Chapter 14
‘You’ve told me a thousand times how it happened. What I want to know is why she said it. And to you, Sinan, of all God’s creatures!’
Sinan didn’t answer. They turned a corner and descended a steep stepped alley. A boy drove a laden donkey past them, pressing them against the wall. At this time of the morning, the alleyways of al-Bayyazin were full of people and animals. Sinan thought how different it all looked from the last time they came this way, by lamplight and lightning, the night of the thunderbolt.
‘ “The heat of lust in early dawn . . . ” Honestly,’ Abu Abdallah said, smiling mischievously at his slave, ‘anyone would think she . . . ’
‘Think what, master?’
‘That she fancied you.’ Abu Abdallah was still looking at him, but the smile had gone.
Sinan felt himself bl
