Chapter Fourteen
Qadim glanced up at the sun and frowned. Madison had sworn to him that her errand shouldn’t take her more than an hour or an hour and a half at the very most, and yet he knew more time than that had passed. He’d been hard at work, planting trees so they might form a pleasant border to the pond he’d created the day before, and so had lost some sense of how long it had been since she left. But the sun was telling him now that at least two hours had gone by, probably more.
Scowling, he turned back toward the hotel. Perhaps she had returned, but had gone straight there rather than disturb him at his work. He would have preferred that she check in with him. Better that she had been heedless, however, when compared to the alternative.
“Madison?” he called out as he entered th
