"Shiek" - читать интересную книгу автора (Connie Mason)

"Not poison, my lord. Ah, here it is," he said, gathering splintered pieces of glass from the table and floor. He held a large piece up to the light. Then he tasted a tiny sample of the residue left on the surface. "1 can't be sure, but I think tests will prove that you've been drugged, my lord."

"What! By whom? Who would do such a thing?"

"That I do not know, my lord. The drug wasn't strong enough to do you permanent harm, but to be safe I'll mix you up something to purge the remaining potion from your system. You have slept off the worst of it."

The fuzziness began to clear from Jamal's brain and his thinking process returned as a horrible thought struck him. Had Zara been given a similar drug? Was she even now sleeping off the effects? Was she ill? Then he recalled that when Hammet had awakened him, he had mentioned something about disturbing news. He trembled with unexplained fear. There was more here than met the eye and he intended to get to the bottom of it.

"Hammet!" His summons brought the eunuch instantly to his master's bedside. "I am here, my lord."

"My trusted physician seems to think I was given a drug to make me sleep. What do you know about it?"

"I know nothing about the drug, my lord. I have failed you. Forgive me."

"I do not hold you responsible. Have you seen Zara?" Jamal asked sharply. "I will send David to attend her. If she was fed the same drug, she could be ill. Her system isn't as robust as mine."

"Zara isn't in the harem." Hammet's expression was sad but wary. His master's temper was going to be formidable when he learned the full extent of his slave's treachery. "Nafisa came to me early this morning, wanting to know if Zara was still with you. She wasn't. I knew she had not left though the door, for I was sleeping on a pallet outside your chamber and would have heard her. She must have left through the courtyard."

"Perhaps she's in the hammam," Jamal suggested hopefully. Hammet shook his head. "Did you check every room?"

"The entire palace, my lord."

"The courtyard? The palace grounds?"

"Zara is gone, my lord. So is her father and all the Berber prisoners."

Jamal reared up from bed and strode to the casket where he kept the key to Youssef's prison. His swift intake of breath was the only indication of his rage. Inside the casket, resting on a bed of satin, was the emerald he had given Zara. It was damning evidence and all the proof he needed. He felt raw and betrayed. He'd been deceived by a Berber vixen who whored for her father. Those were harsh words, but Jamal could think of no other explanation for what Zara had done.

It hurt to realize that Zara had deliberately deceived him. She had used his obsession for her, building his trust to the point that he was blinded to her devious intent. What a fool he'd been. What an utter, sentimental fool.

"I need a bath to wash the scent of that insidious little witch from my body," Jamal ground out. "Summon Haroun. I will speak with him after I've bathed."

"I will leave you, my lord," David said as Hammet hurried to do Jamal's bidding. "I can see that you no longer have need of me. The effects of the drug are all but gone from your system." He bowed himself out of the chamber, leaving Jamal in a fine rage.

An hour later Jamal and Haroun were inspecting the small airless room that had once held Youssef. Jamal didn't expect to find anything and wasn't surprised when he caught a whiff of Zara's special scent. He would recognize the fragrance anywhere. Jasmine. He'd had the scent specially formulated for Zara and had instructed Nafisa to use it exclusively on his beautiful slave. The memory of kissing, tasting and caressing Zara's jasmine-scented flesh brought a fresh onslaught of pain. How could she have betrayed him like this? He would have married her; given her the world had she asked.

Nothing of value was learned from the sentry on duty the previous night, yet all the Berbers were gone. The man guarding the front gate swore no one had gone in or out after the gates were closed for the night. That left only the back gate. It was still locked but could be easily scaled. A key was produced and Jamal stepped through the opening.

"Camel tracks, my lord," Haroun said, calling Jamal's attention to the large hoof prints on the ground beyond the gate. "Our men do not ride camels, and caravans do not come this close to the walls even if they did venture into the oasis. This is a well-planned and executed escape, my lord."

"Aye," Jamal mused thoughtfully. "Had I not been so obsessed with Zara I would have taken precautions. I was willing to lie to Ishmail for the Berber witch. Never again, Haroun, my friend. When I find Zara I will not play the besotted fool again. I refuse to become a victim to her feminine wiles."

"Do you intend to go after her?" Haroun asked, surprised by Jamal's obsession with Zara. What was one woman when there were so many?

"Wild horses couldn't stop me," Jamal said tautly. "Zara betrayed me and must pay the consequences. Selling her to the slave trader would be a fitting punishment for a traitor such as she."

The words were spoken in haste. Despite the blow to his pride, Jamal would never send Zara to the slave market.

"Shall I provision the men for a long search, my lord? The Blue Men are wily foe. No doubt Youssef has already left his village for the mountains. Berbers can move their black tents from place to place faster than we can ferret them out."