Laila’s face lit up at the mention of her son.

“He’s only across the courtyard.” Laila pointed out the open window. “In the room with the shutters blocked off. The air at night is not good for the baby.”

“Will you take me to see him? I’d like to know the way.”

“Of course.” Laila seemed surprised by the questions. “You can see your son whenever you are in the harem quarters. No one will keep you from him. Except when you are with Amir, or another lord. Those times will be spent in another part of the palace, which we call the ‘Pleasure Gardens.’ Your son will not be permitted in that section. Probably never.”

Elena couldn’t agree more with such good sense. The fewer people who knew of her son the better; his reputation would stay intact.

She’d almost forgotten about that part of the bargain. Not that it had been much of a bargain. It was a matter of choosing the lesser evil: accept the life of a harlot or stay in the slave quarters. She’d agreed to this place, this life.

She followed her new friend through the corridors. Indeed, this was a new life.

The man who had purchased her was not cruel. There was a whole harem of women who welcomed her as a sister. Above all, she’d been given her son when she’d thought him lost. But here she was, her spirit mending in the kindness offered by the other women, and open arms all around her.

This time when they walked through the corridors Elena took in the surroundings to better remember her way around. Most of the walls were whitewashed. The floors afoot were great blocks of gray and tan stone. The way was simple to the baths. She attributed her earlier confusion to her fear when she’d arrived. So much had happened between her arrival yesterday and now. The weight that had constricted her spirit in the slave market seemed to have been chipped away overnight. Though she wouldn’t easily accept her owner, she would try as best she could to adjust to this place.

That familiar choking wall of heat greeted her at the public bath, and then clutched around her as they stepped inside. There were women everywhere, unlike yesterday when it had been just her and Laila. Now slaves and mistresses milled about and lounged in groups around the pool; the stone fountains were built into the wall where a steady stream of water poured into the wide, low bases. All the women were in various states of dress and undress.

Some lazed by the great pool in the center of the room or sat on upturned wooden baskets close to the walls. Slaves walked around with trays of food ranging from fruits to nuts to sweet pastries. Others carried linens and towels or pitchers, which must contain something to drink to stave off the heat in this insufferable place.

Elena couldn’t imagine eating in here; she could barely swallow the saliva in her throat the air was so thick. Though something cool to drink would be welcome if she had to stay in here for any length of time. She turned to Laila, who had already stripped out of her robe and waited for Elena to do the same.

Looking to the eunuchs and other nude women around the bath, Elena swallowed any argument she thought to make, and slipped out of the material that did little to hide her figure beneath anyway. A slave stood by and whisked her garments away. Elena crossed her arms over her bosom.

“How will I end up in other lords’ company, Laila?” she asked as she stepped down into the pool, and hunkered beneath the water to better hide her nakedness.

“You will not be expected to share relations with other men for your first year. Amir will train you in your duties first.” Laila leaned back, her elbows on the stairs of the pool. “And I will teach you some tricks he cannot.”

“A year,” she parroted. She didn’t know what to think of that. She didn’t know what to think of any of this.

“Sometimes he keeps us longer but usually not. He will parade you in front of the rich lords, in the Pleasure Gardens. Draw their interest to drive up your first bidding price.”

“Bidding? So we are auctioned? No better than the slaves sold at market?”

Laila chuckled. “Not like a slave market.”

“Everything is so different here. So unlike anything I’ve ever known.” Elena shook her head, pulling the heavy mass of her hair over each shoulder. “There seems to be a lot of adjustments I must make. So much to accept when I’ve never been exposed to such an environment before.”

“You will figure these things out soon enough. You are not used to this place, but I think in a week or so you will feel as though you have always lived here.”

“Only time will tell.” Elena sighed as she combed her fingers through her hair.

“Amir has given you a few days, yes?”

Elena frowned. She’d been so frightened that most of Amir’s words had escaped her. “I believe he said a few days. I can’t quite recall. He fairly took me by surprise.”

“I do not know why you are afraid to spend time with him. Has he not shown you kindness in giving your son back, reuniting the two of you?”

