Zara dressed carefully for her visit to Jamal that night, choosing a sunny yellow caftan with a deep pocket. She knew what must be done but not how to accomplish it, except that Jamal had to ingest the sleeping draught before he took off her clothing. Without her caftan she would have no access to the sleeping draught in her pocket. The escape had to be accomplished tonight. All the arrangements were made; she had to make it happen.
Zara was ready when Hammet came for her. Her footsteps echoed hollowly as she walked through the empty harem. All three concubines were gone now. Jamal’s justice had been swift and relentless. Amar and Leila had been given to two deserving soldiers, who found houses for them in the village. The soldiers looked decent enough to Zara, but the concubines would never again have the luxuries they had enjoyed in Jamal’s household.
Jamal drew Zara into his arms when she entered his chamber. He never tired of seeing her, of holding her in his arms, of making love to her. It still frightened him when he recalled how close he had come to losing her. Saha had gotten off easy; he could have put her to death had he been of a mind to do so. Had Zara actually consumed the poison, his retribution would have been harsh and swift.
“There is something I must tell you tonight,” Jamal said, drawing Zara down with him on a couch. “I have thought upon it during this past week, since my last visit with the sultan.”
Zara lost the ability to breathe. “It’s about my father, isn’t it?”
“In a way. ’Tis time I returned to pirating. The sultan is a greedy man. He is ever eager to add to his depleted coffers, and my pirate ship brings him substantial riches. Your father cannot stay here in my absence. I have no choice, Zara. Youssef must be turned over to Moulay Ishmail.”
Zara blanched. Praise Allah that her escape plans had been set into motion.
Her stricken expression must have convinced Jamal that she was devastated by his decision, for he said, “I’ve kept Youssef here as long as I dared. I have fulfilled my part of our bargain.”
“Why can’t I see to my father’s care in your absence?” Zara asked. “We both know the sultan will kill him.”
Jamal hardened himself against Zara’s pleas. His decision was final—Youssef must be sent to Meknes. “You won’t be here to care for your father. I’m taking you with me.”
Zara’s eyes widened in shock. Obviously her plan to bind Jamal to her had worked beyond her wildest expectations. Her mouth went dry. Jamal cared for her, cared enough that he wanted her with him. Allah forgive her for what she was about to do. No matter how desperately she wanted to be with Jamal, she could not bear being his slave, nor could she endure the thought of her father’s death. Escape was the only answer.
“I… have never been on a ship. Perhaps I will not like it.”
Jamal pulled her against him. “I want you with me, Zara. I am not ready yet to part with you. The sultan hinted that I should return you to his harem. He’s decided he wants to tame you himself, but I cannot bear the thought of Ishmail’s hands upon your sweet flesh.”
When Jamal started to remove her caftan, Zara demurred, saying, “’Tis difficult to accept the fact that my father will soon die, my lord. How can you expect me to respond to you when you are sending my father to his death?”
“I would keep Youssef here if I could, Zara.”
“I need time to come to grips with my grief. Let me get something cool to drink. I do not feel too kindly disposed toward you right now.”
“Very well,” Jamal agreed. “There is food and a pitcher of apricot nectar on the table. Choose whatever you desire.”
Zara walked slowly to the table and poured two glasses of nectar. Turning her back to Jamal, she poured the contents of the packet into one of the glasses and stuffed the empty paper back into her pocket. Then she returned to Jamal’s side and handed him the doctored drink. Her face was devoid of all emotion as she watched him take a huge gulp of the juice. She sipped at hers, not really thirsty or hungry.
“I will speak in Youssef’s behalf,” Jamal promised in an effort to placate her. “I’m not hungry for his blood.”
“Is that your last word?”
“Aye, my decision is made.”
“Then I am no longer obliged to honor our bargain. I wish to return to the harem.”
Jamal drained his glass and set it down with a bang. The glass shattered but he paid it no heed. “Nay! I will not be denied. You are still my slave and I will have you whether or not you are willing.”
