An Oath In Blood (Book #3)

Chapter 39: His Girl

WARREN HALE

I found Eman sitting in the living room with a book in her hand. Dressed in a pink floral dress and a matching hijab, she seemed to be glowing. When I had heard Tariq call Eman Noori the first time after their marriage, I had asked him what it meant. He told me that the nickname was derived from the word, 'noor', which meant light. I didn't need him to tell me why he had settled on the nickname for his wife.

If all the light in the world was given human form, I knew it would look a lot like Eman Hashim. And that was why now, when I knocked lightly on the door and she seemed to jump out of her skin, I felt shame and guilt scorching my skin, tainting it until I was sure I would need another shower to try and rub it off.

"Warren. Hi." Eman spoke, her voice breathless as she tried to cover up her fear and surprise. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my pants, my shoulders hunching as I walked deeper into the room.

"Hey." I offered her a smile and she returned it with one of her own. Hers was more natural than mine.

"Sit." She gestured at the armchair and I obeyed, buying myself time to come up with an apology that would make up for the trauma I had put her through. But before I could say anything, she spoke again, "I know."

"What?" I glanced at her, a confused frown between my brows.

"I know why you're here." She closed her book, putting it on the coffee table. A Thousand Splendid Suns, the cover said. "And I don't want your apology. Because there is nothing to apologize for."

"Eman, I am so so-" I rushed to say the words because otherwise, I didn't know how to live with myself. But she cut me off.

"No." Her voice turned stern, her soft features hardening. "You don't need my forgiveness because I am not angry with you. I am not hurt. I don't feel betrayed. I am worried about you." Hazel eyes shimmered with moisture and I lowered my head in shame.

"You should be," I whispered to the floor; I could no longer look her in the eye.

"I know." I heard her say. "Perhaps, I should be. But something tells me that you would have never put me in a dangerous situation if you had known the consequences," she added.

"I wouldn't have." I glanced at her, my gaze straying towards her belly. "And if I had known you were..." I trailed off, gesturing at her. She smiled as her hand came to rest on her abdomen, the moisture dancing in her eyes before she directed her gaze where her hand was.

"Pregnant?" she provided, helping me stumble to the end of my sentence. A nervous laugh left her as she looked at me again. "Can you believe it though? I'm pregnant." Her laugh turned contagious and I could no longer hold a grin back. She was pregnant. With my brother's baby.

"Now, we will have three kids in the group—you, your baby, and of course, our oldest child, Hyde," I said, my throat closing up even as my grin grew.

"Cut Jace some slack. He is going to be an older brother soon." She giggled and I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. The tension in the air dissipated, the uneasiness that I had brought with me showing itself out. That was the thing about Eman, she always knew how to make you feel at home, make you feel like family.

"I am really happy for you, Em. And I promise to never rope you into my drama again," I said when our laughter had died down. Her expression shifted at my words, as if I had offended her somehow. She straightened in the way she did when she meant all business.

"Do you know why I didn't want you to apologize to me, Warren?" she asked, regarding me somberly. I would admit it to no one but she scared me at times, right now being one of those times.