Free Amongst Silk and Spice by Camille Oster Page A

right?"
    She didn't answer, instead looked down at her new shoes, crunching the gravel of the road as they walked down the length of the hill with the countless caves.  Her silence was answer enough.
    They would claim one of those caves tonight, but first they had to eat, and Hugo guided them toward a food seller with tables and chairs.
    "As I said, their lives are very structured, and admittedly, I am perhaps not well suited for it," she said after a while.
    "Perhaps all this travel has made you restless—unsuited to marriage and the life of a good wife."
    Surprisingly, she didn't argue, instead turning her attention to the food seller and tying up her camel to a tree next to the tent. They claimed one of the tables and Hugo waved at the man whose origin he couldn't determine to bring something over. Two bowls came with meat and vegetables in broth, accompanied with wooden spoons and sticks. As he watched, Eloise nimbly used the sticks to guide morsels into the spoon, but his fingers were too large and clumsy for the sticks.
    The sun was setting and a small lamp was hung from the center of the tent by the time they finished. The air cooled quickly with the setting of the sun and he could see Eloise shivering in her dress, which was never meant for the cold nights of the desert. "We should go," he said and again she didn't argue. Perhaps she had accepted the fact that she was returning to England.
    Sand was encroaching into one cave-opening set into the base of the hill and they tied up their camels and walked inside the pitch-black space. Taking the lamp and the bottle of oil out of his satchel, Hugo filled the lamp and ground a spark to ignite the wick. Defuse light from the lamp filled the cave, showing paintings of the idolater's god on the walls.
    The cave was cool and its floor covered with soft sand, which would make a nicer sleeping place than the hard stone of the other caves, making this uncared-for cave a better resting place for travelers.
    Eloise returned outside and unstrapped her blankets from the camel, while Hugo went farther and gathered firewood. He returned to light the fire, then tended to the camels, feeding and watering them for the night.
    Light shone out of the large monastery and a few of the caves, but darkness encompassed everything. But tonight they wouldn't be sleeping under the starts, which sparkled in their countless thousands in the clear sky of the desert.
    When he returned to the cave, Eloise was sitting by the fire on her blankets, her feet bare and crossed ahead of her. His attention was drawn to her shapely ankles again, white now in contrast to her deep red dress. It was still an unusual dress, made for warmer climes and a radically different culture. The arms were bare under the shawl and he could he could see the outline of the dress’ neckline underneath.
    "What does my father want with me?" she said, drawing his attention away from her exposed skin.
    Hugo shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Maybe he seeks an alliance by marrying you off." It was the only logical thing he could think of.
    "And what if you found me married already?"
    "I'm not sure he would recognize such a marriage—unless it was to an English nobleman."
    Eloise snorted. "He didn't recognize his own marriage, so why would he mine?" She rearranged her skirt, accidentally showing a bit more of her legs in the process. She seemed unaware of it. "I will not marry for him, and he cannot make me. I refuse to acknowledge his claim on me and if he presses the issue, I have legal gravity to my side."
    "You would defy your father?"
    "He's not my father. You remember the circumstances of that development, I recall. You were, after all, the one who initially informed me."
    Hugo sought out her eyes, seeing how much she disliked him—she always had. Her lips were set in a tight line and her head held high—exactly like she had been when she was twelve. He chuckled, then rose to place another few sticks of kindling on the fire.