by Anne Herries
‘Omar is the captain of the palace guard,’ Marisa whispered
in her ear as the men walked to the centre of the arena. ‘They
say he is the strongest and most skiled of al—apart from your
lord.’
Eleanor nodded but could not speak. Her chest was tight with
the mixed emotions raging inside her. She was conscious of an
overwhelming excitement, but there was also fear. Supposing her
lord was hurt? She had requested this contest, and it had proved
entertaining—but now she was tingling from head to toe.
She watched breathlessly as the contest began. The men
seemed evenly matched as they circled each other, waiting their
time. Omar moved in first, his arms surrounding Suleiman in a
time. Omar moved in first, his arms surrounding Suleiman in a
huge bear hug, but Suleiman’s strength broke that hold easily.
Before Eleanor could draw breath, Omar had seized Suleiman’s
arm and had him flipped over and lying on his back on the
ground beneath him.
She gave a little cry of alarm, but the next moment they were
on their feet again. ‘What is happening?’ she asked Marisa.
‘The first fal has gone to Omar—there are two more, for it is
the best of three.’
Eleanor watched in apprehension. She suddenly wanted
Suleiman to win. He must win! She could not bear to see him
lose. He was her lord and her love and she wanted to see him
triumph.
Seconds later, Suleiman brought Omar down and held him
easily. He was laughing as they both regained their feet, and
Omar was grinning as if he too enjoyed this test of skil between
them. They were the best of friends, yet neither wanted to be
bested and it was a true contest.
‘One fal each,’ Marisa said. ‘Al depends on the last!’
Eleanor could not speak. She could see that both men were
relishing their fight, testing each other to the ful. The third fal did not come easily, for both were skiled in the art and both seemed
determined to win. The tension was almost unbearable for
Eleanor. Her nails curled into the palms of her hands as she
watched, on the edge of her seat, breath catching as the
advantage swayed one way and then the other—and then quite
suddenly it was over. Suleiman had won!
Eleanor jumped to her feet to applaud, then, conscious of al
Eleanor jumped to her feet to applaud, then, conscious of al
eyes upon her, sat down again. Perhaps she was not supposed
to show her approval so openly.
The two men were laughing and hugging each other, stil
jostling as though they would have liked to continue the contest.
‘The tournament is over,’ Karin announced and stood up,
beckoning to the other ladies. ‘We should return to the palace
now. Come along, Eleanor. We must not linger. The lord
Suleiman wil send for you later if he wishes to see you.’
Eleanor was reluctant to leave. She glanced at Suleiman,
wanting to catch his eye, but he was stil laughing and jesting with
his friend. She knew that she must do as Karin told her, for the
ladies had become very excited and she had noticed that the men
who had taken part and were stil in the courtyard arena were
looking their way rather too often. It was not seemly, and it
would not do to flout the customs too much. Suleiman had been
generous to give so much; his trust must not be abused.
‘Yes, we shal come,’ she said, taking Marisa’s arm firmly.
The other woman was clearly very reluctant to move and she
gave her a little push. ‘Be patient, Marisa. Karin wil arrange the
marriage if Ahmed is wiling.’
‘I wish that I could speak with him.’ Marisa’s tone was
petulant. The promise of a marriage with a man of her choice had
made her impatient.
‘I am sorry, but you cannot,’ Eleanor said. ‘Be grateful that
you are to be alowed to marry.’
‘Yes—yes, I am grateful to you and the lord Suleiman,’
‘Yes—yes, I am grateful to you and the lord Suleiman,’
Marisa said with a last wistful look over her shoulder. ‘I am so
thankful that Fatima did not kil you, Eleanor. She deserved her
punishment, awful though it was.’
They were back inside the palace now. Eleanor felt the chil
strike her as she stopped walking and turned to look at her
companion.
‘What do you mean—her punishment? I thought she had
been sent back to her home?’
‘Oh, my foolish tongue! I am so sorry.’ Marisa’s eyes
darkened with remorse. ‘Karin told us we were not to say
anything—in case it distressed you. I forgot after al the
excitement. She wil be so cross with me!’
‘And I shal be angry if you do not tel me what happened to
Fatima.’
‘The lord Suleiman ordered that she be beaten and sent to the
slave merchants. She wil have been sold by now, but not to the
harem of a noble lord. She—she was marked by the whip. Our
master ordered it so, because she had misused her beauty and
must never be able to do so again.’
‘How cruel!’ Eleanor cried. Her face was white with shock
and she felt sick. ‘How could he have done such a wicked thing?
I cannot bear to think what wil become of her.’
‘I should not have told you,’ Marisa said, looking guilty. ‘It
was no more than she deserved, my lady—truly.’
