left her in a harem without a second thought, and if he’d been planning to return, he would surely have been back by then.
“I don’t think he would even have troubled to ask where I was,” she said.
Khalif glowered. “It is suicide to wander alone in the desert! Did you wish to die?”
“No,” Charlotte replied. “I wanted to be free, and I was willing to die trying to get away.”
Khalif shook his head, looking genuinely baffled. “These strange American ideas are not good,” he reflected. “Especially in a woman.”
Charlotte hadn’t the strength to argue, so she just smiled, hoping somehow to charm the sultan into showing mercy.
He did not look beguiled. “You have set a bad example for the others,” he said. “When you are well, you will be disciplined.”
Charlotte swallowed the rebellious words that leaped to the tip of her tongue. She was in no position to irritate the sultan, and besides, he’d saved her life. “In that case, I think it will be some considerable time before I’m myself again,” she said sweetly.
Khalif’s mouth twitched, and a light flickered in his eyes for a fraction of a moment, but then he hardened his jaw again and fixed her with an imperial look. “I can wait,” he assured her coolly.
Charlotte squirmed. “It’s cruel, the way you’re all being so mysterious about this. Why, a person would think you meant to feed me to the sharks in one-inch cubes.”
The sultan’s white teeth showed in a smile that quickly disappeared. “The sharks have done nothing to deserve such a fate,” he replied, and then he turned and swept grandly out of the harem, leaving Charlotte to stare up at the ornately decorated ceiling and go right on wondering what was to become of her.
“The rules cannot be suspended for one woman, Patrick,” Khalif told his newly arrived friend, who was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, enjoying a cool drink. “If I allow such adeparture, the others will be in revolt before I know what is hitting me. It would be chaos.”
Patrick smiled at his friend’s convoluted phrasing, but he was worried about Charlotte. Discipline could be harsh in Riz, and it was true that Khalif would lose face if he allowed the error to pass. “I don’t want her hurt.”
“I warned you,” Khalif replied, “that Charlotte would have to abide by our ways. She did not. She endangered herself, my men, and a number of good horses in her silly attempt to escape!”
Patrick lifted one hand, palm out, in an effort to establish peace. “I know what she did was foolish, Khalif, but she was raised in a place where there’s plenty of fresh water as well as an inland sea, and trees stay green the year around. She knew nothing of the desert.”
“There is only one way I can give the responsibility of this woman over to you,” the sultan said seriously, after a long, pensive interval. “Do you know what that way is?”
Patrick gave a heavy sigh, full of long-suffering resignation. “Yes,” he said. “I’ll have to marry the little fool myself, God help me.”
6
B Y THE TIME THE SUMMONS TO KHALIF’S APARTMENTS FI nally came, Charlotte had mentally rehearsed her fate so many times that the reality seemed almost anticlimactic. She submitted to the usual bathing and anointment, buffing and brushing, with stoicism.
Alev and Pakize dressed her in white robes—symbolic, Charlotte decided, of a lamb being prepared for the slaughter. Her hair fell loose around her breasts and down her back, but flowers and strands of tiny golden pearls were woven through the tresses.
Finally Rashad signaled that it was time to go, and Alev solemnly kissed Charlotte on both cheeks. Unlike the other women, she wore no veil.
Shoulders straight, head high, Charlotte followed Rashad out of the harem with a tragic dignity reminiscent of Mary Queen of Scots on her way to the gallows.
When she and the eunuch had woven their way through the complicated system of hallways to finally reach
“I don’t think he would even have troubled to ask where I was,” she said.
Khalif glowered. “It is suicide to wander alone in the desert! Did you wish to die?”
“No,” Charlotte replied. “I wanted to be free, and I was willing to die trying to get away.”
Khalif shook his head, looking genuinely baffled. “These strange American ideas are not good,” he reflected. “Especially in a woman.”
Charlotte hadn’t the strength to argue, so she just smiled, hoping somehow to charm the sultan into showing mercy.
He did not look beguiled. “You have set a bad example for the others,” he said. “When you are well, you will be disciplined.”
Charlotte swallowed the rebellious words that leaped to the tip of her tongue. She was in no position to irritate the sultan, and besides, he’d saved her life. “In that case, I think it will be some considerable time before I’m myself again,” she said sweetly.
Khalif’s mouth twitched, and a light flickered in his eyes for a fraction of a moment, but then he hardened his jaw again and fixed her with an imperial look. “I can wait,” he assured her coolly.
Charlotte squirmed. “It’s cruel, the way you’re all being so mysterious about this. Why, a person would think you meant to feed me to the sharks in one-inch cubes.”
The sultan’s white teeth showed in a smile that quickly disappeared. “The sharks have done nothing to deserve such a fate,” he replied, and then he turned and swept grandly out of the harem, leaving Charlotte to stare up at the ornately decorated ceiling and go right on wondering what was to become of her.
“The rules cannot be suspended for one woman, Patrick,” Khalif told his newly arrived friend, who was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, enjoying a cool drink. “If I allow such adeparture, the others will be in revolt before I know what is hitting me. It would be chaos.”
Patrick smiled at his friend’s convoluted phrasing, but he was worried about Charlotte. Discipline could be harsh in Riz, and it was true that Khalif would lose face if he allowed the error to pass. “I don’t want her hurt.”
“I warned you,” Khalif replied, “that Charlotte would have to abide by our ways. She did not. She endangered herself, my men, and a number of good horses in her silly attempt to escape!”
Patrick lifted one hand, palm out, in an effort to establish peace. “I know what she did was foolish, Khalif, but she was raised in a place where there’s plenty of fresh water as well as an inland sea, and trees stay green the year around. She knew nothing of the desert.”
“There is only one way I can give the responsibility of this woman over to you,” the sultan said seriously, after a long, pensive interval. “Do you know what that way is?”
Patrick gave a heavy sigh, full of long-suffering resignation. “Yes,” he said. “I’ll have to marry the little fool myself, God help me.”
6
B Y THE TIME THE SUMMONS TO KHALIF’S APARTMENTS FI nally came, Charlotte had mentally rehearsed her fate so many times that the reality seemed almost anticlimactic. She submitted to the usual bathing and anointment, buffing and brushing, with stoicism.
Alev and Pakize dressed her in white robes—symbolic, Charlotte decided, of a lamb being prepared for the slaughter. Her hair fell loose around her breasts and down her back, but flowers and strands of tiny golden pearls were woven through the tresses.
Finally Rashad signaled that it was time to go, and Alev solemnly kissed Charlotte on both cheeks. Unlike the other women, she wore no veil.
Shoulders straight, head high, Charlotte followed Rashad out of the harem with a tragic dignity reminiscent of Mary Queen of Scots on her way to the gallows.
When she and the eunuch had woven their way through the complicated system of hallways to finally reach