She could kill a man who attacked her and notbe hung for it.
“Sahar,” Halah asked, “are you allright?”
Sweet, good-hearted Halah, who was gettingmarried on the morrow and still aware enough of others to ask afterSahar because she sat frowning at her wine.
“I’m fine,” she lied.“You, my dearest ofcousins, are getting married tomorrow.”She smiled into Halah’sbeaming face.“This time tomorrow eve will be your weddingfeast.”
“Then the wedding night,” Halah said, bitingher lower lip.
“It’s a night to look forward to.”Sahar hadtold Halah of the passion she and Aleksi had shared in the wilds,though not in detail.She knew with a woman’s newly woken instinctthat Munir and Halah would share a happy marriage bed.“Munir lovesyou.He will be a gentle lover, until you do not want him to be sogentle anymore,” she said with a purposely wicked grin.
Halah blushed beet red and Sahar laughedlightly and patted Halah’s hand.
“You will be fine, Lala.I’m sure of it.”
“Then I’ll smile as satisfied as you when youtalk about laying with Aleksi.”
It was Sahar’s turn to blush furiously, andHalah laughed, the two of them catching the rest of the table’sattention.They both raised their goblets and sipped their wineuntil their cheeks cooled and curious gazes found other points ofinterest.
“Aleksandr looks much like a younger versionof his father,” Halah said.“Though Aleksandr is a hand taller andbroader through the chest.”
Sahar’s cheeks flushed again, and her nippleshardened at the memory of Aleksi’s bare, broad chest skin to skinagainst hers.“So he is,” she agreed, swiping at the bead of sweaton her cheeks, “and so he does.The king couldn’t deny hisparentage even if he wished to.By their warm greeting thisafternoon, he does not.”
“Anastasia looks as ill-disposed by it as theking and Aleksandr are pleased.”
Sahar chuffed.“She’s a cold-stonebitch.”
“Sahar.”
“Well,” she said, ignoring her brother’ssideways glance.“She is.She, her sister, and their mother, QueenTheodesia, did nothing but make Aleksi’s life miserable.It’sbecause of them that his father took him from the palace and madehim a stable boy once Maksimillian’s second wife presented him witha legitimate male heir.”
“And now?”
“Something’s changed, though I don’t knowwhat.We live in a palace, and we all know how well secrets arekept in a palace.”
“Which means,” Halah said, “that we will findout sooner than later.”
The next night, the great hall glowed withtorchlight as Sahar followed behind Halah, who shone as bright andiridescent as the dragonfly brooch clasping her shawl of sheer wormweave over her gown of pearl white, her lustrous brown hair flowingfreely to below her waist.At the end of the tunnel of family andfriends stood Munir, his eyes never leaving his beautifulbride-to-be as she walked to him, his grin growing with each stepthat brought Halah closer.
Standing beside Munir were Asim andAleksandr, who wore a robe of rich ocher with hems of earth brownembroidered with threads of gold, russet, and green worm weave.Hewore sandals rather than his usual boots, and his face was cleanshaven, the lights and shadows playing off the square cut of hisjawline.
Pick your feet up, Sahar.Do not trip overyour tongue drooling over the man, no matter how handsome he looksstanding there in the torchlight.He’s not yours, not since youdrove him into Ursula’s waiting arms.
She stepped to the side as Halah took herplace beside Munir as the priest began his marriage litany.Sahartried to listen, but her attention was drawn to Aleksi, whose eyeswere fixed on hers.She shifted from foot to foot under hisunwavering gaze and pushed at the jeweled comb pinning up her hair.She dropped her gaze to her hands, folded together at her front,pale against the deep red of her gown, and looked up again to findhis gaze on her, a quick half smile playing across his face.
She chanced a glance at Asim, but her brotherwas paying attention to the ceremony, as Sahar and Aleksi should’vebeen.She looked down to Halah’s slippered feet and stayed that wayas she listened to the priest’s solemn words, only lifting her headwhen Munir and Halah spoke their vows of faith and fidelity.
Aleksi’s words through the treehouse doorcame to Sahar.I had hoped you had enough faith in me, in us, tobuild a life together.
She looked to him staring at her as if hecould read her thoughts.She bristled.It wasn’t that she didn’thave faith in him.She’d put her faith and her life in his handsout in the wilds.Besides, he hadn’t exactly been faithful, goingfrom Sahar to Ursula so quickly after their last fight.Sahar hadheard the news from her maidservant, Safa, that Ursula was newlybetrothed and moving back to her homeland with her future husbandwhen King Maksimillian and his party returned.
Loud claps and shouts and whistles broughtSahar back to the wedding, where Munir and Halah had become husbandand wife.She hugged Halah and then Munir, and Asim did the same,and then Aleksi shook Munir’s hand and kissed Halah’s, bringing apretty flush to her cheeks.
“Hands off my wife, Aleksi,” Munir said,taking Halah’s hand and placing it in the crook of his arm.Hewagged his brows at Sahar.“Go find your own.”
“He need look no further than the kitchens,”Sahar said, and realized she was speaking to Munir’s back as thenewly wedded couple were already walking arm in arm to her parentsand his, where they were enveloped by family and well-wishers.Asimfollowed, joining Rima and the king and queen, leaving Saharstanding alone with Aleksi.
“What do you mean I need look no further thanthe kitchens?”
