Read Online The Healer's Warrior by Renee Lewin - Free Book Online Page B

entered his room.
    “The girl—”
    “She is Lady Jem’ya to you,” he corrected.
    Her lips parted to comment but she stopped herself. “Yes, Prince Tareq. Lady Jem’ya refuses to eat and she will not speak.”
    Tareq went immediately to the cellar, by way of the palace’s long hallways and winding stairs. Jem’ya was sitting on the bed mat with her back against the wall in the lamp-lit room. Her knees were drawn to her chest and her tired eyes were focused on the ground. “I hear you will not eat,” Tareq said from the gate.
    Jem’ya was silent.
    “I see it is also true that you refuse to speak.”
    Jem’ya closed her eyes.
    Tareq folded his hands behind his back, squaring his shoulders. “You won’t talk, but you can listen. There are some things I need you to understand, Jem’ya.” Tareq retold the events at Tikso , of how he’d been searching for the Cambe rebels when he came across her village, how he’d told his men to be calm but that one of his soldiers disobeyed him, causing the needless battle.
    “My father is dying,” he continued. “He has always been irrational and petty, but more so now that he is bitter over his failing health. I was worried he would be angry that your people fought us instead of surrendering, and would decide to annex Tikso as punishment. That’s the reason I ordered some of your tribesmen be brought to Samhia as slaves, in hopes it would quiet the King. It will not be long before they are free again. In case the King still sets his sights on your village, I had your parents brought to Eulid . So, please understand that I never wanted any of this.”
    Jem’ya opened her eyes but her gaze remained on the ground. “And what about me? Why am I here, Tareq, hidden in the dark beneath this castle that was built on the backs of slaves and is maintained on the shoulders of the poor?” She met his gaze.
    “To keep you safe.”
    “I could be safe with my parents in Eulid . I could be protected by my uncles, half-brothers and cousins in Tikso . Why. am . I. here , Tareq?”
    Tareq hid his anxiety with a mask of irritation. “To keep you safe,” he repeated with more force.
    Jem’ya saw the uneasiness in Tareq’s hazel eyes. “You are a murderer and a liar,” she stated. She looked away and closed her eyes again.
    Tareq chewed at his bottom lip and watched her a while, but he could not reveal the answer to her question.
    She did not speak or eat anything the next day, or the next. Each day, though Jem’ya refused to look at him, Tareq went down to the cellar to apologize again for the battle of Tikso , to tell her that her parents were well, and to encourage her to eat. He had Bahja bring heaping plates of the most delicious meals, but Jem’ya only drank some water and turned away from the food. Each day, Tareq grew more worried. He watched her begin to sleep most of the day. Her hunger made her toss and turn in her sleep. She barely moved at all when she was awake, and when she did her movement was shaky and sluggish.
    Panic and anger intensified within Tareq as he watched her torture herself. He feared that yelling at her would cause her to withdraw further into her stubbornness, so he continued to be gentle. Tareq thought of drugging her and forcing food down her throat, but he could not bring himself to do that to her or to order someone else to complete such a wretched task.
    On the fourth day of Jem’ya’s hunger strike, Tareq went to the cellar and saw her curled up on the bed mat. He watched her side rising and falling as she breathed. Then he heard a faint whisper he wasn’t sure was real or imagined. “Jem’ya?” he called. She didn’t stir. Tareq raised his voice. “Jem’ya?”
    He heard the whispering again, a little louder, desperately calling his name. It was her. Tareq unlocked the gate and went inside.
    Jem’ya didn’t move. She remained curled up and facing the wall on her bed mat. “Tareq? T-Tareq?” she breathed.
    Tareq knelt beside her