It is not nomad's attention she truly desires— she would rather have had the emperor’s love— the one she must continue to believe in, that had followed her through into parallel worlds, so she would not be alone.

And the empress must have realized that the creature above her is full of wild ruin, with seeking, dark eyes and jagged teeth. That if she runs in among the trees or treads too close, he would come to tear her. Horselord imagines it. He is not better than this.

She should call to have him taken away. If she denies this, Batu would have the knowledge that she must sense something— sense he is still worth keeping close, even in understanding what is risked.

“Forgive me, Heaven’s mercy.” Emptied air pours where flames had rent before, nomad retreating steps away, returning to man beneath deel— but not a han. A mongolian.