"You have beautiful hair," he observed. "It is like the blackest silk."

"In my home city dark hair as mine is considered ordinary. It is the maidens with the golden and red hair who are praised," Azura told Nadim.

"And yet you are extraordinarily beautiful," the eunuch said.

"The prince tells me that the women of the harem spy on one another, and use the eunuchs to bring them information," Azura said to him. "Will you spy on me?"

"No," he told her without hesitation. "The fact that the prince has called for you to come to his bed tonight, ignoring tradition that requires his wives be brought to serve his needs in the order of their importance, tells me that you will eventually hold all the power in this harem. Ali Farid does not realize that yet, else he should not have sent me to you. I served your prince's mother until her death. Before she died she asked Prince Amir to keep me in his household always. He has, but because my history has been forgotten by the self-important, I have been only tolerated, and given the least important tasks to do.

"When the prince was home last and told us that a new wife would soon join the harem, I went to him secretly and begged to be appointed her eunuch. The prince remembered my long and faithful service to his mother then and brought me to Ali Farid, telling him I would be the eunuch to serve his new wife. Since I am considered unimportant, it was thought the new wife would also be unimportant. But this is not so, my lady Azura, is it? I suspect that you have the prince's heart. Once they become aware of it, the lady Maysun and the lady Shahdi will accept that you are the first lady of this harem. Until then they will seek to undermine you, for that is the way of the harem, and you should know it."

"The prince said they would welcome me," Azura told Nadim.

"Of course they will, for they have no other choice," the eunuch said. "But the prince does not live within the walls of his harem. The women do. If you will protect me from Ali Farid, my lady Azura, I will protect you from the others. My best interests are served by my loyalty to you, and you alone."

"It is said that the Florentines are devious in their politics," Azura said to him, "but the intricacies of the harem are even more guileful, I see. I will take you at your word, Nadim, and I will place my trust in you. But if you betray me, be warned that my revenge will be swift and final."

"I am warned, my lady Azura, but you will have no need to lose your faith in me, for as I served Prince Amir's mother faithfully, so will I serve you," Nadim told her.

Chapter 14.

They returned to her little apartment, where Agata was already waiting with a tray of food for them both. They sat upon pillows before the little table and ate. There was fresh warm bread, yogurt, a honeycomb, a bunch of green grapes, and hot mint tea. Nadim and Agata served Azura first, and when she had eaten her fill they finished the bounty that remained. Then the two women lay down to rest while Nadim sat cross-legged outside of his lady's quarters. He could hear the hum of voices coming from the salon at the end of the corridor. He concentrated hard in the silence and was able to make out the conversation going on.

"She is beautiful," the first wife, Maysun, said. She did not sound happy.

"Far too beautiful," the second wife, Shahdi, agreed.

"There is nothing we can do about it." Maysun spoke again. "Perhaps she will become arrogant and difficult with his favor."

"It is to be hoped," Shahdi said. "Remember, we promised we would welcome her. I would not break our promise to the prince."

"We will welcome her given the opportunity, but first Ali Farid insisted we remain in our quarters. We could not meet her in the baths, and now that old eunuch who has been a.s.signed to her guards her while she sleeps," Maysun replied.

"The eunuch is an old fool. He will not be of much use to her," Shahdi said, sounding very pleased.

Nadim grinned to himself in hearing her. Stupid peasant. Daughter of a tribal chief, and so unimportant that the sultan pa.s.sed you on to a grandson. What do you possibly know, kept here in a country harem?

"The old eunuch once served our prince's mother," Maysun told her companion.

"A woman long dead and long forgotten. Wife to a rebellious prince who will meet an unfortunate end one of these days," Shahdi said. "Praise Allah our prince is a more prudent man."

"What if she has a child?" Maysun asked.

"Surely she has been rendered sterile, even as we are," Shahdi replied. "The sultan wants no more rival claimants to his throne. That is why we were made sterile before we were given to our prince."

"This Azura is a foreigner," Maysun pointed out. "She is not a slave, and not of our world until now. He loves her, and if he loves her he will want a child of her."

"Is there no way we can render her as we are?" Shahdi wondered. "Perhaps we should consult Ali Farid in this matter. There must be some poison we could introduce into her food or clothing that would make it impossible for her to bear our prince a child. At least then we should be as equals."

"Do nothing until I have thought long and hard on it," Maysun told her companion. "One child would not be so terrible, and it could just as easily be a daughter as a son. It might be nice for us to have a child to raise."

"You are too softhearted," Shahdi scolded.

"And you too quick to act," Maysun replied.

"Until we meet her we can't really know anything," Shahdi said.

