"Loretta?"
She'd felt Sameh's presence long before he plucked up the courage to say anything to her. For a moment she ignored him, wishing to be left alone a little longer, forever maybe. She wished the darkness of the night would swallow her whole. But these were a childish thoughts and she knew she didn't have the option to behave like a child any more. She peered up at him from between her fingers when he whispered her name a second time.
"Are you okay?" he asked, relief flooding his voice that she had finally acknowledged him.
She tilted her head to the side and pressed her cheek against the cool mosaic tiles, looking up at him forlornly but saying nothing for a long moment.
"He–"
"I saw, Loretta. I saw," Sameh looked away, ashamed that there was nothing he could have done.
"You should call me Amira now," she said. "Soon Amira will be all that I am."
Sameh shook his head, "I can't rescue you, Loretta, and even if I must call you Amira, I made a promise to you that I will remember who you are, I will remember your name."
Loretta was too tired to cry any more, but she felt the sting in her eyes again as though she should, and shook her head.
"Come, you should go back to your room, it will be sunrise soon and the women will be back. You do not want them to see you like this."
"They have already seen. If one has seen, the rest will know."
"Ahh. Don't worry about it. Something new will happen today for them to gossip about and they will forget what happened here."
"I won't forget," Loretta mumbled.
"I know, but don't let them know that," he offered her a hand and pulled her up off the ground.