by S A Monk
What mattered most to both of them was that they be together. They needed to begin new lives, and they had become part of this land in the East. They had been born part of it. They could adapt. Gabrielle was more than ready to follow the rest of the path the Lord had set before her. It held infinite possibilities and unrelenting love for her. It was the right thing to do. She had prayed hard for guidance and believed it was God’s will. She felt it in her heart.
She looked to Lucien and saw the agreement in his dark brown eyes. He covered their clasped hands with his free one and turned to the emir. “We would both be happy to accept your invitation. It is most generous.”
Muzaffar al Din Gökböri smiled broadly. “Then we will be on our way within a sennight. Lord Saladin has released me to go home, knowing of my deepest desire to do so after many years at his side.” Standing, he clasped Lucien’s forearm as he too rose from the divan. “We will both know peace and fight no more, Lucien de Aubric. By God and Allah’s wish, will it be so.” The three walked to the entrance of the sitting room. “Move your belongings back into the palace, into the rooms that have been set aside for my temporary residence. It will be safer, and it will allow us to be ready to leave at the same time.” In the archway, his brown tunic rustled in the breeze as he turned to Gabrielle. “Tell our good friend Hazir that he and his family are welcome to come to us in Irbil if he wished it. He has done much for all three of us.”
“He has,” Gabrielle agreed. “One last request, father,” she ventured. “What will become of the orphan children left at the Hospitaller compound? I was in the process of making arrangements for adoption by families in Damascus.”
“Lord Saladin has already sent a large group on their way with an armed escort and several representatives who are familiar with your arrangements. The rest will remain here, under the care of our people. Rest assured that they will take as good as care of them as you have, daughter. Allah, himself, will bless you for what you have done for his little ones.”
Gabrielle looked to Lucien with a loving smile. “I believe he already has.”
Lucien concurred and tightened his arm around her waist. When the general left, he stepped back into the shadows of the room with her and bent his head to kiss the woman who had delivered him from all his disillusionment and loneliness. With his arms wrapped tightly around her, he vowed he would always be her protector.
THE END
