Page 83 of Silver Angel

The girl was terrified to be stopped by him, thinking the worst, and fell to her knees at his feet, crying loudly for mercy. Derek had to bend down and shake her just to get her attention.

“I mean you no harm, dammit!” His tone was not reassuring. “Just take me to Shahar.”

“You mean to enter the—”

He cut through her amazement with a sharp “Now!”

She flinched and ran ahead of him. She was not as quick as he would have liked. And once they entered the harem there were the crowded pathways to be contended with, the shrieks of surprise, the crashes as trays of food slipped out of nervous hands, and every single soul dropping to the floor so quickly that a sprained wrist, two cracked ribs, and a dislocated jaw would later be reported.

Shahar’s apartment was easy to find after all. It was where all the favorites and wives were gathered outside, along with their servants and eunuchs, waiting to hear more news, good or bad. Again his sudden appearance caused a commotion, and he actually had to step over several prone bodies to reach the door. Then he stopped dead for a moment, hearing an anguished cry coming from inside.

Oh, God, don’t let her die. Please, not her.

He stopped at the door to the bedchamber, where the curtains were tied back to allow for all the comings and goings. The room was filled with women, most of them the old ones who tended to the minor illnesses in the harem. Kadar was there, too, kneeling by the bed, his hands fisted in his hair as if he meant to pull it out in his despair. A young girl was on the other side of the bed, tears running down her cheeks as she applied cooling compresses to Shahar’s forehead.

Dread slowed his steps now as Derek approached the bed, seeing nothing but the pitiful form lying there. She lay on her side, curled in a tight ball, arms locked over her stomach. Blood beaded on her lower lip where she had bit it, scarlet against the ashen hue of her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, the lashes wet with tears. She was whimpering….

“How long has she been in pain like this?”

Kadar’s head snapped up as he recognized the quiet voice. There were tears in his eyes, too, but they weren’t so blurry that he could mistake the stricken expression the Dey unknowingly revealed.

“I thought you were not coming, my lord,” Kadar said, a note of accusation in his voice that he didn’t care if the Dey detected or not. “I sent word hours ago.”

“That idiot girl did not bother to find me. She waited for me to return to my apartments, which I only just…How the hell could this happen?”

It was a stupid question, he knew, and so he didn’t expect an answer. Poison was one of the commonest methods of doing away with rivals, and had been used for hundreds of years in hundreds of harems all across the Turkish empire. What he really wanted to know was why it had to happen to his Shahar.

“We are not certain of the poison used, but it would have been an easy matter for someone to tamper with her food in the kitchen, and all servants have access there.”

“Where is Haji Agha? He should have informed me of this himself.”

“In the city, my lord. This is the day he customarily visits the bazaars. He has not returned yet.”

“And what has been done for her?”

“She was given a purge, but because we do not know which poison was used, or how much, it is impossible to tell—”

“Has she gotten worse? Better?”

Kadar hesitated a long moment before he was forced to admit, “Worse.”

Derek closed his eyes. For all the power at his disposal, he felt completely helpless.

“My lord?” someone said behind him. “The physicians are at the gate, but the guards are refusing them entrance.”

“Dammit to hell! I summoned them. Were the guards not told that?”

“No men have ever entered the harem before, my lord,” was the tremulous reply. “The guards will not accept their word that they come by your order.”

Derek turned back to the eunuch. “Kadar, I give you leave to act in Haji Agha’s stead. Blindfold them if necessary, but get them in here fast. And I want this room vacated, and those women outside gone, too,” he added angrily. “This is not a deathbed to be hovering over.”

Derek shook his head when Adamma started to leave, too. She moved out of the way, however, when he sat on the edge of the bed, amazed to see the hand he stretched toward Shahar’s cheek tremble.

“Can you hear me, Shahar?”

“Jamil?” She didn’t open her eyes. Her voice was hoarse, her throat raw from repeated vomiting. She moaned, then tried to stifle the sound by clamping her lips together. When the cramps lessened, she asked, “Am I going to die?”

“No, love, I won’t allow it.”