Eleanor did not speak again until they were back in the
harem. She went up to Karin as the other woman prepared to
leave them.
leave them.
‘Why did you not tel me about Fatima?’
Karin stared at her in silence for a moment, and then sighed.
‘Because I knew you would react this way. You do not
understand, Eleanor. The lord Suleiman had to make an example
of her. She could not simply be banished after al her
wickedness. He might have had her put to death for her crimes
had he wished.’
‘Would not that have been kinder?’ Eleanor asked angrily.
‘She has been treated worse than a dog. To have her beaten in
such a way that she could not hope to be sold into a harem!
What wil happen to her now? Is she to be sent to a brothel in
the back streets of the city, to be used and abused by any man
wiling to pay a few coins for her? Cruel! Wicked! I cannot
believe that my lord would do such a thing.’
Karin hesitated, but it was not for her to tel Eleanor the
extent of Fatima’s crimes, ‘She tried to kil you,’ she said. ‘You
should not blame Suleiman. He had little choice. Fatima knew
what she did was punishable by death. She is fortunate to have
escaped it.’
‘Fortunate?’ Eleanor stared at her in disbelief. ‘I think what
he has done is barbaric—despicable. Suleiman promised me she
would be sent home. He promised!’
‘That was before she tried to kil you.’ Karin gave her a
severe look. ‘Remember where you are, Eleanor. I warned you
that a beast lurks in al men. The lord Suleiman is no different
from any other man, though I have always found him just. As
he
has been this time. He has acted according to the law.’
has been this time. He has acted according to the law.’
‘A savage, cruel law!’ Eleanor retorted.
‘But the law by which we al live,’ Karin reminded her. ‘You
have been much indulged—perhaps too much. Our laws are
perhaps wiser than you think, though they may seem harsh at
times. You must learn to accept that there are some things you
cannot change.’
‘Never! I shal never accept such brutality.’
‘Learn this, then,’ Karin said and her tone was harsh. ‘You
wil gain nothing by defiance. The lord Suleiman cares for you
and you might make life easier for many in this place—but only if
you learn to bend a little, to give as wel as take. Tame the beast
with tenderness, make him weak with chains of love, Eleanor,
and you could bring happiness to many. Do not seek to fight the
beast—or it may turn and devour you.’
‘I want to see the lord Suleiman!’
Karin looked at her beautiful, tempestuous face, then shook
her head. ‘No, I shal not request an audience for you. Not while
you are in this mood.’
‘Then I shal go without permission.’ Eleanor cried
impetuously. ‘I shal demand to see him.’
‘You do not yet rule here.’ Karin gave her a hard look. ‘If
you persist in this foly I shal have you locked in your room and
place a guard over you—’ She broke off as Hasar approached.
‘Yes? You wished to speak with me?’
‘The lord Suleiman has sent for the lady Eleanor. He wishes
to see her at once.’
‘I shal come at once.’ Eleanor’s eyes were bright with anger.
‘I must not keep my lord waiting, Karin.’
Karin caught at her arm as she would have passed. ‘Take
care, Eleanor,’ she warned. ‘I am not your enemy. You know
that I tried to protect Fatima from herself. I would have had her
banished if that were possible—but Suleiman was angry. He
came to you when we feared you might die, and he was half out
of his mind with grief. I have never seen a man so close to
breaking. I do not say that he was kind to have punished Fatima
as he did—but he was within the law. He could have punished
her a thousand times more harshly. Many men in his position
have done far worse things for less reason.’
‘But I do not wish to marry those other men,’ Eleanor cried.
‘I believed I had come to love Suleiman—but he is a barbarian.
A cruel savage! And I do not wish to marry such a man.’
She tore herself from Karin’s grasp and walked away. Karin
stared after her with anxious eyes. Although it was not often
alowed to rage out of control, Suleiman did have a fearful
temper. And she was very much afraid that this time Eleanor
would try his patience too far.
Chapter Eleven
The struggle with Omar had heated Suleiman’s blood, leaving
him with a sense of exhilaration and triumph. He had won fairly
and Eleanor had been watching—that gave him a deep sense of
satisfaction. Her request for the tournament had told him that she
was far from being indifferent to him, as she had tried to pretend.
Indeed, he had sensed the last time he’d held her in his arms that
she was close to surrender. He could have taken her then, but he
had controled his desire and let her go.
Suleiman knew that he could possess Eleanor with or without
her consent, but the act of possession without love was only a
fleeting pleasure that he might have found with any of his
concubines. There must be more! He had for some time past
been aware of an emptiness within himself, but until he had begun
to know and understand Eleanor he had not realised what was
lacking in his life.
