“Something that diverts attention away from what you are doing.” Alex realized that Murad held a porcelain teacup in his hand. “I am not in the mood for a soothing cup of tea, not unless it is full of the Tripolitan equivalent of Valium.”
Murad’s eyes met hers. “I don’t know what Valium is. But this is not plain tea. This contains herbs that will calm you and make you sleepy. This will help you accept Jebal, Alex. You will not mind anything that he wishes to do.” Murad’s eyes were filled with regret, compassion, and deep, abiding concern.
Alex stared at the cup of green liquid. Murad’s words filled her mind. And with them, a startling idea. “I want something stronger. I want something that will make me pass out.”
“Pass out?”
Alex stood impatiently, hands on her hips. “I want something that will make me fall asleep, heavily, quickly, so that when Jebal starts up, I won’t be awake. I am quite certain he will not rape me while I’m unconscious.”
“He will be angry,” Murad said.
Alex shrugged. “I’m going to take this one day at a time.”
“I can get you what you want. Alex, are you sure?”
Alex heard women’s laughter coming from the gardens outside. She stared through the open windows into the twilight, then whirled. “Oh, I am sure. And guess what? We can blame Zoe, Murad, and Jebal will never know.” She smiled. “We will say I was poisoned! Zoe is clearly the most likely culprit.”
Murad’s gaze was admiring. He grinned. “Alex, you have finally, truly, become one of us. Zoe could not have done better herself.”
Alex laughed. But her laughter ceased abruptly when someone rapped on her door. Instantly she and Murad locked gazes. “Zoe?” Alex mouthed.
Murad, grim now, marched to the door. Alex watched him breathlessly. One of Jebal’s slaves stood in the corridor. She only relaxed slightly.
Murad returned. “This is for you.”
Alex looked at the small inlaid box. She did not have to be very clever to suspect that it contained a gift for her—a gift of jewelry. “Damn it,” she said.
“I hate it when you curse.”
Alex took the box reluctantly.
“He wants you to wear it. Whatever’s inside,” Murad remarked.
Alex opened the lid and gasped.
Inside the box lay a thick gold collar. From the choker eight large, pear-shaped rubies dangled, a large diamond winking at the tip of each bloodred stone. “Ohmygod.” She had never seen such a magnificent piece of jewelry before, except in magazine advertisements. She had never held such a fortune before, much less worn it.
“I’m not sure you should take the sleeping potion,” Murad said grimly. “I have a bad feeling, Alex.”
“No. I am going to pass out on Jebal, I am going to buy myself more time, even if it is a single day.” She hardly heard herself. Something was clicking in her mind. A wonderful dawning realization. She began to smile, slowly lifting up the necklace.
Even in the chamber’s candlelight, the rubies gleamed, the diamonds shined. “Murad!”
“Oh God,” Murad said.
“This will give us the gold we need to get inside the bagnio.”
Murad closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were filled with apprehension. “If Jebal ever finds out, he will kill you himself.”
Alex did not listen. Now she had the means to bribe her way into the bagnio, and maybe even to bribe Blackwell’s way out.
“Perhaps we should get rid of her.”
Paulina lounged naked in the large sunken bath that was at one end of the garden, shaded by huge palm trees. It was a beautiful, star-clad evening. “Who?”
Zoe, also nude, sat on the stone steps beside her, eating figs. “Whom do you think?Her.”
Paulina followed Zoe’s glance. The two women watched Alex walking, head down, along a graveled path. The iridescent red gilet shimmered in the lights cast by the moon and the garden’s torches. “What is she wearing?” Paulina cried with obvious jealousy.
