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“Your good works do not excuse the dallying you do—playing the clown for these low, foreign women!”
Laine could hear something shatter forcefully against the wall. She touched her lips and wondered if she should go back to Hadiya. This was a family conversation, after all—
“You will not speak ill of her!” Aziz roared.
Laine jumped, almost spilling her coffee. She’d never heard him sound like that. Yes, he’d confronted those who denied his wishes before, but he’d never truly sounded more than idly indignant.
“And what of this one?” Amin continued. “Why should I consider her of any value? A Western woman of no importance, no status—”
“I warn you, Amin!”
“And no faith. What are you doing with her? More fun, another plaything.”
Laine swallowed at a lump in her throat.
“You cannot even marry her,” Amin said cruelly. “You can only pollute her further!”
Laine felt as though she’d been struck. Marriage? Who was talking about marriage?
“You go too far.” Amin’s voice was a growl deep in his throat. “Your wife was not Shia when you married her, and I said nothing!”
“How dare you!”
“I do not dare; I did not. Because the affairs of your heart are yours to keep! And I will thank you to afford me the same privilege!” Something slammed loudly. “You will not speak of Laine again so disrespectfully, or you will find yourself out of this house and out of my graces, Amin. I do not expect anything but strict adherence to this rule.”
Aziz stormed from the office, running a hand through his hair angrily, and disappeared down the hall before Laine could call out to him. That had been intense. Laine had known Aziz took on a lot of responsibility in the family, but not that he was effectively in charge. He’d spoken of his father as though he were alive, but if that were true, then Aziz would have been given the reins early. Did sheikhs retire?
Amin stepped out of the office and watched his brother leave. He looked a lot like Aziz, although he was greyer around the temples and softer and rounder everywhere else. Laine guessed he was about ten years older than Aziz, and though Aziz tended towards more Westernized or modern Bahraini fashion, Amin wore a brown, ankle-length dishdasha, with the collar and sleeves ironed stiff.
Laine stared at him for a moment, wondering what she would say to a man who had just essentially called her a dirty whore, in the stuffiest way possible.
Amin spotted her and looked on with a frown. Laine pinched her lips together and pulled the scarf Hadiya had arranged halfway over her hair that morning a little tighter. She gave him a gracious nod, almost bowing forward.
“If you have suggestions for the redesign of the palace, I would be happy to receive them,” Laine said, with a subarctic smile.
She turned and left. In the end she really didn’t have anything to say to him, and she didn’t want to get in the middle of a family fight.
***
Hadiya rolled her eyes and helped lay out samples in Laine’s office. “He is angry that Father didn’t put him in charge. It was never going to happen. He does well enough at his job in Manama, but Amin just doesn’t have the vision to manage our family’s holdings.”
“I haven’t gotten Aziz in trouble, have I? We’ve barely been out since we got here. Just to a restaurant or two, and shopping…oh, and the museum.” Laine sighed. Aziz was getting busy again, and that meant she would be deprived of his company soon. It shouldn’t matter, since she needed to plan how she would finish the work from home, but still…
“You are not the first woman he has taken to dinner,” Hadiya said. She walked over and stroked her hand over Laine’s head. “Do not worry about their arguments. Men can be excessive.”
“I’ve just not seen Aziz get so angry before.”
Hadiya looked surprised. “Did he? Hm.”
“What?”
Hadiya leaned back against the desk and shrugged. “Aziz can be temperamental. He’s definitely passionate.” Two fingers touched her lips. “And he always fights with Amin. It’s natural. He’s the middle child and was given the privilege and responsibility of a firstborn. Still. I don’t often see him get truly angry. Perhaps you mistook it. They can yell quite loudly.”
“No, I’ve seen him yell in the marketplace, or at people he felt weren’t giving him his due. He didn’t sound the way he did with Amin, before he stormed out,” Laine protested.
“Amin must have gone too far. It can happen, even with Aziz. And if he does get angry…Amin will need to be careful.”
