They did not dare speak until they had left Jebal’s suite of rooms and were hurrying down the corridor and into the harem. “Thank God,” Alex gasped. “That was a very close call.”
Murad slipped his arm around her waist. “I know.”
“Blackwell is almost well enough for us to escape,” Alex whispered as they crossed the galleria. “Clearly, Murad, my time is running out.”
“Yes, it is. But he needs another week to heal, I should think.”
Alex thought that he was right.“Iam afraid. It is almost July.”
Murad, by now, knew all of the so-called prophecy and Alex’s deepest fears. “You should be afraid. Remove him from the palace, Alex, remove him now, before he is discovered in your rooms.”
Alex could not agree. But she was loath to be separated from Blackwell again. She did not know if she could bear it. She was afraid that some twist of fate might occur preventing them from being reunited—as had almost happened this past year.
Murad opened the door to her room, and Alex stepped inside. Only to see Zoe pressed up against Blackwell, one of her thighs actually between his legs, a fingertip on his mouth. Alex cried out in shock.
Zoe and Blackwell jerked apart.
30
ABSOLUTE SILENCE FILLEDthe room.
Alex could not believe her eyes. She was devastated.
Zoe smiled, very pleased, and sent Blackwell an arched and meaningful glance. She swaggered past Alex. Alex reacted without thinking. Her hand whipped out and she seized the other woman’s arm, jerking her to a halt. “Don’t you ever enter my room again,” she ground out.
Zoe blinked, wide-eyed. “How testy you are, Zohara. Have I done something wrong?” She smiled again, shook Alex off, and left with one more backward glance at Xavier.
A silence so thick and tense it crackled returned to the room.
Alex was breathing far too rapidly and far too harshly. The image of Zoe practically astride Blackwell remained implanted in her mind. And an inkling began to form there, increasing her unease.
Jebal’s wife.
Zoe was Jebal’s wife—the bashaw’s daughter-in-law.
Alex was frozen, mesmerized … horrified. Ohmygod. It had become crystal clear to Alex that it might very well be Zoe whom Xavier was discovered with.
She could not move, absolutely paralyzed.
“Alexandra,” Blackwell said.
Her gaze lifted, meeting his. “This is how you repay me?” she whispered.
His face was set. “Nothing happened.”
“Nothing? In another moment Zoe would have been climbing up your body.”
“No.”
Alex realized then that she and Blackwell weren’t alone; Murad stood behind her, watching them both, listening to their every word very intently. “Could you leave us alone?” she asked.
Concern etched upon his face, he nodded and walked past Blackwell, into his own antechamber. His door closed.
When he was gone, Alex turned, still stunned by what she had seen, by Xavier’s near if not actual betrayal. She stared blindly out of the window at a mostly full and very bright, champagne-colored moon. “Do you find her beautiful?” she finally said.
He approached. Alex tensed when he stood close behind her. “Of course she is beautiful. Why are you jealous? Her beauty can’t compare to yours. She cannot compare to you. And nothing happened. I don’t want her.”
Alex faced him, relieved. “You don’t?”
