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Chapter 4
She had not been to this part of the palace. It was gentler in tone with large windows and doorways leading to a beautiful garden. The location had very few guards and it was so quiet, with only the songs of birds and the trickling of water from fountains. It reminded her of home and for a moment, she let her thoughts stray to Alamut.
He took her to a door now manned by Dastan's men, not royal guards, making her wonder what Dastan was up to. The door was ajar and she opened it just enough to pass through. He stood against the door and pushed it closed so that he faced her. He was inches away and she had to look up to meet his eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but the words were caught in her lips at the proximity to her Prince. Dastan pressed his index finger to his lips to request her silence.
"Close your eyes," he whispered.
"What? Why?" she questioned.
"Woman, just listen to me. Close your eyes!"
She rolled her eyes but his earnest look made her eyes flutter close. Her heart raced when she felt him loosen her scarf and rest it on her shoulder. He placed himself behind her and led her across the room while she proceeded to berate her host just to cause annoyance. She felt the wind on her cheeks and realised that she was in an open space near a garden. He rested his hands on her shoulders and positioned her against the wind.
"Now open your eyes," he said as he stood by her.
As she opened her eyes, a gasp escaped Tamina's lips and there in front of her was a beautiful blue mural of the ocean. Every shade of blue blended into the next swirl of colour, and it was as magnificent as the poems she had read. The whole wall stood tall and she felt a smile appear on her face.
"I almost forgot," he said as he placed a large, spiral conch shell over her ear.
Tamina turned towards Dastan and her eyes lit up, experiencing this sound for the first time.
"That's the ocean. That's what it sounds like," he whispered to her.
He had never seen her so happy the whole time he had known her and his heart leapt at the sight. This was the first time Dastan had felt joy in bringing a smile to another. This woman was beginning to be his undoing. As much as he wanted to be in her presence and be himself, he feared he was not worthy of her. She turned again to him, "I can hear it... As if... As if I am there!"
Dastan nodded in reply but needed to stop his heart from having any further feelings for this beautiful woman. So he turned away and walked to the garden. He needed to breathe. He could see her back from where he was and he knew her face was glowing with a smile.
The mighty blue ocean roared before her but as much as it was wonderful, it could never replace the deep blue eyes of her Prince. Tamina turned to see an empty space next to her and looked towards the garden. He was sitting on the marble rim of the pond, but stood as she walked towards him.
"You remembered," she said softly.
"Yes, yes I did. It was a promise and I keep… try to keep… all my promises."
They both stood without words, remembering the promise he broke which was proof of her presence, until she spoke up again.
"I must go ready your lunch," she said and extended the shell.
"Keep it… listen to it when you want to. And lunch is here. We are having lunch by the sea," he said as he winked.
They sat across from each other with the platter of food in between, laughing and talking in the shade of the blue wall. He was narrating the mischief they got up to at the palace by the sea, when the memory of his father flooded back.
"He loved us so much," Dastan said saddened by the memory.
"He will continue to love his children. Death cannot stop that. You keep him alive in your memory as you speak about him," she said as she leaned back on a cushion.
"What about your family? Will they not miss you now?" he said grabbing the chance to question her.
Tamina thought about her family. It has been so long since she allowed herself to think about them. As the Princess and the High Priestess she had to let go of every earthly possession or love. She was not bound to anything or anyone. She rarely spoke of her patents, and never about her brothers.
"I do not have a family. My mother passed away when I was not even six and my father and brothers were killed in the battle of Alamut. I have been alone since I was eleven," she said sadly.
"I can remember the battle. Father sent troops to hold back the enemy," he said.
"Not before the royal family was slain," she interrupted.
"The Princess survived."
"Yes, she was hidden away. She took the throne at age fourteen," she said, feeling sad about her own life.
Dastan was thinking about the battle and how his father disbanded the Hassansins as they were found to have defected from Persia and killed Alamutians, including the Crown Prince. He held the guilt of Alamutian deaths in his heart, and that was why he always said that Alamut was never to be touched. He suddenly remembered what Garsiv said - Uncle had intimated that Alamut may be selling weapons to Hassansins.
"Two months after taking me away, you ask me this question?" she laughed.
However, Dastan made no reply but was occupied with Garsiv's words; "Uncle has informed that Alamut is selling weapons to Hassansins."
He got up in a hurry.
"Can you find your own way to your chambers?" he asked as he reached the door. However, he turned and walked away before she could reply.
He had to get a message to his brother to come back!
Three days passed with Dastan unusually preoccupied with the history books. He was in Tamina's thoughts as she waited for Asoka once again near the well. Asoka had left, stating that he would be back in two weeks, but it had passed that time. The night was closing in and she had to go to Dastan for sleep but she stood as long as she could. She was distracted that night and guilt was now seeping into her mind. In her eyes, she had abandoned her duty and wondered if she should ask Dastan directly about the dagger. She knew that Asoka advised that it remain a secret the last time they met.
