Page 113 of The Treasure
That evening Selene was about to leave her chamber when Kadar knocked on the door.
"I trust you have no objection to me escorting you?" Kadar asked silkily. "I may not be of importance to you in any other way, but I do have my uses."
She moved past him and down the hall. "This isn't necessary."
"But you don't know the villa." He fell into step with her. "You might become lost."
"I doubt it. It's not even as large as Sienbara."
"Then indulge me because it brings me pleasure. That gown is quite becoming. I've always liked you in white. Where did you get it?"
"Tarik. I suppose it's one of the servant's. They all wear white."
"Very considerate. I should have thought of it myself, but I was a trifle preoccupied."
She glanced at him warily. There was none of the barely repressed frustration and despair that had characterized him earlier.
His tone was lazy, his demeanor faintly mocking, but she was aware of some other emotion that she couldn't define, and it made her uneasy. She wasn't accustomed to not knowing what Kadar was thinking.
He smiled. "I suggested Tarik and Layla wait for us on the terrace. The evening is too fine to stay inside. Did you notice the sunset?"
"No."
"One should always pay attention to beauty. There's no way of predicting when it will leave us." He gently nudged her toward a columned doorway to her left. "You might consider that."
She strode ahead of him out onto the terrace.
Layla and Tarik were standing at the balustrade and turned as Selene approached.
"Ah, you look more rested. I hope you were made comfortable." Tarik glanced at Kadar and smiled slyly. "I hate to think of my fate if you were displeased. It seems Kadar is a trifle upset with us."
"Oh, I've recovered my temper. You needn't worry." Kadar dropped into a chair at the wooden table beneath the vine-covered arbor. "As long as you heed the thrust of our discussion." He looked at Selene. "Here we are. Gathered at your command, meekly awaiting your words. What do you wish of us?"
Ignore the mockery. Say what had to be said. "I want Nasim dead."
Kadar's expression didn't change. "I thought that might be it."
"I'm going to need help. I'd do it myself, but he has too much power, too many men."
"I'd judge your assessment is correct. I can think of no one who would go up against him without help. Some would say it's impossible. He's seldom alone. He can call on the assassins at any time."
"Are you saying you won't help me?"
"No, I'm saying it would be difficult and possibly lethal." His tone was detached. "And you have no training that would make such a foray successful."
"But you have. You could show me."
"Do you wish to invest as many years as I have on learning the dark path?" He shook his head. "I don't think so. It wouldn't suit your temperament, Selene."
"It would suit me to see him dead. I'll do whatever I have to do toward that end."
"You believe you will, but thought and execution are not the same. It takes a certain savagery that you don't possess."
"Then I'll acquire it. I've had many lessons lately. All I'll have to do is remember Haroun." Her voice was suddenly fierce. "Did Layla tell you how Nasim hacked him to pieces? He tried to save us, and that monster--"
"She told me," he interrupted. "But emotion ebbs and flows, and it tends to get in the way of reaching goals. That memory will hinder, not help you."
He was so cool and objective, not like the Kadar she knew at all. She didn't know what she had expected, but it wasn't this remoteness. Kadar had never distanced himself from her. "I cannot help it. The emotion is there. It will always be there." She added deliberately, "I suppose I cannot expect you to feel anything for the child that died because of Nasim. He wasn't real to you."
