“What?” He set his goblet on the table with a crash that rang through the hall. “A chance to rape her? A chance to kill her?”
“He would not have killed her. He would have taken her to Abd al Qadir.” He lowered his eyes. “Eventually.”
“Melisande stays in the harim.”
“You have let this Franj woman touch your heart.” He grimaced. “Shaykh, she may be our best hope to draw out the hill bandits.”
“She stays here.”
“She is more important to you than your duty to stop these men?”
Gabriel clenched his teeth. Why did Shakir’s voice have to echo Melisande’s when she spoke of her accursed oath? Mayhap because he knew they both were right. Nothing could change what Melisande was and what he was. The obligations they had assumed before she rode into his life could not be shunted aside.
He turned on his heel. “Have the men prepared to ride at sunset.”
There must be a way to stop Abd al Qadir without sacrificing Melisande. Some way, although he was not sure how.
FOURTEEN
Melisande ran the comb through her hair and fought to hide her yawn. Last night, she had found no more sleep than the previous nights. But, last night, Gabriel had not been beside her, thrilling her with his touch. Although Karim Pasa had told her only that the shaykh was busy elsewhere in the stronghold, she suspected Gabriel was beyond its walls, trying once more to stop the hill bandits. There would be no other reason why he would have been called away so abruptly. Another village or group of travelers must have fallen prey to Abd al Qadir.
With a laugh, Kalinin said, “There is no use pretending, Melisande. Do you think I failed to notice that you disappeared the day the shaykh returned home last time?” She smiled. “That both of you disappeared and that Karim Pasa stood guard over your rooms to let no one enter.”
“He did that?” She was sure her face must be crimson, for heat swarmed over her. Standing, she put her comb on a table.
“Are you happy?”
“Yes.”
Kalinin frowned. “That answer does not sound too joyous.”
“I am happy when I am with Gabriel.”
“He has duties that call him away, Melisande.”
She crossed her arms and nodded, not irritated with her friend, but with herself. “I understand that. His duties must be similar to my father’s, dangerous ones that mean he may never return.”
“You are a warrior’s daughter. You know the peril of giving your heart to a warrior.”
“You speak as if I had a choice. My heart does not heed me.” She sighed. “My head knows it is wrong for a woman like me to love him, but that makes no difference.”
“A woman like you?”
She looked down at her gold breeches and jacket. “It is not easy when he is near to remember that I am sworn to my duties as a Hospitaller. I fear I have become accustomed to these clothes.”
“And to being with him?”
“Yes.”
Kalinin bit her lower lip, then whispered, “Will you return to the Franj?”
“I have no choice on that either. I swore an oath to serve.”
“But if you go, you know you cannot return here.”
She swallowed hard. “I know.”
“And that is why you are not filled with joy?”
How she wished she could say yes—that was the only reason. But she knew it was not. When she was not in Gabriel’s arms, enthralled by his skin caressing hers, she had realized his answers about the rooms she had discovered were not as simple as she had wanted to believe. The weapons were to protect this oasis amid the chaos of war; but if the Crusaders captured Acre and brought the war here, he would not hesitate to use those weapons to repel her fellow warriors in the cross … and her father.
“Come,” Kalinin said. “Let us go and visit Lysias. You know she warms your heart.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “And she has been very, very anxious to speak with you.”
She chuckled. “I am sure.”
“You cannot fault her. She has been very eager to see you and the shaykh become lovers since the day he brought you here.”
Again Melisande looked away. She doubted if she would ever become inured to the candid discussion of the most private matters. What she shared with Gabriel was too precious to speak of like this.
“Come with me,” Kalinin said quietly.
Nodding, she went with her friend out into the gardens surrounding the lake. She had to be grateful. Kalinin was trying to understand Melisande’s ways, even though she could not.
