Part 2:

Lady Sheridan Blanchard, Sherrie for her friends and loved ones, sat up in the bed, holding the sheet to her chest. She'd been jarred out of her sleep by the feeling of being watched. There was a small window in her room. A window over which she had no control, with iron bars and curtains on the outside, looking out into what she'd presumed to be a corridor. She walked up to the window and peered through it, trying to see through the thick cloak of darkness and sighed in despair. She hated this place, she thought for the hundredth time since the day had begun. The young woman walked back to the room and picked up a heavy statue and was about to throw it against a wall when the door to her room opened. Sherrie froze when she saw her friend Kat standing there.
"Should I leave you alone?" asked Kat, cocking her head to the side.
"Yes!"
"Fine."
Kat started retreating out of the small room but Sherrie put down the statue and stopped her.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, running to the door and stopping her friend. "I let my temper run away with me."
"You have to learn to control your temper Sherrie. The sheik does not like women who can't control themselves."
"The sheik! The sheik, everything is about the damn sheik! I hate the sheik, do you hear me? He's an awful man and I hope he dies!"
Kat staggered back as if she'd been struck and Sherrie realized what she'd said. She knew her friend loved the sheik and her words had hurt her.
"I am so sorry… Kat, I didn't mean to say that."
"I have trouble believing that Sherrie. I know you're not happy about being here but it's time you understand something about being here."
"What?"
"Unless your God interferes in your favor, this is your new home and you will spend the rest of your life here. The time has long come for you to get used to that idea."
Sherrie didn't say another word as Kat calmly walked out of the room, her head held high. She sunk back to the bed, holding a pillow close to her chest and allowed tears to trickle from her eyes. She would die before accepting her fate as a concubine to the sheik. She would die!

When Kat got the summons from the sheik, her heart filled with joy. She so did enjoy spending any time with him. She knew that he had a very important visitor with him and they would probably not have any time alone but being in the same room with him was all she needed. As quickly as her feet would carry her, she buzzed around the room, picking out dark green pantaloons of the finest silk and a matching top of the same green highlighted with thin silver stripes. She then attached a veil to her braids and ran out of the room. Kat followed the sheik's chief eunuch to the sheik's private garden and waited. Soon enough, he appeared and the young woman had to order her feet not to move. She drank in the sight of him, dressed in white from head to toe, his dark skin a delightfully sharp contrast to his clothes. From the veil of her lashes, she also spied the man with the sheik, a white man who looked very comfortable with the long robes of her people.
"Ah Shane," said the sheik, coming to her, "allow me to introduce you to the most precious jewel of my land. This is my Tigress."
Kat quickly curtsied and Shane clasped her shoulders, bringing her back up.
"No, please my lady," he said, "when introduced to such beauty, it is I who must bow to it."
As Shane deeply bowed to Kat, the young woman turned frightened eyes to the sheik. His friend's behavior was completely outrageous and she didn't know how to make him stop. "Please, my lord, do get up. I am nothing more than a woman."
"No more than a woman? Evidently, my friend here has neglected to tell you how beautifully stunning you are."
Kat blinked at Shane and her eyes went to the sheik. And her heart eased when she saw that though his furrowed brow, there was laughter in his eyes. He had, thankfully, not taken offense to his friend's irreverent words. But he did see her concerned eyes on him.
"Worry not, my sweetness," he said, gently rubbing her cheek, "Shane is nothing but an awful tease. But he was quite right about your beauty. You do look stunning."
"Only to please you my lord."
As Shane watched his friend gently stroke the side of his Tigress's face, he realized that his friend had deeper feelings for this woman than for any other. Why would he have captured lady Sheridan when he was obviously in love with this beautiful woman?

