Goddess Read Online Free

a point. He is mad.’
    ‘He is ruthless, I know that much.’ Lazar tried to sit up and only half managed it, falling back onto his pillow.
    ‘What does he want with Ana?’
    ‘Apart from the obvious attractions of a nubile young woman?’
    Pez ignored Lazar’s sneer. ‘I fib. I don’t think he has any carnal interest in Ana whatsoever, not by the way he behaved towards her. She is pregnant, by the way.’
    Lazar’s closed eyes shot open. He gripped Pez’s hand so tightly it hurt the dwarf. ‘So it’s confirmed. She carries Boaz’s heir. You’re sure?’
    ‘I’m sure that she’s with child, yes. Her belly is swollen and Arafanz mentioned her pregnancy openly.’
    ‘If he lays a hand on a single hair of hers or the baby’s I shall tear him limb from limb, I will raze his fortress to the dust of the desert, I shall—’
    ‘Well, you can’t do anything lying in bed. You need to—’ Pez stopped talking suddenly, cocking his head to one side. ‘Hush, I hear something. Let me check.’ He waddled over to the window, opening the shutters slightly to sneak a look. He returned to Lazar’s side, his large mouth in a lopsided grin. ‘You’re not goingto believe who has just arrived. I must hide. We shall speak later.’
    ‘Wait! Pez!’
    ‘Say nothing of my return,’ Pez warned and disappeared before Lazar’s disbelieving eyes, adding silently: Remember, I can’t hold this trick for long .
    Moments later, Lazar heard a small commotion at his front door. More muffled sounds were audible before the doors of his sleeping chamber burst open and Herezah swept into the room.
    ‘Leave us!’ she commanded her accompanying Elim and they dutifully closed the doors behind them. Lazar knew they would be standing on the other side, that the house would be fully secured by the elite harem guard. ‘It stinks in here, Lazar,’ Herezah said, regarding him from a distance and wrinkling her nose. ‘You stink.’ She bowed. ‘Forgive me. Good morning, Prince Lucien.’
    He hid his shock as best he could, along with his nudity. He dug deep, covering his vulnerability with sarcasm. ‘Hello, Valide. Bored at the harem?’
    ‘Yes…can you tell?’
    ‘The desert can do that to you.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    He let his head fall to one side, holding her gaze steadily, not permitting it to roam, mindful that he was naked, save the scant covering of the corner of a sheet.
    ‘Are you restless?’ he asked, forgoing the scathing tone he usually adopted with Herezah and hearing his own restiveness in the question.
    Herezah gestured at a small wooden seat. ‘May I?’
    ‘Of course,’ he said, tugging the sheet further across his body. ‘Forgive my poor manners, Majesty.’ He felt so weak he couldn’t be sure he could make it through whatever conversation the Valide had in mind. And he no longer had the strength to fight her. ‘How is your foot?’
    She waved away his apology, limped to perch on the stool’s edge and sighed. ‘Lazar—I prefer to call you that, by the way—to tell you the truth I don’t know what’s happening to me. My ankle is healing fast, although I can’t say the same for my mind. I seem to be sharing Zaradine Ana’s plight in chafing at the bonds of the palace. I would hardly describe myself as one of its easiest members. I too craved freedom, but of the kind that power brings. Ana could never appreciate that, I think.’ She gave a sad laugh. ‘And still, in spite of her complete disregard for the ways of the harem, she has achieved the high position of Zaradine faster than most.’
    Lazar remained silent, unsure of where this was leading. For it seemed to him that the Valide had set out to say one thing and had in fact said something entirely different. He could sense her confusion and unhappiness. In spite of their past differences, he found her new vulnerability refreshing.
    Herezah looked up from her lap to regard him. ‘Something must be wrong with me if I am being this candid with