It was late and most of Serevan slept, except for the handful of guards in the watchtowers. Juliet began walking along the wall, distantly grateful for the cooling breeze and the sense of openness. The night was beautiful, the light of a waxing moon silvering the rugged hills, but dramatic scenery was no antidote for a dark night of the soul.
From the western side of the fortress she could see the hills drop down toward the Kara Kum, whose sands then rolled off to Bokhara. Dully she turned away, not wanting to think of all that had happened since the last time she had paced these walls.
As she began walking again, she saw that someone else was out prowling the night. When she first saw the tall bareheaded figure leaning against the parapet, her heart gave a lurch of fear that it might be Ross. Then the man heard her footsteps and glanced in her direction. Ian.
In the week since his rescue from the Black Well, they had scarcely talked at all, and not just because the arduous desert journey had not been conducive to casual conversation. Her brother's imprisonment seemed to have changed him in some fundamental way. He had turned inward so much that it was difficult to remember the exuberance that had once been his most notable characteristic.
Considering what he had endured, such change was not surprising. Yet now he was almost a stranger and she was unsure how to talk to him. Though the last thing she wanted was company, he'd seen her and she couldn't turn away.
With some reluctance she joined him, hoping that the darkness would conceal the marks of distress on her face. The moonlight was bright enough to show that her brother looked much better: relaxed, shaved, and with his hair trimmed to European length. "Quite an improvement," she remarked.
"Amazing what solid sleep, a good meal, and a visit to the bathhouse will do for one's mind and body," he said as he turned to face her.
She gestured at his right eye, which was now covered by a neat black patch. "Very dashing."
"I don't know about that, but at least I won't frighten any small children." Absently he fingered the eyepatch. "This happened when the amir's men tried to beat a confession of espionage out of me. The other eye was injured at the same time, but it healed without permanent damage."
"Thank God for that," she said fervently. "You were lucky."
"So I was. Losing the sight in one eye is a nuisance, but losing both would be a disaster." He turned back to the wall and gazed out toward the desert. "In a fortnight or so, I should be ready to go down to the Persian Gulf and take ship back to India."
Juliet frowned, not wanting him to go before they had a chance to make up for some of the lost years. "There's no need to rush—you can stay as long as you like."
She poked his ribs with a gentle forefinger. "I'd like to fatten you up. Also, Mother is waiting in Constantinople for Ross to return. She swore she wouldn't go home until he came back safely. At this season, it would take only a few weeks for you to go there and she'd be ecstatic to see you. Your survival will confirm her maternal intuition that you hadn't died."
'"For once, her instincts were right." Ian smiled a little, the pale moonlight illuminating his thin face. "I'd like to see her, but I can't take that much time. Remember, I'm an army officer and must return to duty and report on what happened. Besides, I have... other obligations in India."
"I'm sorry, I forgot that Ross said you were engaged. Tell me what your fiancée is like."
"Georgina?" He hesitated. "Beautiful and charming. Blond hair and blue eyes. Her father's a colonel, so she'll make a wonderful army wife. She always knows exactly what to say and do." After another pause he added, "She was the most sought-after girl in northern India."
Depressingly, her future sister-in-law sounded like the sort of female who would disapprove of Juliet. "Will Georgina and I like each other?"
"Well, I don't think you will dislike each other." Ian shook his head, then braced taut hands on the top of the stone wall as he said with sudden frustration, "Every day in that damned hellhole I thought of Georgina. She became a symbol of everything clean and sane and whole—of everything I was afraid that I would never feel again. Yet in my mind, her face is a blur. I can't even remember what she looks like."
"That's hardly surprising, considering that almost two years have passed since you saw her," Juliet said soothingly. "India must seem distant and dreamlike now, but when you return to your old life, everything will fall into place."
"I don't know if I can return to my old life," he said, his voice low and bleak. "Everything I believed in has been broken, and I don't know if the pieces will go back together again."