He did not realize he had spoken aloud until he heard Raj’s. “I do not know, highness. You are tired. I will stay with her now, if it is your wish.”
“She drank more of the drug.”
“She will sleep for many hours now, highness.”
Kamal raised troubled eyes to the eunuch. “She dreams and speaks. She thought me her father.”
“Then I shall be her father as well, if she again speaks.”
Kamal felt weariness seep into his bones. Slowly he rose and closed his fingers about Raj’s arm. “Call me if she worsens.”
/> “Yes, highness.”
Raj watched Kamal walk from Arabella’s small chamber. He smiled sadly. Life was a simple matter for a Muslim, with a law for every situation, but for a man like Kamal, Raj could foresee only unhappiness, for the Englishwoman would leave, and if Kamal harmed her father, her hatred would live with him for all his years. He started at the sound of Kamal’s tired voice. “If she awakens, Raj, do not send for me, and do not tell her that I was here. I wish her to get well, and the sight of me would likely make her relapse.”
Raj nodded. It was true, and nothing could change it.
“Oh, Lella, surely your baby must come soon.”
“It is my fervent plea to Allah each hour. I told Kamal . . .”
She broke off, seeing Arabella’s face pale.
“Does your back pain you still?” she asked.
Arabella shifted slightly against the soft pillows.
“No, there is nearly no pain now. But I am bored, Lella. Two days I have sat about doing nothing.”
“You must rest to regain your strength.”
“For what reason? So that Kamal may again humiliate me? Perhaps force me to his bed? Call me a harlot and a liar?”
Lella sighed. “Oh my,” she gasped suddenly, hugging her arms about her great belly.
“What is it?” Arabella pushed herself upright, her eyes upon Lella’s astonished face.
“The baby. I think my time has come.”
Arabella made to rise.
“Lie still. I will have the midwife fetched. You will stay here and pray that I bear a son.”
Lella rose awkwardly while Arabella watched her helplessly. Arabella forced herself to relax against the soft pillows after Lella left her. She prayed and she thought. Occasionally she could hear Lella’s screams. Would it be her own screams she heard in the future? Her own screams to bring forth Kamal’s child? She didn’t want to think about him. He’d had her beaten. He was her enemy; he had to be her enemy. As she swung her legs over the side of the bed, she felt only a tightness in her back. She had refused Raj’s drug that morning, preferring a clear head to the vagueness that had woven haunting dreams. The remembered dreams became vivid to her now, and suddenly she realized that in them her father had spoken to her, had calmed her and stroked her.
It had been Kamal.
“No.” She heard footsteps nearing her chamber and quickly lay again on her back and closed her eyes.
“Lady Arabella?”
“Raj,” she said. “How is Lella?”
“She is fine.”
“I have heard her screams.”
“Birthing is a painful process. It will be many hours yet. I have brought you food and a special drink.”