The Perfumed Garden

Behind the faculty houses lies a walled garden most students never find. Ana Chandra finds it on the hottest afternoon of the year, and she finds Leila there: older, unhurried, wrapped in pink silk, reading old Arabic love poetry aloud to the fountain.

Leila knows things about Ana that Ana has told no one. Her languages. Her restlessness. The way she looks at women. Through long afternoons among the oleanders, Leila teaches her the verses of the Perfumed Garden, and then teaches her what the verses were really about.

It is the most beautiful seduction of Ana's life. It is also an assignment. The woman in the garden belongs to V.E.N.U.S., and V.E.N.U.S. has decided it wants Ana, body and soul.