She looked up, startled at a touch on her shoulder.
Halah stood by her side, and the young slave girl pointed back inside. Then she made eating motions with her hands and mouth.
Rhonwyn nodded, giving the girl a weak smile. Brushing the evidence of tears from her cheeks, she arose and reentered her apartments where Nilak was busily setting out a meal with Sadi-rah's aid. Rhonwyn's nose twitched. There was indeed chicken, a small whole one stuffed with rice and raisins. There was a dish of cooked grain with bits of onion in it, flat bread, a honeycomb, and a bowl of fresh fruit. Bhonwyn sat down and began to eat eagerly, tearing the fowl in half and biting into it. 'Delicious!' she pronounced, scooping up some of the stuffing with her fingers and popping it into her mouth.
'You eat like a ruffian,' Nilak scolded. 'Where are your manners, my child?'
'I'm hungry!' Rhonwyn protested. 'I cannot even remember the last time I was fed. Do you mean to keep me half-starved all the time?'
'II you eat loo quickly, you will get pains,' Nilak advised.
'I am thirsty,' Rhonwyn replied.
Shaking her head in despair, Nilak poured fruit juice from a silver decanter into a silver goblet. 'Drink slowly,' she said. 'Do you approve of the two slave girls Lady Alia has given you?'
'They seem pleasant and efficient,' Rhonwyn remarked.
'They are. Tomorrow we will begin your lessons in Arabic, my child. Lady Alia is most anxious that you learn.'
'I hope I have the facility for it,' Rhonwyn said, 'but then I learned the Norman tongue readily enough. My own language, Welsh, is difficult for outsiders to learn.' Rhonwyn turned her attention again to her meal, eating almost everything that had been brought to her including a peach and a small bunch of grapes. When she had finished, her face and hands were bathed with scented water, and Halah cleaned her mouth and teeth.
'Now,' Nilak said, 'you must rest.'
Rhonwyn did not argue. Her belly was comfortably full now, and it was hot. There was not even the slightest breeze stirring. Sadirah took her garments from her, and Nilak brushed her long gilt-colored hair. Rhonwyn was then content to lay naked upon the beautiful bed with its green silk gauze hangings, and was quickly asleep, her dark lashes brushing like small butterflies against her fair cheek.
'She is so beautiful,' Halah said softly.
'They say the caliph fell in love with her at first sight,' Sadirah murmured low.
'Do not be ridiculous,' Nilak scolded them. 'When the caliph first saw her she was garbed in men's clothing. I know, for I helped remove them. She was dirty and smelled like a stable.'
'The gossip in Lady Alia's apartments is that he will make the lady Noor his wife now that Fatinah and Hasna are gone,' Sadirah said. 'That would mean our new mistress would be the second wife.'
'If that is indeed so,' Nilak replied, 'then you have Lady Alia to thank for raising you up. You were merely two among many unimportant slave girls in her service. Now you are the serving women of the caliph's new favorite, who may possibly become his wife.'
'She will be a wife. I am certain of it,' Halah said. 'We are fortunate. She would appear to be a kind lady like Lady Alia.'
'She is,' Nilak assured them, 'There is no meanness in her.'
The three women went about the business of removing all evidence of Rhonwyn's meal and neatening up the apartment. The afternoon slipped into evening. Eventually Nilak sent the two younger servants to bed, but she remained watching by her mistress's bed. She was not surprised when the caliph entered the bedchamber, garbed only in a loose white robe. Arising from Rhonwyn's side, she bowed silently to him and departed the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Rashid al Ahmet looked down upon the woman he called Noor, and his heart contracted in his chest. She had been in his possession two days, and while he certainly lusted after her, there was something more in his heart. He liked the contradictions of her. The fierceness and the vulnerability. He would never, he sensed, have all of her. There would always be a tiny something she would withhold from him, and therein lay the challenge. He removed his garment and lay down next to her. She was in a very deep sleep, and he was not surprised, considering all that had happened to her in the last week.
She had been on her side, but he gently drew her onto her back so he might look fully on her. His fingertips caressed her breasts, and she murmured contentedly. He smiled. Last night he had only begun to plumb the depths of her passions. He drew the back of his hand across her torso then, bending, began to kiss her lips with deep, hungry kisses.
Rhonwyn sighed and stretched lazily. The lips on hers were warm, and they grew more demanding with each passing moment. She faintly protested this intrusion into her sleep, but then she felt his lingers seeking between her nether lips. Two of the fingers pushed easily into her love channel while the ball of his thumb began to tease at the badge of her sex. His kisses were bruising her lips, but she didn't want him to stop. Her arms slipped up to embrace him. His thumb played with her until the tension was almost painful. She shuddered as it broke, but rather than stopping he began anew, arousing her again and this time to a greater height than before. Rhonwyn was now fully awake.
'Look at me, you adorable little bitch,' he growled against her kiss-swollen mouth.
Rhonwyn's emerald green eyes opened and looked directly into those of Rashid al Ahmet. 'As my lord wills,' she said softly.
The two fingers thrust deep, and she cried out with undisguised pleasure. His white teeth flashed a smile against his sun-darkened skin. 'Are you beginning to know passion?' he said provocatively. His thumb worried at her throbbing jewel.
'Yesss,' she hissed, panting.
'Tell me what you want, my beauteous Noor,' he replied.
He laughed low, and then rolling onto his back, he lifted her up, lowering her slowly on his raging manhood. When she was settled he reached up and began to fondle her breasts.
Rhonwyn was astounded. His manhood was deep inside her. She felt its length, hot and throbbing, yet it was she who would appear to be the dominant. Her eyes widened.
'Ride me, my adorable Noor. I am your stallion,' Rashid al Ahmet told her. 'Surely you are not afraid?'
She moved hesitantly at first, and then at his smile of open encouragement she began to move more surely upon him as he gently drew her forward, his hands slipping about to cup her buttocks.
'That's it, my beauty,' he said. 'Brace your hands, Noor. That's right, my precious. Ah! What pleasure you give me!'
Rhonwyn had found the proper rhythm now, and she rode the caliph enthusiastically for some minutes until he gently turned her onto her back, delving deeper into her softness, watching the change in expression on her lovely face, amazed when they attained nirvana together, crying out with utter satisfaction.
After some minutes Rashid al Ahmet laughed aloud. 'What a woman you are becoming, my lovely Noor,' he said.
Rhonwyn could feel that her cheeks were hot. She had been so wickedly bold, and she had liked it. 'I never knew you could…'
'You are going to be astounded at what we can and will do together, my adorable one,' he said, his deep laughter rumbling up again from his chest. 'You are, I am pleased to note, an eager pupil.' Leaning over, he kissed her again, running a finger along her bruised lips. 'Do you like your apartments?'
'Aye, I do. Especially the garden with its sweeping views of the mountains, my lord.'
'Good!' he said. 'Are you hungry? I am. I have not eaten since morning.'
