BUSINESS
Summary: The wife of the curator of the British Museum meets Med-Jai warrior Ardeth Bay. Ardeth, OC.
Category: Angst, drama, romance.
Rating: M
Author's note: Please note that the "M (eventually)" rating has now changed to M. It's also going to get a lot darker from here on in. Thank you for reading, and please review! I'm grateful for any reviews, positive, neutral, or negative.
Chapter Five
She did not see Ardeth Bay for all of the following week. She read in the courtyard and drank coffee in the lobby, and stared out of the window at the policemen bickering with the Tuareg and Bedouin traders who would come every morning to peddle second-rate silver to British women at three to four times their real price. On Friday afternoon she convinced Alfred to take her to the souk with him, where she weaved among the crowds of vendors and tourists and purchased some translucent silk scarves for herself, and a clever wooden puzzle box for Charlie.
She read the instructions and moved the magnetic key in a simple pattern on top of the box lid, and placed a gold coin inside of the box. Then she threw away the instructions and gave the sealed box to Charlie.
At dusk she sat in the courtyard at the base of a palm tree with Charlie in her lap, and drank iced tea as Charlie attempted to pry open the lid. After ten minutes, the boy lost interest and began to play with his plastic soldiers, arranging the blue British army and maroon Egyptian army in opposite rows facing each other.
"I want to be England," he said.
They took turns flicking pebbles at the soldiers, and Marjorie purposely misdirected her aim so that Charlie could win, and at the end of the game the Egyptian army was in shambles while only several soldiers of the British front line had fallen.
Then Charlie ran in circles around the palm tree, whooping: "I killed the rag-heads! We win! We win!"
"Charles, come here."
She caught him on the third lap and collected him into her arms. "Who told you to speak like this? Who taught you these words?"
"It's what Dad calls them."
"Don't ever use that phrase again or I will send you to your room without dinner."
"Can I have dinner today?"
"Yes, but only if you promise me not to say that again, ever."
"Promise. Can I have some chocolate biscuits?"
"You can only have two," she said, and he whooped again and ran back into the hotel.
She followed him with her eyes, until he waved back at her from the bedroom window with a biscuit in his hand. She turned around to gather up the plastic soldiers from the ground – and saw him.
He was just a silhouette along the side of some shrubbery, but there was no doubting the fact that this was Ardeth Bay, and that he had been watching her playing with her son for heaven knew how long. An hour. Maybe two.
And it occurred to her that perhaps he hadn't been away this week at all, that perhaps he had been spying on her during this entire time, lurking in the shadows as he watched her dragging a brush through her hair in the mornings, picking at her food during the evenings, staring for hours from her window at the ladies drifting about in the courtyard.
She left the soldiers on the grass and stalked to him. He was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"What is the meaning of this?" She was furious. No – more embarrassed than furious. Perhaps he had seen her crying that Sunday morning. Touching herself like a teenage boy while everyone else was crammed into pews and taking in the sacred word of God. "Why are you here? What are you trying to do?"
"I'm sorry that you saw me," he said and pivoted on his foot to move away, but she clutched his arm and yanked him back into the shadow.
"I thought you didn't want to play the game."
"I'm not playing."
"Then why are you here? Are you planning to protect me? Is that what you were going to say? Who do you think I am? A stupid little virgin who's willing to believe every word that comes out of a man's mouth?"
"I've already told you what I think you are, Mrs. Harrington. You're a dangerous woman."
"If you're planning to harm my son, I swear that I will kill you."
He snorted. "Do you take me for a beast? Your son has no place in any of this."
"So what is it, then? Why are you here?"
"I'm protecting myself. I'm protecting those artifacts from you and your damned curiosity, brought on by boredom and loneliness and your stupid Western extravagance. Allah knows what you are capable of." He flung his arm and shook free of her hold. "I'm not going to waste my time here any longer, Mrs. Harrington."
She called after him as he walked away: "You will. I'll make your life miserable, Ardeth Bay. I'll convince my husband to hold onto those artifacts no matter what you do. You'll be stuck wandering around this hotel for the rest of your life."
"And so will you," he returned.
TO BE CONTINUED…