A/N: Oh my goodness! In the 4 years that I have been posting stories on this website, I have never gotten such a fantastic response on a single chapter. 19 reviews for one chapter! Thank you all so much! (And merci)
I'm sorry I left it on such a cliffhanger and didn't update sooner, but I wanted a proper update to match the updates I received. Thanks again!
Chapter 4
Bis and the rest of the travelers continued on, even as Dastan stopped his horse. So they had moved on and didn't hear the prince's distressed shout for his wife that had collapsed.
Dastan was at a loss for what he should do. He was not a healer, he had no clue how to wake her up or what could even be wrong with her.
Grabbing her canteen of water, he splashed some water across her face as he held her with his other arm. Her dark eyes opened and she looked up at her husband wearily.
"What-what happened?" Tamina asked.
"You scared the hell out of me," Dastan said. "Which is not an easy task to accomplish. You passed out; fell right off the horse. What's wrong?"
"I was just dizzy'" she said, making a move to get up. "I'm fine, Dastan."
"No, you are obviously not," he argued. "Sit for a minute. Rest, please," Dastan asked earnestly. He didn't want to see any harm come to this woman.
"Can't a woman swoon in the heat of the desert? If it were anywhere else, I would be concerned, prince But its hot out and I am not used to travel and I am not used to travel and I fainted. Its all very simple," Tamina argued. She pulled out from Dastan's worried grasp and stood.
Tamina was still a little unsteady at first, but managed to get herself dusted off without any major issues.
Dastan stood from his crouched position and watched her.
Tamina had not had a problem in the sun before. Sure, she had faked passing out before, but this time it had been for real. And none of the other women of Alamut on this trek were passing out. What was wrong with the woman who stood before him?
"Dastan, please stop looking at me like that. We're losing time. I'm fine, I promise. Let's get going."
"Did you eat while I slept?"
"Yes, of course. And I had breakfast while getting ready for the temple. The sun got to me, that is all. Don't worry," she smiled before kissing him to reassure him.
But it didn't work and he was worried, although Dastan wasn't going to let it show.
"All right, let's go," Dastan said, jumping onto his horse. He turned around and held out his hand. "You're riding in front, though, so I can make sure you don't fall off," he said.
"You're going to let me ride up front, really?" Tamina smiled.
"Its only because you'll kill yourself if you slip off the back of the horse," Dastan smiled.
She narrowed her eyes and glared at Dastan angrily.
"I very much want this trip to be over," Tamina began. "So I'll do what I have to."
"How very generous of you, princess," he said through gritted teeth.
Dastan took her delicate hand in his own and pulled her up on the horse in front of him.
Tamina held onto the horse's reins and Dastan wrapped his arms around her. He dug in his heels, making the horse move forward.
Dastan was really very angry with the woman sitting ahead of him on the horse. Who knows how long she'd been feeling dizzy and sick? All she needed to do was say something and he would have let her rest. And now she was lying to him, because she couldn't possibly be 'fine'.
He knew he was taking most of his anger out on the poor horse underneath them. Dastan was pushing it so they might attempt to catch up with the rest of their group.
Although, Dastan was fairly certain that Bis would not go riding into Nasaf and not have a clue where he and the princess were. The King and the princes liked Bis, but if he lost the future rulers of Alamut somewhere in the desert, things might not go so well for him.
He forced himself to think about the current situation.
"You know you're maddening, right?" Dastan spoke into her ear, breaking the silence.
His breath on her ear and neck sent a shiver down her spine and because of their proximity, she couldn't hide it from Dastan. She smiled and continued to look out at the horizon, hoping for either the city to begin rising into the sky or the rest of the traveling party.
"You are, and I'll take your silence as acknowledgment of that fact. What's really wrong with you?"
She ignored what he actually said and decided to answer his question.
"Dastan, I honestly was feeling dizzy all of a sudden and now I'm fine. I'm sorry I scared you," she said in a low tone.
He pressed a kiss under her ear, and then spoke. "It's all right, but next time when you don't feel well, tell me. That way you won't fall face first into the sand. Can you do that for me?"
"I can and will. Wait, what's that up there?" Tamina pointed.
"It's still a ways away, but that is Nasaf," Dastan explained.
Finally, their destination was in sight.
"Hopefully, Bis will have waited for us," Dastan said. "I don't really want Bis to have to deal with Tus and Garsiv if they arrive before us."
"I'm actually a little surprised that none of them have doubled back to check on us," Tamina said.
"They probably think we stopped so we could engage in a littleā¦ahemā¦private time," Dastan laughed.
"As the group is mostly men, I would agree with that thought, but it's the middle of the desert. We'd be no different from the animals," Tamina said.
"Believe me, they all know," Dastan said, laughing harder. "Now that I think about it, they probably think you murdered me."
"Now that is definitely more likely," Tamina agreed.
"Let's keep going. It's only going to be a little longer now," Dastan smiled. "And once we get there, I can help you with a nice, relaxing bath."
"Then let's get there as soon as possible," Tamina said.
And maybe someone in the royal city of Nasaf would be able to tell her why she wasn't quite feeling like herself the last couple of days.
A/N: Please review. I'm already working on the next chapter, but feel free to try and top the amount of reviews I got from the last chapter.
