Page 5 of The Guardian's Promise

Ari appreciated the change of subject, but he would rather convince Caleb that he had not singled the child king out when it came to teaching God’s laws. However, Ari could tell Caleb was done speaking on the subject. “Sh’mira has just gone that way.”

She would not approve of her father walking so far from his bed.

“Has she, now?” Caleb’s feet hesitated and then he smiled before resuming. “Let us see what my child has to say, today.”

The corners of Ari’s mouth lifted. Mira’s tongue could be viperous when she was in a good mood. Given the way she had left him only moments before, her mood was far from joyous. He should at least try and deter his master from a confrontation with his daughter.

“You should allow Leah to tend you, adon.” Ari grasped his master’s arm and assisted him along the cobbled pathway. Caleb’s tunic dragged along the stones.

“Bah, I may be old, but I can still walk outside of my walls. Even if my daughter thinks otherwise.”

Ari halted the chuckle in his chest. His master sounded much like his daughter. “The heat is heavy. Look.” He swiped beads of moisture from his forehead.

Caleb laughed. “Then maybe it is you whom Leah should tend to.”

Having learned long ago that his master was as stubborn as two oxen with full bellies, Ari chose to keep quiet.

Caleb glanced at Ari, his eyes filled with emotion. “If you choose to stay as my son, you are most welcome.”

His heart swelled at Caleb’s affection. “I am honored and blessed by your offer.”

He gazed toward Jerusalem. His deception made him unworthy of such an honor. Until he received word, he would not be free to make his own decisions. Although, he wouldn’t mind staying. Caleb’s family had become like his own. But it was not up to him. Resigned to continue his trust in the Lord, he nodded. “If the Lord wills it.”

“There are many who would think my daughter cursed because of her maimed fingers and scarred hand and thus wish not to marry her, not even for the price of my land, but you, my friend, you treat her with respect and kindness. You would care for her with or without my legacy.”

His heart clogged in his throat. He had only moments before entertained thoughts of a union     with Mira, if only to keep her from a wicked marriage with Esha, the drunkard. However, with the words spoken aloud by her father, he knew it impossible. “I treat all the same, adon. As God would have it.”

Caleb’s breathing became labored as they crested the hill. “I understand. You must have family somewhere.”

Ari shrugged his shoulders. What was he to say? The truth would bring more questions. Caleb might be aged, but he was not addle minded.

“Abba.”

Mira. The sound of her soft lilt rolled along the cobbled stones and banded around his heart. Ari lifted his head and locked his gaze on her. She did not sound, nor look, as if she’d just been accosted by armed men with evil intentions. Instead, she sat on the edge of the well at the bottom of the hill, her posture elegant, graceful. Like the purest of waters cascading over the contours of lifeless rocks, she brightened the mundane and turned the barren landscape around her into a breathtaking oasis.

Had Caleb’s offer cemented her into his thoughts and turned him into a poet? Or was it his fear for her life, the need to protect her?

Respect and kindness was not enough to spend an eternity together, not when he wanted the love his parents shared. What Caleb and Leah had, too. Besides, even if he could be swayed to marry Mira, she did not like him much.

“Allow me to give you a piece of wisdom.” Caleb chuckled. “Nothing puts the fear of the Lord in a man more than seeing his daughter, whether it is seeing her for the first time upon her birth, or seeing her now, knowing her rebuke, though meant with every breath of her love, will flay my bare flesh like a whip.”

His master actually looked as if he had paled at the sight of his daughter. Ari felt pale himself, but it had nothing to do with fear of her tongue and everything to do with how she had begun to make him feel. She made the air seem freer, lighter. She brought out his protective instincts. At the same time, she drove him mad with confusion. And that alone was enough to reject his master’s offer, if one were to officially come. However, if Mira showed any amount of willingness...

“Save me, will you?”

Ari laughed. “Of course, adon.” But who was going to save him from being shackled with a contentious wife if he couldn’t remove the madness plaguing him where Mira was concerned.

Chapter Three

“You have eyes for the slave, now?” Rubiel asked. “He is not for you.”