Rhonwyn shuddered at the touch of his tongue that now began to probe at her innermost secrets. His fingers gently drew her nether lips apart, holding them in a firm grip as his tongue caressed the flesh within. She felt his tongue acutely, particularly when it touched a most sensitive part of her. The tongue worried and worried at her. She felt a building of sensation within. Edward had touched her there, but always with his finger. The caliph's tongue was far more exciting. Rhonwyn gasped as the first distinct feeling of pleasure swept over her. "Oh!" she cried, and shuddered hard. The tongue persisted, and she again was overwhelmed, crying out once more as she reveled in the sweetness that engulfed her.

"You see," his voice came to her through the mists, "you can feel pleasure, my beautiful Noor." 1 le slowly pushed two fingers into her love channel, drawing them slowly back and forth, arousing her so that she would be ready to receive him. Carefully he began to cover her body with his, and then it happened.

Rhonwyn's eyes opened, yet they were sightless. "No!" she cried out, her voice filled with utter terror. "No!"

He ceased in his actions, quickly taking her back into his arms although his manhood felt as if it were going to burst. "What is it, Noor? What is frightening you so? Tell me, my beauty. Tell me!"

"He is hurting her! Oh, please, stop! Don't hurt my mam!"

Her words astounded him, but Rashid al Ahmet knew that the mind was a powerful weapon that could be used for good or evil; that could hide secrets and affect behavior in the most ordinary people. "Who is hurting your mother, Noor?" he asked her in kindly tones.

"I do not know him, but his garb is rich. He has come to our cottage. Mam is very afraid, yet he will not let her be! He calls her a whore and forces her to couple with him. He is hurting her! He is hurting her! Go away! Go away! Mam says our father must not know what has happened. She is bleeding. Don't weep, Mam. Don't weep!" There were tears on Rhonwyn's face now. "Mam says I mustn't let any man do to me what he has done to her. I must fight them! I'll be a good girl, Mam. I'll be strong for us both. The prince will never know. Tis our secret, Mam. Our secret."

The caliph rocked her in his arms. No wonder she had not been able to feel any pleasure. His poor beautiful Noor, but now it would all change for her. "Who raped your mother, Noor?" he gently asked her. "You were very little, weren't you?"

Rhonwyn's eyes opened, and she shuddered hard. "I never knew who he was," she said. "Probably someone who knew my father and knew where our cottage was hidden. My mother never knew if the third child she carried was his or the prince's. My father loved her and would have killed any man who touched her. I think that is what frightened her. She always said there was greatness in ap Gruffydd, and it should not be denied. She would not have wanted to be the cause of his failure. I was just four when it happened, and my brother still at her breast."

"Do you understand now what she meant when she warned you not to allow any man to do to you what was done to her? She did not mean you should not enjoy mutual pleasures, Noor, only that you should not find yourself in her uniortunate position." He stroked her hair tenderly. "Poor lady. How she must have suffered, and what a terrible secret both you and she kept. Sleep now, my beautiful one. Later when you awaken, I shall make love to you as you should be loved."

She was puzzled. She could see his manhood was still stiff with his desire for her. Reaching out, she touched him, saying, "I will not be afraid now, my lord caliph."

"You will be less fearful when you have slept, my beauty," he advised her. "You have faced terrible demons just now. Sleep the residue of them away, and then I will take you to paradise as a reward for your bravery, sweet Noor." He kissed her forehead.

"I am no longer a child, my lord caliph," Rhonwyn told him. "I am a warrior woman, and now I have confronted that which has secretly terrified me all these years. I need no rest, but I do need your passion to prove to me that I have truly overcome my terrors." She held out her arms to him.

Rashid al Ahmet covered her body with his own. His manhood, rampant and hungry for her, slid easily into her love channel. He watched her face carefully, but there was no longer any fear in her eyes. It had been replaced by a budding wonder and eager anticipation of what was to come. She was wonderfully tight and hot. "You are indeed fearless, my beautiful warrior woman," he complimented her. Then he began to move upon her.

