Palace of Darkness Read Online Free Page B

down the center of her back, and she regretted the yellow silk would absorb it. She read the language of the lead traveler’s body. Interested. Not yet sold.
    She watched from the corner of her eye as Aretas wielded his winning smile and spoke with the traders as though he were the prince of the land, all grace and charm.
    The first trader, clearly the spokesman, had a weaselly look about him, beady-eyed with a pointy nose. She hoped Alexander would not point out this fact. The second stood behind him, like a wall of intimidation, wide-chested and a vacant look in his eyes.
    They began to move away. A flick of Aretas’s eyes signaled her.
    She strode up to him, smiling.
    “Ah, here you are.” She spoke loudly enough to be heard by the retreating traders. “I have been searching for you.”
    As they always did, the traders stopped and turned at the sound of a woman’s voice, an uncommon occurrence in caravan camps.
    Aretas held out both arms and grinned. “My best customer, and most beautiful.” His voice dripped with flattery. To the two men he nodded and winked. “Here’s a lady who knows quality and where to find it.”
    “Indeed.” Cassia smoothed the yellow silk over herself and smiled at the traders. “Those cheats in the town market would try to sell me their wives’ wash water if I let them, eh?” She waited for a returning smile. “I know where to come.”
    The larger of the two men sidled back toward them. “Smelled rather weak to me,” he grunted. But she could sense his interest. The other one leaned into the conversation, clearly trying to gain Cassia’s attention. “We can do better in Petra.”
    Beside her, she felt Aretas’s body straighten at the mention of Petra. The feeling lasted only a moment, then he held out one of his alabaster jars to Cassia. She removed the red clay stopper and waved the jar under her nose. “Oh, you must not be familiar with the subtler scent of Anatolian myrrh. It does not overpower yet is finer than any Egypt can produce.” She smiled and nodded to Aretas. “I will take it.”
    He named an outrageous price, and she argued him down a bit but then glanced at the traders and shrugged prettily. “One must pay for quality.” She pulled a few coins from her pouch, flashing the sum conspicuously.
    Aretas took her money, then bowed over her hand and kissed it. The gallant gesture brought her a jolt of the attraction that had first brought them together, and she couldn’t help but smile. She did not miss the elbow jab and wink the big trader gave his friend. “Too bad she’s got her boy with her, eh?” he said to Aretas.
    “I must move on.” Cassia gathered her dress around her. “I have more to purchase. But I will see you again, I am sure.”
    Aretas bowed again and she drifted away, with Alexander following. He had played his silent part well.
    Behind her, she heard the trader say, “You won’t take me for the lady’s price, so let’s make it fair.”
    She realized she’d been holding her breath and forced her heart to slow. They had succeeded.
    Now to find an honest-looking trader who would take a few coins in exchange for a promise of safe passage to anywhere for Alex and her.
    She could not go far. The jingle of coins changing hands meantAretas would be leaving soon, before the traders could inspect their purchases too closely. She would need to be close behind or he would suspect.
    Another of the newly arrived traders tried to interest her in a sack of fabrics tied to his camel. She released Alexander’s hand to run her fingers through it. When she looked up to use her special sight to read his heart and his character, Alex had disappeared.
    She turned a frantic circle, not wanting to cry out and draw attention. Ah, but there he was, heading back to Aretas.
    No, Alex.
    She moved toward the small group. The traders were packing away their myrrh and Aretas was pocketing his “earnings.”
    Alex skipped to Aretas’s side. As far as she was from