The Dove (Prophecy Series) by Sharon Sala Page B

warrior.
    Yuma nodded his approval, then winked as the boy laughed and ran off. Yuma shifted his load to a more comfortable position and started toward the palace with Tyhen hanging upside down, laughing hysterically.
     
    ****
     
    After making the changes to Tyhen’s room, Singing Bird tried to focus on something else, but to no avail. She took a piece of fruit out to her bench near the entrance overlooking the city below. It was one of her favorite places to rest. She began peeling back the skin with her fingers and took a small bite, but the taste didn’t tempt her and began feeding it to the tiny monkeys who came down from the trees. Usually, they made her laugh, but not today. Instead, she took a deep, shuddering breath, swallowing past the knot in her throat as she gazed down into the city, then realized she couldn’t see for the tears.
    “Why, Niyol, why? Why didn’t you warn me this would happen? Wasn’t what we lost to Firewalker enough? You were a greedy messenger of death, taking my only child, too. I hate you! I will hate you with every breath in my body for the rest of my life.”
    Cayetano walked up behind her in time to hear her angry vow and quickly sat down beside her. The monkeys scampered back up into the trees as he took her in his arms.
    “No, Singing Bird, no. Listen to what you say. It was hate that began all of this, remember?”
    She covered her face and began to sob. Her voice was trembling, her shoulders shaking with every breath. “I don’t know how to give her up.”
    Every sob was like a knife in Cayetano’s heart, and a reminder that all of this turmoil fell back on him and what he’d done so long ago. He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, then tighter still.
    “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, my little bird. Forgive me. Please forgive me.”
    It was the utter sorrow in his voice that pulled Singing Bird back from the edge. She began wiping away her tears as she turned to face him.
    “There is nothing to forgive and it is long since over. It was just a moment of weakness and I let it in. I beg your forgiveness. This is not how the wife of the chief of Naaki Chava should behave.”
    He took her hands and kissed them both and then placed them on his chest. “What can I do to make you happy?” he asked.
    In the moment of silence before she spoke, they suddenly realized there was more than the usual amount of noise coming from the heart of the city. They stood up and looked down the road toward the marketplace.
    “What is happening down there?” she asked.
    Cayetano pointed. “There! Someone is running!”
    Singing Bird gasped. “It’s Tyhen! Something must be wrong!”
    Cayetano panicked. Where were the guards? Where was Yuma? And the moment he thought the name, he saw the man running behind her.
    “Yuma is behind her,” Cayetano said. “See! It’s only Yuma.”
    Singing Bird’s anxiety subsided. Whatever was happening, he wasn’t far behind.
    Then the closer they came, the more certain Cayetano became that nothing was wrong. When she started up the slope toward the palace, he could see she was laughing.
    “They are racing!” Cayetano said. “See! See! She’s laughing.”
    Singing Bird went weak with relief and grabbed Cayetano’s arm.
    “And he just caught her,” Singing Bird said.
    When Tyhen turned and threw herself into Yuma’s arms, Singing Bird felt a moment of surprise, and when Yuma threw her over his shoulder, Singing Bird looked up at her husband and then looked away. Maybe it was because she was a woman and saw beneath the obvious, but there was more to that race than speed.
    She didn’t want to be a witness to what was happening between the boy she’d saved, and the girl she’d born. They didn’t need her anymore. Her job now was to come to terms with it.
    “I want to go inside now,” she said.
    He was confused, thinking she would be curious as to what started the race. “But don’t you want to—?”
    “No, I don’t think they need us.