Rhonwyn closed her eyes, enjoying the incredible sensation of him as he pushed slowly within her. She could feel the throb of his manhood as it delved into her depths. She was acutely aware of every tiny sensation he elicited from her. When he began to thrust and withdraw, thrust and withdraw, Rhonwyn knew that her mother, who had loved ap Gruffydd so dearly, would have never denied her this marvelous sense of utter delight. She arched her body to match his rhythm, crying out as a tiny sharp pulse of pleasure began to envelop her, building until it crashed over her like a large wave, leaving her weak and satisfied, piercingly aware of his hot love juices that were discharged deep into her now well-plowed field.

When she was finally able to breathe normally again, she said shyly, "That was wonderful, my lord caliph!"

"Rashid," he said to her. "My name is Rashid, and I shall never let you go, my beautiful Noor. You are mine forever!"

She lay her golden head upon his smooth chest, strangely happy, and yet deep within her heart she whispered a single word: Edward! It was her husband, Edward de Beaulieu, she loved, and not this intense man. Yet it had been Rashid al Ahmet who had delved into her deepest secret and drawn it forth from the darkness in which she had kept it hidden all these years. Her husband, to whom she had been wed a year, had not been able to do that. Rashid al Ahmet, caliph of Cinnebar, into whose presence she had been brought as a prisoner only this morning and into whose bed she had been taken this night-it had been he who had touched her as no other man ever had. Why?

She had to admit that his passion was magical, and she had obviously pleased him greatly. If she continued in his favor, who knew to what heights she could reach in Cinnebar, but it was not what she wanted. She wanted to return to Edward and share herself with him as she had never been able to share herself before. She owed the caliph a great debt for that. Still, what her heart desired was impossible. But was it? Only time would tell, and in the meantime she would continue to share herself with the caliph. She sensed that she was just beginning to learn all that he had to teach her, and she realized that she was now a most eager pupil.

"What are you thinking?" he demanded raising her up so he might look into her beautiful face.

"I am thinking that you have much to teach me, my lord Rashid," Rhonwyn answered him honestly.

The caliph laughed aloud. "Aye," he said. "We have only just begun, my beautiful Noor. We have only just begun!"

Chapter 10

“Awaken, my child." Nilak's voice came to her through the mists.

Rhonwyn's eyes opened slowly, focusing upon her surroundings, at first confused as to where she was, but then remembering.

"Oh, Noor, how you have pleased the caliph! He left you to sleep and gave orders that you should not be disturbed until the sun was at the mid-heavens. The entire harem is talking. They cannot ever remember a time when he left a woman to sleep in his bed after he had taken his pleasure. Come, child, get up now. We must go to the baths and then to your new apartments, which are next to the lady Alias! You are very much in favor, and 'tis said the second and third wives are quite angry. The gossip is that you will be made his fourth wife, for he is besotted by you, fortunate girl!"

Rhonwyn tried to absorb all of Nilak's words. She stretched her limbs gingerly and felt a slight soreness between her thighs. He had coupled with her a second time last night, and it had been even better than their first encounter. She was confounded by it all, although he had carefully explained to her that the memory of her mother's rape, buried deep within her mind, had been the cause of her inability to enjoy passion. Now released from that terrible pain, she was free to let her passions take her where she would. His words had disturbed her deeply, and she again wondered why Edward had not been able to find the answer to the riddle of her unresponsiveness.


Nilak gently tugged on her arm. "My lady Noor, you must come with me now," she insisted.

"Yes, yes," Rhonwyn answered her, arising at last, but her attention was only partly focused on the older woman who was slipping a silken garment over her.

"They say he returned from his morning meal to watch you in sleep for a short time," Nilak said. "What did you do, child, to entrance the caliph so?" She led Rhonwyn from Rashid al Ahmet's apartments and down the hall into the women's quarters.

Rhonwyn was startled to note that slaves and harem women alike bowed to her politely as they passed by. By the rood, she thought, Nilak does not just babble uselessly. Rhonwyn's wits were beginning to sharpen once again. She had already divined from Nilak's chatter that to survive in this place she needed power. Power came from several sources. The caliph. The lady Alia. And Baba Haroun. She already had the caliph's favor, and she could probably keep it if she were clever. It was his first wife and the chief eunuch she needed to win to her side.