“I suppose . ” She shook her head, not knowing how to make Laila understand her plight. “You have to understand that I’ve never been exposed to any of this type of forwardness. We English are a little more—”

“Prudish,” Laila supplied.

Elena couldn’t help but smile back. Was she prudish? Most likely. Though it seemed insulting the way Laila said it. Never had she thought it anything but an essential trait of any well-bred English lady.

“This is a different culture from the one you are used to. I do comprehend your plight, Elena. In time you will see that our way of life is a little more freeing than your old one. You can express yourself without fear of repercussion. No one will judge you for enjoying some of the things we indulge in.”

“I should embrace my becoming a whore?”

That word no longer held the venom it used to. It didn’t matter; the austerity of the words seemed lost on her new friend. Laila was contagious in her way of thinking.

“You see, you smile. I am right in this. Such a tactless way of saying what we are. It is a prideful thing to be a harem girl who is well looked after. We enjoy what we do. Our life would not be so relaxed and simple if fate had not intervened and brought us to Amir. We’ve all got a past we’d rather not remember.”

She wholeheartedly agreed with that, and nodded. “My life might have ended in the slave market had I not been found by Mr. Chisholm. But that does not make this the better arrangement.”

“How can you believe that? Are you and your son not safe?”

Elena frowned, then dunked her whole head under the water.

Laila was right. But one couldn’t take a lifetime’s worth of belief and reverse it overnight. Breaking the surface, Elena rubbed the water from her eyes and combed her hands through her hair once again. “It will take me a while to get used to this. Not everything will be easy for me to embrace.”

“This is why Amir has me guiding you.” Laila reached out for some of her hair and helped her untangle the snarls.

“Guiding? Is that what we call this?” Elena sat on one of the lower steps, wrapping her arms around her knees. She gave her back to Laila so she could brush her hair out easier. “You practically forced me to do your bidding yesterday. I would have cooperated had you given me some more time to adjust to the change I was thrown into.”

“That was necessary according to house rules. I will guide you in how to please a man as well.”

Elena coughed into her hand, choking on the spittle that went down wrong. When she caught her breath again, she said, “You can’t be serious!”

Laila’s smile was mischievous—a sly tilt lifted her lip. “I’m very serious. You must please a man in many ways . and in any way he asks once you’ve been sold at auction.”

“I was . I was a married woman. I will not need instruction in these matters.”

What was so hard about lying abed while her husband rutted above her? Not that she’d been a total deadwood in their marriage bed, either.

“You are familiar with the duties as a married woman, as your child goes to show. But do you think for one moment I believe your husband had you suck off his pego?”

Elena gasped as she turned to look at Laila, mouth hanging open in shock. “Laila, such words.” Her husband would never have asked such a thing. Did women really do that?

Her only reaction was a wink. “I will have to teach you many words if this one makes you blush. Though I think Amir will like your blush; it gives a beautiful healthy glow to your cheeks and lends a certain innocence. This is something you lose over time. Even Maram, young as she is, does not have this sense of innocence. Come to think of it, I’m not sure she ever did have it.”

“I hope to retain this innocence as long as possible,” she mumbled. The declaration was lost on Laila since the woman had started up the steps of the pool, calling out orders to the slaves.

Laila turned to look at her when she made no move to leave the water. “Come. There is nothing about your person we haven’t all seen. Modesty is lost among your sisters.”

“It’s much easier for you to say, having grown up in such a place. We don’t go about London in this unclothed fashion, not even in our bath.”

“Oh, but they do in the bawdy houses. I once asked a patron.”

Elena knew it to be the truth. Wasn’t that one of the many things that she thought separated genteel ladies from harlots? It didn’t matter; the two were one and the same for her now. Never in all her days had she thought to become the kind of woman to spread her legs for any man’s pleasure.

One did not wake up in the morning and wonder: Will my husband lose me in a hand of cards today?

She shook her head in disgust. It did no good to think about what her life should have been. As Laila suggested, it was better to forget the past and embrace this new life.