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He shook his head. ‘No history of that in my family either.’ An intensely arrogant expression crossed his face. ‘No al Khalia has failed to consummate his marriage.’
For some reason that statement sent a bolt of heat surging through her belly. ‘But you’re going to be the first though?’
Slowly, Zufar uncrossed legs, leaned forwards and rested his elbows on his knees. ‘Am I?’ he drawled softly, his eyes narrowed like twin lasers on her.
Niesha’s fingers trembled. She clenched them tighter. ‘Of course you are. That’s our only choice.’
‘It is not.’
The finality of those three words shook her to her very foundations. The hairs on her nape rose chillingly as he continued to regard her steadily. ‘Wh-what do you mean?’
‘I mean this marriage can be real.’
‘Real?’ she echoed as if the word were alien to her. Perhaps it was. None of what he was saying made any sense.
‘Real,’ he affirmed. ‘I will be your husband, and you will be my wife. You will bear my children, and you will be my Queen.’
He’d said those words to her previously. And yet Niesha’s jaw still dropped to the floor.
‘And...why would I want to do that?’
‘Because your reward would be elevation to a position very few women will ever achieve in their lifetime. You will have the respect of a whole kingdom and the adoration of millions.’
Something curled into a tight ball inside her. ‘I’m not sure when I gave you the impressive that I wanted any of that. I don’t.’
He sent her a disbelieving look as he leaned forwards even further. ‘You wish to remain a chambermaid for the rest of your life?’
The lash of the question was meant to wound. And it did. She didn’t need reminding that she w
as a nobody, with no family or even friends she could count on. That all she had was the deep yearning to leave a mark deeper and more meaningful than the sad and transient childhood that had been thrust upon her.
Despite her shredded emotions, she kicked up her chin, glared down her nose at him. ‘No. I have a little bit more ambition than that. But it doesn’t involve sitting around basking in the adoration of your subjects.’
He nodded, as if he hadn’t all but snorted his disbelief moments before. ‘Very well, tell me what it is.’
‘Why?’ she asked suspiciously.
He levelled a shrug so beautifully arrogant and elegant she blinked a few times before she could concentrate again. ‘Perhaps I can help.’
Niesha shook her head. Nothing came for free. She knew that all too well. But his eyes were hypnotising her, the gold depths drilling to the heart of her desires.
She found herself responding before she could stop herself. ‘I’ve always wanted to work with children,’ she said softly. ‘I’ve been saving to start a course next year.’
‘A tutor will be hired for you,’ he declared immediately.
Her breath caught, but the reminder that nothing came for free stuck harder. ‘In return for what? You want something, I know you do. Why don’t you just tell me?’
His eyes gleamed at her. ‘I have already told you.’
She shook her head, shaken beyond belief. ‘This cannot possibly be what you want. You...you don’t even know me.’ Her voice was a perplexed shrill.
He shrugged again. ‘Perhaps a blank slate is exactly what I need.’ The hardness to his tone sent a cold shiver through her.
‘That doesn’t make any sense.’
‘It may seem that way to you, little one.’
The bolt that went through her this time was all heat and charged electricity. ‘Please stop calling me that.’
