Johanna Lindsey Silver Angel Dedication In Memory of My Father, Edwin Dennis Howard Contents Cover Title Page Dedication Chapter One On the Street of the Jewelers, the pearl merchant, Abdul… Chapter Two Ellen Burke lowered the letter to her lap and rubbed… Chapter Three They had locked her in her room, but Chantelle wasn’t… Chapter Four “There’s a chap here to see you, my lord, waiting… Chapter Five Beneath the woolen blanket, Chantelle lay shivering. It was a… Chapter Six Caroline Douglas reined in the high-stepping mare and waited for… Chapter Seven Derek didn’t wait until the next day to speak to… Chapter Eight “Come, lalla, you must eat something.” Chapter Nine The days passed with alarming speed for Chantelle. Hakeem became… Chapter Ten Rahmet Zadeh heard the Englishwoman. He had been sent down… Chapter Eleven The next morning, Omar Hassan met the Dey in the… The next morning, Omar Hassan met the Dey in the… Chapter Twelve Early in the afternoon four days later, the Grand Vizier… Chapter Thirteen Derek Sinclair, Earl of Mulbury and future Marquis of Hunstable,… Chapter Fourteen Jeanne Mauriac glanced curiously around the large room into which… Chapter Fifteen Chantelle couldn’t nap that afternoon with the rest of the… Chapter Sixteen The hidden chamber was not unique by any means. One… Chapter Seventeen Chantelle had made a bad mistake, but she didn’t realize… Chapter Eighteen “Well?” Omar asked when the last girl was led away… Chapter Nineteen Chantelle sat with her knees tucked under her, her hands… Chapter Twenty The girl waited patiently, her knees tucked under her, a… Chapter Twenty-one “I don’t believe it!” Rahine exploded. Chapter Twenty-two “Well, what do you think?” Adamma asked. Chapter Twenty-three The moment Derek entered his new bedchamber, he tossed off… Chapter Twenty-four Magic words, “do or die.” Until Chantelle could determine if… Chapter Twenty-five Across the corridor from Jamil’s rooms, a eunuch was waiting… Chapter Twenty-six The other slaves didn’t know what to make of Chantelle’s… Chapter Twenty-seven “I’m not sure I want to invite you in with… Chapter Twenty-eight Chantelle had to be guided down the entire length of… Chapter Twenty-nine Derek came awake slowly to a tickling on his chest… Chapter Thirty Chantelle couldn’t work up much interest in her new “prison… Chapter Thirty-one It wasn’t long before word ran through the harem that… Chapter Thirty-two If Chantelle didn’t know better, she would swear she was… Chapter Thirty-three Chantelle had drifted into a wondrous limbo where no thoughts… Chapter Thirty-four “Do you mind if I join you?” Chapter Thirty-five Chantelle was blurry-eyed when she entered the baths the next… Chapter Thirty-six Chantelle was the one pacing now. She was still in… Chapter Thirty-seven If Derek had stopped to think, that would have been… Chapter Thirty-eight “Did you have him hung from the palace gate?” Derek… Chapter Thirty-nine Derek finally noticed her when he turned at the physicians’… Chapter Forty “Are you feeling better now?” Chapter Forty-one Derek gently cradled the infant in his arms. It was… Chapter Forty-two A chair arrived along with today’s summons. Chantelle found that… Chapter Forty-three Weeks passed, but Chantelle had no luck in hearing that… Chapter Forty-four The day of the shadow play rolled around only three… Chapter Forty-five “Now that the money source is gone, the informants are… Chapter Forty-six “Shahar, you are to pack your things. You are sailing… Chapter Forty-seven Chantelle lasted several weeks before the boredom got to her. Chapter Forty-eight Dawn was slowly creeping through the porthole when Derek finally… Chapter Forty-nine In the end, Chantelle did let Derek take her to… Chapter Fifty Chantelle was just about to extinguish the last lamp in… Enter the World of Johanna Lindsey About the Author Praise Other Books by Johanna Lindsey Copyright About the Publisher Chapter One Barikah, the Barbary Coast, 1796 O n the Street of the Jewelers, the pearl merchant, Abdul ibn-Mesih, closed his shop in anticipation of the singsong chant of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. Abdul had at least ten minutes to spare, but he was getting old, his bones prone to aches that slowed him down, so he needed to leave early each day. As long as he was able, he would walk to the nearest mosque rather than use the prayer rug he kept in the back of his tiny shop, unlike some of his less pious neighbors. So he was the only one on the street at this time, which was why he was the only one to witness the murder. The young Turk and the large, black-robed man who was chasing him ran right past Abdul, not giving the pearl merchant the slightest notice. If only they had turned the corner and passed out of his sight, he wouldn’t have had nightmares that night. Instead, the larger man caught his prey at the end of the street and nearly cleaved him in two with the scimitar he wielded. A quick search of the body produced a paper of some sort, and then the assailant was gone, slipping away without a backward glance, the body of the Turk left lying where it fell, blood running in rivulets down the steep cobbled street in an invitation to the flies to come and feast. Abdul ibn-Mesih decided he wouldn’t walk to the mosque for afternoon prayers today after all. As the muezzins called from the heights of the many minarets in the city, the pearl merchant was kneeling on his prayer rug in the back of his shop and thinking it had been too long since he had seen his daughter in the country. She was due a visit—perhaps a lengthy one. Later that afternoon, two more of Jamil Reshid’s secret couriers were killed before they could leave Barikah. One was poisoned in a coffee house. The other was found in an alley with his throat cut, the bowstring