Emissary (21 page)

Ana looked aggrieved but he was right—she could hardly deny it. ‘Yes, Highness. I have made a habit of proving that, haven’t I?’ She caught the look of anger from her accusers at her familiarity with him but ignored it and decided that, although Boaz was slowly building a case to help her, she hoped her next words might bring this charade to a close. ‘I have no defence, Highness. An opportunity presented itself and I took it.’

‘May I?’ Salmeo cut in.

Boaz nodded unhappily.

‘My Zar, this is not a simple case of Odalisque Ana seizing a rare chance in a bid for freedom. I think a year ago we were able to make this argument on her behalf because of her age, newness to the palace and, through my fault, genuine opportunity that was taken on the whim of the moment.’

‘And this time?’ the Zar queried, knowing he would be dealt a crushing case against Ana.

‘Well, this time it was premeditated, my Zar,’ he exclaimed, filled with well-practised indignation. ‘Odalisque Ana could not have escaped the palace without carefully setting up her plan first. She and the eunuch, Kett, were in this together from the start. They had ample chance during the whole of today in each other’s almost-exclusive company to hatch and test their plan. Forgive me my directness, Highness, but there was absolutely nothing spontaneous about Odalisque Ana’s decision.’

‘And why would Kett aid Odalisque Ana? Do you see it as revenge for the justice meted for his error more than a year ago?’

And Boaz could see the mistake he’d made in asking such a question. He took it all in during the few moments he had between asking it and wishing he never had. He saw the way his mother’s shoulders relaxed as she knew he had walked into the trap, saw the way Salmeo’s eyelids narrowed a fraction as his Zar took the bait, saw Ana fully close her eyes in resignation at what was surely coming and in the way Kett slumped still further knowing his fate.

‘Kett is an enigma, my Zar,’ Salmeo began, his voice soft, almost tender now. ‘He has loved Odalisque Ana since the day he saw her naked and frightened in the Choosing Room. They shared a deeply emotional experience when he was cut, Majesty, and from then on I think in Kett’s disturbed, fevered mind he and she were meant to be together. I think he now believes, in his twisted logic, that he’s in love with one of your prized women, my Zar.’

‘That’s a lie!’ Ana yelled, hating the inflammatory words and how well Salmeo could play the situation to provoke the Zar.

Herezah gasped and Salmeo pursed his fat lips and both looked to Boaz to censure her.

Boaz did not like what he was hearing, as was clear from his darkened expression at the news of Kett’s adoration of one of his women. ‘Ana, let
the Grand Master Eunuch finish. You will have your chance to speak, for this is the most serious of accusations. Continue,’ he ordered.

‘I was going to say, my Zar, that no man would risk so much for a woman unless he had a special devotion to her, although I grant you we found all of Ana’s precious jewels with his belongings. I still don’t believe Kett did it for wealth. He could hardly sell any of these jewels locally. No, Highness, Kett had more spiritual reasons, you could say, for aiding Odalisque Ana in her misguided plan.’

Ana opened her mouth to protest and shut it again at Boaz’s glare.

‘Finish your sorry tale, Grand Master Eunuch, I find it distressing to drag it out any longer.’

Salmeo bowed his head. ‘Of course, Highness. We found the pair of them in a grubby backstreet of the bazaar in what could only be called a regrettable position.’

‘Be specific, Salmeo. I want all the facts, not innuendo.’

‘Very good, Highness. As you wish. Odalisque Ana was discovered unveiled, all her palace clothes thrown behind an olive jar, whilst her companion was all but naked. This in itself is a damning set of circumstances that demand the most stringent of punishments, Majesty. However, that is not the full extent of your odalisque’s treachery. She was also found in the arms of her eunuch companion, their lips in warm embrace.’

Now Boaz shot Ana a glare of such rage, she had no doubt that he was ready to pronounce the death sentence.

‘I’m sorry, son,’ Herezah said softly from the background. ‘She is a vixen and a user of men.’

Boaz did not reply to his mother. Instead his blistering gaze was fixed on Ana. ‘It is your turn, Ana. Can you refute any of what is levelled against you? And if so, you must provide proof of your innocence.’

Ana knew it was hopeless. Boaz’s eyes looked glazed with jealousy and it was doubtful he would see much reason now that Salmeo had primed him so skilfully. Furthermore, Boaz could not, would not, overturn such fundamental harem rules. She was caught with another man—she had to all intents and purposes cuckolded the Zar.

