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The women of the harem talked Farima into sharing tales of her sisters. Farima had travelled to many distant lands to visit them. It seemed they had all been married off for some sort of political gain in honor of their father’s wishes. Reece felt a stirring within Nasir’s heart. Nasir’s feelings for Farima were strong and true, yet he too saw the importance of her pairing with Ashar. She was not an ordinary woman. She had been born into a particular life and like Nasir she had accepted it.
The camaraderie between the women blossomed and bloomed as they shared stories of how they came to wed Ashar. Al iances had been forged. Wars avoided. Did Ashar really have feelings for Farima or was the attention paid to her due to what she represented? The daughter of a sultan was a prize to be coveted and cherished if attained.
A late morning meal was brought to the room and the sharing of food was added to the excited talk between the women. Khadija paid a brief visit. She’d come to remind the women of their duties, but when she saw how well they were getting along with Farima, she placed a gentle hand on the back of her newest daughter-in-law’s head and said, “I think we’ll take a holiday today. To celebrate Farima’s addition to the harem.” If the women had been hesitant to like Farima before, that proclamation sealed her fate as their favorite person of the day. Or at least the hour.
That all changed when Roxelana entered the pavilion and strode across the intricately-patterned tile floor to glare at Farima. “What do you think you are doing? That is my place. I demand you move at once.”
The rest of the harem scurried away from the cushions where Farima remained comfortably reclined. The women huddled against the walls—not speaking, not making eye contact.
Farima met Roxelana’s eyes evenly and said, “Your place is no longer assured, my lady. There’s a new Kadin in this harem. I might not be Ashar’s first wife, but I am his most superior one.”
At the look of outrage on Roxelana’s beautiful face, Reece’s hand returned to the hilt of his sword.
Chapter Fifteen
“How dare you?” Roxelana sputtered. Lara expected flames to shoot from the woman’s nostrils at any moment. “How dare you?”
“Oh, I dare, Roxelana. You’ve been allowed to be a tyrant in this harem for far too long. I am not afraid of you. Ashar will have you stripped of clothes and staked out in the desert sun to bake.”
Roxelana smirked. “I spoke to Ashar last night and again this morning. I have convinced him that I am completely innocent of any wrong doing.” Behind Roxelana, Lara caught sight of Ashar standing in the doorway. His face lit up when his searching gaze found her seated among the plush cushions in the center of the room. Nasir pressed a finger to his lips to stop him from alerting Roxelana to his presence.
“I’m not the first of Ashar’s wives you’ve targeted,” Lara said to Roxelana. “I know what you did to Safiye’s mother. Her death was not due to illness. You slowly poisoned her to death, just as you planned to poison me.”
“You have no proof.”
Lara could hear Safiye’s soft sobs against the shoulder of one of the women watching the confrontation from against a wall.
“I do have proof. I was able to save some of the food your servant left for me yesterday. While Nasir was chasing him down and was later slashed by the same man, I hid away some of the evidence.” She was total y bluffing, but Roxelana had no way of knowing that. “And then I fed it to little gray dog that keeps the vermin away from the pantry. The food killed that poor little dog. Food that you meant for me.” Roxelana eyes brightened. “You lie! I killed that dog and you know it. You watched me break its neck when I told you that if you wanted to live, you’d better leave.”
“That’s right,” Lara said. “How could I have forgotten such cruelty? Or how you convinced Maisha that you’d do the same to me if she didn’t take the fall for you.”
“She’s an idiot. She’ll do anything to save her princess.” Roxelana rol ed her eyes.
“She won’t do you much good once Ashar has her head lopped off, now will she?”
“Roxelana,” Ashar said, his voice deep and commanding. “I need to speak with you.