Didn’t Zara realize he cared for her? Jamal wondered. He’d never felt this way about another woman. His feelings were so strong he couldn’t endure a long sea voyage without Zara. His decision to take her with him had not been lightly made.
Zara stiffened with indignation. She’d acted the meek love slave long enough. She’d held her temper, bit her tongue and forced herself to submit to Jamal’s sensual nature. Against her will he’d taught her to crave his touch and enjoy his lovemaking, but captivity was not a way of life she would ever choose. With Allah’s help she would not be a slave much longer. Jamal had drunk all the draught and would soon succumb to sleep.
“Slave I may be but I do not wish to accommodate you. Our bargain is over.” She started to rise.
Jamal grasped her wrist, refusing to let her leave. “Forget that ill-conceived bargain. I will have you, sweet vixen. I should have known your submission was but an act. Do you feel nothing for me?”
Feel nothing for him? Her body was aching for his touch, but to admit it would compromise what remained of her pride. “I honored our bargain; you have no complaints.”
His eyes blazed with fury. “Have you played me for a fool? Did you deliberately seek to capture my heart?”
He whipped her caftan over her head and tossed it aside. Anger and desire combined to make him hard as stone.
“Nay! I never wanted your heart, only your trust.” Allah, what was she saying? She must not arouse his suspicions. Jamal didn’t look the least bit sleepy yet. In fact, he looked wide awake as he stripped off his own caftan and flung it aside.
Jamal pushed her back against the cushions and pinned her there with the hard length of his body. His lips flattened against his teeth, giving him a feral look. “Tell me you don’t want me. Say the words and I’ll send you back to the harem.”
Zara stared into his eyes, stunned by the intense longing within their dark depths, and the ability to speak left her.
“Say the words, sweet vixen,” Jamal repeated. Silence. Zara still hadn’t found her tongue. “That’s what I thought,” he said smugly. “You can’t say it because it would be a lie.”
His smile turned predatory as his mouth burned a path to her breasts. Her erect nipples became the objects of his attention as he kissed and sucked the tender buds, then nipped them between his strong white teeth. Zara arched and cried out, wanting this yet denying her need for the handsome sheik with her whole heart.
“Shall I get the silver balls?” he asked huskily. “You seemed to enjoy them the last time.”
“Nay!” Zara choked out. Allah help her.
Jamal shrugged and lowered his head to resume his assault upon her succulent nipples. When his lips traveled downward to her smooth mound, Zara finally found the courage to say the words he had demanded of her.
“I do not want you! Pray stop!”
Jamal raised his head and gave her an amused smile. “Too late, sweet vixen. You had your chance. Now you must pay the consequences. Come, Zara, yield to me.”
His head lowered and his tongue parted her, finding the tiny jewel at the top of her thighs. He spent several breathless moments tormenting her before sucking the erect bud into his mouth. Zara screamed, stiffened and then went limp.
Jamal shifted upward between her outstretched legs, flexed his hips and prepared to thrust into her. Suddenly his eyes grew murky and a confused look passed over his face. Then his eyes rolled upward and he dropped heavily on top of her. The sleeping potion had finally worked!
Za
ra poked Jamal and called his name. He did not budge. She let out a sigh of relief. For a time she had feared the powder wouldn’t work. Now she realized that Jamal had such a vigorous constitution that it had taken longer than usual to take effect. She squirmed from beneath him, breathing hard from the effort, and stared at him. He was so still it frightened her.
She felt his neck for a pulse and found it beating strongly. She nearly collapsed with relief. She had no idea how long he would sleep, but at least she was assured that he would wake up. She was shaking when she pulled a light blanket over him and backed away.
Zara found her caftan and donned it quickly. Then she rummaged in Jamal’s chest until she located a black djellaba and pulled it on over her caftan. Next she opened the casket holding the key to her father’s jail and removed it, replacing it with the emerald Jamal had given her. Then she sat down to wait. According to her calculations, Rachid wouldn’t arrive with the camels for several hours yet.