Melisande stiffened when she heard a twittering voice. She knew she was not mistaken when Kalinin put a warning hand on her arm. Looking across the garden, she saw Falla standing among some of the women. She was showing off a new bangle.
Kalinin whispered, “Let’s go a different way.” With unusual fervor, she grasped Melisande’s hand and tugged her toward a door.
“Don’t you want to see my gift from the caliph, Melisande?” Falla called.
“Not really,” Melisande said under her breath as Falla walked toward them.
She did not waste her graceful, sensual motions on them. A sly smile oozed across her lips as she smoothed her robes against her and murmured, “How wonderfully rested you appear, Melisande.”
“Thank you.”
“I heard you have been sleeping away your life while you were waiting for the shaykh to return. Lysias had Karim Pasa give you one of her potions. Why? Because you actually have emotion in that unfeeling body of yours? Could it be you were aroused by the touch of the caliph and longed to replace me in his bed?” She raised her wrist, which was decorated with the wide band of etched gold. “If you were as wise as you claim to be instead of silly, you would have seen that the rewards of sharing his bed are many.”
She glanced at Kalinin. Falla clearly had not been told that Gabriel had come back to Mukhdarr to spirit Melisande away to his secret grotto. Had Lysias been able to keep it a secret from the rest of the harim? No, she realized as she saw heads bend to whisper among the women. They must be frightened to tell Falla the truth.
Quietly Melisande said, “I am glad you have found your time with the caliph to be more rewarding than you expected. If you will excuse me …”
“No! I do not excuse you.” When Melisande started to walk past her, Falla grasped her arm. “You will stay. I am the ikbal. I am premier among all the women in this harim, and you will obey me.”
“As the shaykh’s mother, Lysias is premier in this harim,” Kalinin interjected.
Falla scowled at her. “Silence.”
“I am not a member of Gabriel’s harim,” Melisande said, struggling to keep herself calm. If she spoke the truth now, it would humiliate Falla even more. She was not sure what Falla would do then to seek vengeance. “Fortunately for me, I do not have to heed your commands.”
“Oh, I forget. You say you have no interest in the shaykh. Or could be he has no interest in you?”
“Falla?” called one of the other women. “You should know that—”
“I am speaking with this Franj.” Flicking her fingers against the golden band around her arm, Falla chuckled. “You say he means nothing to you, but your eyes light when you speak his name. If he orders you to his bed, Melisande, although I do not know why he would, be sure to come to me. I can tell you exactly how to please him.”
“I do not think asking you will be necessary.”
When Kalinin giggled, Falla glared at her and walked away.
“I am sorry, Melisande,” Kalinin said through her laughter as Melisande pushed her toward the door leading to Lysias’s rooms. “I tried to stop myself, but I could not. As if you need her help in pleasing the shaykh. He must be greatly pleased with you to spend so much time with you.”
“When Falla finds out the truth, there will be the devil to pay.”
Kalinin’s smile vanished into a taut frown. “I hope I have not made matters worse.”
“You could not.” She knocked on the tiles beside Lysias’s door. Entering a room without waiting for permission was another aspect of the harim that she could not become acclimated to. No wonder Gabriel had taken her away from her rooms. He knew, even with Karim Pasa guarding the door, that someone might walk in at any moment. In a world where every intimacy was openly discussed, privacy had little value. But Gabriel had arranged for them to be alone. As she waited for Lysias to call them to come in, she wrapped the memory of Gabriel’s touch around her like a favorite cloak.
The curtains were flung aside, and Melisande backpedaled into Kalinin. She stared in disbelief as Lysias rushed out of the room. Lysias pressed her hand to her side as she gasped in rhythm with her heavy steps.
Melisande took her arm and sat her on a bench beneath a flowering tree. “What is wrong, Lysias?”
She pushed herself to her feet. “Child, you must come with me. At once.”
“Why? What is wrong?”
“Come. We have no time for your questions.”