Now! And I will have no more of your lies, woman. The truth this time.” All the blood drained from Roxelana’s face. Trembling she turned to face her husband. Lara was glad she wasn’t the one who’d angered him. A trickle of fear raced down her spine as Ashar turned on his heel and stalked from the room. Roxelana followed. “Please, my husband. Listen to me. It’s not what you think. I would never—”
“I have heard enough,” he bellowed. “From your own lying lips.”
“But Ashar, I love you. Don’t you see? Everything I do, I do it out of love.”
“That speech won’t save you this time, Roxelana. I’ve seen the black heart concealed by that beautiful bosom. You will make a fool of me no more, woman.” Lara could hear her pleading with him through the corridor until eventually their voices faded into the distance. Lara glanced up at Reece and smiled. “Do you think that will help Maisha?”
“I think you’re brilliant,” he said.
Her smile brightened.
“I also think you need something to relax you,” he said, his lips curled in a sexy smile. “A long bath. A thorough massage.”
“Several orgasms?” she asked hopefully.
“Naturally.”
Chapter Sixteen
Reece held Lara’s naked body against him in the alcove where water poured down the high wall into the deep pool of water. He relished this time alone with her. He hoped their next leap was a little less dramatic. And in an unpopulated location with just the two of them. He really didn’t see that happening, but there’d never been a law against hoping.
“Reece,” she murmured lethargically. Apparently, her three most recent orgasms had relaxed her as planned.
“Hmm?”
“I love you. I don’t think I tell you that often enough.”
“If you said it non-stop for the rest of your life, it stil wouldn’t be often enough for me.”
She chuckled. “You really are a sap.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Only for you.”
“If we did get the other half of the amulet and could go anyplace and anytime we chose, where would you want to go?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter as long as you’re with me.”
“Sap,” she accused again.
“The stickiest. Keeps me stuck to you,” he said.
She laughed. “You also tell lame jokes.”
“So why do you love me?”
“Because you’re a sap and tell lame jokes.”
“And I’m a good kisser.”
She lifted her head to look up at him and he lowered his head to kiss her. When he drew away, she smiled at him. “And you’re a good kisser.”
“Where would you want to go?” he asked.
“Ancient Egypt,” she said without hesitation.
He should have guessed. Her thesis and her job both centered around that time and place. They’d met because she was interested in artifacts from that time.
“If we ever get the other half of the amulet, that will be the first place we go,” he promised.
“And then I want to return to our time and marry you in the future.” He stroked her hair, his heart panging in his chest. He needed to tel her about how her life had been sacrificed to activate the amulet. Their only future was in the past. He opened his mouth, the words on the tip of his tongue. She loved him. She’d forgive him for hiding the truth. She had to. She loved him. She’d said she loved him.
“Lara,” he said. “I have to tell you something about the night you died.” She covered his lips with two fingers. “I don’t want the details,” she said.
“But…” he murmured against her fingertips.
A loud hum came from the amulet hanging from the leather cord around Reece’s neck. She smiled up at him with a look of anticipation. “Time to go,” she said.
“Almost,” he agreed
as the humming grew louder. “You look eager.”
“I can’t wait to see where we end up next, but you have to promise me something, Reece.”
He wasn’t sure if he could keep a promise he made to her so he just lifted an eyebrow in question.
“This leap we’re going to come up with a way to get the other half of the amulet from Carl.”
“We’l think of something,” he agreed.
“Reece, where the devil are you?” Carl cal ed from the bedroom. “You know you can’t run forever.”
But he planned to. Reece began to recite the words of the incantation that would al ow him and Lara to leap to their next destination. Lara said it with him this time and he knew for certain that they were in this together.
A loud splash came from near the pool steps. “I know you’re here somewhere,” Carl said. “I can hear the hum of the amulet.”
Just as Carl rounded the corner of the alcove, Lara offered him a mischievous wave and the world slipped from beneath their feet. Slipping sideways through time in a rush of blurred colored and sounds, Reece tucked a finger beneath Lara’s chin and kissed her. One moment she was kissing him back, the next, she held a blade against his throat.