She watched Jamal sleep, unable to turn her gaze from his handsome features. He was so strong, so virile, so absolutely captivating that it was going to be difficult to forget him. Perhaps it would be easier to forget him if she thought of him as the man responsible for Sayed’s death, not as her lover.
She breathed in a shaky sigh and stared into the dark courtyard, noting that the moon had slipped behind a cloud and the shadows had deepened. Still she waited. Finally it was time. She gave Jamal’s sleeping form one last, lingering look and slipped out into the courtyard. She made as little noise as possible, aware that Hammet slept on a pallet outside Jamal’s door.
Zara was nearly invisible in her black djellaba as she crept through the darkness. She watched in silence as the sentry walked past her father’s prison and disappeared around the corner. A sigh of relief slipped past her lips when he failed to see her. She was shaking like a leaf when she fitted the key into the locked door and turned it. The door swung open on noiseless hinges, and she whispered her father’s name.
“I am here, Zara,” Youssef said, appearing in the opening. “Where’s the sentry?”
“He passed by a moment ago. We must hurry and release the others before he returns.”
Youssef stepped into the night shadows, closed the door to his prison and locked it. Then he tossed the key into the bushes. The other Berbers had been imprisoned in a common hut not far from Youssef’s tiny prison. The door had no lock but was barred from the outside with a stout board. Youssef lifted the bar and gave a hushed command. One by one the men crept out of their prison, merging into the shadows to keep from being seen.
“Instruct the men to follow the wall to the back gate, Father,” Zara whispered. “I’m right behind you.” She was thankful that the Berbers’ blue robes blended into the darkness so well.
Hugging the gate, Youssef and Zara made their way to the back gate, keeping their eyes peeled for the sentry. He passed them without incident as they crouched behind a fig tree. Once the guard had continued on his way, they crept along the wall to the back gate. Luck was with them. They found the gate unguarded. Unfortunately, it was locked.
“Climb over,” Youssef hissed. “I’ll give you a boost.”
Moments later Zara was scrambling up and over the gate, followed closely by her father. At first they didn’t see Rachid, and Zara panicked. Then she spotted him, leading a string of camels from a grove of olive trees.
“Thank you, my friend,” Youssef said, clapping his tribesman on the shoulder. “You will receive payment for your camels.”
“I ask no payment, Youssef. It is the least I can do. Your daughter is a brave woman. She’s the one who deserves praise. Allah be with you.”
“We must leave,” Youssef said, taking swift charge, “before we are discovered.” They mounted quickly and rode off into the night, leaving the oasis and Sheik Jamal far behind.
Jamal’s dream was not a pleasant one. He tried to rouse himself from the throes of a deep, troubled sleep but could not. He fought, but his arms would not move. Something was wrong, terribly wrong, but he was powerless to check the panic racing through his drugged mind. Then he felt hands upon him, shaking him, and he concentrated on the words being shouted into his ear.
“Master, wake up!” The shaking continued, more vigorously now. “Master, please, what has happened to you?”
Jamal’s brow furrowed. With tremendous effort he raised one lid at a time. His eyes were gritty and unfocused, and several minutes passed before he recognized Hammet.
“Hammet? What is the meaning of this?” What had happened to his voice? It sounded hoarse and distorted.
“Allah be praised,” Hammet said with a sigh. “You must try to rouse yourself, my lord. I fear you will not like the tidings I bring you.”
“Water,” Jamal said as he tried to push himself into a sitting position. He succeeded only with Hammet’s help, gulping down the goblet of water the eunuch held to his lips. “What happened? Am I ill?”
“I’ve sent for your physician; he will be here shortly. Meanwhile, I fear I am the bearer of disturbing news.”
“Disturbing news?” Jamal repeated, finding it difficult to concentrate.
Before Hammet could explain, a short, intense man sporting a beard and wearing a black skullcap upon his head bustled into the room.
“I will explain later,” Hammet said, backing away to allow the physician room to attend his patient.
