Devil's Daughter (Devil 2)

Arabella swallowed. She had no choice but to do as she was bid, at least for the time being. She nodded. “Very well, Raj,” she said, and he smiled at the dignity in her young voice.

She followed him down a long whitewashed corridor, bare of furnishings. It led them outside through an arched doorway into a garden as beautiful as her father’s at the Villa Parese, with a huge fountain at its center.

“This courtyard separates the palace from his highness’s harem. There is another garden in the harem. The women spend their hours there, my lady.”

They walked through the garden on a well-tended path to a high wall beyond it. Two guards stood at a doorway, both clothed only in loose white trousers, huge scimitars at their belts.

Raj nodded to them and opened the door. Arabella stepped into a world of riotous color. Large shade trees surrounded the perimeter of the garden, a long narrow pool tiled in colorful mosaic at its center. At least a dozen girls lounged about the pool, some laughing and splashing in the water. Many of them were naked, and their young bodies glistened in the dappled sun that filtered through the thick tree branches. Beyond the garden were arched doorways, leading, Arabella supposed, to private quarters.

Arabella sucked in her breath. “This is barbaric.”

“It is simply that you are not used to it, my lady.”

Arabella heard a shriek. She turned to see the girls pointing at her, their mouths agape.

&nb

sp; “Raj brings a witch in our midst.”

“More like an ugly crone.”

One had spoken in French, the other in Italian. Arabella pretended deafness.

Raj spoke sharply to the girls, then took her elbow and led her to the far end of the arched pavilion. “For the moment you will have this room, my lady.”

The room was narrow and long, its walls a bare white. At its center was a small bed covered with a red silk spread. A large armoire stood in a corner next to a table with a basin of water on it. Arabella stepped into the cool room, staring blankly about her. She heard Raj clap his hands and say something in Arabic. A thin black girl appeared.

“This is Lena, my lady. She will take care of you. Now, you must take off those filthy clothes.”

Arabella nodded, anxious for a bath. Lena’s fingers were on the buttons when Arabella noticed that Raj was still in the room. She pulled away from the slave girl.

“You will please leave, Raj.”

It was his duty to inspect any girl that came to Kamal, but he saw that the girl was near to the end of her endurance. Also, she wasn’t, in truth, to be part of Kamal’s harem. He spoke quietly to Lena, then left the room.

The filthy gown dropped to Arabella’s feet, and all her soiled underclothes.

“Do you speak Italian, Lena?”

The girl shook her head and replied in French.

“What did Raj say to you?”

“He told me to take you to the private bath, my lady.” Lena sucked in her breath in surprise when the lady was naked. Her body was white as snow, in ugly contrast to her face, neck, and hands. “Who did this to you?”

“Your master’s esteemed mother,” Arabella said flatly. She saw that Lena’s eyes were on the nest of hair between her thighs, and she blushed.

“Your hair,” Lena muttered. She drew a deep breath. “Come, my lady. It will take me hours to clean you.”

She handed Arabella a robe of sheer blue silk. It was not much of a cover, but Arabella clutched it against her nonetheless, and followed Lena from her small room down the arched passage. She entered a brightly lit room that held another girl and her slave. The girl had hair as black as a moonless night, and flawless white skin. Her brown eyes met Arabella’s. She spoke Arabic to her slave, and laughed loudly. “Do you speak Italian, witch?” the girl said, standing and stretching her lovely body.

“Yes.”

“If you are here for our master, you will have quite a wait.” She hugged her arms about her waist and sauntered out of the room, her slave scurrying behind her.

“That one is Elena, my lady, the master’s favorite,” Lena said in a low voice. “She hopes to be his wife.”

“She can have the jackal with my blessing,” Arabella said. “They likely deserve each other.”