Melisande exchanged a worried glance with Kalinin, who shrugged. Lysias grasped her hand and drew her to Melisande’s rooms. When she saw fear on Lysias’s face, she tried to curb her curiosity. Kalinin hurried after them just as the doors were being pulled shut by a pair of serving maids.
“Lysias—”
“I must catch my breath.” She ran her hand through her gray hair and lurched to a chair.
“Wait with her,” Kalinin said. “I will send Karim Pasa for something for her to drink.”
Lysias shook her head as she sat. “You will not find him. He is busy.” She leaned her face into her hands. “I told him to send Falla to the caliph without delay.”
“Why?” asked Melisande as Kalinin’s eyes widened in amazement. “What is wrong?”
Lysias took her hand and drew her down onto some pillows beside her. “News of the Franj army at Acre has reached us.”
“What kind of news?” she whispered, clutching the arm of Lysias’s chair until she feared her fingers would cut into it. Somehow she found the strength to ask, “Gabriel?”
The older woman patted her hand gently. “It is not as you fear, child. The shaykh is the one who brought these tidings here.”
“What tidings?” She wished Lysias would stop talking around and around and tell her what was happening in Acre.
“After nearly two years of being under siege, Acre has been taken by the Franj.”
“Oh …” She did not know what else to say. She should have been thrilled that the Crusaders had gained a foothold in the Holy Land on the way to Jerusalem. Richard had vowed he would not stop until he reached that city. Yet, this meant that the battles had just begun. Fighting across the plains where so little grew would leave men and horses dead before a sword was drawn.
She closed her eyes and prayed her father had survived the battle. Asking Lysias would be useless. No one who carried the news from Acre would care which Crusader survived. Another shiver raged through her. The fall of Acre opened the way for the Crusaders to come to Mukhdarr.
She leaned her head on her arms on Lysias’s chair, but could not escape the image of her father facing Gabriel across bare swords. Only one could live. She did not want that day to come, for she did not want to watch one of them die. Or, she realized with a thud of horror, both of them.
“There is more.” Lysias’s hands tightened in her lap until her knuckles bleached.
“More?” She wanted to plead with Lysias not to tell her more, but hiding from the truth would gain her nothing.
“The Franj king, the one you call Richard, tired of negotiating for peace and ordered the execution of every prisoner captured in Acre.”
Melisande stared at her in disbelief. “You must have heard wrong. The Crusaders are pledged to bringing peace to this land so that all might journey to Jerusalem. King Richard would not order such a thing.”
“I tell you the truth.”
Kalinin moaned and hid her face.
“How many?” Melisande asked, although again she did not want to know.
“Nearly twenty-five hundred men.”
“Twenty-five hundred men?” Her face grew cold. “He ordered twenty-five hundred men put to death?”
“Child, that was only the beginning. Your Franj king commanded his men to kill not only the soldiers, but their women and children as well.”
“No!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “I don’t believe this. King Richard would not order that. It is a sin for a Crusader to do such a thing.”
“For anyone.”
At the softly spoken words, Melisande buried her face in Lysias’s lap and wept. This was not how the Holy Crusade should be. She had believed that it was right and good. She had believed that even when she saw how Geoffrey and his friend Lord Vaudrey had profited from living in Tyre. She had believed that even when King Richard remained on Cyprus to gain himself a kingdom there. But how could she believe it any longer when the blood of innocents had stained the sand?
Kalinin whispered, “What will happen now?”
“I do not know.” Lysias wiped Melisande’s face with her silken sleeve. “You are no longer an enemy to those of us who have come to love you.” She sighed. “But there is one here who has no reason to offer you clemency.”
“Falla—”
Lysias shook her head. “Falla is of no importance, although I suspect she has further poisoned the caliph’s mind against you.”
“The caliph!” Melisande stood. “If he were to order Gabriel to rid his house of any Franj—”
“No!” shrieked Kalinin. “Do not speak of such things. I cannot bear it.”
