I had thought Mahmood prone to exaggeration, but this was exactly what he said would happen.
"Where do we go from here?" I asked the princess in a choked voice.
"I don't know." She sounded ready to cry. "I … I used to come here to … hide." She sank down into a sit and hugged her knees to her chest.
Double shit. We were trapped. If someone started this place on fire, there wasn't anywhere for us to go.
I paced the length of the short crawlspace before determining we had a better chance of facing the Mongols than navigating the steep rooftops of the small palace we were on.
I sat beside her and sighed. I had no idea what to do next, unless it was possible to wait out the fighting like Mahmood had suggested to face the Mongols on our terms. If such a possibility existed with an army whose motto was submit or die.
The thought of watching Mahmood die made me sick to my stomach. He had known his fate and seemed okay with it, but it didn't help me deal with it any better. It took all my willpower not to vomit and instead, I concentrated on surviving the night with a kid I knew nothing about.
"What's your name?" I asked her.
"Rabiyah."
"I'm … Moonbeam." My gaze slid to her, and I realized I was probably already doomed to have a personal connection here.
"I know. Do you not have a real name?"
No connections. No attachments. No heartbreak, especially not from the direction of a sweet little girl whose face was wet with tears and eyes looked at me like I was supposed to save her. "It's a long story," I murmured. "I fell from the sky one night and landed in front of an army of Mongols. They adopted me and named me Moonbeam. I like it better than my real name."
A smile tugged up the corners of her mouth. "If I were to choose a new name, it would be Flowers."
I grinned. "Love it. Want me to call you that? And you can call me Moonbeam?"
She nodded.
"Then no one will know who you really are."
"No one must know." She grew serious. "Mahmood said all these people are dying to save me."
Talk about burdening a kid … I sought some sort of explanation I could give her. "It's not your fault your forefathers did something to upset the Mongols. You bear none of that responsibility."
"I am a princess. I must bear it all."
"No, sweetie, you must not." I smoothed back her hair. "The past can sometimes return to haunt us. There's not always an explanation for what happens or why …" I drifted off, thoughts on Taylor. "But I guess in the end, everyone has a choice to move on. We'll make one, too, to live through this and start anew elsewhere." Somehow.