Free The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Thornton

young boy I’d once made a promise to under the stars, and I drew a deep breath, knowing that this decision could only be my own. “I’ve decided to keep my promise,” I said.
    Temujin’s eyes sparked, sudden flecks of silver in the gray. “Does that mean you’ll become my wife?”
    He didn’t need my consent, only my father’s, but perhaps Temujin was more considerate than I gave him credit for. I could only nod my answer—the words were too heavy to speak again—but Temujin gave a sudden whoop of joy and lifted me to my feet, spinning us around until I was laughing with him.
    He kissed me then, a kiss full of impatience for life. My body responded against my will, and I recalled the power this man had possessed even as a child, the ability to draw people to him. I wondered for a moment if perhaps he had managed to cast that net over me, but the heady pleasure at being wanted eclipsed my worry.
    Then Temujin broke the kiss and looked at me with a new emotion in his eyes. It took me a moment to recognize the desire there, laid bare for all to see. “Jamuka was right when he said I’d be lucky to win you a second time,” he murmured.
    I stiffened at the mention of Jamuka, but Temujin didn’t notice.
    “I am indeed blessed by the Eternal Blue Sky and the Golden Light of the Sun,” he said, cupping my face as if I was something precious. “Today I gain not only a wise and beautiful wife, but also an alliance with the greatest khan on the steppes.”
    Temujin stood to gain all. And yet I wondered if perhaps there was much we might still lose.
    *   *   *
    We lingered only until the new moon, an auspicious occasion for new beginnings, but scarcely enough time to prepare for the new life that awaited me. Although the ground under our feet changed as we migrated with the seasons, my mother’s
ger
was the only home I’d ever known. Now I was to leave it behind, a thought that made my hands tremble and forced the air from my lungs.
    My mother would travel with us, but my father was too ill to manage the entire journey. He would turn back at the river border of our spring camp, returning to our empty
ger
and the colts Temujin had offered as my bride-price. I breathed deeply of the woodsmoke of my father’s soul, memorizing each wrinkle of his face and the flecks of copper in his eyes.
    “
Bayartai
, Borte Ujin,” my father said.
    Good-bye.
    Those words were uttered only when someone was dying or leaving on a journey from which they would never return. We both knew this was the last time we would be together until we greeted each other on the crest of the sacred mountains. Suddenly it was difficult to swallow.
    “You have made me proud every day since you fell from your mother’s womb,” he continued, pressing his wrinkled forehead to mine. “You’ll make me prouder still in the days to come.”
    He released me then, inclining his head to the man standing a respectful distance behind me. “Take care of her,” he said to Temujin, offering him a single feathered arrow, carved by his own hands and symbolic of the fact that Temujin would be head of my family now.
    “I will.” Temujin clasped the quarrel to his heart and held out his hand for me. I lingered for a moment, longing for nothing more than to remain in the protective circle of my father’s arms.
    But we all must face our futures. I squeezed my father’s hand one final time and turned to the man who would become my husband, lifting my eyes to the east and the new life that awaited me.

Chapter 5
    W e traveled with Temujin and his men for many days, my mother and I falling exhausted into our bedrolls each night and rising with the sun every morning. This was a stark land, where winter ice still covered the Sengur River, the forests were mere clumps of trees, and the grasses became more sparse the closer we traveled to Temujin’s homeland. We arrived to find the
gers
of his clan nestled at the base of the Burgi cliff, close enough to the river