Page 72 of Dark Chains: First Link
Feyla and Mahra were standing at the edge of the garden path, their gazes darting from Sullha to Yaaf and back again as if they didn't know how they were supposed to act around an immortal soldier. On the one hand, he was one of them, born and raised in the enclosure, but on the other, he was a dangerous stranger who had no business being there.
It was highly unusual and, to them, disturbing.
To Sullha, it was invigorating.
"Go ahead," she said. "Save me a plate and make sure Tomek is eating his vegetables. He'll try to trade them for someone else's bread."
"You're not coming?" Mahra asked, her gaze sliding to Yaaf again.
"No."
The two women exchanged a look that contained an entire conversation. Then Feyla nodded, took Mahra by the elbow, and steered her toward the garden exit.
28
SULLHA
Sullha waited until Feyla and Mahra were out of earshot, which took longer than it should have because Mahra kept glancing over her shoulder.
"I wonder what they are thinking about your presence here," she said.
"Did they ask you about me?"
She chuckled. "They were too afraid to even mention you. Perhaps they think you are an apparition, or that we are having a forbidden affair behind the okra."
"Are we?"
The question was so unexpected and so deadpan that Sullha couldn't tell if Yaaf was joking. She stared at him, and then the corner of his mouth twitched. Just barely, just enough for her to realize that he was indeed joking.
Yaaf, her Yofi, the boy who used to say absurd things with a perfectly straight face to get a laugh out of her, was still in there.
"You're terrible," she said.
The twitch became the ghost of a smile, there and gone. Then his expression sobered, and the intensity returned to his eyes.
"Can you keep a secret?" he asked in a low voice.
The shift in his tone made her stiffen. He wasn't joking anymore. Whatever he was about to say was serious.
"Of course I can."
"I need you to swear on it."
"Swear on what? Mortdh?" She couldn't keep the contempt out of her voice. "I don't believe in a god who declared that women are inferior and undeserving of immortality."
What she'd just said was blasphemy, and if any of the guards heard her, she would be whipped. But Yaaf wouldn't betray her, and all she saw in his eyes was approval.
"I agree with you. About Mortdh, that is. He's a false god."
Her eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets at that. "I hope you know to keep your ideas to yourself. They will execute you if they hear you say things like that."
"I only share my thoughts with my closest friends. Those I know would never betray me."
She smiled. "Then if you trust me with that, you can trust me with your other secret."
"I still need you to swear on something that matters to you. Swear on Tomek's life."
That had been the wrong thing to say.