During the casual dinner, Shane found out that beauty was not the Tigress's only asset. She was as intelligent as she was beautiful and it seemed that the sheik saw her as much more of an equal than any other woman. But the question remained: why would Rock want an English lady who would fight him tooth and nail before accepting him when he had the Tigress, a woman evidently in love with him?
Shane found the perfect moment to ask the question after Rock had sent the Tigress on her way with promises of joining her tonight.
"She is charming," said Shane.
"Yes."
"And beautiful and intelligent. And evidently in love with you."
"Yes. My Tigress is all of those things."
"Then why capture Lady Sheridan?"
"I told you what I require from her uncle Shane. What more do you want?"
"Khalid, there is something you are keeping from me. Tell me what it is?"
The sheik sighed and snapped his fingers for the soldiers. Once they appeared, he sent them on their way. "We are alone," he said, turning to his friend.
"So I take it that what you have to say to me is very important."
"Very. Shane, there is more than one reason why I want you to stay here."
"What's wrong?"
"Nine of my concubines have been killed in the last year."
"Murdered?"
"Yes."
"By who?"
"My enemies I suppose. Shane, though I hate to admit it, I fear for the women's lives…"
"But mostly Tigress."
"Yes. Mostly her. And my mother. Shane, until I know who is behind this, they are in danger."
"So why bring another woman into this?"
"Because I need to appear as aloof and as careless as ever. I need to make it look as if their deaths did not bother me."
"What if they kill lady Sheridan? I will not be able to stop a war from happening then."
"That is why you're here Shane. To find out who killed my women and to keep the lady safe."
"I didn't know you were a blackmailer Khalid."
"Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"If you weren't a friend…"
"You would not be here."
"But I am a friend and I am here."
"You know Tigress has become quite fond of the girl."
"She has?"
"Yes. It was her that convinced me to keep the girl alive."
"You wanted to kill her?"
"On her first night here, she managed to disable two palace guards and a eunuch. When she was caught and brought to me, she kicked me and spat on me."
Shane laughed and ignored the insulted look on his friend's face. "I like her already."
"I know you already do like her Shane. I saw the way you looked at her."
"What about the way I looked at her?"
"You looked at her like a man starved and as though she would be the only manna able to soothe your hunger."
"I did no such thing," said Shane petulantly.
"You did. You know, I would have no problems with letting you have her."
Shane looked at Rock, his eyes blazing and paled when he realized that he wanted to accept his friend's offer. What kind of gentleman was he?

