The Ice Maiden's Sheikh by Alexandra Sellers

Once he learned that one village or family had hidden something, no one in the valley would have been safe. This way, if Ghasib’s men suspected a trick, under duress everyone could honestly say that they had been ordered to give up their treasures to the Shahin, and knew nothing more.”
    â€œAnd your father would be the one who was tortured,” Jalia suggested.
    â€œExactly. But he believed that the secret would be better kept if all knew that their Shahin’s life hung in the balance, and he was right. Ghasib’s men took the valuables that had been left in a few homes to allay suspicion, and never got a hint of the truth.”
    Jalia frowned. “And why haven’t the treasures been brought out of hiding since the Sultan’s return?”
    â€œBecause my father hid the treasures too well. Only he and a very old and trusted servant knew the location. He deliberately chose an old man— If they torture us, we will die quickly, he said. Pir Gholam died soon after, and my father, sadly, also died before Ash’s plans succeeded. Just before his death he told me he had left directions for me, but I haven’t found those directions.”
    Jalia laughed. “Have you any idea where the hiding place might be?”
    â€œNone. But I have been absent so much, there has been little time to conduct a search, even through my father’s papers. When work with Ash eases off, and there is more time for the valley’s concerns, I will embark on a systematic search.”
    His expression was completely open and true, and Jalia experienced a sharp jolt of culture shock. In the West, she thought, his father would have come under immediate suspicion of having stolen or sold off his people’s treasures, and his son would be anxious to avert that suspicion.
    But in Latif’s face there was no awareness that such a suspicion might enter her mind or anyone else’s. He trusted in his father’s probity, and therefore in his own. And so, clearly, did his people.
    â€œNow I see why they call your family the Third Shahin,” she murmured.
    He frowned quizzically. “Yes?”
    â€œThis afternoon I asked the women how the valley got its name,” Jalia explained.
    â€œAnd what did they tell you?”
    â€œSey-Shahin. Three Royal Falcons,” Jalia said, unconsciously settling into the role of storyteller, as if she had been born in the valley herself.
    â€œThey said that in very ancient times, this valley was a plain. It was fertile, but because it was so flat, the wind used to blow over it, taking their seed before it had rooted, and carrying off the rich soil.
    â€œSo the people sent a messenger to the Great King—some say to God—and in reply the Great King sent his favourite royal falcon to stand guard over the valley, and protect it from the winds.
    â€œAnd the falcon stood so long, and guarded them so loyally, that he became a mountain, and still stands guard now.
    â€œBut the people were still troubled, for the floodwaters came down from the mountains in spring, and because there was nothing to stop them, they flowed through the valley, carrying with them the seed before it could sprout, and the rich soil.
    â€œSo the people sent another messenger to the Great King, and he sent a second of his royal falcons, to guard the valley against the floodwaters. And the falcon stood guard so loyally that he became rock, and he is the mountain on the south.
    â€œAnd the valley prospered with its two mountain guardians, but the people began to worry, for therewas trouble in the lands, and a great conqueror was on the move.
    â€œThen the people sent to God a third time, begging for protection from the invader, and God sent a third royal falcon—a great leader. And the leader reigned a long time, and protected them so well that his family became a rock for the people of the valley, and every generation produces a strong, able leader to protect