Zaya was waiting with her arms crossed when Norjin stepped out of Batu’s office.

  “What was that about?” she asked.

  “You know perfectly well,” Norjin replied. “As if Batu would summon me without speaking to you first.”

  He started walking. Zaya matched his pace.

  “So you accepted?”

  “What other choice did I have?”

  “What’s wrong with you?” Zaya teased. “You’re in a foul mood.”

  Suddenly, Norjin pulled her into a corner.

  “Protect me?” he snapped. “Do you really think an envoy demanding submission from the enemy will be welcomed? It’s too dangerous.”

  “And who agreed to take on that dangerous role?” Zaya shot back.

  Anger flashed across her eyes, then vanished as quickly as it had come. She let her index finger trail over the front of Norjin’s deel. Her long lashes lowered, hiding her eyes from him.

  “I want to be with you,” she said softly. “In sickness and in health.”

  Norjin slipped an arm around her waist and rested his chin on her head. Her body fit easily within his arms. Simply holding her like this brought an inexplicable calm.

  “I saw your ritual,” he said. “It may sound like an excuse, but I never meant to.”

  Zaya lifted her face and met his eyes. He wasn’t lying. He was offering a sincere apology.

  “I understand. It’s fine,” she said. “The tribe accepts you. You’re one of us now. If one of us has to go somewhere dangerous, we’ll all protect you.”

  Her finger moved in a slow circle from his chest to his shoulder.

  “Zaya.”

  “So keep that in mind.”

  Her finger traced the edge of his collar.

  “Zaya, stop.”

  She didn’t. From his collar she traced the line of his jaw to his chin. Norjin turned his face away.

  “Zaya, don’t provoke me,” he said, aware that his voice had gone hoarse. He couldn’t stop her.

  “You can stop me,” she said lightly. “If you take your hand off my waist.”

  Startled, Norjin immediately pulled his hand away.

  “Never do that again,” he warned, careful not to let her hear how close he was to losing his breath.

  “Coward,” Zaya said. “You started this. Don’t regret it now.”

  She turned her back on him and headed for the tent entrance.

  She’s finally stepped into the ring.

  A shiver ran through Norjin at the thought of the fight to come.

  “You did this before,” Ehau said as he fitted Norjin with armor altered to his size, inside the tent where Norjin was staying.

  “It didn’t end well,” Norjin replied. “Last time, it cost me more than I expected.”

  He’d worn it once already and understood the structure of the tribe’s armor. He accepted each piece Ehau handed him and secured it without hesitation. Ehau guided his arms into position and fastened the gauntlets, then stepped back to inspect the whole.

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  Norjin slipped a finger under the collar and adjusted it himself.

  “Anything too tight? Anywhere it rubs?” Ehau asked. “If there is, we’ll fix it today.”

  “It’s fine. No problems.”

  “Good. We’ll leave it like this. Tomorrow, you put it on yourself.”

  Ehau handed the felt bag that had held the armor to an attendant.

  “Don’t wear a padded deel under it,” he added. “The armor lining’s warm enough. Sweat too much and you’ll freeze instead.”

  “Understood,” Norjin said, checking the fit one last time.

  Zaya stood.

  “Finished? Then I’ll help you take it off. You can’t sleep in that.”

  Ehau and the attendant fled the tent at once.

  “You’re joking,” Norjin muttered, not looking at her, though he felt heat rise through him. Fighting to keep control, he began removing the armor.

  “Hands,” Zaya ordered. “You can’t take the gauntlets off by yourself.”

  Norjin obediently held them out. Zaya’s fingers slid along the leather.

  “Zaya. Please.”

  At the pleading edge in his voice, she relented, loosening the straps and setting the armor aside. Norjin exhaled in relief and began considering how to put a proper distance between them.

  “Norjin.”

  Just hearing his name made him want to push her down. How is she even made of this?

  “Why did you decide to take such a risk?” Zaya asked. “I thought once the campaign began, you’d head east—back to Karakorum.”

  “No,” he said reflexively.

  At his reply, Zaya sprang into him. She pressed her body close, reached up to stroke his cheek, brushed his ear, pinched his earlobe. Her eyes glistened as she looked at him and undid the buttons at her collar. The neckline loosened, revealing the hollow at her collarbone.

  “Zaya, stop.”

  She ignored him completely, wrapping her arms around his back and pressing her chest against him, whispering with a smile.

  “You don’t have to hold back.”

  That was his limit. The arms he meant to use to pull her away instead gathered her in. Zaya eased back slowly.

  Norjin let his lips trace her neck. How long he’d wanted this.

  “You understand, don’t you?” he murmured near her ear.

  “Since I met you, I haven’t touched another woman.”

  Zaya’s heartbeat quickened. She swallowed, took his hand, and gently placed it against her chest.

  “Zaya.”

  Norjin pulled her close and buried his face in the nape of her neck, breathing her in.

  “Poor Norjin,” Zaya said softly. She smiled, stroked his head, threaded her fingers into his hair, and drew him closer.

  Norjin tugged the ties at her shoulder loose. Her chest was bared. With trembling fingers he untied his own deel, shrugging it off. Zaya, gasping, reached around his back and pulled at his clothes as well. Her hands tightened against his warm, damp skin. Eyes closed, she arched her neck as if begging for his touch.

  “Norjin.”

  “Zaya… Zaya. I love you.”

  The words leapt from his mouth—and Norjin froze. Slowly, he pulled away and stood.

  “Norjin?” Zaya rose halfway, staring at him.

  Sliding his shoulders back into his half-removed deel, Norjin looked down at her, gave an easy, composed smile, and left the tent without another word.

  Zaya lay there, breathing hard, staring at her hands as they shook with desire.

  To walk out like that—now.

  “What restraint,” she murmured.

  Pulling her loosened deel closed, tears spilled on their own.

  “I’m an idiot,” she whispered. “Thinking I could bring a man like that down with something like this.”

  Outside, Norjin couldn’t stay on his feet either. His legs gave out and he sank down, breathing hard.

  “Idiot,” he muttered. “What the hell am I doing?”

  He buried his face in his hands.

  Dawn in the Ili Valley was still cold. Breath from men, horses, and livestock rose like white mist. Ten thousand Mongol cavalry stood assembled. Hooves thundered against the earth; armor rang in rolling waves. Blue, white, black—war banners snapping against the sky. And among them, the red banner of Zaya’s force, like sunlit clay.

  Beneath that banner stood both Zaya and Norjin.

  Since then, Norjin had not come to her tent. When Zaya became assertive, men tended to flee from her.

  Norjin rode close enough that their knees nearly touched—yet he refused to meet her eyes, staring straight ahead. Zaya couldn’t bring herself to look at him either; she kept her gaze lowered, fixed on the reins in her hands. Seeing this, Ehau quietly drew his horse back a step.

  Batu, mounted on a horse with black fur draped over its shoulders and silver fittings on its saddle, raised his hand.

  “Advance!”

  A horn blared. The horses moved, slow at first, then faster. Like wolves leaping for prey, the Mongol army surged westward.