Page 77 of Shadow Queen
“You’re doing the best you can.”
His nostrils flared. “I went to Aleon against your will.”
“It was a task from the council.”
“Stop defending me!”
She quieted.
He turned to her and reached out, cupping his hands around hers. His eyes held the weight of a mountain. “You have so few you can trust, so few you can lean on. But you can trust me, Norah. I won’t ever give you another reason to doubt me. Whatever you ask of me…” He shook his head and dropped his gaze again. “And if you tell me to go…” He pulled her hands to his lips but stopped short of kissing the backs of her fingers. “Please don’t tell me to go.” He clasped her hands tighter. “But if you do… I’ll go.”
He needed to go. She needed to tell him to go, for the complications that his presence brought, for his own safety and Mikael’s. So why couldn’t she tell him? The brilliant blues of his eyes glistened with emotion. They begged her.
Their fingers laced together. She knew he would do anything for her. And the world felt right with him by her side, right enough to face any challenge. And shedidtrust him. He said he wouldn’t harm Mikael, and she believed him.
She would tell him to go. But not right now.
As if he could read her mind, the corners of his mouth drew up ever so slightly, although his eyes still reflected a sadness. And they settled.
As things eased more between them, Alexander sat back in his chair. He glanced at the books strewn around her on the table. “What are you doing in here?” he asked.
Her heart skipped a beat. She’d completely forgotten to tell him her discovery about her father and his horse from the Wild. “Hamed, Calla and Cohen’s grandfather, fought in a battle against Mercia. When I first met him, he figured out who I was by my hair and because I rode a horse of the Wild—like my father.”
Alexander shifted. His brow creased, and his lips parted.
She could tell from his expression this was news to him too.
“I never saw your father on a horse of the Wild,” he said. “When was this?”
“I don’t know. I should have asked. Calla and Cohen’s parents were both killed, so it would have been a battle with heavy losses for Kharav.”
“The first Battle of Bahoul, maybe.” Alexander hadn’t fought in the original Battle of Bahoul, the battle that had claimed her father’s life. His eyes shifted back and forth in thought.
“What?” she asked.
“If your father rode a horse of the Wild, it’s not a coincidence that you do too.”
Her thoughts exactly.
“And the Wild protected you from the drifters,” he added.
“I don’t know aboutprotected. It killed trespassing men.”
“But not you.”
These were all things that had swirled in her mind.
“Norah, the Wild is known to mess with the minds of men. Again, this can’t be a coincidence. What if we can find answers there? What if you can get back your memories?”
She stilled. Was he proposing they go there? “But the Wild is a dangerous place.”
“Not for you. And, Norah, if you could get back your memories…” He leaned forward, holding her hand tighter. “If you could remember.”
If she couldremember… she’d have her whole life back, everything that she was, everyone that she loved. Perhaps she’d be another step closer to finding out this unknown enemy.
“I could take you,” he said. He reached across the table and pushed through the books to one that had a loose map parting the pages. He spread it wide and drew his finger from Kharav along a path north, stopping when he reached an unlabeled area just southwest of Mercia. “Here. I could take you back to where I found you.”
She bit along her bottom lip. “Alexander, that’s a long journey. And it’s not that simple.”
