The Blue Eye. Ausma Khan Zehanat

camel before. Their strong smell and snorting breath came as a surprise, as did their long, thick lashes. Camel spiders scurried around their hooves. Arian suppressed a shudder. Wafa shrank back from their dun-colored mounts, his expression frightened and forlorn.

      “Do you want to ride with me, boy?” Khashayar offered. Wafa shook his head with a scowl that bordered on rudeness. He clung to Sinnia’s hand, making his preference clear.

      “So this is your thanks for the way I carried you across the desert. Ruffian.”

      Khashayar’s grin flashed against the darkness. He boosted Arian up onto her camel, swinging into his seat with easy masculine strength. Arian kept pace with him, Sinnia and Wafa at his other side. It took them some time to adjust to the swinging gait of their mounts, but Khashayar rode without difficulty.

      “You’ve done this before,” Arian observed.

      “Training,” he answered briefly. He wouldn’t tell her more. The Zhayedan protected the secrets of their army.

      “We should make for the Gulf of Khorasan. If we cut through the gulf, we’ll be at the court of the Negus much sooner than we planned.”

      A sharp shake of his head. “I overheard the guards.” Faint contempt in the words. The Zhayedan wouldn’t be so careless discussing their plan of battle. “The Nineteen hold the Gulf. They’ve set the ports ablaze, which means there’s no safe place for us to cross. We’ll cut southeast, travel overland, skirt the far edge of the Rub Al Khali. Then we can cross the Sea of Reeds. If we journey south on the water, we’ll be able to make up some time.”

      Arian considered his plan, conscious of what he’d chosen not to say.

      “If we take the longer road, by the time we reach Timeback, Ashfall may have fallen.”

      A grim twist of Khashayar’s lips. “Not as long as there are Zhayedan left to fight. I have my orders from the Khan. I won’t allow myself to fail them.”

      Too tired to argue with his Zhayedan stubbornness, Arian subsided in her seat.

      He glanced over at her, his gaze skirting the shadows under her eyes, dropping lower to the pale curves of her mouth.

      “You should rest, First Oralist. I can lead the camels while you sleep. We’ll be easier to spot come daylight.” He reached for Sinnia’s lead too. “You as well, Companion. Neither of you have rested since your arrival at Ashfall. Nor long before, I suspect.”

      Sinnia snatched back her lead with a sinuous twist of her shoulders. “I can manage.”