He loved her—not just with his body, but with his heart and
mind. For the first time in his life he had met a woman who could
touch the inner man. His loins burned with the need to lie with
her, and sometimes at night he had lain restless, unable to sleep
for the need inside him, but he had given her the time she had
begged for because he wanted her to come to him in love.
‘The hawk is made weak by the dove,’ he murmured to
himself, amused by the discovery within himself that he would
once have termed foly in others. ‘Yet I would have her come to
me…’
His pulses quickened as he heard footsteps and knew that
she had answered his cal. It was for her sake that he had not
sent for her before this, because she had been so il and he had
wanted her to be truly wel again. But there must be no more
play-acting. It was time that Eleanor understood the true nature
of his feelings for her. He caught the scent of her perfume and
turned eagerly. His smile faded as he saw the expression on her
beautiful face. She had not looked at him this way since that first
meeting in the gardens of the Corsair Mohamed Ali ben Ibn!
‘Why are you angry?’
‘You ask me why—after what you have done?’ Her eyes
narrowed, her look one of utter contempt. ‘No one told me until
after the contest. Karin ordered that it should be kept from
me…’
‘Of what do you speak?’ Suleiman felt a sharp searing pain
as he saw what he believed to be hatred in her eyes. ‘What have
I done that has so displeased you?’
‘Was it so little to you that you cannot even remember?’
Eleanor’s eyes flashed in anger. ‘You told me that Fatima would
be sent back to her home. How could you have had her beaten
so cruely and then—to have condemned her to a life of true
slavery! She had been treated almost as a queen in your
household…’ Her voice broke with emotion. ‘I cannot believe
that you could have been so savage, so unjust.’
that you could have been so savage, so unjust.’
‘You think I was unjust?’ Suleiman stared at her haughtily.
That she should speak to him thus! It was unforgivable. How
dare she criticise his judgement? He had alowed her much, but
she went too far. A woman might not seek to dictate in such
matters. ‘Fatima was guilty of many crimes—more than you
know. I might have ordered a painful death for her—or
imprisonment—but I granted her life.’
‘Life as a whore to be used and abused by any man who
pays for her!’
‘She tried to kil you—and she murdered the woman
Dinazade.’ His expression hardened. ‘I was merciful because
she had once pleased me—but such crimes must be punished.
Even in your own country murder is punishable by death!’
‘You are a barbarian!’ Eleanor cried, too angry to recognise
the justice in what he said. ‘I had begun to believe that you were
a man of wisdom and justice—but now I see I was wrong. You
are as ruthless and cruel as those men who slew my father.’
Suleiman stared at her, his lips white with fury. ‘Enough! You
are insolent, woman. I have alowed you too much freedom, and
now you seek to dictate what I may or may not do. I a
m the
master here. You are a woman and my property.’
‘I am wel aware that a female slave is less than nothing in
your eyes,’ Eleanor retorted scornfuly. ‘I almost believed in you
—but now I know you for what you are! Do with me as you
please, my master. You are strong and I am weak—but punish
me as you wil, compel me to your bed, you shal never, never
have me.’
have me.’
‘Be careful, Eleanor. You push me too far at your peril.’
‘I care for nothing you do or say to me,’ she cried. ‘I thought
I could be happy as your wife—that I could live here content to
please you and leave behind al that I had known and loved—but
now you make me hate you. You may force me to submit, but I
shal never love you.’
She felt a flash of fear as she saw the silver flame leap up in
his eyes and knew that she had indeed pushed him too far. He
moved towards her purposefuly, his intent stamped like a
smouldering brand into the iron of his features.
‘Then there is no point in waiting…’ he muttered fiercely and
there was something wild and primitive about him then as he
reached out and caught her wrist. ‘I had hoped you would come
to accept your duty, Eleanor—but as you wil not, I must teach
you to know your master.’
‘No!’ Eleanor caught her breath as she gazed up into those
dark eyes. ‘Please…do not do this, my lord. I— I beg you. Let
me go—send me away and let me be free.’
‘I wanted your love,’ he said in a voice that even in her
distress she recognised as tormented. ‘But if it is to be denied me
even now, I shal glory in your hatred. You belong to me,
Eleanor—and I wil have you, wilingly or no.’
She gave a cry of denial and puled away as he began to
draw her towards the inner chamber, struggling and fighting him
every step of the way. He was much too strong for her. His
fingers held her in a vice-like grip and she knew that she was
helpless against the beast she had aroused in him. His grip
helpless against the beast she had aroused in him. His grip
bruised her, causing her to whimper with pain.
‘Let me go!’ she cried, fear sweeping her as she recognised
the wisdom of Karin’s warning too late. ‘Let me go. If you do
this I shal not forgive you.’
‘You hate me anyway. Why should I not take that which is