Page 36 of The Guardian's Promise

The boy amazed her. In the midst of a battle he remained calm. And wise. A strength and integrity. A testament to the man who’d influenced him.

“How did you become so wise?” She mussed his hair.

His mouth curved upward showing a brilliant toothless smile. “I had an excellent teacher.”

“You humble me, Joash.” Ari’s voice, although low, echoed off the cave wall and caused chills to race over her arms.

Her gaze flung to the entrance. She drank in the sight of him, damp with perspiration. His muscular chest expanded with each breath he took. He sheathed his sword and then dropped his arms to his sides. He looked exhausted, but well. No visible injury marred his skin, and no blood stained his tunic. She sighed in relief.

“Is it finished?” Joash asked.

Ari nodded. “For now, it is.”

The boy pulled from her embrace and pushed past Ari. It was then she noticed that they were alone.

“Are you well?” she asked, her hands twisted in her tunic.

“I am.”

His lack of words irritated her.

She looked around the room, her gaze skimming the drawings left by men of old, anything to avoid looking at him.

“Mira,” he whispered.

As if they had a will of their own, her eyes shifted to his. And before she could force them away she was caught by his gaze and the emotion pouring out of them. Her heart filled near to bursting, and then it deflated. This will never do.

“I should see to the wounded.”

“No,” he said, stepping closer. “The others will do what is necessary.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “I never told you how your family fared, and you did not ask again.”

“There was no time. Besides, I feared the answer.” It was true. Even when Tama arrived and told her of her parents well-being she feared pressing further, afraid she’d discover that not all was, in truth, well.

He reached out and slid a hand down her arm until he twined his fingers with hers. “I should have been more considerate. I should have told you.”

As much as she wanted to know they were all right, she did not want to know if they had been harmed. Not after what she’d just heard. Her family did not have the tools to defend themselves. They had no weapons among them. “How many soldiers were there?”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “Now?”

She blinked, fighting back the tears. “Yes.”

“Four. Why?”

“Are they dead?” His hand fell from hers. The place where his fingers had been branded her in a way she could not explain.

He raked his palm over his face and hung his head. “They gave us no option, Mira.”

“I see.” But she didn’t. These men, these priestly men, had fought like trained warriors, at least from what she had heard. And, they had prevailed over the enemy. Of course, she was not complaining, she knew ultimately the guards had sought Joash’s death and anyone who stepped in the way, but she didn’t understand. She didn’t understand any of it. “Did they follow us? Were they the men from the pool?”

Ari furrowed his brow as if confused by her question. He shook his head and then lifted his hands to her shoulders. He stared into her eyes. “Mira, your family is well. Your mother was bruised a little when she sought to protect one of the slaves.”

She nodded. A tear slid down her cheek. Her mother, so small, had always been as fierce as a lioness. “And the slave?”

“He died.”

“Which one?” It didn’t matter. What was done, was done, but she could lift a prayer of peace for those he was close to.

“Obed.”

She closed her eyes against the sadness threatening to burst forth.

“Mira, you should know.” He paused.

She opened her eyes, searching his. “What?”

“Athaliah’s men,” he said, motioning toward the cavern. “They’ve attacked other villages. Jesse said they did not leave one child alive in those camps. You must know, if you would have stayed,” he gulped. “If you would have stayed with Joash, none of you would have survived. It is fortunate all the children from your village remain unharmed. Mayhap, because they were not of the same age as Joash. Mayhap because the soldiers chose to follow you instead. You did right by leaving. And as difficult as I know it was for you to stay hidden, you did right by that, too.”

“Th-thank-you.” Her resolve to remain strong began to crumble.

Ari wrapped his arms around and hugged her close, just like her father had done when she was a child, and sought to comfort her. “All will be well in the end. All will be well soon, I promise you.”

She didn’t know if it was his words, or if it was his embrace, but she wanted to believe him.

---