Iris Johansen - The Treasure

“I feel you’re wasting my time,” he said bluntly. “You’re here to do me service and you spend your time with that woman, stitching.”

“We’ll discuss service when your messenger arrives. Have you heard from him?”

“No, but we’ll discuss service now. I want your promise.”

Kadar shook his head.

“You’ll give me the service you promised Sinan, and for the same reason.” Nasim smiled maliciously. “If you don’t, you’ll find your friends in Scotland most uncomfortable. I’ll have to decide whether to raze their castle myself or send the Knights Templar to do it for me. Do you doubt I’d do either?”

“No.”

“Then give me your word.”

“You always told me lies were the weapon of a clever man.”

“But it’s one lesson you never learned. You don’t break your word, and I want that chain on you. Give me your word or I’ll send Balkir and a force to Montdhu at dawn.”

The bastard meant it. He had no choice. “Very well, you have my promise to do one task for you.”

“I thought you’d agree.” He smiled. “And I’ve thought of a useful and amusing way for you to serve me while we wait.”

“I promised only one service.”

“Oh, I believe you’ll accommodate me in this.” He gazed up at the sky. “It’s a full moon tonight, a good sign. The soothsayers say a full moon brings fertile earth and good crops.”

“You don’t care about good crops. You make tribute.”

“True. But I’ve become very interested in fertility of late. It comes as a surprise to me.” His gaze remained on the night sky. “Sinan wished you to follow him as master here, you know. We discussed it often. I approved his plan. It would be stimulating to control you as I did Sinan. It would only take a word from me and you’d slide into your place as head of the assassins.”

“It holds no interest for me. It’s too limiting.”

“You lie. But you’re stubborn. You could yet go your own way.”

“You may count on it.”

“I count on nothing that doesn’t please me. Still, I must take precautions. Men do die.”

“No one should know that better than you.”

Nasim chuckled. “Yes, I’ve made a study of death. A master should be able to pass such knowledge on to one worthy. I’ve found no such acolyte but you, Kadar.” His smile faded. “So I’ve decided you shall provide me with another.”

“And how am I to do that?” he asked warily.

“The woman.” Nasim frowned. “Though she’s displeased me by yoking you to needle and thread. It’s an insult to me.”

“It has nothing to do with you. There’s no connection.”

“Everything you do is connected to me. Because I choose it to be so.” He paused. “That’s why you will bring the woman to the tower every night for the next two weeks.”

Kadar went still. “I told you that she was ordinary, beneath you.”

“She must be very ordinary, since you sleep on the floor instead of in her bed.”

“She doesn’t interest me.”

“She interests me. She’s bold, and it’s always exciting to break the bold ones.” He smiled. “But I fear you must develop interest in her. It’s you who will couple with her.”

“Why?”

“I want a child by her. Your child.”

Kadar inhaled sharply. “What madness is this?”

“I cannot sire children. I’ve tried several bitches, but nothing has come of it.” He lifted his chin. “It has nothing to do with my manhood. I’ve decided that, when a man is given special powers to wield, Allah sometimes does not see fit to let him perform as other men. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have what I want. If I cannot have you to mold, I’ll take a substitute.”

“I’ve no desire to get her with child.”

“Ah, yes, she has no interest for you. Still, it will happen.”

Nasim had made up his mind, Kadar realized with frustration, and it was never any use to argue with him when he had made a decision. He would have to try to work around it. “If you wish me to sire a babe, send a whore to the tower room. At least she would have the skill to amuse me.”

“Our whores are lacking in spirit. The foreign woman has the boldness I want.”

“You detest her boldness.”

“In a woman, not in a child she would birth.”

He tried another tactic. “It could be a female child. What would you do then?”

“Kill it. I have no use for bitches. But you would not father females, Kadar. We are too much alike.”

“I don’t want this woman.”

“You will. Remember the tower room, Kadar?”

Kadar’s gaze went to the tower. Yes, he remembered it. The sweet smell of hashish, naked bodies on silk cushions, the ultimate in acts of debauchery. He felt himself hardening, thickening at the memory.

“You see?” Nasim smiled maliciously. “It will happen.”

That was what he feared. “And what will happen if I refuse?”

“Then she will still bear a child, but it will be by one of my men who is far less worthy. In fact, I may have to set a different man between her thighs every night and let fate decide who will father it. Do you think your Lord Ware would take her back after a month of such treatment?”

“What if she’s not fertile? Am I to delay going on your mission to couple with a mere woman?”

Nasim’s smile disappeared. “Nothing will be permitted to delay you. When the message comes, you will go. I’ve waited too long already.” He turned and stalked across the courtyard. “The tower. Tomorrow, at nightfall.”

Kadar watched him until he disappeared into the castle. God’s blood, Nasim couldn’t have chosen to put him in a worse quandary. Selene was striving to distance herself from him, and he was to go to her and say they must couple until a child was conceived? She would throw more than a gown at him.

Dammit, and just when he had begun to see slight signs of softening in her.

But there was no hint of softness in him at the moment; he was rock hard, and a dark excitement was beginning to build. It was exactly the response Nasim wanted. But he wished he could be as sure of Nasim’s motives as he was of his manipulations. Did he really want an acolyte of Kadar’s blood, or did he want to pull Kadar deeper into the dark morass? In the past, sexual excess had been offered as a stimulus and a reward, and Kadar had reveled in it. Nasim would remember that fact as he remembered everything else. It was a potent weapon he would not hesitate to wield.

Kadar’s gaze lifted again to the tower.

The tower. Tomorrow, at nightfall.

“I’ll not do it.” Selene jumped to her feet, stung. “I won’t be a slave and do that man’s bidding. I’ll never be a slave again.”

“I’ve told you the consequences of refusing. You’ll admit I’m the least offensive of the alternatives.” Kadar grimaced. “Or maybe you won’t. But I swear this is not by my design.”

She knew it was not. Kadar might attempt seduction, but he would never force her to his bed. The realization did nothing to abate her anger. “He expects me to bear your child and then hand it over to him? Is he mad to believe I’d do such a thing?“

“He would take it-if it was a boy. If it was a girl, he would kill it.”

Shock surged through her. “You’re so calm. You accept this.”

He shook his head. “I’m calm because I would never accept it. It will not happen. No child of mine will ever be subject to Nasim’s will.”

A little of her anger ebbed away. “Then how will we prevent it?”

“I don’t have the answer yet. We may not have to prevent it. Two weeks isn’t a long time. Many women do not get with child immediately.”

“It took Thea years.” Another wave of anger hit her. “It makes no sense. He’s an old man. He may not even live to raise a child.”