Sherrie heard the laughter cascading off the walls of the harem and sighed. Part of her longed to join the women in their pleasure and their laughter but that meant accepting her fate as… She shook her head and turned away from the door she'd started to approach. She did not want this. She would not accept this… life. She would die before accepting this.
Suddenly, the door to her bedroom opened and Kat slid in, a smile on her face. "How do you do Sherrie?" she asked her friend.
"I'm a prisoner. I feel trapped in."
"I see. Well, someone would like to meet you."
"Who?"
"You'll see soon enough."
"I trust you wouldn't take me to my executioner without preparing me for it beforehand."
Kat sighed and shook her head. Her long, blue-black hair, darker than Sherrie's black tresses rippled over her shoulders. "I do not have the time to waste on you and your pettiness," she said harshly. "The sheik has requested my presence this evening and I will not be late for him because of you…"
"You make him sound like a prince."
"That… as I said, I do not have the time for this. Come with me."
"No!"
Kat grabbed Sherrie's hand and started pulling her from the room. When eunuchs and guards appeared to help her, the sheik's Tigress merely shook her head and went on pulling Sherrie, as she screamed and clawed for help. Within minutes, all the inhabitants of the harem were watching the scene, commenting and laughing, until Kat came to a stop in front of a heavy wooden door.
"I can bring you in kicking and screaming," she said, "or you can prove that you truly are a lady. The choice is yours."
Sherrie looked at the hard look in Kat's eyes and immediately sobered, straightening herself up. "I am sorry," she apologized to her friend.
"One day, your apologies will fall on deaf ears. Now, follow me."
Kat led the way into the most sumptuous apartments Sherrie had ever seen. Finally, she saw her friend push back a curtain and behind it sat a woman. Her identity was plainly written on her face and her beauty was what legends were made of.
"My lady," said Kat, her head bowed in deference, "I bring to you lady Sheridan."
"My lady," said Sherrie, moving into a deep bow.
"Sherrie, this is the lady Safia, the sheik's…"
"Mother," completed Sherrie, "the resemblance is striking."
"Tigress," said lady Safia, "you may leave us. I know my son has requested your presence tonight and I do know how he hates to be kept waiting."
"Thank you. Sherrie, lady Safia, I hope the two of you will enjoy each other's company."
"Thank you," said Sherrie. "Have… a nice evening."
Kat gently nodded to her friend, fully understanding how hard it had been for Sherrie to wish her well.
"Well," said the lady Safia, her black eyes delving into Sherrie's green ones, "I know why my son captured you. You are stunning."
"So you know he took me away from my home?"
"From your school, lady Sheridan Blanchard, not your home."
"You know my name?"
"Of course. There is little I do not know about you. Your mother died in childbirth and your father, stricken with grief, rejoined his regiment in the peninsula, killing himself off stupidly when you were nothing but an infant, leaving you with no parents except for his brother, a wounded military man who knew nothing about the rearing of children, much less girls."
Sherrie gasped, her hand going to her throat as tears sprung to her eyes. The lady's words brought back a wealth of hurtful childhood memories, painful memories.
"How did you… how could you know?"
"I have been keeping my eye on you Sheridan. Through your uncle. He was a good friend of my deceased husband."
"But why?"
"Allah gifted me with one son when I wished for a daughter. You were that daughter."
"Why me?"
"Because your uncle raised you to be like him. A fighter, not a simpering miss."
"But why care?"
"I do not know," said Safia, in her richly accented English. "All I know is that when I found out about you, I cared immediately. And I wanted to meet you. That is why my son brought you to me."
"To you?"
"Yes."
Sherrie shook her head and tilted her head to the side, blinking furiously as understanding somewhat escaped her. "Why? To become your son's concubine?"
"Oh no," said Safia, her twinkling laughter ringing throughout the room, "my son's heart has already been claimed by the lady Kat."
"So why does he not marry her?"
"A worthwhile question. Would your princes and kings marry the daughter of a farmer?"
"No… lady Kat comes from a farming background?"
"Yes. And yet, when my son met her when she was nothing but a young girl, he fell in love with her and stole her away. She was already fiercely independent then and she would give him no quarters. They both denied their feelings for each other until he married his first wife. Then, he realized that his heart could belong to none other than Kat, and she knew that her life was eternally entwined with his."
"So why… I don't understand," whispered Sherrie, her tears finally showing, "why bring me here?"
Safia looked down at the girl, at her tears and her heart went out to her. She understood the girl's frustration.
"I am not at liberty to tell you exactly why you were brought here, but I can tell you that my son did not bring you here to replace the lady Kat."
Sherrie's evident relief brought a smile to Safia's face. "Why do you mind? My son is not a repulsive man. He is quite attractive as a matter of fact. Do you object to his skin color?"
"What? No! I agree… your son is by far one of the handsomest men I have ever seen. However, you must understand… I cherish my freedom. This… palace is nothing more than a prison to me, a beautiful prison, but a prison nonetheless."
"Then I am sorry Sheridan, I had come to hope you would enjoy your time here."
"I have not. I will not. Until your son makes me a guest here, I refuse to allow myself to enjoy this place."
"You will now go back to your room. I will think about what I can do for you."
Sherrie quickly bowed down to lady Safia and hurried out of the room. Then, Shane appeared from behind the screen where he'd been hiding. He quickly took the seat Sherrie had vacated and looked up at his friend's mother.
"She has more fire than I ever suspected," she said thoughtfully.
"Yes."
"But she is superb. Almost as beautiful as I once was."
"Ah, but your beauty remains, my lady, and none shall ever equal it."
"Shane, such a flatterer…"
"It is my gift for truth you admire."
"And with such smooth words…"
"The sweetest are for you."
"What do you truly think of the girl Shane?"
"She is beautiful," he said quickly, his voice filled with passionate truth. "And she seems intelligent. Your son tells me she refuses him. She is a woman of principle."
"Indeed. Now Shane, when will you bring a bride to me?"
"A bride? To you? When I am old and ready to bestow my heir unto the world."
"That is unfortunate. A woman should be lucky enough to get to you as soon as possible, not when you're so set in your ways you become untenable."
"I shall see. I am sure my mother is writing a list of acceptable candidates as we speak."
"Tell me Shane, did you know the lady Sheridan until you came here?"
"Not at all. But I do know her uncle fairly well."
"Good," said lady Safia with a wide smile, "I wish to be alone now."

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