. "I'm only being sensible."

"Is that what it is? I thought it—"

"Come along, Sacha." Galen turned and walked toward the enclosure where Said was saddling the horses.