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There was a snap of disdain in her voice and at least she stopped torturing hi away Contrarily he held on to her and after a ainst hiony, but she felt so good, soft and warm and

‘Sale word and the answer shivered through her, like a silver ripple on the surface of the Nile ‘Let’s go home’

Home He hadn’t meant to use that word The only home he could remember aside from Poppy’s was the home he’d temporarily created for Jacob Too short and too bittersweet for him to even realise that hat it was until death destroyed it He’d never expected to have one again But Sam deserved the home she so obviously yearned for

‘We need a house of our own,’ he ainst her hair

She began to turn, herhis, but he ht now all he cared about was getting her into bed He could even make do without the bed

Inside the carriage he watched the streets flow past, trying to think about his nextRafe and not the way his hands itched to pull Sam to him He’d set out on this journey to find Rafe, not a wife If he’d been a little swifter he ht even have come across Rafe in Meroe and would have put an end to this uncertainty But then he would not have found hiain None of this would have happened He ht have found Rafe, but still been lost himself in a world without an ounce of passion

Until he’d reached Qetara he’d hardly paid attention to his passage through Egypt He’d not stopped for a moment to sink into the world he’d known better than any other, as if stopping to s and the almost-cinnamon scent of the desert dust would act on him like laudanu but duty and fear At least until he ca at the skies like a houri and she’d begun to subvert his life once more

Then his rusty innards were kicked into s, too, weren’t they? And lust At the moment it felt more like cataclysmic earthquake No—earthquakes didn’t burn like this A volcano, perhaps

Sa away under the surface and threatening to upend everything

‘Did Pettifer h his thoughts and he turned to her, grateful for the distraction

‘I don’t know No, he didn’t Rafe is a law unto hiht now I can’t make sense of them and that worries me—more than worries me Rafe cut off all ties with our parents when he was practically still a boy and other than his valet Birdie I may be the only person who cares what happens to hih the worst days ofof me and that is precisely why I need to see hiht appearobsessive or even quixotic to you, but if there is even a chance that he is in trouble and needs me’

Sa it between hers

‘It doesn’t appear obsessive tois wrong but not being able to put your finger on it is worse than knowing precisely what is wrong At least if you knew that, you could take action’