Page 45 (1/2)
“Nothing will rowl interrupted her torn words “King Malek was born on my hands, as we say here I never knew anyone more steadfast He’s fastidious with his trust but, once won, his trust is for life, he’s wary to commit, but once he commits only death can make him break his commitments With you he’s coive another woman—love”
“Don’t—I can’t take this …” she almost screamed “If I stay, and all hell breaks loose, he’ll end up hating me Or he’ll be forced to take a wife to ste of yourself here, aren’t you?” Saeed lashed out “You’re afraid he’ll come to hate you, so you want to save yourself possible future disco his heart now You can’t bear the idea of sharing him with another woer than yourself because you’re afraid he’ll find you wanting in contrast to his imposed wife You want to save yourself the humiliation of a comparison you believe you’ll lose”
His words fell on her like scythes But it wasn’t their merci-lessness that she felt—it was the razor sharpness of the iod-like, exchanging voith the wo to her to e
Then tirew, and he went to his first wife, a wo, raised from birth to be a queen, favored by all, the instrument of peace and prosperity, his equal in beauty and refineround and culture, versed in all the nuances Jay could never learn, and in the arts of seducing and servicing her man
And he joined his body to hers, took his pleasure inside her, spilled his seed and came to covet her, even love her, with the bond of children ce her hold over him
While Jay became the wo how he’d once conte that his emotional turmoil at the time and the ordeals they’d shared had deluded hiic that drained aith each layer of stability his new faht to his life, every encounter of true passion he shared with his rightful wife
But though he no longer felt anything for her but pity for her dependence, regret for his unintentional exploitation, even revulsion for her continued hunger, he’d show her mercy
And she finally understood what her mother had suffered How she’d come to end her own life
Not that she ever would But she felt them now The depths of desperation that could make a slow, painful death a release
She rose to suddenly steady feet, her voice unwavering as she heard herself say, “You’re right”
Saeed jerked as if she’d slapped hiainst his accusations, to prove their falseness by staying near hismo there He’d shown her the future and everything she was had died just getting a gli,” he finally drawled “His belief in your worth forard for you But if you won’t lay down your life for a reatness, let alone weather some hardships and uncertainties, it see this time”
It was another attempt to rouse her to self-defense It had no effect Neither did the conte accusation in his eyes
So this hat her ht in death The anesthesia The cessation The nothingness
She wiped the last of the wetness frolad that yourso unfit of his passion and faith Will you help ned a dozen of his best men to my protection and service now he’s scared forabout it And as he’s still under the spell of his uided affections, he’ll come after me”
Saeed still hesitated, unable to shake his own affection and faith that easily Any rip of understandable tur her temporary lapse Then she’d be trapped here She’d end up destroying Malek, and Damhoor