David ben Israel was a Jewish physician of some renown. He’d been Jamal’s personal healer since Jamal’s birth; had brought him into the world, in fact. He was an old man, but a wise one. His status was one of semi-retirement, for his duties at Paradise were light.
“Have you been ill, my lord?” David asked as he lifted Jamal’s lids to examine his pupils.
“I am never ill,” Jamal said.
“Stick out your tongue.”
Jamal dutifully presented his tongue, wondering what it meant when David hummed in response to his examination.
“What is the last thing you remember?” David asked, rocking back on his heels.
Jamal closed his eyes and tried to recall last evening’s events. He smiled when he remembered making love to Zara. Suddenly his smile dissolved into a frown. Zara. What had happened to her? Had she returned to the harem?
“Well?” the doctor said impatiently. “I can tell by your smile that you recall something.”
“Aye. I was with Zara. I recall making love to her before everything went blank.”
“Did you eat or drink anything?”
“Nay … oh, aye, I drank a glass of apricot nectar.”
The humming sound grew louder as David searched the room for Jamal’s glass.
Suddenly it dawned on Jamal what the physician was hinting at. “You think I was poisoned?”
“Not poison, my lord. Ah, here it is,” he said, gathering splintered pieces of glass from the table and floor. He held a large piece up to the light. Then he tasted a tiny sample of the residue left on the surface. “I can’t be sure, but I think tests will prove that you’ve been drugged, my lord.”
“What! By whom? Who would do such a thing?”
“That I do not know, my lord. The drug wasn’t strong enough to do you permanent harm, but to be safe I’ll mix you up something to purge the remaining potion from your system. You have slept off the worst of it.”
The fuzziness began to clear from Jamal’s brain and his thinking process returned as a horrible thought struck him. Had Zara been given a similar drug? Was she even now sleeping off the effects? Was she ill? Then he recalled that when Hammet had awakened him, he had mentioned something about disturbing news. He trembled with unexplained fear. There was more here than met the eye and he intended to get to the bottom of it.
“Hammet!” His summons brought the eunuch instantly to his master’s bedside.
“I am here, my lord.”
“My trusted physician seems to think I was given a drug to make me sleep. What do you know about it?”
“I kn
ow nothing about the drug, my lord. I have failed you. Forgive me.”
“I do not hold you responsible. Have you seen Zara?” Jamal asked sharply. “I will send David to attend her. If she was fed the same drug, she could be ill. Her system isn’t as robust as mine.”
“Zara isn’t in the harem.” Hammet’s expression was sad but wary. His master’s temper was going to be formidable when he learned the full extent of his slave’s treachery. “Nafisa came to me early this morning, wanting to know if Zara was still with you. She wasn’t. I knew she had not left though the door, for I was sleeping on a pallet outside your chamber and would have heard her. She must have left through the courtyard.”
“Perhaps she’s in the hammam,” Jamal suggested hopefully. Hammet shook his head. “Did you check every room?”
“The entire palace, my lord.”
“The courtyard? The palace grounds?”
“Zara is gone, my lord. So is her father and all the Berber prisoners.”
Jamal reared up from bed and strode to the casket where he kept the key to Youssef’s prison. His swift intake of breath was the only indication of his rage. Inside the casket, resting on a bed of satin, was the emerald he had given Zara. It was damning evidence and all the proof he needed. He felt raw and betrayed. He’d been deceived by a Berber vixen who whored for her father. Those were harsh words, but Jamal could think of no other explanation for what Zara had done.
It hurt to realize that Zara had deliberately deceived him. She had used his obsession for her, building his trust to the point that he was blinded to her devious intent. What a fool he’d been. What an utter, sentimental fool.
“I need a bath to wash the scent of that insidious little witch from my body,” Jamal ground out. “Summon Haroun. I will speak with him after I’ve bathed.”
“I will leave you, my lord,” David said as Hammet hurried to do Jamal’s bidding. “I can see that you no longer have need of me. The effects of the drug are all but gone from your system.” He bowed himself out of the chamber, leaving Jamal in a fine rage.
Sheik Page 14
