“What are you thinking about?” Zahra asked suspiciously. “You’re very quiet.”
“Nothing, madam.” Dalai’s eyes widened with fear. “Nothing at all.”
It was a lie. She was thinking that it was worth a beating to have seen Eve Duncan cause that look of outrage and indignation on Zahra Kiyani’s face.
And that someone should warn the woman what a dangerous thing it was to do.
Chapter
6
Gideon arrived ten minutes later, and he was a whirlwind of activity for the next hour. Somehow he managed to persuade one of the nurses to help Eve dress in the slacks and shirt he’d brought with him. Then he ignored all the protests of the doctors and nurses, negotiated a miraculously fast exit, and whisked her to his Land Rover, parked in front of the hospital.
“Now lean back and relax. I’ll have you at Robaku in forty-five minutes.” He buckled her seat belt. “You did good, Eve.”
“So did you.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t call security. They were very determined, weren’t they?”
“Very.” He started the Land Rover. “I could see it on the horizon once they got you settled in that room. It seemed to be a concerted effort.”
“It was annoying, but it’s hard to be angry. After all, it’s the job of a hospital staff to do whatever they think best to get their patients well. The only one I had problems with was Madam President. But then, that was a given.”
“Sorry I didn’t get there in time to spare you.”
“So am I. You might have been able to keep me from insulting her.” She shook her head. “No, I doubt it. I rather enjoyed it. She was so ugly to that young maid, and all that arrogant bullshit about royal tasters and such…”
Gideon went still. “Tasters?”
“It was almost a threat.” She looked at him. “Some nonsense about her family having had poison tasters in the past and that it wasn’t a bad idea. I found it peculiar she’d mention it in the same breath as telling me how sad she was that I’d become so ill. Is there any reason why I should consider it a threat?”
“There’s always a reason to suspect Zahra of any effort at intimidation. She doesn’t want you here, and she’d take advantage of any opportunity to make you feel afraid and uncertain.”
“But there’s no reason to think that my food poisoning was anything but an accident?”
Gideon was silent. “Not as far as I know. The food was examined, and it contained mushrooms that could have made you very ill. And we haven’t been able to talk to the chef yet. We’re still trying to locate him.”
“And it would have been crazy for Zahra to slip me anything that would make me that ill just because I wouldn’t get on the next plane and take off for home,” Eve said. “She’s the president of the damn country. She must have more important things to worry about.” She made a face. “Though tonight I wasn’t sure if she wasn’t a little off base when she started talking about her Kiyani ancestors. That’s when I lost it and told her that her ancient history could all be bullshit.”
“What?” Gideon burst out laughing. “You do like to live dangerously. You couldn’t have said anything to make her more angry.”
“It didn’t seem to matter at the time. She was talking something about the Great Journey and how much better she was than her. Whoever that was.” She rubbed her temple. “It got pretty confusing.”
“Not for Zahra,” he said quietly. “It means everything to her. And I guarantee she doesn’t think it’s bullshit.”
She nodded as she looked at him. “That’s right, you’d know, wouldn’t you? You were…intimate.”
“Not exactly. But we had sex, and that was entirely different from intimacy.” His lips twisted. “But she enjoyed me enough to consider me a candidate. It was amusing to watch her. If I’d stuck around, I might have gone from candidate to consort. Pity I didn’t find her that exciting.”
“Consort?”
“Yes, Zahra always considered herself a queen, and naturally, she needed a consort. Her ancestress had taken many important men as consorts, and she eagerly followed in her footsteps. I had enough power in Maldara to be fairly impressive, and she thought I’d be a good enough match.”
Eve frowned. “Ancestress?”
“Oh, you didn’t get that much in depth? Zahra only acknowledges two of her ancestresses, and only one earns her reluctant respect. One is Kiya, the founder of the