"Then Golnar must die," Zuleika said.
"No," Kansbar replied. "She is my own blood. I cannot allow it, but instead, listen to my plan. The khan will appear to fall into her trap. He will go to her bed, and when he has had his pleasure of her, Sabola will follow him, and then one hundred hand-picked men from the khan's troops will enjoy Golnar's favors. Neither the khan nor his general will conceive a child with her. That, I promise you both. But Golnar will indeed bear a child from that night of lustful delights and diversions. Whose child it is she will never know, but it will not be either the khan's, or his general's.
"And after that night she will be sent from Dariyabar as wife to a merchant of Samarkhan. She will seduce him. He will believe the child is his. He is childless, and will welcome a son or a daughter to bear his name. Golnar wants but riches and power, unlike her mother, who seeks revenge. I shall give this daughter of my niece what she so desperately desires, and protect her from Keket."
"But will your niece be satisfied that you have thwarted her, Kansbar? Will she be content to leave Dariyabar in peace at last?" the khan asked the genie.
"In the matter of my niece," the genie answered, "I must go to the Great Genie, and seek his advice. Keket and her daughter are the last of my brother's descendants."
"I don't know why my husband must allow himself to be seduced by that wretched girl," Zuleika grumbled, glaring at the protector of Dariyabar. "Why not just send her off with this merchant?"
"Golnar must be disabused of any notion that her child can rule Dariyabar," the genie said. "She is a sensual female. Once she has attained her goal, or believes she has, it will not be difficult to introduce her to a night of a hundred lovers," the genie said.
"Nonsense! You seek to break her spirit, Kansbar! You seek to convince her that she has entertained so many randy cocks that she cannot be certain who her child's sire is! You want her grateful to have a rich merchant as a husband. You will, I have not a doubt, point out to her the advantages of giving this man a son, and ruling his household. You will appeal to her vanity, her greed, and her lust for power. But why do you need my husband and Sabola for your plan?" Zuleika demanded.
"She must be lulled into complacency, my princess, and only the khan can do that. I am sorry, but it must be as I have told you if we are to succeed."
"We might watch together from a balcony while my soldiers use her," the khan suggested softly, licking the delicate curve of his wife's dainty ear. "You would like that, Zuleika, wouldn't you? You will see your revenge against this bold creature, and enjoy it." He kissed the ear.
"Yes," Zuleika murmured softly. "Yes! I should enjoy seeing her take a thousand cocks into her lover's bower." Her violet eyes were alight with the thought, and the khan realized that he had not considered that his wife had a streak of cruelty in her, but she did. Or was it merely her jealousy?
The genie's dark eyes met those of the khan. Kansbar smiled knowingly, as if he could read Amir's thoughts. "Complete this thing swiftly," he told the man who would soon be his master. "Have it done before Sultan Ibrahim leaves this earth." Then he was gone in a puff of smoke, and a faint rumble of thunder.
"I hate this plan!" Zuleika said.
Amir Khan pushed her back amid the pillows. His big lean body covered hers, and he pushed his hard rod into her love sheath slowly. "But you will obey, my beautiful wife, because it is for Dariyabar, will you not?" He had been very aroused picturing in his mind's eye the clever genie's plan. He moved on his wife and, her eyes closing, she moaned with the pleasure his entry and subsequent actions were giving her.
"Yes, my lord," she murmured her promise.
He thrust hard and quickly into her willing body. "Yes, my lord, and my master!" he growled.
She tightened her muscles about his length, feeling a burst of satisfaction when he groaned in response. "I hear, and I obey, my lord and my master," she whispered in his ear, biting down upon the lobe.
"Bitch!" he hissed, moving more swiftly upon her.
Her nails raked down his long back. Her slim legs wrapped tightly about his waist. She was soaring. "Ahh, you devilish barbarian, I am yours! Do not stop! Do not stop!"
And together they found nirvana.
In the morning, Amir Khan explained to his general the plan that the genie had devised. The general grinned wolfishly.
"While I surely love my wife," he said, "I shall not object to having a little taste of that princely treasure. Do you want me to choose the others? What criteria would you have?"
"Those who are loyalest, most deserving, and especially those with big cocks. Let us give Golnar an experience she will not soon forget. One that will sustain her on the long nights she will have with her elderly merchant," the khan chuckled. "Do not, however, pick men who are cruel to their women. I do not want her harmed. Just well satisfied."
Sabola laughed. "After a night such as she will have, I expect she will be very well satisfied," he chortled. "When shall this event take place, my lord khan?"
"Tonight," Amir Khan replied. "The sooner, the better. I do not want to give Zuleika time to reconsider this matter any more than she already has. Nor will Bahira be pleased, I expect. So let us get it over and done with quickly, before our wives cause difficulty. I trust the genie, for he has guarded Dariyabar for centuries. While he feels a certain loyalty to his niece's child, his own loyalties to Dariyabar are greater. Of this I am certain."
"Then I will go now to choose the men who will join us," the general said, and left the khan.
Amir went almost immediately to Golnar's harem, entering it unchallenged, for it was he would rule after the sultan's death. The guards at the doors to the harem were aware of it. The eyes of the two dozen or more women were immediately upon him. He smiled at them, and said, "You need have no fear, ladies. You will all be well taken care of, I promise you. Where is the lady Golnar?"
An older servant came forward. "She is in her own chamber, my lord khan. Shall I take you to her?"
"Lead on," he replied, and followed the woman across the main room of the harem, down a narrow hallway to its end, where the servant opened a door and beckoned him inside. Golnar was seated upon a marble bench having her long silvery-blond hair brushed by a slave girl. "Your tresses are the most beautiful color I have ever seen, Golnar," the khan told her with a smile. Then he took the brush from the slave, dismissing her and the older woman. "Let me brush your glorious hair, lady."
"I knew that you would come," Golnar whispered when they were at last alone. She leaned her head back to meet his dark gaze.
"Did you?" His tone was amused. He set the brush down next to her upon the bench. "Why?"
"I saw how you looked at me in the hall, my lord. Do you desire me, my lord? Prince Haroun always said I was the most desirable of women. He said he had never seen a girl as beautiful as I am."
"My wife is beautiful," the khan noted.