"I am _your_ slave, then?" He shook his head. "I do not know whose you are--King Manfred's, I suppose. Or perhaps Emperor Michael's? You have been given to me in trust, like that emerald I brought here from El Kahira--from Cairo. What you will have to do here will be no worse, I am sure, than what you must have had to do before this." "I am sure." There was a dark note in her voice now. He wished he could take back what he said and ease her bitterness, but he had spoken truly, and it was needful that she realize it. "If you serve me well, I will reward you," he promised. "You will be able to do anything in the world you want." "Of that I cannot be sure," she said. This time it was he who took her hand and held it tightly for a moment. Her hand felt cool and lifeless in his grasp. "We may not be lovers," he said, "but perhaps we can be friends." "Perhaps," she said distantly. Nettled, he rose and left her. If she would not accept him on those terms, could he trust her? He turned his back on her and left the garden. He longed to know her thoughts. Could she love him? He knew he should not hope for that, because it would have to come to nothing, but he hoped she loved him at least a little. It was not until he was back in his apartment, about to begin his noon prayer, facing the charcoal mark he had made on the wall to point out the direction of Mecca, that he realized what she had done to him. _Rachel! We settled nothing about Rachel._ He struck his fist on the wall. He would have to be more careful with Sophia. She could be very difficult. Even dangerous. _It is time I had a woman._ When a man went without the delights of the bedchamber for too long, he became too susceptible to the cleverness of beautiful women. It had been four months since that last night in El Kahira when his wife, Baibars's favorite daughter, Blossoming Reed, had kept him awake all night with her devouring love, not caring that he must begin a great journey the following day--yes, _because_ he was leaving her. He remembered the words she had said to him when she gave him the locket just before the battle of the Well of Goliath. _Take for your pleasure as many women as you like. But love always and only me. For if you do love another, I promise you that your love will destroy both her and you._ It would be best if he went to Tilia Caballo's brothel and enjoyed a woman he was not so likely to fall in love with. * * * * *