right now (through Aug. 9th) and to help spread the word and celebrate, Olivia actually wrote a BONUS CHAPTER to reveal on my blog! Beyond exciting!
Diamonds Found at
Market
Cairo, Egypt – 1000 A.D.
“My Lady,” he said.
“I have something of great value to show you.”
We had chosen to spend the afternoon wandering the market
and vendors often approached us marketing their wares. The man in front of us was short, wrapped in
robes and dusty looking. I looked into
his eyes and saw ambition.
“Stay away from him,” my duenna whispered. “He’s said to be cursed.”
“Cursed?” I
laughed. “But I don’t believe in
superstition. Who is he?”
“He’s a blasphemer,” she said. “He breaks into the great pharaohs tombs and
steals their treasures.”
I know my duenna meant to dissuade me, but this only piqued
my interest. Sometimes I wish I could
wander the market without my duenna who questioned my every word and move, but
it was only proper for a young lady to be escorted in public.
“What do you have for me?” I asked, as my duenna flinched.
The man looked around to see who might be standing nearby
and then, seeing the coast was clear, stepped a few inches closer and pulled
out a pouch. He opened the pouch and
pulled out a red diamond necklace and matching earrings. There were red diamonds that ran along the
circumference of the necklace, all around the neckline. At the center was the largest diamond I had
ever seen. It was almost 2 inches long
and an inch across. And red. I’d never seen anything like it. The diamonds sparkled in the sunlight and the
color was so brilliant that it made me warm inside my chest. I had hundreds of valuable jewelry pieces at
home but nothing like this.
I could also see that my duenna was right. The design of the setting was done in the old
style. This piece had probably been dug
out from an ancient tomb and could be thousands of years old. This necklace had once been worn by a queen –
either a female pharaoh or a pharaoh’s wife.
I had to have it.
“What do you want for it?”
I asked him.
“Death comes to those who defile the pharaoh’s tombs,” my duenna urgently
whispered to me. “Leave this cursed
necklace with him and let’s go.” But I
couldn’t take my eyes off of it. It was
so brilliant, it almost glowed. I could
already picture myself in it.
“A hundred gold pieces,” he said. It was more than most men made from ten years
of work.
“Done,” I said. “Go see our house treasurer for payment.
I’ll tell him to expect you.”
He bowed his head and handed me the pouch with the jewels
inside. On the walk back to our house,
my duenna didn’t bother to speak to me.
I surmised she was upset with me, but I knew she’d get over it, like she
always did.
Once home, we went our separate ways. I went straight to my chambers to try on my
new jewels and see what I looked like in the mirror. I called my body servant to help me put on
the jewelry.
“Where did you get this?” She gasped.
“The gems were pulled from a nearby mine and I had them made into a necklace
and earrings,” I lied. I didn’t want
word getting back to my parents that I had purchased jewelry stolen from a
pharaoh’s tomb. They would never forgive
me. I couldn’t tell whether my body
servant believed me but I knew she wouldn’t argue. She carefully put the earrings in my ears and
attached the necklace around my neck.
She pulled my hair back into a bun so I could get a better look.
“You look stunning,” she said, wide-eyed. “Like a queen.”
I had to agree. I
moved my shoulders and head in slightly different directions so that sunlight
could bounce off the diamonds and make them sparkle. I was mesmerized and so was my body servant.
The spell was broken when we heard a clatter in the
hall. I looked to the door and tried to
hear what was happening. Suddenly, my
door was kicked in.
“You’ve been sleeping with him!” My betrothed yelled at me. As children, our parents had agreed to marry
us once we were of age, but I couldn’t stand him. He was controlling and had a horrible
temper. I rued the day that we would be
married, even if it did mean that I could dismiss my duenna.
“Who?” I shouted back.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. I’ve seen the way he looks at you and the way
you look at him. It’s obvious. Besides, I have proof now – my men saw you
walking with him along the edge of the river, without your duenna.” He sneered.
“That’s ridiculous! That doesn’t mean
anything!”
He looked at my necklace and earrings.
“A gift from him!” He said as he picked
up the necklace in his hands and inspected it.
“I bought it at the market this afternoon,” I said. “It wasn’t a gift!”
“I can’t marry someone who’s been with someone else. I won’t have you as my bride!”
I stood there and wondered how he could possibly undo the
contract that betrothed us. Our parents
had agreed to marry us when we were of age and these things rarely
changed. If only he could, I hoped. I looked at him and he had a scary, wild look
in his eyes. I had never seen him like
this. Suddenly, he pulled a knife from
his vest and plunged it into my chest.
“I won’t be dishonored,” I heard him say just before
everything went black.
Olivia, thank you SO much for writing this awesome bonus chapter for my blog! I'm so intrigued to go read the whole book now. If you are, too, here's all the places you can find it...
