She had spoken to her mother that morning, and Tabitha had sounded good. The best Olivia had heard her in years, in fact. Tamir had apparently not simply hired a nurse for Tabitha’s care. He’d arranged a team of specialists, overseen by a highly regarded expert in depression and anxiety. In a reasonably short time, Tabitha had turned a corner Olivia had given up any hope of discovering.
Her hands gripped the coping of the fountain, as her feet sparkled in the water below. She lifted her face to the sky, catching sunshine on her skin and smiling up at the brilliant blue above.
Tamir had made her life incredibly complicated. And yet she felt a deep well of inner-contentment that was inexplicable.
The night before, they’d made love over and over again, their bodies seeking one another through the darkness. Her insides rolled as she remembered the waves of pleasure she’d been carried away on. It made no sense, but the biggest fear Olivia now grappled with was that of losing Tamir.
That fear was ridiculous, and she felt angry with herself for being so weak, and so easily influenced. But Tamir’s body had a power over hers, and she no longer wished to deny it. Nor to accept the possibility of a future without him in it.
She splashed her feet a little, making a sound of happiness as the water kicked up and left little droplets on the pale gown she wore.
A sharp stream of Talidarian interrupted her. She looked up warily, to find Kalil storming towards her.
What was it about Tamir’s security chief that made her head spin? He was a small man, but every bit of him seemed to radiate cruelty. She didn’t flinch, though inside her nerves were quivering.
“Get out of there!”
Olivia frowned, and did not move.
Kalil reached down and grabbed her by the elbow, forcibly lifting her off the edge of the fountain.
“Hey!” She shouted, pulling her elbow free from his grip. Her heart was racing with fear, now, as she looked around and desperately wished one of the attendants she’d been so quick to dismiss was near at hand.
“Who do you think you are?”
She glared at him, rubbing her elbow. Her skin, beneath the robe, was red raw from his hard grip.
“I am your Queen, and you will address me accordingly.”
“Queen,” he scoffed. “You cannot lie to me, Olivia. Your marriage is based on the fact that the Sultan finds you desirable, and little more. Soon it will pass and you will be banished. A day I cannot wait for.”
Olivia sucked in a deep breath. “Why do you hate me so much, Kalil?”
“I hate all women like you. You will ruin him, like she almost did.” he responded sharply, once again putting his hand on her elbow and frog marching her away from the fountain. She didn’t get a chance to ask what he was talking about. He was almost dragging her through the palace, and even her raised voice didn’t cause him to stop.
No one intervened.
Though they passed many people, no one did much more than glance up curiously then look away again.
“What are you doing?” She squawked, as he pushed open the heavy oak door to Tamir’s office and pulled her in after him.
Tamir was sitting at the desk, in the middle of going through some correspondence, when his wife was hauled in by Kalil. He was careful not to convey a hint of emotion as he took in her bedraggled appearance. Her feet were bare, her robe had water down the front, and her hair was pulled from its bun, so that it curled around her face and down her front. As for Kalil, his face was pink, and his dark eyes were laced with emotion.
Tamir summed up the situation, and stood slowly. He walked across to the pair, looking first at his wife, and then to his long-trusted security chief and kinsman. Olivia was shivering like a leaf, and it took all his presence of mind not to pull her into his arms.
He looked to Kalil again, and at the hand the other man still had wrapped around Olivia’s slender arm, and he frowned. He spoke quietly, with a raw tone of menace in his voice. “You will remove your hand from my wife, immediately. You are never to touch her again, do you understand me?”
Kalil did as he said, but he didn’t back down. “She was in the sacred water of Lamisa,” Kalil shouted, spittle forming in the corners of his mouth. “Washing her feet in our most special fountain.”
Tamir flicked his gaze to his wife without reacting. “Is this true?”
Olivia bit down on her lip, and looked away. “I didn’t know.”
Tamir nodded. “Why?”
“Why what?” She asked quietly, unconsciously rubbing her elbow again. Kalil had somehow made her feel as though her bones were broken. The force of his rage had been shocking. She felt her knees beginning to buckle, and only with the greatest self-control did she manage to remain upright.
Kalil began to speak forcefully in Talidarian, but one look from Tamir silenced him.