wire used to strangle him left embedded in his neck. That night, four camels raced west toward Algiers. The man in the lead was yet another luckless palace courier. The three assassins following him slowly closed the distance and finally overtook him. He died quickly, as had all the others. The one who had felled him was a Greek Muslim, used to this type of work. The one who had felled him was a Greek Muslim, used to this type of work. The two accomplices riding with him were Arabs, brothers from an old family known for their loyalty to the Deys of Barikah, so it was natural the brothers should feel some guilt for their involvement in this night’s work. They hadn’t killed this courier, but the older brother had killed another one earlier that week. They were as guilty as the Greek, as guilty as all the other assassins, and would be sent to the executioner’s block if they were found out. To lose their heads for a purse of gold, to risk their family’s disgrace, was perhaps the height of foolishness. But the price of corruption had been too tempting—it was a heavy purse of gold. So they accepted the risk. Still, there was the guilt, but not enough guilt to make them give up their newfound wealth. Lysander, the Greek, removed the message from the body and opened it. He had to strain to read it in the dim light of the moon, but finally he made a sound of disgust, the urge strong to throw the letter down and grind it into the dust. Of course, he didn’t. “It is the same,” Lysander said, passing the letter to the older of the two brothers. “Did you think it would not be?” the younger brother asked. “I had hoped,” was Lysander’s terse reply. “There is another purse for the one who finds the true message. I mean to be that one.” “So do we all,” the older brother commented. “But he will still want to see this.” And he carefully put the letter inside his robe. “He wants every message, regardless if it is the same as the others.” There was no need to say who “he” was. They each knew. Not that they could have named him, for none of them knew his name. Nor had they ever gotten a good look at him. They didn’t even know if he was the one who wanted Jamil Reshid’s death, or if he was just a go-between for someone else. But he was the one who paid them so handsomely and collected each letter the palace couriers had carried. It was discouraging, however. The Dey had an endless supply of loyal men to send out as decoys, all with the same letter, a note actually, written in Turkish, just three short sentences: I offer greetings. Need I say more? You are remembered. The notes were not addressed. They were never signed. They could be from anyone in the palace to anyone in the world. They were more likely meant as a subtle threat for the assassins who read them, a reminder of the Dey’s long arm of revenge. There might not even be a true message trying to leave Barikah in the midst of all these decoys. The couriers could simply be a ruse to confuse the assassins and delay them from making any more attempts on the Dey’s life. The first courier who had been captured had sworn before he died that he The first courier who had been captured had sworn before he died that he was to deliver his letter to an Englishman named Derek Sinclair. Even if that were true, if the Dey actually knew an Englishman by that name, which was unlikely, what could be the point of such a letter to him? Why waste the lives of so many men to have such a message delivered? But the assassins couldn’t take the chance that there might be another message, the one they had yet to discover, perhaps to the Dey of Algiers or the Bey of Tunis, or even to the Sultan himself across the sea in Istanbul: a letter asking for help. Though what could any of those allies do when no one knew who was behind the assassination attempts? Lysander remounted his camel but spared a glance for the man he had just killed. “I suppose this one is to be food for the carrion? I am not used to leaving evidence behind, much less the bodies. There are too many ways to dispose—” “It doesn’t matter what you are used to. He wants the Dey to know his couriers are failing in their mission. How else will he know unless the bodies are easily found?” “It’s a waste of time, if you ask me,” Lysander shot back, no longer trying to contain his disgust. “I think I will try and work my way into the palace. Who knows? I may get lucky and find a way to earn the largest purse of all, the one for Jamil Reshid’s head.” He laughed as he rode away, and the two brothers exchanged a look. Of one mind, they doubted they would ever see the Greek alive again if he did manage to find a way into the palace. After four assassination attempts already, Jamil Reshid, Dey of Barikah, was more protected now than ever. Whoever next tried to take his life would be signing away his own. And if that unfortunate one was tortured before he was executed, he would give names. Not the name of him who was unknown, but the names of the men he had ridden with tonight. Lysander didn’t return to Barikah that night after all. The Greek had been right. There were many ways to dispose of dead bodies, including his own. “Do you realize the risk?” Ali ben-Khalil nodded in answer. He was in awe of the man sitting across from him. When Ali had slipped his note to the palace eunuch in the bazaar, he had expected the same man to meet him, or perhaps another servant from the palace. But not the Grand Vizier, Jamil Reshid’s chief minister. Allah preserve him, what had he gotten himself into? What was so important about this message that so many men were dying over, that he himself had volunteered to carry, that would bring Omar Hassan, the Grand Vizier, here to question Ali himself? Omar Hassan had come in disguise, in a burnoose of the type the Berbers