Asimat’s window was the second one he came to. Yusuf peered inside, but could see nothing in the darkness. He hesitated for a moment, then squeezed through the narrow opening. He froze, his heart beating violently. To his left, he could make out a washbasin, and to his right, Asimat’s bed. He crept towards it. Asimat was asleep, lying on her back. It was a hot night, and she had kicked off her covers. She wore a nightgown of almost transparent silk, through which Yusuf could see the outline of her side, the gentle curves of her breasts and her nipples, dark against her pale skin. Her hair lay over half her face. She looked peaceful. Then she opened her eyes and screamed. ‘Help! Guards!’
Yusuf knelt beside her and clapped his hand over her mouth. ‘It is me, Yusuf,’ he whispered.
Her eyes went wide. She pulled his hand away. ‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed. She looked away to the door; the sound of footsteps was coming along the hall. ‘You must hide. Now!’
Yusuf ran back to the window and slipped through just as the door banged open. He pressed himself against the wall, out of sight. He could hear several eunuch guards troop into the room.
‘What is it, Khatun?’ one of the guards asked. ‘What has happened?’
‘It was nothing, a nightmare,’ Asimat replied. Yusuf glanced through the window and saw that she had risen from her bed and was confronting half a dozen guards. He ducked back out of sight.
‘Are you sure, my lady?’ the guard insisted. ‘I can leave a guard here if that will make you more comfortable.’
‘That will not be necessary. You may go.’
Yusuf heard the guards march out and the door close behind them. A moment later, Asimat leaned out the window. ‘Are you mad?’ she demanded. ‘Why have you come here?’
‘I came to see you. I thought-’
‘You thought what, you fool! Nur ad-Din will kill us both if the guards find you here.’
‘I am sorry. I will go.’ Yusuf began to edge away.
‘No. The guards will be more alert now. You should wait. Come in.’ Asimat disappeared back into her room.
Yusuf moved to the window and swung inside. Asimat was standing beside her bed, slipping a silk robe over her more revealing nightgown. ‘Well?’ she whispered as she tied the robe closed. ‘Now that you are here, what did you come for?’
Yusuf moved closer. ‘You said once that you would help me if I helped you.’ He looked into her eyes — two black pools in the darkness. ‘What did you mean?’
‘You know what I meant.’
Yusuf shook his head. ‘No. I must hear you say it.’
‘Then you are not the man I hoped you were.’ Asimat turned her back to him. ‘There are some things that cannot be said. They are too dangerous.’ She stood silently, her long black hair illuminated by the soft moonlight falling through the window. Yusuf’s eyes moved from her shoulders to the curve of her hips beneath her silk robe, and down to her bare calves.
He swallowed, then moved to her and put his hand on her side. He gently turned her so that she was facing him. ‘I am the man you hoped for,’ he whispered and kissed her. Her mouth opened to his. He moved his hand to the small of her back and pulled her close against him so that he could feel her stomach and breasts against him. After a moment, he pulled away. ‘I will give you a child,’ he told her.
Her only answer was to reach out and run her hand through his hair. Then she pulled his head down towards her and kissed him, running her tongue lightly over his lips. While they kissed, she took his hand and placed it on her breast. Her nipple was hard. Yusuf’s breathing quickened, and he felt himself stiffen. He kissed her harder while untying her robe and pulling it from her shoulders. He put his hands under her nightgown, encircling her thin waist, and then running them up her sides to grasp her breasts. She slipped her hand inside his caftan, and he gasped with pleasure as she grasped his zib. She moaned softly as he began to greedily kiss the long curve of her neck. He felt her breath hot in his ear. ‘Give me a son,’ she whispered, ‘and I will give you a kingdom.’
Chapter 18
MARCH TO APRIL 1162: ALEPPO
Yusuf sat in the council chamber, his eyes on the carpet before him. Nur ad-Din was talking, but Yusuf found it harder and harder to meet his lord’s eye. Indeed, he hardly heard a word the king said. Yusuf’s mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Asimat: the feel of her body as it moved under him, their whispered promises. He had visited her many times in the past months. Each time he swore to himself it would be the last. But always he returned. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
‘Yusuf!’ Nur ad-Din called. Yusuf looked up. He met Nur ad-Din’s eyes, then quickly looked away. ‘I was speaking to you.’
‘I am sorry, my lord. I did not hear.’
‘I see.’ Nur ad-Din studied Yusuf for a moment. ‘You look as if you had a long night, my young friend. Gumushtagin tells me that he visited you to discuss collection of the tax from Homs, but you were not in your chamber.’
Yusuf felt himself redden. Did Gumushtagin suspect something? Yusuf looked to the eunuch, seated beside Nur ad-Din. Gumushtagin returned his gaze impassively, revealing nothing. ‘I–I-’ Yusuf began.
‘With a woman, were you?’ Nur ad-Din suggested. Yusuf nodded. ‘ Ah ha! So you are human after all. I am glad to hear it. Your Faridah is beautiful, but one woman is not enough for a young man. You should enjoy yourself, just so long as you don’t create any mischief. Stick to whores and virgins.’
‘Yes, malik.’
‘Now, I was asking you about Baalbek. Gumushtagin tells me they have sent seven thousand dinars in payment. He says they could send more.’
Next to Yusuf, Khaldun, who was Emir of Baalbek, spoke up. ‘That is all we have, my lord. I told Gumushtagin-’
Nur ad-Din raised his hand to stop him. He looked to Yusuf. ‘You were raised in Baalbek, Yusuf. Can they pay more?’
Yusuf glanced at Khaldun, then nodded. ‘Ten thousand.’
‘Good,’ Nur ad-Din said. ‘I need every fal I can find to put our army in the field.’ He paused and looked around the room at his emirs. ‘War is coming. King Baldwin is dead.’ There was a murmur of excitement. ‘We will gather our men and watch the new king, Amalric. When he makes a mistake, we shall strike!’ The men pounded the floor to show their approval. ‘Now go,’ Nur ad-Din told them, ‘and bring me more men.’
Yusuf began to leave, but Nur ad-Din called for him to remain. ‘I have a special task for you, Yusuf. It concerns our Frankish prisoner, Reynald.’
‘He is still here?’
‘His subjects do not seem eager to pay his ransom, and I begin to see why. I have had disturbing reports of his behaviour. It is said that he beats his servants, has raped one of them even. You speak Frankish. I want you to speak with him.’
‘And what shall I tell him, my lord?’
‘Tell him that I have treated him as a guest, but if he continues to spit upon my hospitality, then I will be happy to treat him as a prisoner.’ Yusuf nodded. ‘And Yusuf, take this opportunity to observe Reynald. He may be a savage, but he is a powerful man amongst the Franks. Find out what drives him, how he thinks. I wish to know as much about my enemy as possible.’
Yusuf reined to a halt outside the gate of a nondescript house, one of over a dozen sandwiched together on this narrow street not far from the citadel. A gap-toothed, blind beggar sat next to the gate, singing softly to himself. Yusuf looked to John.