Her next decision was made to deliberately inflame her accusers still further.

She had nothing to lose and only pleasure to gain from watching Herezah’s gathering fury as she swapped into the Galinsean language. ‘I prefer not to debase myself further with trying to justify my actions, which Grand Master Salmeo has related with such creative embellishments, Zar Boaz. May I suggest you do the honourable thing by your crown, Majesty, although I beg you to spare Kett. He is such an innocent and was driven by a desire to serve, Highness, which I would imagine you might consider an attribute in any slave.’

Herezah’s expression of deep hatred seared Ana as effectively as if she had thrown a lamp of burning oil at her. Salmeo simply looked amused by her eloquent soliloquy, even though he understood not a word, while the Zar blinked several times as he first struggled to translate and then digest her cutting words.

‘You wish to die?’ he asked, aghast, but privately distraught. Did she not know that he loved her?

Again she replied in Galinsean. ‘It is where this is all headed, Zar Boaz. It would be naive for us to think otherwise. Let us make it easier for everyone and prevent a late night of recriminations and tears.’ She swapped agilely back to Percherese. ‘I am guilty, yes. I have made my second attempt at escape from the harem and I fully understood the consequences when I made that decision. Sadly, I roped an innocent into my plan. May I add that I did not kiss Kett out of lust as suggested but purely in thanks for his unselfish risk-taking.’

‘Zar Boaz, this is all very noble,’ Herezah cut in, exasperated. ‘The fact of the matter is, an odalisque has been found unveiled in the presence of a man—a half-naked man at that. In this there is no argument.’

‘If you can call Kett a man, Highness,’ Ana said calmly. ‘The harem took that status away from him in all but title.’

‘We had no choice, Highness,’ Salmeo lisped. ‘Kett broke a sacred rule. And now he has done it
again. I cannot see why any mercy should or indeed can be shown to a person who has already been given a second chance for redemption. He has snubbed that opportunity.’

‘I agree,’ Boaz said, noticing the shock register on Ana’s face. ‘Kett, I have no choice in this but to get my palace in order. I will not brook this sort of disobedience. I demand loyalty. You understood the consequences, I’m sure, of your actions should you have failed.’

‘I did, Highness, and the truth is I would do it again for Miss Ana,’ Kett replied more bravely than he felt.

Boaz nodded, determined not to show his despair at now having to pronounce sentence not just on the woman he loved but on a childhood friend also, someone he could tell was at the mercy of love too but unable to hide his feelings as well as the Zar had learned to. ‘I admire your courage, Kett. You will be ganched tomorrow at noon, your body tossed onto the death hooks to squirm and die. May the hooks find their mark and kill you swiftly.’

‘No, Boaz!’ Ana begged.

He ignored her, needed to exert his authority and ensure control over his own emotions; if he looked at her now, her expression could undo him. ‘Take him away,’ he commanded the Elim standing nearby.

Without further ceremony the young eunuch was pulled to his feet and hurried from the room
without so much as a chance to say farewell to Ana.

Ana wept. ‘You brute! You are callous like your mother, Zar Boaz. I can only pity you and the people of Percheron.’

Without warning Herezah stepped up and slapped the kneeling odalisque with such force she toppled sideways. ‘Don’t you dare take his or my name in vain. You are nothing!’ she spat, a rare emotional outburst from the woman always in control. ‘You are not worthy to so much as look upon him again. Slut!’

‘Mother,’ Boaz warned. ‘Step back or return to your chambers.’

‘My son, I will no longer listen to these filthy words from this girl. You have heard what she has done this day and let me add that I, too, witnessed her kissing the half-naked black eunuch. She might as well have been naked herself in a public place in the presence of another man. All our sacred rules have been flouted by this one girl since her arrival. You have no choice but to take punitive measures, as your father before you would have. I shall take my leave,’ she finished, breathing hard, eyes glittering furiously as she took a lingering look at her son before formally dropping a low curtsey. She straightened, took a final scathing glance at Ana and left without another word.

Into the silence Ana pushed Boaz further still. She would not live again under the harem rules
and, true to herself, would rather die than be returned to Salmeo’s and Herezah’s care. ‘You should listen to your mother, Boaz, you probably always will.’