The worry had manifested as a nightmare and Tamina sat up with a gasp that night. It has been the same horrific dream three days in a row. Dastan stabbed and she being pushed off the cliff in the sand glass chamber. She looked at Dastan on his bed, comforted that he was safe. She could not sleep thereafter with the fear of pain of death gripping her.
"What's wrong?" a whisper asked from the bed.
She smiled at the solace her Prince evoked in her "I... I had an unpleasant dream and now I cannot sleep."
"Come sleep next to me," he said as he fell back to sleep.
Propriety would have not allowed her to be in a room alone with a man, let alone sleep in his bed, especially with him sleeping without his nightshirt! It was not right for her to take the place meant for his wife. She was occupied with this argument in her head when he spoke again.
"While you are over thinking through the situation, may I point out that we have slept next to each other for over a month and the only difference is now a bed," he mumbled.
She shook her head in reply and tried her best to sleep.
Ten minutes from then, she looked at Dastan again. She wanted to be next to him now, next to her protector. The feeling that the nightmare brought washed over her. Leaving her sleeping mat, she walked to the edge of the bed as he slept and stood not for a second, when he turned his face.
Dastan's eyes shot open startled at the figure standing by his bed.
"Wha.. Fuck... Woman... What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me sleeping?"
Tamina was offended that he thought she was watching at him sleeping.
"I was not looking at you sleeping," she said fiercely. "You woke up before I woke you up."
He sat up and gestured her to hurry along. "What do you want?"
Tamina looked at him and the empty space on his bed.
"Can I sleep next to you?"
He wanted to tease her about her high and mighty principles but there was a hint of fear in her voice. She was afraid even of that little distance between them. Dastan simply moved his blanket aside and turned back, mostly to hide his smirk rather than sleep. He felt her slide in next to him and cover herself with the sheet. A few minutes into their sleeping arrangement, Dastan heard her whisper his name.
"What?" he questioned annoyed and still turned away from her.
"We are under the same cover."
"Really," he said mockingly.
"Well I cannot be under the same cover as you... We... Our bodies might touch," she said.
"Sleep over my blanket," he said turning over to her.
She removed the blanket from over her and turned to sleep. It was quiet again but it lasted only a few minutes.
"Dastan... Dastan," she whispered again.
"YES," he replied annoyed.
"My feet are cold."
Dastan sprung up with his eyes closed, covered her with his blanket and went back to sleep. She hugged the new blanket and closed her eyes one more time. Or so they both thought. He could feel her every restless movement. She tossed, she sighed and she punched the pillow down while he was determined to ignore her and sleep, especially after the long day of councils with the generals.
However, that sweet soft voice, which now annoyed him as much as nails against wood, spoke his name again.
"WHAT now?"
"You are on my side of the bed," she whispered delicately against his harsh tone.
He turned to her and propped himself up on his elbow.
"First of all, this is my bed. Which means there is no your side. All this," he said as showed the bed with his hand, "is mine."
Tamina rolled her eyes at the speech he made and turned away to display her anger at the decision.
"Having made that clear, will you shut up and sleep if you are on my bed on the side you prefer?" he questioned again as his concern for her was never lost. She turned abruptly and nodded.
"Great... Now climb over," he said as he prepared to scoot over but all he received was the same shocked expression from Tamina.
"I will not climb over you!"
"Fine walk around the bed," he suggested.
"Why can't you do it?" she argued back.
"Because I am not the one who wants to sleep on this specific side," he said through clenched jaws. "Woman, at least walk over me on the bed!"
At this, Tamina started a lecture on decorum, respect, duties of husbands and wives, place of wives and all things moral. He took the pillow to his hands and pressed against his face to drown her whining. Suddenly, Dastan threw the pillow aside and scooping Tamina from her waist, pulled her on to him.
She placed her hands on his bare chest to steady herself and both were surprised at the feeling of closeness which had no awkwardness or shame. He did not expect to feel this way after the annoyance that boiled up earlier and Tamina only felt pleasant excitement to be touching him as she did.
It possibly lasted a second but they felt as if they stared into each other's eyes for hours. He rested his hand along her back and slowly turned with her to place her at the left side of the bed. His body, his naked torso was now resting on hers.
The night held the room in silence and all they could see was each other. The world was shut out. No one knew that they were alone together here. No one knew that she was in the arms of a man who was not her husband. It was not that they were alone, but that they were the only two people in the whole world. She could feel him breathe as his body moved over her. She could feel his chain dance across her neckline...