"Perhaps when she has rested the old eunuch will bring her forth to meet us," Maysun said. "I think we should now go to the bath mistress, and see what she and her attendants have to say about this new wife our prince has taken."

Nadim heard the women getting up. He wasn't certain they wouldn't first return to their own little apartments, so he lowered his head and feigned sleep as he sat. But they did not come, going instead directly to the baths. He was pleased with what he had heard. Now he would be certain to personally prepare or oversee everything that his lady ate. He would have to warn her servingwoman not to accept any food gifts. Poisoned candy paste and fruit were favorite weapons among the harem women.

When Azura awoke she was briefly confused as to where she was, but then she remembered. She could not recall ever feeling so relaxed or so clean. And she was hungry. "Agata!" she called, and her servant came. "I am famished. Where is Nadim? He will know what to do about my hunger."

"I am here, my lady Azura," the old eunuch said. "Your companion wives will eat shortly. Would you join them or remain here in private?"

"I think, as we are now a family, that I would do best to meet these women," she answered him.

"A wise decision," he told her. "They are curious, and a little afraid of your coming. The bath women have sung your praises. I would tell you if you do not know that the lady Maysun and the lady Shahdi are childless. They are not able to bear children. You, I believe, are. Do you wish to give your husband a child? Or would you like me to prepare you a daily draught that will prevent a child from being conceived?"

Azura's eyes widened with surprise. "No! No!" she cried softly. "I would give Amir a child of our love."

"Then say nothing of your heart's desire to either of the other wives. And take no food from their hand," Nadim warned her. "The harem of a prince can become a house of jealousy, especially if a favored woman can give her husband what others cannot. Do you understand what it is I am saying to you?"

Azura nodded.

"It seems to be the same the world over," Agata said in her native tongue. "In Florence poison is also a favorite weapon for women."

"What is it that your woman says?" the eunuch asked Azura.

"That poison is a woman's means even in our homeland. Her name is Agata, and she can speak a little of this new language, but it is difficult for her. It was not for me, although I know I will need to be corrected, and you must do it so I learn to speak properly," Azura told him. "If you remember to talk slowly when you address Agata, she will learn eventually."

"She already understands more than she lets on," the eunuch said with a small smile. "It is clever of her to feign ignorance. She will hear much that way that will be of use to you, my lady Azura."

"How can you be so certain of what you say?" Azura asked him.

"I watched her in the baths following the instructions of the attendants quite well while she stumbled over her own speech, making them laugh," he answered. "She will have to improve her skills with our language, and I will have to learn yours. Agata and I must work together to keep you safe and happy," Nadim told Azura.

"We will teach each other," Agata said, surprising the eunuch, but he chuckled.

"We will do well together, you and I," he told the servingwoman.

She nodded in agreement.

"Now come, my lady Azura, and I will bring you to the salon, where your companions now await you," Nadim told her.

The two women followed the eunuch from Azura's small apartment down the corridor and into the salon. The sun was already setting in the hills behind the Moonlight Serai. It dappled the dark waters of the sea before the palace. Maysun and Shahdi were seated, awaiting Azura's arrival.

"My ladies, I present to you your prince's new wife, the lady Azura," Nadim said.

The younger woman bowed from the waist. "I greet you, my lady Maysun, my lady Shahdi," she said in careful Turkish.

"Join us," Maysun invited. The bath women were right. Azura's skin was flawless. "We welcome you to your new home, Lady Azura."

"Yes, welcome," Shahdi echoed, not sounding as if she was entirely sincere.

"You have traveled a long distance to reach us. Our husband was most anxious to find and retrieve you," Maysun said. She looked to the hovering attendants, and nodded.

Almost immediately they disappeared, then reappeared several moments later with bowls and platters that were set upon the table around which the three women were seated. There was a roasted shank of lamb carved into small slices set upon a platter, bowls of saffron rice, yogurt, bread, and a large plate of fresh fruits.

Nadim watched as Maysun and Shahdi helped themselves, noting whether they favored one side of a bowl or platter. They did not. Nonetheless he personally picked the lamb slices for Azura, which he laid upon a piece of flat bread with some yogurt. He dipped his fingers into the bowl of rice, tasted it, and nodded to her.

"Your eunuch is overcautious," Maysun said.

"Indeed," Shahdi snorted. "This is not Istanbul."

Azura waved Nadim away with a little shake of her head, silently admonishing him. "He is kind, and takes his position most seriously," she said in a soft voice. "I find I am already grateful for his gentle care of me. This world of yours is new to me. I do not mean to offend, but I suspect women's behavior is much the same in Florence where I was born as it is here at the Moonlight Serai." She gave them a little smile.

