Chapter 8 #2
Michel seemed to understand the change in her immediately. “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around, trying to identify what caused her change in demeanor.
Eve sputtered. She couldn’t speak.
He lowered his voice. “Eve, do you see someone you know?”
She blinked at him, still unable to form any words.
“Is someone after you?” he asked. His words were measured.
“Um, uh,” she replied, nodding her head when words failed her.
He placed his hand under her chin and tilted her head up to him as they sat there, squatted amongst the people. “You have my protection, Eve. You are not alone.”
When he said it, she saw his own warrior flash. She did not think he was just a silly noble, but she still didn’t know if his power could tether her, that she could indeed rely on him for protection. His eyes said she could. Overcome with the need for relief, she collapsed against him.
“Let’s go,” he said, his arm around her. “We are done here.”
He helped her stand. He wrapped his arm around her as she ducked into his chest, her shawl tightly covering her.
She knew he paused to look around again, and she wondered if his eyes had landed on Ganbold.
He kept her tucked into him, hustling her out of the marketplace, the scent of him filled her nose—leather, spice, and something soothing that was only him.
Despite her fear and distress at seeing Ganbold, it was Michel’s scent she dwelled on as they rode away from the outpost.
Later that night, Michel lay on his bedroll, outside Eve’s tent, unable to fall asleep, even though the rest of the camp had settled.
He had done this route through the area before, many times, but tonight it had been difficult to find a place he believed to be safe to camp.
He hiked them further into the crevasses of the mountain range so they couldn’t be approached without warning.
Now he lay on an uneven slope just outside of Eve’s tent, with rocks knifing into his back.
That wasn’t why he couldn’t sleep, however.
Michel had set out on this journey with one goal: to access the rich cashmere market of the closed-off tribal communities to appease the Cardinal.
To do this, he would need to travel further East than he ever had before, deep into the Tian Shan mountains, past the typical reach of Europeans.
Up until Bukhara, European merchants were welcome.
Past Bukhara, they were merely tolerated.
Michel always stretched his travels to the very end of France’s reach, but he understood the limitations in where he would be able to safely travel.
He hoped to find someone who just happened to be like him, out of their usual range, looking to find a contact to expand their trade.
It would be like finding a grain of rice in a bucket of beans.
He moved his arm behind his head and stared up into the night sky.
The fire crackled nearby, illuminating the sleeping bodies around.
He was still fully dressed, sword just next to him, unease in his chest. For the moment, however, it wasn’t cashmere he cared about.
As soon as he’d seen that huge man in the marketplace, larger than anyone there, he realized that Eve had more complex secrets than he had imagined.
He also realized, in that same instant, he would rip that man apart if he tried to hurt her.
The thought melded with a purpose he began to understand had already been cast deep inside him, though he didn’t know exactly when it had happened: he would protect this woman with all that he had.
But Michel couldn’t instigate a fight with a tribal man.
An aggressive Frenchman would incite the tribes, destabilize the trade line, and undermine Michel’s mission to travel into forbidden territory.
How much danger were they really in? When he questioned Eve, she did not respond and shook her head with a stubborn frown.
Michel didn’t think she had expected to see that man.
Her fear was confirmation that she was indeed running from something.
He needed more information. The only option he could see was to tease these secrets out of her as best as he could.
That and hire some extra guards to travel with them.
Thankfully, Michel didn’t believe the man had seen her, though how closely the man pursued her, Michel didn’t know.
Had it been by chance that they came upon the same market? Or had they just barely escaped?
Michel heard her stir inside the tent and wondered if she was also lying awake.
His instinct was to crawl in beside her.
He wanted to soothe her, and to feel soothed by her as well.
Feelings brewed inside him that he couldn’t quite explain.
How had he gone from helping a woman get out of trouble to inviting trouble into his own mission?
Michel had enjoyed many women in his life, but he had never felt so enraptured by any one of them.
His heart was for his country. His loyalty belonged to his country.
Eve however, drew his thoughts and motives like no one ever had before.
She had indeed entranced him, and he wanted more. Her banter, her authority, her touch, her lips. Even her problems, if it meant getting closer. He wanted it all.
Except that bite to the finger, he thought, laughing to himself as he finally drifted off to sleep.