Salmeo looked set to explode into laughter and applaud her pluck. It was obvious he had never heard anyone speak to a Zar with the disdain that this slip of a girl was this evening.

Seething beneath the huge eunuch’s not very well disguised mirth, Boaz could no longer protect Ana from herself. He had reached his own limit of tolerance. His position as Zar demanded he punish her, and fully.

‘It seems you have a death wish, Odalisque Ana, that you would provoke me so.’

‘Pronounce sentence, Zar Boaz, I tire of this audience.’

He shook his head with wonder; imagined what his father might have visited on a woman who talked to him in this way. Although he had many of his father’s characteristics, he would not reduce himself to strike this woman, even if she deserved another blow for her insolence. But as he thought this, he had to quell the equally strong feeling of sickness he felt at losing her. Through it all he admired her. Admired her dauntless attitude and her ability to trust the spirit of her own convictions. She was a match for him all right, but perhaps too much of one? He would never know. He had taken it for granted that Ana would be his wife, his Favourite; he had envisaged many
nights of pleasure as well as stimulating conversation stretching before him. He could never have foreseen that he would be required to sentence her to death.

Boaz swallowed—he had absolutely no choice, and Salmeo’s delight in his Zar’s discomfort was all too plain to read on the eunuch’s face. No, he must exert his status; the future security of the royals was doomed if a mere odalisque could influence a Zar to back down. He took a steadying breath, hating her in that moment for forcing him into this position, and found his voice: ‘Odalisque Ana, it is my painful task to advise that you will be escorted from here to the palace pits. Tomorrow at dawn you will be taken from there, secured in a weighted velvet bag, rowed out on one of the barges to a private spot on the river and drowned.’ It was the least painful death he could contrive…but it was still the execution that he was obliged to deliver. She said nothing in response during his pause. ‘And there at the bottom of the royal river I hope you find peace and the people you have lost.’

She nodded. These were the first meaningful words she had heard during this meeting. ‘Thank you, Zar Boaz. I shall be reunited with my Uncle Horz and Kett, all of us executed on your order. I shall be candid with you. I am not afraid to die. I am more afraid to live.’

Boaz turned to the eunuch. ‘Salmeo, leave us. I wish to say something to Ana in private. Make
arrangements to have her taken to the pits in a few moments.’

Salmeo’s tongue flicked out between the gap in his teeth to wet his lips to say something and then obviously changed his mind. ‘At once, Highness,’ he lisped.

When the huge man had departed, Boaz offered Ana his hand to help her to her feet.

She took his gracious offer silently. ‘I want you to know that I am deeply sorry, Zar Boaz, for all the displeasure I have caused you personally. I meant you no insult. You have been nothing but generous to me.’

He regarded her through angry, wounded eyes. ‘Odalisque Ana, I cannot accept that apology,’ and he couldn’t help but derive a measure of satisfaction, albeit sad, that he had managed to penetrate her defences and injure her with his comment. ‘And I must tell you this before you go. No-one else knows of this yet, and I suspect you could say it is my parting gift to you on a night when I aimed to make you my wife.’ She bit her lip, unsure of what was coming. ‘You may well be reunited with Horz of the Elim, as you say. I hope so. Kett will join you later, of course. But in case you were hoping, you will not find Lazar anywhere near your watery grave, Ana, no matter how hard you search.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, the hairs on the back of her neck lifting with dread anticipation, the confirmation of what she believed to be true.

‘I mean that he is alive. I am seeing him in a few hours.’

‘Alive?’ She whispered. It was a shock to have her suspicions authenticated.

He nodded. ‘Pez found him.’ She looked dumbfounded as the truth of her fears of betrayal by two of her few allies settled like lead weights around her. ‘I’m sure Lazar will be devastated to learn that his efforts to preserve your life with his own were always in vain. Guard!’

‘No, wait!’

‘Too late, Ana. I have adored you since I first saw you and I would have treated you with kindness and tenderness all of your life. Your disdain for me and my position is a wound I must learn how to heal now.’

The door opened and the Elim moved in to escort Ana to the palace pits.

Boaz did not move, remained as still as a statue long after Ana had been taken away. Finally Salazin stepped forward, melting out of the shadows. He signed: My
Zar, can I escort you back to your chambers?