‘Hurry. Go on up.’
She hooked her foot on to the corner of the pile and started climbing, grabbing on to the ledge. He watched, momentarily distracted, as she wriggled her slender hips through the opening.
Focus, man. After a final sweep of the alley, he hoisted himself up the rickety tower and kicked the crates over before pulling through the window.
The window led into a storeroom. An earthy, medicinal scent permeated the air and the low ceiling just allowed him to stand upright. He peered into the darkness and made out several woven baskets piled high with dried herbs and roots.
Ailey’s voice came from the far end of the room. ‘Behind the ginseng.’
‘Which one is that?’
A pale hand waved from the corner. He picked his way through the baskets and crouched beside her against the wall.
‘You need to tell me the truth, Ailey.’
She let out a breath and her fingers worked the edge of her tunic nervously. ‘It was an arranged marriage.’
‘So all of this is because you don’t want to marry this man?’
Her gaze shot up to him. ‘During the wedding procession, I discovered Li Tao betrayed our family. I hired mercenaries to attack the wedding procession so it would look as if I were abducted.’
Somehow he believed her. He already knew she couldn’t tell a convincing lie.
‘This Li Tao must be a powerful man if he can send soldiers to scour the countryside for you.’
‘He is jiedushi of this province.’
Ryam let his head thud back against the wall. The military governor. These warlords had complete power over the armies and laws of their circuits. He had to admire her spirit even though no good could come of it.
‘That’s why you can’t go to anyone for help.’
She sank her chin onto her knees in an uncharacteristically childish gesture. ‘I never intended to put you in so much danger.’
‘Do you know what this looks like to anyone who finds us? The governor’s wife and a barbarian.’
‘I told you, I am not his wife.’
He continued, undaunted. ‘They’ll hang me, but that is nothing compared to what they will do to you.’
‘My family did not raise their daughter to live in fear.’
The rafters creaked, hushing them into tense silence as muffled voices rose from below. They crouched, listening and waiting.
‘I cannot let them find me,’ she whispered once the voices quieted. ‘Li Tao will force me to marry him. He only wants this marriage to gain my father’s trust.’
As much as she tried to hide it, he could tell she was frightened. In the empire, a woman was first her father’s property and then her husband’s. She was defying both of them.
‘We’ll stay here awhile. Wait them out,’ he said. ‘The soldiers will move on in a couple of hours.’
‘What then?’
A sense of foreboding settled over him like a shroud. She was looking to him for answers. The last time anyone had trusted his lead, it had ended in bloodshed. His head throbbed with phantom pain as he recalled the last moments of the skirmish. Imperial soldiers had swarmed over their caravan, overpowering them. A better man could have stopped it.
‘What should we do, then?’ she repeated.
‘We can’t roam the streets all night and we can’t stay here.’ He needed to think. For once, he needed to make the right decision and not rush into battle.
‘Perhaps we can sneak past the guards to the main gates,’ Ailey suggested.
‘There are soldiers at the gates and patrolling the streets. You can’t leave town tonight. You’ll need to hide.’
‘But where?’
He knew of places, dark corners in any city that he would never send a woman to alone. ‘We’ll find a place at the edge of town. Tomorrow morning, we leave with the first light of dawn once the gates open.’
The scent of herbs hung heavy and bittersweet as they waited in silence. Ailey sank back against the wall. Her shoulder inadvertently brushed against him. He was becoming greedy for every touch, no matter how innocent.
Changan, the imperial capital. He’d been there before. And he could handle imperial soldiers … if there weren’t too many. He had known it would come to this the moment she sank into his arms after their duel. Perhaps he had known even sooner, when he had seen her strength and her fierce determination to get home.
Maybe this was just another distraction, another reason to avoid returning to the Gansu corridor where his comrades waited. No, he was wrong about that. No one was waiting for him. They probably thought he was dead.
He had enough problems taking care of his own skin. What made him think he could protect this woman who seemed to be in more trouble than he was? That blow to the head he’d suffered hadn’t knocked any sense into him after all.
Ailey held her breath. He had said they would go together. His manners might be strange and uncultured, but there was a core of honour in him. She hadn’t been wrong about that.
‘Thank you,’ she murmured.
His only reply was a brief shrug of his shoulders. He was helping her at great risk to himself. More than he knew. But she needed him to get home. It was the only way.
The morning came back to her as they huddled in the corner, trying not to touch and failing. His mouth had crushed against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that only made the memory more overwhelming.
His hands had urged her close until she was pressed against the hard muscle of his chest. She had cast all caution aside, assuming he would leave. But he was still here. The heat of his body radiated through his tunic to find its way to her.
He shifted and she responded by inching towards the wall. His features were shadowed in the dim corner and the steady rhythm of his breathing reminded her how precariously close he was. She held herself perfectly still, afraid that if she moved she would find herself falling towards him, closing the scant space between them.
As if sensing her thoughts, he pulled away to the window, leaving her so quickly the air beside her still tingled with his presence. He braced his hands against the frame with head bent and shoulders pulled taut, a powerful silhouette against the light outside. The silence went on for so long that she began to worry he had changed his mind.
‘I don’t see any more of them,’ he reported, peering down into the alley. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
‘What Li Tao has done is unforgivable. I would rather die than become his wife.’
Ryam nodded, and moved away from the window. ‘We’ll go out the back way.’
Reckless, she could hear Father proclaiming. To imagine she was safe with a barbarian she’d barely met.
Always feeling, never thinking, Mother scolded.
But she had thought very carefully and she trusted Ryam more than anyone else in this province. This was Li Tao’s domain and he would kill them both if he found them.
She had vowed to her parents to be a dutiful wife, but that was one vow she could not fulfil. She prayed they would forgive her for her disobedience. She hoped they would believe her when she spoke against one of the most powerful men in the empire.
Her legs burned as she stood and the blood rushed back into them. They must have been crouched there for over an hour. Ryam led as they picked their way around the baskets towards the stairway. He scanned the