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in her mind.’
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘Send her to me today. I think I’ll be giving her some responsibility in the harem. It’s timely anyway that the girls take on some special roles but I’ll endow Ana with the most trust…confide a few things in her.’
    ‘Let her think you might be friends?’
    Herezah shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t go that far. Ana’s too much of an island but perhaps some fragile bridges might be built.’
    ‘And then what, Valide?’
    ‘I’ll tear them down and expose her. What is the harshest punishment for leaving the harem?’
    ‘Lashes…you’d remember that from Ana’s previous attempt at escape. But this time there’ll be no Spur Lazar to twist the rules to claim Protectorship and take the strokes on her behalf.’
    ‘Is that the best we can do?’
    ‘Well, being caught unveiled, perhaps in the company of a man, would certainly increase the punishment,’ he said, enjoying where this conversation was headed.
    ‘To what?’
    ‘Death.’ He said it coldly, without hesitation, and saw how the word appealed to her by the involuntary twitch at the corner of her mouth. The Valide was planning murder, it seemed. He loved it.
    ‘Mandatory?’
    He nodded confidently. ‘Drowning in the Faranel is the easiest. I’m not sure anyone could save her then, bar an extraordinary set of circumstances.’
    ‘Such as?’ Herezah demanded.
    Salmeo shrugged his huge shoulders as he considered. Then he held his great hands out, his palms shockingly pale pink against his black skin. ‘I simply can’t imagine what, Valide.’
    And that was good enough for her. If Salmeo couldn’t bend his mind to a situation that might save the girl’s life, then no-one could. ‘Excellent. That’s what I want you to arrange, Salmeo.’
    ‘You want me to bring about her death, Valide?’ he queried innocently.
    Herezah knew what he was doing. She understood he was making it unequivocally clear between them what was being planned and who was giving the orders. ‘I want you to ensure she is somehow found in that unforgivable position you suggested and cannot be saved from the consequences. The rest is up to the laws of our harem.’
    ‘And the Zar, Valide. What of his interests?’
    She frowned, not understanding. ‘What do you mean, Salmeo?’
    ‘Only that if he was on side it would be easier to manipulate the law in our favour,’ he said gently, his eyes heavy-lidded, intrigue spicing his tone.
    She smelled the nauseating fragrance of violets on his breath again, reminding her of the dangerous plot she was designing and the even more dangerous individual she was hatching it with. ‘Boaz, unfortunately, will not be our pawn. As I have said, he has become a man these past thirteen or so moons and he will not be manipulated easily.’
    ‘He need not know, Valide,’ Salmeo said softly and she recognised his habit of looking down at his fingers, not giving eye contact. This was Salmeo at his best, slippery and cunning.
    ‘You want to use my son without his knowledge?’ she stated, determined to avoid all innuendo.
    Salmeo nodded but still would not meet her gaze. ‘He need not be in on our plan.’
    The word our was not lost on her. She knew from this moment she had tossed her future in with that of Salmeo. Her grand notion to align Tariq with herself and keep Salmeo at more of a distance, but still under her authority, had not unfolded as she had hoped. The Vizier was now Grand Vizier and far more powerful, and he had so cleverly ingratiated himself with her son, it was sickening. Even now she couldn’t quite grasp how it had happened, under her nose and with such speed. At the old Zar’s death he was a snivelling, obsequious adviser with no-one’s respect and only her lukewarm patronage to save him. Withinweeks of the new Zar being crowned, Tariq was a changed man in many respects. His demeanour, even the way he presented himself, had undergone some sort of transformation. The man was suddenly interesting, pithy,