“He will not wed her. I have told them both that.”
“How very Shakespearean of you,” the earl said, a glint of humor in his eyes. “Recollect your youth, my dear Edward.”
The viscount reddened.
“Just so,” the earl said.
Arabella stirred at the sound of a voice saying her name and an insistent shake on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and blinked. “Lena?”
“Yes, my lady. I have brought your breakfast.”
She was in her own small room. “I do not understand,” she said.
“His highness carried you here early, at dawn.”
She looked down dispassionately at her bruised wrists as she said quietly, “I will need some more of your ointment, Lena.” She frowned, thinking of Kamal carrying her back to the harem. Had she hurt him so little that he could bear her weight?
“You fought him again,” Lena said in a sad, matter-of-fact voice.
“Yes,” Arabella whispered, her thoughts on Raj, the man who had been kind to her, the man she had witlessly betrayed. Tortured and killed—no, murdered—all because of her. She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed.
“My lady. What is this?”
Arabella raised her tear-streaked face to see Raj standing in the doorway, his wide brow furrowed with worry.
“Y-you are alive,” Arabella stuttered, as relief flooded over her. “Oh, thank God. I thought—Kamal said that you were dead because you allowed me to—” She broke off, realizing that Kamal’s lie had been her punishment.
“Of course I am alive,” Raj said, sitting down beside her on the narrow bed. “His highness is not an unfair man. What you did was very foolish, my lady.”
“I failed,” she said flatly. “That is more tragic than foolish.”
“You speak nonsense. His highness told me that if he punished me, he would have to punish himself as well for being a gullible fool.” He paused a moment, studying Arabella’s ravaged face, waving to Lena to leave them. He handed Arabella a peeled orange and watched her take an absent bite.
“Do not make the mistake of thinking his highness soft, my lady. He has, shall we say, made allowances for what you did. But he will not forget.”
Arabella wiped orange juice from her chin. “I hope he will remember, and leave me alone,” she said in a
dull voice.
“He told me of your playacting. It is odd, but I believe that your show of submissiveness angered him more than your attempt to kill him.”
“Perhaps I should tell Elena that.”
“No, you mistake me, my lady,” Raj said patiently. “He has been told you are a harlot. Your courage did not fit with his image. When you pretended last night to succumb to him, he was again convinced that your brave front was naught but a trick.” Raj sighed. “Allah only knows what he will do now.”
“Allah and the devil.”
“You have challenged him and made him look the fool. He is not a man to be taken lightly, my lady.”
Arabella felt tears blur her eyes. She gazed up at Raj. “What am I to do? He will allow his wicked mother to murder my parents. I must stop him.”
“Even if your own life is forfeit?”
“Yes.”
“I will leave you now, my lady.” He rose slowly to stare thoughtfully down at her. “You are not a restful woman, Lady Arabella.”
Arabella was in no mood to be baited by Elena and her small group of cohorts. After her bath, she returned to her small chamber and sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the whitewashed wall. How much longer did she have? she wondered. A week perhaps, no more. And Adam—did he yet know where she was? Even if he did know where she was, she thought, he had no chance of rescuing her.