Lion's Bride - 01 - Lion's Bride by Iris Johansen

Author:Iris Johansen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance fiction, Historical, General, Romance, Historical fiction, Istanbul (Turkey), Fiction
ISBN: 9780553569902
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Published: 1996-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

The silk was beautiful, shimmering with a pearl-like luminosity on her standing frame.

Thea always loved this moment of anticipation before she began. Soon glowing stitches of color would unfurl on that silken canvas. Her stitches, her design. She reluctantly turned away from the silk, sat down at the table, and picked up her pen.

But what design?

She closed her eyes and emptied her mind of everything around her. Ware. Think of Ware.

She could hear the sound of birds in the trees below her window, the soft rush of wind.

Or was it the whisper?

Not yet. Soon.

Ware. Ware's banner.

She opened her eyes and began to sketch. It came slowly at first, and then faster. No doubt. No hesitation. Soon every stroke of the pen came with absolute certainty. The picture in her mind was so clear, she could see every detail.

Strange, it had never been this clear before...

* * *

"You must eat," Jasmine said from the doorway.

"Later." Thea drew the gold thread through the silk.

"Now. You've not eaten at all today." Jasmine closed the door. "And only scraps for the last three days. You'll become ill."

"No, I won't."

"And Selene says you don't sleep."

"Of course I sleep." She wished the woman would go away. The gold was dazzling against the creamy silk, and she felt a rush of pleasure. Every stitch brought her that same deep satisfaction and anticipation.

"Not much." Jasmine crossed the room and stood in front of the loom. "I'm not sure I wish to learn this skill if it drives one out of one's senses."

"I'm not out of my senses. I'm working."

Jasmine snorted. "All the hours of the day and night."

"I want to finish the banner so we can go to Damascus."

"You'll not finish it at all if you go blind from working by that dim candlelight."

Even working by candlelight hadn't damaged the quality of the work. Every morning when Thea examined the embroidery, every stitch done the night before was perfect. She bent forward and guided the needle through the silk.

"You're not listening to me," Jasmine said.

"Leave the tray. I'll eat later." She scarcely heard Jasmine leave the chamber. Another silken stitch, another rush of intense pleasure.

The design was growing, coming alive beneath her needle.

* * *

"Thea?" Selene whispered. "Please come to bed."

"Not yet."

Selene sighed and settled down on the floor beside Thea's stool. "I'll be glad when you're finished. I've never seen you like this."

"I want it to be beautiful. It's got to be beautiful."

"If Lord Ware were here, he would not permit you to suffer like this for his sake."

Suffer? Thea almost laughed aloud. Working on the banner was as far from suffering as could be imagined. It was like living in a beautiful dream and working to make that dream even more true and shining. "Lord Ware is not here?"

Selene shook her head. "He and Kadar left four days ago."

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know. But Kadar said he'd be back within two weeks' time."

Oh, well, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the complexity of the pattern, the tightness of the stitches.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.