Sultana's Legacy Read Online Free PDF Page B

them?”
    “Seven long years.”
    “Do you have sons, Abdallah?”
    “Yes, I have five strong sons.”
    “Fatima and I also have sons, two beloved boys whom I treasure. A father’s love for his children knows no limits. To lose a son, to lose any child must pain a father. Still, we can only imagine the pain Doñ Alonso must be feeling. Prince Juan has not buried Guzman’s son. He has left the body to rot like carrion at the edge of camp. Would you let someone murder and defile your sons without seeking vengeance? If you would not, think of what you can do here.”
    Abdallah made no reply.
    Faraj groaned and rubbed the back of his neck.
    At length, Abdallah turned to him. “You speak with deep emotion for your children.”
    “It is second only to the devotion I bear their mother.”
    “Do you love my sister’s child so much?”
    “She is my heart, my life, my very breath.”
    Abdallah chuckled. “You could have simply said ‘yes’ and I would have understood.”
    “No, for you could not know the measure of my feelings for her in such a simple answer. The love I bear her is as unfathomable as the depths of the White Sea, even to me.”
    Abdallah grunted and looked across the blue-black water. The crescent moon’s reflection glittered in its depths.
     “If you disobey your Sultan, you condemn Fatima to an unfortunate widowhood.”
    “She shall know I met my death with conviction in my mind and everlasting love for her in my heart.”
    “Don’t you think she has suffered enough losses?” Abdallah relaxed against the railing. “I mourn for her mother still. I shall mourn Aisha until my end.”
    Faraj heaved a sigh. The conversation had turned dangerous. He could not stop now, not when he sensed Abdallah’s amenability to his suggestion.
    “Fatima had told me that relations with her mother were strained in her childhood.”
    “Aisha loved her child. Surely, your wife must know that.”
    “She does. Each day I see her love for our children and her unending devotion to them. Fatima said she had made a promise to her mother before she died, to love our children always. My wife has become the woman, the mother she is today because of your sister.”
    “I have said before, Fatima is a child of my sister’s spirit. I am glad to know Aisha lives on in her daughter.”
    “There is something else you must know, about the day your sister died. Fatima has long desired that you should know. If she were here, she would have wanted me to tell you. I know you must believe that the old Sultan had the princess Aisha killed….”
    “I do not. I know it was Ibrahim of Ashqilula.” Abdallah’s gaze found the coast again. “I have known for fifteen years, just before I left Al-Andalus.”
    Faraj edged closer to him. “How?”
    “My former slave Ulayyah finally told me. I had found her after Ibrahim dallied with her, as was his custom. She cursed me for giving her to a murderer, the man who had taken my sister’s life. For so long, Ulayyah had kept the secret from me. Her betrayal was more than I could bear, as was Ibrahim’s own.
    “Ibrahim had surrounded himself with loyal men. I could not harm him personally. I took my vengeance in the only way that I could, in the manner that would hurt him the most. I abandoned the Ashqilula cause and took my fifteen hundred warriors into Jumhuriyat Misr, where I found a new life far from such treachery.”
    Faraj nodded, comprehending at last why Abdallah had fled Al-Andalus so unexpectedly. His sudden departure had paved the way for the eventual defeat of the Ashqilula.
    “You should have taken the slave Ulayyah with you. She met her death at Ibrahim’s hands. He strangled her.”
    When Abdallah whirled toward him, open-mouthed, Faraj rushed on. “Her children are safe. The boy Faisal serves as a eunuch in the Sultan’s harem. His two elder sisters are the servants of the Sultana Shams ed-Duna, my master’s queen. The younger twins, Basma and Haniya, serve my Fatima at