“I cannot tell you,” Lysias said, rising and putting her hand on Melisande’s arm, “what the shaykh plans. Ours are the ways of women. We know the pain of this loss, but we know you played no part in the massacre ordered by the Franj king. The shaykh’s—and the caliph’s—shall be the pain of men, who must put honor before the longings of the heart.”
Melisande went to the shuttered doors and opened the one to the garden. From where she stood, she could see the wall that surrounded the secret cavern where Gabriel had taught her of love. She understood what Lysias could not say. The same man who had held her with such passion and whispered of his longing to linger with her in rapture could be the man who obeyed his caliph’s order to execute her in retaliation for the deaths beyond the walls of Acre.
The door from the mabeyin opened.
She turned and gasped when Gabriel stepped into the room. His clothes were rusty with dry blood and dirt. A gash ripped into his forehead still oozed, and he leaned heavily on the wall.
Rushing to him, she pulled his arm around her shoulder. Lysias and Kalinin watched in silent shock as she helped him to a chair. When he winced as he sat, she glanced over her shoulder. As she had guessed, Karim Pasa was following him into the room.
“I can bring salve and water, milady,” he said, anxiety digging deep furrows into his face.
“No, it would be better to take him to my bathing room. Help me with him and then bring the salve you used to heal my arm. If—”
Gabriel grumbled, “I have walked this far. I can walk to the bathing room without you hovering over me like a bird over her nest.”
She was glad when Karim Pasa paid no more attention to Gabriel’s words than she did. Helping Gabriel to his feet, Karim Pasa guided him to the bathing room.
“Kalinin,” she said over her shoulder, “please send for water so we can tend to Gabriel’s wounds.” She took Lysias’s hand and tugged her toward the door. “Come with me. I know you, too, want to learn what has happened.”
Lysias halted her from rushing after the men. “Child, I fear for you as well.”
“I don’t want to think of that now.”
“Does he know that you love him so much?” Lysias asked with a sad smile.
She nodded.
“It is good that you love my son who loves you.”
“Does he?” She wa
lked toward the curtains that still fluttered behind Gabriel and Karim Pasa. She paused by them and faced the older woman. “I wish I could be sure of that.”
“I know my son. I know I have never seen such a fire in his eyes as when he looks upon you.”
Melisande wished she could believe what Lysias said, but she no longer trusted her heart. It had led her to pledge her life to the Crusade without realizing what she might find here. If she let it persuade her that Gabriel loved her, she could be as cruelly disappointed again.
Pushing through the curtains, she went to where Gabriel was sitting on the table. She took a cloth from Karim Pasa and dipped it into water that was waiting beside him. Lifting Gabriel’s hair away from his forehead, she dabbed the cloth on the gash as she instructed Karim Pasa to have the bathing trough filled and fresh clothing brought for Gabriel.
He muttered something.
When his mother laughed and Karim Pasa smiled, Melisande asked, “What is so amusing?”
“You.” He locked his fingers behind her, tugging her between his knees and up against the table.
“Me? Why?”
His hands slid up her back. “You give orders to my household as if you were the shaykh.”
“When you have been knocked about like this, someone must see that you are tended to.”
When his mouth claimed hers, she sensed the desperation in his kiss. She drew back, but he gave her no chance to seek the truth in his eyes. His arm became a clamp around her as his lips stroked hers. Leaning her back against one arm, he deepened the kiss until she gasped against his mouth.
“Oh, my! I did not mean to intrude.”
At Kalinin’s flurry of words, Gabriel wanted to curse. Not only did they pound in his sore skull, but Melisande started to step away. His arm around her waist herded her back toward him as he said, “I would speak with Melisande alone.”
Kalinin gave Melisande a fearful glance, then hurried out.
“Shaykh,” Lysias said quietly, “heed the words of your mother today if you never do again. Melisande should not bear the punishment for the crimes of the Franj.”
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