The Guardian's Promise. Christina RichЧитать онлайн книгу.
Caleb’s soft tones skidded over Ari’s heart. Caleb had been all that was kind, and Ari would stay if God willed it. However, his life was not his own. Until he was released from his vow, his life belonged only to the Lord and his duty to protect the child.
“I know not whence you came or why or what choice you will make when it is time to release you.”
At this moment, Ari himself did not know if he would leave, or choose to remain bound to Caleb. The choice was not up to him, but God.
Caleb wrapped his fingers around Ari’s wrist. “I am an old man, Ari. I have come to think of you with great fondness.”
“As I you, adon,” Ari assured. Caleb had been like a father and Leah like a mother. While the affection he felt for them could never compare to his love for his own parents, he had grown to love them deeply. His years spent in the temple had blessed him with discipline, but garnered little, if any, affection outside his family’s travels to Jerusalem.
Caleb’s dark eyes pierced his. “Please. Allow me to finish. You have worked much harder than all my servants. Yet, I know,” he tapped his fist against his chest, “you are no man’s servant.”
No. Ari belonged to no man, only to the Lord.
“I do not know your quest or what lies ahead. You are a great teacher, Ariel, and should be teaching God’s laws.”
Ari thrust his fingers through his hair. Had Caleb discovered the truth?
He had never told Caleb about his past or the reasons he had sold himself as a servant. His master had never asked. If he did, Ari would not lie. But he could not, would not, confide in his master about his true mission.
“Do not worry over much, Ari. Perhaps, I assume incorrectly. You have a gift.” Caleb paused briefly. “You teach young Joash well the ways of the Lord. Ways not many are blessed with.”
Rising from the bench, Ari rolled his shoulders. His years of training for temple guard had never prepared him for the battle waging within his heart. Although Caleb’s assumptions were wrong, he was too close to the truth.
“I have taught all who were willing to listen to God’s law.”
Caleb nodded. “Yes, and as I said, a fine teacher you are, too. However, I cannot help but think your teachings are purely for the boy’s benefit.”
“You are mistaken. The boy is an eager learner, but,” Ari said, shaking his head, “it is for my benefit just as much as any.” In this he did not lie. Sharing the law kept him from forgetting the words written on his heart, for when he left Jerusalem, he had left most everything behind. His temple duties, his home...even his ambitions had been left in the tunnels beneath Jerusalem when their queen went on her murdering rampage, seeking to destroy her husband’s heirs, King David’s descendants.
“I mean no offense.” Caleb rose from the cut stone. “Come. It is hot. Let us get a drink from the well.”
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.”
Mira dipped her head to hide the blushing of her cheeks at her sister’s words. It had not been the first time she’d watched