Devil's Daughter (Devil 2)

“Yes.”

Hamil turned to Alvarez. “Lord St. Ives and his men will accompany me. You may take your leave, captain, but you will not dock at Oran. I believe you and I have much to discuss,” he continued, turning to Adam. “I will deliver you safe to Oran. My oath on it.” He stretched out his hand and Adam grasped it.

“May I say, highness,” Adam said, “I am glad that you live.”

“No more glad than I,” Hamil said.

A silent slave lighted the candles in Hamil’s cabin. Hamil waited until the man had finished his task, then nodded dismissal to him.

“We are in private now, my lord. Be seated and we will talk. Your cabin boy, send him away.”

“I ask that he stay, highness,” Adam said.

Hamil smiled, and gazed thoughtfully at Rayna. “He is a very pretty boy,” he said. “Perhaps you would like to sell him to me? I have a good friend who has a liking for well-favored boys. No ugly whiskers to mar his pretty face. Yes, I will buy him from you.”

“I must decline, highness,” Adam said politely. “He may be pretty, but his temper is capricious. He is disobedient and impertinent, and would bring no pleasure to this man you speak of. Indeed, he would likely whiten his hair within a month.”

“I am certain,” Hamil said, lowering his eyes as he brushed away a fleck of dust from his white sleeve, “that my friend could make him more conciliatory. Such a foul-tempered youth as you describe, my lord, is in need of the whip. It would soon enough still his tongue. Once he is tamed, my friend would doubtless treat him well.”

“The boy, despite his looks, is no plaything for a pederast, highness. I should dislike seeing him forced to play the part.”

“Ah,” Hamil said, his eyes still lowered. “So he prefers girls, does he?”

“Highness,” Adam said, “I wish the lad to remain in my service. He is my obligation and my responsibility. Now, if you please, we have much to discuss.”

“Certainly,” Hamil said easily. He motioned to the cushions that surrounded a low, round sandalwood table. “Be seated, my lord. As to the boy, it will be as you wish. But his clothes offend me. As a sign of my friendship to you, I will have him better garbed.”

“Oh no—goodness, no!”

Hamil smiled. “I had thought the boy older, my lord, yet his voice has not yet deepened. And I believe you are right. Your servant dares to speak when he should be silent.”

Hamil shrugged, turning away. “Be seated,” he said again. He poured two goblets of wine and offered one to Adam.

Adam took the goblet and eased down onto the cushions, motioning Rayna to sit behind him. He said without preamble, “Highness, the contessa has had my sister abducted and sent to Oran. I do not know why. I do know that three of our ships were taken this year by the Barbary pirates, and it was she who was selling the cargoes in Naples. But it has done me little good to discover that. My sister is taken. Who, highness, is this contessa?”

“None of your ships were taken until after my presumed death,” Hamil said. “That is true.”

“This contessa, my lord, is the mother of my half-brother Kamal, the man who now rules Oran.”

Surprise held Adam silent for some moments. He said finally, “But she is Italian.”

“Indeed. She was sent to my father, Khar El-Din, some twenty-six years ago from Genoa, by your father. She is the Contessa Giovanna Giusti.”

“My father,” he repeated slowly. “I felt he would know her motive. But why, highness? Why would my father send a woman into captivity?”

“I was very young at the time,” Hamil said. “I do recall my father mentioning that she was involved in an intrigue against your father’s wife.” He frowned with concentration. “I remember that my father received a chest of gold in payment from your father.”

“All these years, Adam,” Rayna said suddenly, sitting forward, “she has waited to revenge herself on your father.”

“Indeed, signorina,” Hamil said. “Why do you not remove that ridiculous wool cap? A slave cannot drink wine in his master’s presence, but a young lady most certainly can.”

Rayna gaped at him.

“I suppose,” Adam said, a black brow cocked at Hamil, “that you have known for some time that my cabin boy was not what he purported to be.”

“I am not blind, my lord. Even in those clothes—well, just to see her walk—” He laughed deeply. “ Forgive me, signorina, but I have had little to amuse me these last months.”

Adam pulled off her cap. Her hair tumbled down her back. “This, highness, is Rayna Lyndhurst, my affianced wife.”