but could make out?nothing of the conversation. No matter, she thought. Slipping into?the villa through a long French window, she made her way up the?darkened back staircase of the house to the main bedchamber. The?door was open and she stood still for a moment, letting her eyes?adjust to the dark room.
Yasmin knew the room well. Looking toward the bed, she ob-?served the sheet-swathed figure. She hesitated no longer than a?second. Moving purposely across the room, she plunged her dagger?again and again into the sleeping figure who groaned once, then lay?still. Unbridled joy surged through Yasmin. Dead! Dead! Her rival!?Her enemy! Skye was dead! She wanted to scream her happiness.
Then behind her someone did scream, a long piercing wail of?terror. Whirling, Yasmin faced a slave woman who was clutching?at a crystal carafe of water. The carafe slid from the woman’s hands.?Yasmin stood stock still watching the crystal shatter on the tiles, the?water mixing with it, spewing a rainbow of shattered droplets across?the floor and rugs. Yasmin could not move. She stood frozen as the?woman’s screams echoed throughout the house.
At the sound of running feet, Yasmin shook herself back into?action. Moving to the door, she shoved the slave woman aside and?tried to flee, but the servant clung to her arm screaming, “Murder!?Murder! She has killed the master!”
Allah! What was the woman screaming about? Yasmin wondered.?Khalid was downstairs. She had killed Skye. Yasmin yanked her?arm free and turned to run. Bumping into another body, she tried?to push by, but her shocked eyes locked onto Skye’s.
“Allah! No!” Yasmin gasped.
“She killed the master!” wailed the slave woman again.
“Yasmin! What has happened?” asked Skye fearfully.
Yasmin turned from Skye and stumbled back across the room to?the figure on the bed. With icy fingers she pulled the sheet back.?Seeing the cold, stiffening form of Khalid el Bey, Yasmin moaned?with a pain so great she couldn’t truly feel it all. Her fingers tightened?again about the dagger. She whispered her anguish. “Forgive me,? Skye!” and swiftly drove the dagger between her own breasts. Yas-?min crumpled to the floor.
Skye knelt on one side of the woman, while Captain Small knelt?on the other. Yasmin’s ragged breathing was the only sound.
“Why?” whispered Skye.
The dying woman’s eyes were glazing already. “Forgive me.”
Skye swallowed the bitter hatred rising in her throat. This woman?had just stolen her very life from her, and now begged forgiveness.?She wanted to shout, no!, but then she heard Robert Small say?quietly, “Come lass.” Knowing what he wanted, she said softly,?”I forgive you, Yasmin.”
Yasmin sighed. Gathering the last of her strength, she said, “I?thought it was you. Jamil p-planned it, but it was all for him, wasn’t?it? Jamil wants you. Beware of him.” Then, as if a candle had been?blown out, the life fled from her eyes and Yasmin was gone.
Skye stood. The room was bright now, lit by the lamps held by?all the household slaves who stood clustered in tight little groups,?some of the women beginning to sob. Skye stared at them, fighting?to retain her control. She must not go to pieces now. as she had?obviously done when she lost her memory. She owed Khalid mat?much, for he must be revenged. The Turkish captain-governor could?not kill her husband and escape judgment. Who had heard Yasmin’s?confession? Only she and Captain Small had been close enough to?hear the painfully whispered words. The next nearest people had?been Jean and Marie. The slaves had all been afraid of coming too?close.
Stepping over Yasmin’s body, Skye moved to the bed and sat?next to the still form of her husband. There was virtually no blood?to be seen. By some twist of fate the dagger had pierced only vital?organs, but no arteries. “I would be with my lord,” she said quietly,?and she heard the shuffle of feet and men the closing door.
Alone, she wept her terrible grief in silent pain, rocking back and?forth, holding herself, as if that would prevent her from shattering.?Her head ached and waves of pain and nausea began to rack her.
Suddenly she heard Robert Small commanding, “Voice it, lass!
Voice your pain or else it will kill both you and his babe. Is that?what you want? If so, take Yasmin’s escape, for it’s quicker.”
She saw the Englishman standing by the door. He had never left?her. Now, crossing the room in three strides, he grasped her by the?shoulders and shook her. “Damn it, lass! Cry! Scream! Curse the?heavens, but in God’s name get it out!”
She sobbed softly once, then stopped. He hit her hard several?times, and suddenly her resistance broke. Opening her mouth, Skye?wailed her grief with such loud and terrible cries that they echoed?throughout the house. The slave women, grieving softly until then,?joined in their mistress’s tragic lamentation and soon the whole house?rang with grief. Shortly the sounds echoed through the entire neigh-?borhood. People began to gather, and it was not long before everyone?knew that Khalid el Bey had been murdered by his jealous slave?woman, Yasmin.
Slowly Skye’s grief eased. Looking a final time on her beloved?husband, she bent and kissed his cold lips. Then, supported by?Robert Small, she left the room and walked downstairs to the bey’s?library. “Get Jean and Marie for me, Robbie. I must be revenged,?and I will need help.”
When the four of them were gathered together in private, Skye?quietly repeated Yasmin’s dying words to Jean and Marie. The?Frenchman was shocked, but his wife sniffed, “I would put nothing?past that evil Turk. Look how he killed my little
“We will both be revenged, Marie,” said Skye, “but before we?can be, we must lull Jamil into a sense of security. He must not?even suspect that we know he is responsible for my lord’s murder.?Let him feel safe-and then we will strike!”
“You cannot revenge yourself on the Sultan’s governor and re-?main safely in Algiers,” said Robert Small firmly. “The dey would?be forced to punish you in the Sultan’s name.”
“I cannot remain here under any circumstances, Robbie. The?memories I have of Khalid and our life together would break my?heart. And though I am capable of running the House of Felicity,?who would do business with a woman? Sell everything here in?Algiers, but do it secretly. Have the money transported to our Lon-?don goldsmith.”
“The house also?” asked Jean.
“The house, the seaside kiosk, sell all.”
“What of the slaves?”
“Prepare papers of manumission for them all. I shall give each?of them the price he or she is worth in order that they may all get?started in another life. Those who wish to come with me may do?so, but no one is to be told until we are ready to leave. I hope, Jean,?that you and Marie will come with me. But if you choose to return?to Brittany I will understand.”
“There is nothing for us in Brittany, my lady. Our families are?gone. Marie’s entire village is gone. We would rather stay with you,?for we love you as we loved the bey.”
“Thank you,” said Skye. “I would have been lost without you?both.”
There was a scratching at the door, and when Skye called out,?”Enter,” a slave came in to announce that the captain-governor was?on his way up the driveway.
“Hold him off for a few minutes,” she told Jean. He left the room?immediately. “Robbie, you go too. I shall go upstairs through the?secret passage here in the library. Marie, quickly!”
Skye drew two leather-bound volumes from a shelf and, reaching?into that former space, pulled at a hidden lever. The bookcase swung?open to reveal an interior staircase. “Shut it behind us, Robbie,” she?said, handing him the books. Then the two women were gone. They?hurried up the stairs, which opened out into Skye’s old room.
“I cannot ever go back in
The captain-governor will be so blinded by lust,” she remarked?as Skye dressed, “that he will believe whatever you tell him,?madam.”
Skye nodded. “I must not rouse his suspicions,” she said, “and?I need time. Send my women to me, Marie. The
