bring you gold.” Bahir dribbled the coins through his fingers. He brought forth a glass vial and unstopped it. Jasmine oil twined in the air. “Rare oils and spices from the east.”
Staring at the chest, Ugo licked his lips. “There is more?”
“On the boat that brought us here.” Bahir drew forth a drape of silk so fine, his hand could be seen through it. “My master wanted to be sure his child would place no burden on your household.”
“My brother was a fool.” Ugo spun about and threw himself into his chair. “The family did not support his decision to leave Genoa.”
Alya wanted to defend her father. He was a good man. One of the most respected and wealthiest in Cairo. She dug her nails into her palm to stop herself.
Ugo clicked his fingers and four guards appeared. One of them strode forward and gathered the chest in his arms.
Hand going to his pommel, Henry stiffened.
“Do not be stupid, Sir Henry.” Ugo smirked. “I can call more guards in a moment.” He draped his leg over the arm of the chair and sneered at her. “My brother was twice the fool to think I would welcome you here. You are a dirty heathen. I would no more take you into my home than I would take a pig. Get out.”
Alya froze. Her mind rejected what she had just heard.
Ugo motioned his guards. “Throw them out.”
Henry stepped in front of her. Voice vibrating menace, he said, “Do not lay a finger on her.”
The guards glanced at Ugo uncertainly.
“We will leave,” Henry said. “But touch Lady Alya and House D’Onofrio will lose its scion.”
Surging to his feet, Ugo went red and spittle flew. “Get out. And take that filthy girl with you.”
Tense and alert, Newt stood beside Henry.
Bahir tugged her away.
Her limp legs did not feel as if they would hold her. Nobody had ever spoken to her thus. She still could not believe they had. It made her sick to her stomach. Part of her wanted to protest her innocence, another to upbraid him for his rudeness.
With Bahir half carrying her, Alya somehow made it to the street again.
Swords at the ready Henry and Newt flanked them.
The door rattled shut.
Alya collapsed.
Bahir caught her. “Do not listen to them, habibti. Their ignorance marks them as not worthy of you.”
“Let’s move.” Henry drew his sword. “Before he finds his ballocks and comes after us.”
“Can you run?” Frowning, Bahir searched her face.
She could and she would. Alya nodded, and they set off.
As they ran through it, the city blurred for Alya in her Bahir, Newt, and Henry cocoon.
Ugo’s words kept clattering around her mind. The contempt on his face. How could anybody hate her that much? Especially a person who knew her not at all. He had called her dirty, a heathen.
People scattered in front of them. Faces swung to stare.
The numbness wore off, and suddenly she wanted to grab Henry’s sword and stab Ugo’s sneer off his face. Run the blade across his scornful expression. He had no right to treat her so, speak to her in such a manner.
A man veered into Henry’s path.
Henry punched their way clear.
They reached the docks and barreled straight through the throngs. Henry used shouts, fists and his sword hilt to clear the path before her.
Sword catching sunlight, Bahir breathed down her neck.
Newt roved around them, providing extra menace.
Her legs shook as they bustled her up the gangplank and onto the boat.
Henry stepped away from her and drove his fist into the mast. “Whoreson!”
“Be easy.” Bahir stepped between Henry and the mast. “You will break your hand, and he will still be a pig wallowing in his own filth.”
Tense enough to snap Henry scowled at him. Then he blew out a long breath and nodded. His gaze swung to her. “Are you all right?”
Alya struggled to answer because nay she was not all right. She wanted to smash something. She wished she had never gone to Ugo at all. And now she was well and truly alone in the world. Barring Bahir, she had nobody.
Her legs gave way and she sank onto a coiled rope. “What will I do now?”
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