Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bathhouse echoed with every move Lily took.
The high ceilings and ornate tiled walls normally rang with the happy voices of women starting their day.
Lily came late the day after her confrontation with Richard, late and without pleasure.
She bathed alone with a single attendant seeing to her needs.
“Does the lady wish rosemary oil?” the little bath attendant asked in an effort to elicit a response from Lily when she rose from the warm water.
Lily shrugged. A sleepless night punctuated with bouts of tears left her wrung out. “Please, yes,” she murmured more out of concern for the girl than because she cared.
I deserved his anger, she repeated to herself for the hundredth time.
The attendant began helping her dress. This morning Lily didn’t notice the feeling of silk sliding on skin, the sensation she normally loved.
He ought to have raged at me, but he didn’t. Cool, calm, and in control. That’s the Marble Marquess.
Richards’s immovable self-control made her irrationally irritable. Just once I’d like to see him lose control. Just once. Lily hoped she wouldn’t be on the receiving end if that ever happened.
She thought of the look on his face when he recognized her pregnancy, the wonder in his eyes when he felt the baby move. Just because he stays in control doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.
The attendant bowed out. Lily, alone in the warm confines of the bathhouse, lingered.
Memories of Richard’s friends and family ran circuits in her mind as they had all night: Richard teasing with Chadbourn and Catherine, Richard’s affection for the Mallets in defiance of his parents, Richard minimizing his mother’s sharp unkindness to wallflowers at the ball.
Above all, she kept coming back to Richard in the foyer of Aunt Marianne’s house, discreetly helping his friend Baron Ross financially.
He cares for them all. He takes care of those he loves; he—
Grief stabbed Lily to the heart. I’ve been an idiot. He takes care of those he loves. She fought the storm of tears that threatened to overcome her and rose to leave.
She reached the anteroom by the outside door when a group of older women entered, the Valide Sultan and her closest attendants. Lily opened her mouth to give a proper greeting, but anguish froze it in her throat.
The Valide Sultan gestured the other women on and put out her arms to Lily. The attendants passed by with curious glances and respectful silence. Lily sank into the older woman’s arms and began to sob.
“One has worries for you, Zambak. Your tears in the night did not go unnoticed.”
“I’m sorry,” Lily sniffed, struggling for control. “I didn’t know anyone heard.”
“You should know by now most things come to my ears eventually.” The woman smiled down at her. “Better?”
Lily nodded.
“Most but not everything. Was that English lord unkind to you, Zambak? I would not have permitted the meeting if I thought you would be harmed.”
“No! He had reason to be angry with me, but he was not.” Tears threatened again. “He had a shock, seeing me like this and—” Lily swallowed hard, twice.
“I’ve been an idiot!” she exclaimed.
“Hardly that, Zambak, but perhaps you’ve behaved foolishly, no?” The older woman gently touched Lily’s belly.
“I told him I would not marry him. I rejected him in insulting terms.”
“You rejected this wealthy, powerful man’s offer of marriage?”
“Three times,” Lily mumbled.
“Foolish behavior indeed, almost as foolish as conceiving this child in the first place. It is his child?”
Lily nodded.
“He is honor bound.”
“He believes so.”
“And you wish protestations of love. You are as silly as those girls you teach, Zambak. He honored you three times and you insulted him. I do not think he will ask again.”
Tears leaked from Lily’s eyes in spite of her best efforts. “I must talk with him.”
Valide Sultan’s shrewd eyes hardened. “You wish us to arrange another such meeting? It can be done, but to what purpose?”
Lily clamped her jaw tight. What purpose indeed?
“Men do not like to be commanded,” her companion said.
“No.” Lily’s laugh held little amusement. “He would not want to be commanded.”
“What then, Zambak? What is it you wish?”
I could write. I could tell him I changed my mind. I could apologize. I could—
“I think I must go to him,” Lily said. “Nothing less than an apology and surrender will do.”
The Valide Sultan took Lily’s shoulders in her hands.
“If you go, you cannot come back,” she said.
Lily didn’t respond right away.
“You’ve led your marquess in a complicated dance. You will not do the same to us.” The woman’s imperial power, firm and unyielding, radiated from her.
“I understand, Highness. Your great kindness will rest in my heart forever. I will not abuse it,” Lily said.
The old woman searched Lily’s face as if looking for any weakness. “Sahin has told you of dangers.”
“Yes. I’ll be safe at the British embassy.”
“I can see that you are guarded that far, but Zambak, you must be certain.”
“I am.”
As certain as I can be.
The sun began its descent to the horizon behind the towers of Hagia Sophia when Lily, swathed in veils, stepped onto the boat that would take her across the Golden Horn.
The fabled waterway that divided Stamboul, the Muslim quarter and seat of power, from Petra and the foreign quarter of Constantinople, glowed orange in its light.
Ahmet stepped in front of her, inspecting the quay and the crowd beyond. Satisfied, he helped her to shore.
“Thank you,” Lily smiled, even though he could not see her face beneath its covering.
“Are you sure of this, Zambak?” he asked without looking at her. His eyes, she noted, scanned the crowd continually. He had approved of her decision to meet Richard but not this trip to the embassy.
“As sure as we can be.” She also scanned the quay. At another time, without Volkov’s threats, she might have found this place exhilarating. Not this time. She shivered. Sahin warned her. Even if Volkov were not loose, this place is not safe for a woman alone.
Another bodyguard, a man she didn’t recognize, followed her to shore.
He clambered up stone steps behind her. Both men were tall, towering above the crowds.
Both looked strong. Both wore ornate swords in their belts.
Lily suspected other less decorative and perhaps more deadly weapons were hidden on their person.
Don’t be a ninny, Lily. These men will protect you. If you fear anything, it should be Richard’s reaction to your about-face. What if he sends you away? You can’t go back.
The crowd alone would have been difficult to manage in her condition.
In another time, without child, she might have enjoyed the flow of humanity and cacophony of languages.
This time, she pulled her arms around herself protectively, fearing she might be jostled.
In the face of her two companions, however, the crowd parted before them.
They made their way past sellers of figs and silver, vendors of fruits and sandalwood. In that other time, without her concerns about Richard’s reaction hanging over her, she might have lingered. This time, she had to be careful not to get lost in thought.
Ahmet reached a narrow passage paved in worn cobbles that opened next to a booth of rug sellers. Lily followed him into the shadows between two stone walls. The rear guard had just followed in behind her when it happened.
Lily heard a grunt behind her and turned to see her keeper on the ground, blood spilling over cobblestones from the gaping incision across his neck.
When she spun to run for Ahmet, unseen hands pulled at her veils.
She twisted loose but found herself trapped between the unseen danger behind and shadowy figures swarming the man in front of her.
He fought like a madman but looked about to fall.
Lily clutched her middle and began to pray.