Emissary Read Online Free PDF Page B

again and sipped, waiting for the explosion of citrus flavours on her tongue, before she spoke. ‘Ana is by far the smartest odalisque in the harem, wouldn’t you agree?’
    ‘I would. Most of the others seem to look to her for leadership, I note.’
    Herezah did not like hearing this. ‘Hmm, you see that in itself is a declaration of her intentions.’
    Salmeo disagreed. ‘To be honest, Valide, I think Ana would be happier if she had less attention. She’s a strange sort of a girl—very contained, seems to need no-one and yet she’s the very person most of them seek friendship or comfort from.’
    ‘Is it just the younger ones?’
    He shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not. She’s a natural leader. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the entire harem adores her.’
    Herezah smirked. ‘That will change.’
    Salmeo’s mind moved quickly with the Valide’s. ‘When Boaz begins choosing his sexual partners, you mean?’
    ‘The moment my son starts singling out girls for his romantic attention, they’ll be the target of hate from all the others.’
    ‘Then Ana will be despised, for I have no doubt that she will be Absolute Favourite.’
    Herezah slammed her cup down and Salmeo wondered if he didn’t hear it crack with protest at such treatment. ‘This is my very point! She must be undone before she attains such a position.’
    Salmeo stifled the smile he was privately enjoying at the Valide’s insecurity. Herezah might consider herself powerful but she was not feeling terribly powerful right now, with her son so independent and a slip of a girl about to claim the most important position in the harem, save her own, and one that would ultimately threaten the Valide’s future. ‘You were telling me how we might undo such aspirations,’ he said, calming her, pouring her a fresh infusion.
    Herezah took a breath to quell her anger. ‘We agree she’s clever so we must use that intelligence against her. I’ll wager she is bored?’
    ‘Senseless,’ he confirmed. ‘She hates the harem, as you would guess. She is not interested in anything it offers, from its decadence to its pampering or its riches. She couldn’t be less interested in any of it.’
    ‘Good. Let’s keep her bored and frustrated then.’ The Valide sipped her drink, taking a few moments to organise her thoughts. Salmeo knew to remain quiet during her pause.
    ‘This boat trip you want my involvement with, when is it planned for?’
    ‘Soon—in several days, I imagine,’ he replied.
    ‘Even better. It will give her a taste of freedom. And her imprisonment back in the haremafterwards will feel all the more smothering. Let’s plan some tedious training in the meantime, shall we?’
    ‘Embroidery?’
    She groaned, remembering the hours of soul-destroying boredom spent learning how to work on a piece of silk. ‘Precisely. And letters. No swimming or outside walks. Keep it all indoors, especially now whilst the sun is shining with its promise of summer.’
    ‘And?’ He knew the crux of her plan was yet to be revealed.
    ‘We’ll make it easy for her to try and escape.’
    Salmeo made a soft sound of disbelief. ‘Do you really think she’d disobey the most important rule of the harem?’
    ‘She did it once before,’ Herezah replied, tapping her teeth with a blood-red painted fingernail…a habit she now couldn’t help when in deep thought.
    Salmeo wasn’t convinced. ‘She had hardly arrived then and we’d just inflicted the Test of Virtue.’
    ‘She’s a year older, a year bolder and a year more bored with her life. She’s ripe to make another attempt. She just needs a push.’
    ‘You speak with knowledge, Valide,’ Salmeo commented.
    ‘I fought the urge every day of my life, eunuch; I sometimes think I still do,’ Herezah said, unable to disguise a slightly wistful note in her tone. ‘ButAna believes she has the ear of the Zar and his indulgence. She’ll risk it, I promise…and just in case, I might sow the right seeds