She whirled back toward the stairs.
"No." Mario's hand was grasping her shoulder. His tone was no longer jovial.
She kneed him in the groin.
He squealed, but his grasp didn't loosen.
Her hand tightened on the dagger beneath her cloak.
She had no chance to draw it.
"Bitch." Mario jerked her back into the room and cuffed her hard on the back of the neck.
Pain.
She was falling.
She mustn't faint. Fight off the dizziness. Nasim would bend over her. She must be ready to plunge the knife into his chest.
Footsteps on the wooden floor. She kept her eyes tightly closed.
He was coming toward her.
"Idiot. I told you not to hurt her."
"I had to do it. She tried to unman me."
"I'd do it myself if I didn't know your brains are all in your gonads."
That low voice was not Nasim's. Selene's eyes flew open.
A woman!
"So Mario didn't do as much damage as I feared." The woman's gaze was on Selene's face. "You're pale, but that could be fear."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"You ran away."
"I thought you were someone else. Nasim."
"I'm not flattered you thought I was a man. But I can be much more dangerous than Nasim." She turned to Mario. "Go get the boy Haroun and give him food. Tell him she's bathing and will talk to him later."
Mario scampered from the chamber.
"Who are you?" Selene asked. "Are you one of Nasim's followers?"
"I follow no one." The woman moved toward the basin across the room. "Sit up and remove your hand from that dagger. I've no desire to harm you until I find out what I need to know."
Selene's hand stayed on the dagger hilt as she rose to a sitting position. She sat watching as the woman dipped a cloth in the water in the basin. She was perhaps near her thirtieth year, as tall as most men, broad shouldered, and the black cloak she wore half hid, half revealed the lean grace of her body. Her face was not beautiful. Her nose was a trifle too large and her jaw too firm and broad, but her mouth was full and beautifully shaped and her large, dark eyes truly magnificent. "I'll tell you nothing."
"Don't be so hasty. You have no idea what I want to know." She was coming back toward Selene and stopped a few feet away. She tossed the damp cloth into her lap. "Wash your face and then press the cloth to the back of your neck. I'd do it for you, but I don't believe you'd appreciate my service, and I'm not good at that sort of thing anyway." She sat down in a chair and stretched out her long legs in front of her. "We will talk as soon as you finish."
Selene didn't touch the cloth. "We will talk now."
"I said we will--" The woman studied Selene's expression and then slowly nodded. "Very good."
Even seated, the woman possessed power and presence, and Selene instinctively moved to a position of less subservience. She scrambled to her feet so that she was the one looking down.
