Sophia moved close in the lamplight outside the entrance of the merchant's house and looked up at him, her eyes large and solemn. "Nothing but you matters to me. Come back to me."
Daoud still wished he could convince her that she had nothing to fear. But that was foolish. She knew all too well that there was much to fear.
"I don't want you to be frightened," he said.
"I will try not to be."
"I will come back." There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much he realized now he had not said about how he loved her as he had never loved another woman in his life since—
Since his mother.
They were two people who had been utterly alone in the world, who had both lost everyone precious to them. All they truly had was each other.
Oh, God, let me come back to her. I ask this not for my happiness, but for hers.
"I know I will see you again." She smiled suddenly. "Can you find your way to me?"
He looked up at the building and then at the street. Bulking large against the stars was the huge square shape of an arch, which had been built over a thousand years ago, he was told, by a Roman general to commemorate his conquest of Jerusalem.