"We are not a large household. The crime of poisoning could hardly go unchallenged here as it might in a great harem," Maysun said sharply. "Your eunuch is foolish to believe we would harm you. Both Shahdi and I were given women. You are a chosen woman. We have both known that eventually our husband would fall in love. I hope for all our sakes that we can get on, Azura."

"As do I," came the reply. "I am told you both come from cultures where a man is allowed, if he chooses, to have four wives. You certainly know that the world from which I come grants a man but one wife. Jealousy is an emotion that comes easily to women. Knowing that Amir can take favors from any of us must nonetheless be as difficult for you both as it will be for me. There was a brief time when he was mine alone," Azura said to them candidly. "Still, I was raised in a home with several sisters. I am used to the company of women, and am generally peaceable. But understand that if I am attacked, I will retaliate in kind. It is in my nature."

Shahdi laughed aloud. "You are very outspoken," she noted. "I may come to like you when I know you, Azura." How clever she is, Shahdi thought. And strong. We will have a difficult time ridding ourselves of her, should we decide to do so.

Maysun smiled. She took her position as Amir's first wife most seriously, but she was at heart a kind woman. "Tell us how you met Amir ibn Jem," she said.

So while they ate Azura told them a little bit of her life as Bianca Pietro d'Angelo, of her unfortunate marriage, and how she had come to meet the prince. They were fascinated by her recitation, and laughed to learn the part that the great hound, Darius, had played in bringing the two lovers together. Neither of them had ever bothered themselves with the dog. In the worlds from which they had come, dogs were not pets but used for hunting, herding, and guarding the villages. When the meal had been cleared away, they sat with small porcelain cups of mint tea exchanging histories.

Azura learned that Maysun was the younger sister of a fierce Georgian warrior who, in admiring the great Ottoman Mehmet, who became known as the Conqueror, had offered his services, along with those of the warriors who followed him, to the sultan. Mehmet had graciously accepted the Georgian warlord's fealty, taking his sister into his own harem as a token of loyalty. That she was of little interest to the sultan did not distress her brother. She had been given and accepted as a token and pledge. Nothing more. Maysun had no illusions and understood her place in the world.

"I saw the Conqueror only once," Maysun told her companions, "when I was presented to him. After that I was absorbed into his large harem, an unimportant girl among many such as myself. I was very fortunate to be given to Amir ibn Jem. I know I am pretty, but I am no beauty to capture a man's heart as you are," Maysun concluded.

"My tale is not quite as hers," Shahdi said. "I am a Circa.s.sian. Our women are considered to be beauties in this part of the world. My father sold me when I was ten to one of our great slave merchants who decided I had promise. I was trained and then purchased by a warlord who was also pledging his fealty to the sultan. I was included in a great train of gifts and slaves this man sent to the Conqueror as a token of his good faith. Like Maysun, I ended up unnoticed until I was picked to be given to our prince.

"So many women are given to the sultan for his pleasure, but only a mere few ever are taken to his bed, and of those, fewer still manage to gain his personal favor, some briefly, but others longer. Being sent to the sultan's harem usually means a lonely life unless you are fortunate enough to be given away to another that the sultan wishes to honor, as we were given to our husband," Shahdi explained.

"What do the women of the harem do?" Azura asked her, curious.

"They spend their days beautifying themselves in the hopes that the sultan will notice them. Some, wiser than the others, find tasks to make them useful to the powers that rule the harem. Their lives are more interesting and fulfilling," Shahdi replied.

"There is so much about your world that I do not know," Azura said slowly. She loved Amir, but now she wondered if that would be enough.

"You have but to ask us if you are confused," Maysun said sweetly.

They had been kind enough, Azura thought afterwards as she prepared for bed. The kaftan had been taken from her and a gossamer-thin silk chemise with a high rounded neck and long full sleeves was given to her to sleep in. She was about to lie down when Nadim stepped aside to allow Ali Farid into the little chamber.

"The prince wishes your presence, Azura," he said. "Remove your sleeping garment, and come with me."

She looked to Nadim. He shook his head, and quickly drawing off her silk garment, handed it to Agata to store away. Undoing her single plait, he ran a brush through her long ebony hair. It shone in the lamplight as it fell in rippled waves down her back to the base of her spine. The faint fragrance of night-blooming moonflowers touched his nostrils. It was the perfect fragrance for her.

Ali Farid looked Azura over with a critical eye, then nodded. "You are a beautiful woman. No wonder our prince fell in love with you." Then he turned and hurried out.

Azura stood frozen, but then Nadim gave her a little push.

"Walk slowly, and with your head up," he murmured. "There is no one to see you, my lady Azura. This is our way."

