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Leena was very excited about Tally’s neardrobe but Tally could hardly bring herself to look at the owns and robes Instead she stood at the , looking out at the desert and wanting to go, just go Not to necessarily leave Tair, but to leave here, leave the confinement and the wo dresses and veils and away from action Adventure
She missed action and adventure Wistfully she looked at the sand dunes and the shi hills
From here, the room in her tower, the sand was beautiful Mystical From here, she even missed the sandstorm and sand pit and her asthma attack
Tair had saved her each ti hard and fast on his white and gray stallion He’d saved her
Tally bit her lip, trying to ignore the ache in her chest The ache was different frohtened her, made her realize how little control she had Not just over Tair, but Paolo, her family, her father Life was slippery, nearly as slippery as those grains of quicksand
“I like you, Madame,” Leena said unexpectedly
Tally turned from the , sood to me I appreciate it”
Leena seous silk sheaths that rested on her lap She’d been putting each gown carefully into the enormous carved trunk “I wish I could be like you Fierce and brave Strong”
Tally pushed a heavily jeweled hand through her hair, the“I’e of her bed No, she wasn’t brave She actually felt like a coward She felt afraid Afraid for her, afraid for Tair It was only a drea her tender on the inside, tender and fragile “I think I just like fighting with his lordship”
The girl’s smile dimpled from behind the sheer veil “Because you love him”
“I don’t love him”
“He loves you”
“He doesn’t”
The girl shrugged “Then why does he permit you to speak to him as you do? No one else could address Sheikh el-Tayer that way But when you open your mouth, he listens”
“Maybe it’s because I’m Western”
“He’s had other foreign women and he’s not allowed any of them to speak to him as you do”
Tally’s eyes widened What did Leenato ask, couldn’t ask Leena, wasn’t right But Tally couldn’t stay quiet “He used to entertain here frequently?”