Sienna - Kurulus Osman

19

Couldn't get enough of those two 🥺❤

Meanwhile, Goktug and Boran roamed around the Sogut market, finding only a few jugs of gunpowder.

"Why did you give her the Halva?" Boran asked, breaking the silence. He and Osman both were curious about their fellow Alp's unusually compassionate actions, and Boran could not hold down the thought any longer – as well as give up a precious moment to tease his buddy.

Goktug glanced at him, then shrugged. "She might have turned against us if we ignored the argument."

Knowing Goktug and his emotionally driven decisions, Boran did not believe a word of his but nodded along, pretending to agree. "And why was she staring at the sweet for so long? She didn't even eat it."

Goktug remembered the way she looked at him. It was as if she had never been offered something before. It was as if she had not been treated like a human for so long. He understood this feeling as he, too, had once experienced it. In the days he was known as a fierce and heartless Mongol commander, Goktug plead he was good after he was reminded of himself, but no one believed him. No one except his brother. He was treated as the animal he used to be—captured, beaten, insulted. Only his brother showed him kindness and humanity during those tough times. He could at least do the same sensible thing to Sienna, regardless of the enemy she was.

Before he could answer—though he wasn't planning to, knowing this was another of Boran's attempts at mockery—, Goktug glimpsed red behind the rug stalls across from them through the crowd. I knew she should have worn something blander, he thought bitterly.

"I'll be right back, Kardes," Goktug murmured before heading after Sienna. He couldn't see Osman nearby and feared she was up to something.

"Where are you going?" Boran called out, his eyes sweeping across the rug merchants to see why Goktug was in such a rush.

"Keep looking, Boran. I just need to check something," Goktug assured.

Surprised yet relieved he was given a response, Boran shrugged and continued his search.

Sienna observed. She watched the Sogut Inn carefully, as if she would trigger a mouse trap if she moved even an inch. Sienna could not mess up Nikola's plan this time. She waited until Bamsi Bey, the Alps, and Osman Bey were out of sight around her before starting for the Inn.

Just as she moved away from a crippling abandoned stall in an unlikely alleyway, a quick tap on her shoulder caused her to jump. Her reflexes taking over, she pulled out one of her daggers and forced it against the throat of the offender, pushing him to the wall-

When she realized it was Goktug Alp.

"Shh," he calmed, splaying his hands out in surrender. "It's me."

Sienna's breathing slowed down, and however much opening a cut right there on his throat would have pleased her, she put down the dagger. Then, she smacked his chest. "Do not sneak up on me like that," she warned through gritted teeth. The last time someone tapped her shoulder like this, it did not end well.

For the stranger, of course.

"Sorry," Goktug muttered, then immediately took it back as he registered the weapon gripped in her left hand. His brow raised. "I thought we took all your weapons."

Sienna forced a calm look. "You sure did take them," she mumbled with an edge, remembering her single stolen dagger.

He held his hand out in expectance, and Sienna could see his jaw clench in disapproval; she almost laughed at the gesture, then faked a hurt expression. "And after everything, you still don't trust me?"