Following his direction she walked out of her little apartment. Ali Farid led her from the harem wing down a softly lit corridor through a pair of great bronze doors.

They were in an antechamber. He pointed to a carved wooden door. "Your lord and master awaits you, lady. When he has taken his pleasure of you, you are to return to your own bed unless he invites you to remain. You will find Nadim waiting outside of these doors to lead you back." Then he turned about and left her.

Azura knocked at the carved door, opened it, and walked into Amir's bedchamber. She wanted to run to the bed and cover herself, but there was simply no avoiding her nudity. She glided across the floor as he watched her. He wanted to grin, for he could see her distress. She had given up much for him, not really knowing the world she was about to enter, and he could not bear for her to be unhappy now.

"Usually when called to her husband's bed, a wife crawls across the floor and up into the bed," he teased her as she slipped in next to him. He too was naked.

"That's almost as awful as it is ridiculous," Azura told him. Then without waiting another minute she kissed him full on the lips, pushing him back amid the pillows.

His strong arms wrapped about her, pulling her atop him. His hand smoothed down her graceful back and over her sweetly rounded b.u.t.tocks. "I can see you have missed me, beloved," he said, laughing softly. She was so different from the other two, allowing her pa.s.sion to bloom before his eyes while the others always remained restrained beneath him. It was he who had awakened her to love. It was she who had awakened him.

"That whole voyage was made worse by the beautiful landscapes we sailed past, the moonlit nights, and our inability to be together. I can see that you missed me as well, my husband," Azura told him, kissing him again. She sat up, straddling him boldly.

Reaching up, he captured a lock of her hair, bringing it to his lips to kiss. Her fragrance a.s.sailed him, but as much as he would have enjoyed taking her then and there, he wasn't going to do so. When they had first become lovers, in that brief, sweet time at Luce Stellare, he had been gentle with her, loving her in a way that would not frighten her. Now, however, she was his wife. Now she would learn that the man she was wed to was filled with great pa.s.sion and l.u.s.t for her.

He gazed up at her, smiling. She was so very beautiful. Her round b.r.e.a.s.t.s enchanted him. He leaned forward so he might kiss their dainty nipples, drawing her down just slightly in order to bury his face in the sweet valley between those b.r.e.a.s.t.s and inhale the fragrance of her skin. He had been hard before she even entered his bedchamber. Just thinking about Azura aroused him. No woman had ever affected him in the way that she did. No woman had ever had his love until Azura.

She pulled away again so she was just above him. The palms of her small hands glossed over his smooth bare chest, making little circles of movement. His skin was beautifully soft, but his body was also hard and sculpted beneath her touch. He lay perfectly still, enjoying her attentions. Her shapely thighs held him as if he were her mount.

His hand reached out to brush over her plump mons. Two fingers pushed past her nether lips and beneath her, past her love jewel, gliding slowly into her wet sheath. He smiled a slow smile, seeing her eyes widen in surprise. "I want you to ride my fingers," he said softly as he sensuously stroked the hot hidden flesh that closed around those invasive digits. "Ride until I tell you to cease, Azura. This is but the first of the pleasures we shall share this evening, beloved." His dark blue eyes glittered wickedly.

At first she could not move. Her very breath seemed caught in her throat. He had never made such a request of her, touched her in such a voluptuous manner so that her body felt as if it would shatter with a word, a single touch. However, she had never before clambered atop him in so bold a fashion. The sensation of those two fingers inside of her was acute and very exciting. She obeyed his command without another word.

Azura felt deliciously wicked as she began to move her body just slightly so that the fingers now buried deep inside her began to mimic her rhythm, stroking her, fanning the flames of her increasing desire. Her eyes closed, and with each subtle movement she made, her need increased. She moved faster, faster, faster until suddenly she felt the walls of her sheath convulsing around his fingers. She shuddered with release, and felt her cheeks grow hot with the realization of what had just transpired. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" Azura gasped as another and final tremor wracked her.

Amir's fingers slid from her body. He pulled her down, rolling her onto her back.

"A sweet beginning, beloved," he murmured in her ear, kissing it, his breath hot, nibbling on the fleshy little lobe. "You are a most obedient wife, Azura," he teased.

She opened her aquamarine eyes and looked up at him. "You treated me with more delicacy in my villa by the sea," Azura said to him.

"You were a properly raised Florentine woman, a young widow, with only a cruel and crude knowledge of pa.s.sion. I think I would have frightened you to death had I been as bold then as I will be now," Amir told her.

"Now that I am the infidel's wife," she said softly.

"Yes, you are my wife, beloved. Mine! I will open those beautiful jeweled eyes of yours to the many sweet ways that lovemaking can be pursued," he told her.