Emissary by Fiona McIntosh Read Free Book Online Page B

jibe at the old harem’s women and wives, ‘but no Zar is going to choose a corpulent woman over one whose body is voluptuous but still trim.’
    It was as if Ana ignored the Valide’s comment. ‘I was also told that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Valide. Perhaps each Zar has different ideas of what is attractive in a woman. Zar Boaz may find a woman’s mind beautiful and not lay so much store by her figure.’
    Herezah couldn’t stifle the gasp of indignation that escaped her.
    Ana realised her error. ‘Forgive me, Valide. I meant no offence. I am merely posing an idea.’
    ‘You offer your private thoughts too easily, Ana, for one so young.’
    ‘I apologise, Valide Herezah,’ Ana tried again, this time going to her knees. ‘I am trying to teach myself not to.’
    Herezah looked at the kneeling figure and it was as though she were looking at herself from fifteen years ago. Elegant, headstrong, beautiful on the outside and a sharp intelligence held within. Herezah had fed the fire of ambition that burned so brightly inwardly—that was all that had got her through the years of destructive boredom. But ambition did not burn in this girl, she deduced. It was something completely different and yet still it gave off the similar heat, simmering constantly but invisibly.
    ‘What is it that you want?’ Herezah said, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
    Ana looked up in surprise. ‘I want nothing, Valide. I just want to be,’ she answered, not explaining anything.
    Herezah again felt the twitch of exasperation. ‘To be? Whatever does that mean?’
    Ana shrugged. ‘Pardon me, but I’m just not sure how I must respond.’
    Again the evasiveness and lack of anything but cryptic responses.
    ‘You say you want nothing,’ Herezah repeated, clutching at the only thing Ana had said that made sense, ‘and yet you have all the girls in the harem eating out of your palm.’
    Again Ana looked down and Herezah knewthe girl understood. ‘It is not from choice, Valide. I do not encourage it.’
    ‘And still it happens, Ana. Are you dangerous for the harem? You may stand.’
    Ana rose in a fluid movement and once again Herezah was struck by the golden beauty and grace of this young woman. She certainly had filled out in the past few moons and looked ripe for the plucking, as the Grand Master Eunuch had observed. He was right, Boaz could be used unwittingly to bring this threat to Herezah’s status to an end.
    ‘Dangerous?’ Ana queried.
    ‘Your innocence is always convincing, Ana, but it does not fool me,’ Herezah commented, again carefully covering her rancour with a soft tone as though she were merely making an observation rather than an accusation. ‘It will serve you well. I’m sure the Zar will love it.’
    Now Ana dared to raise her depthless green eyes and regard the Valide, her gaze serious, and Herezah felt impaled by the stare.
    She affected a coy laugh as if embarrassed. ‘Oh surely you realise that my son will want to bed you soon, Ana?’ Not all of the mockery was disguised in the tone. She wanted Ana to hear it. ‘And I for one will be delighted when he takes his first virgin between his sheets,’ she continued.
    Ana stammered some sort of reply but although the words were lost on Herezah, the effect of herbaiting the girl was not. She smiled inwardly. This was where she wanted Ana—unsure, hesitant.
    ‘Anyway, let’s not talk about that,’ she said in a more friendly manner, waving away the previous conversation. ‘I brought you here today to discuss Zar Boaz’s picnic for the harem.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘Yes, you see, I imagine some of the younger girls are going to be a little fearful of being taken out of the harem. They’ve been here now for a year so this is where they feel secure.’
    Ana had regained her composure to some degree and answered without thinking. ‘No, Valide, I think everyone in the harem is very excited. I sense no fear.’
    Herezah blinked slowly, as