Chapter 206

• Orla’s heart sank as she stood in the main entrance hall of the palace. Her driver had just brought her the unwelcome news that he was not going to be driving her to her appointment but that instead Arni was going to take her and that he would join her shortly.
• Up above her was the gallery she had just walked along, which separated the main part of the palace from the women’s quarters, where once they had lived in Purdah.
• Purdah! The concealment of a woman’s face and body from the eyes of all men except those of her immediate family. Some see it as a form of protection, while others see it as a form of imprisonment.As a Western woman, the very thought of enduring Purdah was beyond comprehension.