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‘I’m fine, I promise.’
She scrolled through until she found a video interview of her parents. They were about to celebrate some event and had given a few minutes to a reporter. Fingers shaking, Niesha hit the play button. Her father was speaking, his deep, baritone voice authoritative but warm.
And then her mother spoke.
Niesha gasped, a deep trembling seizing her body as she listened to her mother’s voice. The voice she carried in her head. The voice that soothed her in times of distress...was her mother’s voice.
‘Mother...’
She didn’t feel the tablet slipping from her fingers.
Or the tight curse from Zufar before he caught her in his arms.
All she felt was blessed darkness.
CHAPTER NINE
SHE WOKE UP propped against soft pillows, the thick coverlet pulled up to her chest.
‘What happened?’
Zufar’s mouth tightened and his darkened eyes scoured her face. ‘You fainted after hearing your mother’s voice.’
Memories rushed back, buffeting her with profound sadness. But beside that emotion there was a curious warmth, a lessening of the hollowness that had been part of her life for so long.
Her mother’s voice.
It had stayed with her all these years, assuring her that she wasn’t truly alone. That she was loved.
Tears began to well again, but she blinked them back, if for no other reason than because she was sure any more tears would make Zufar confine her to bed indefinitely. She couldn’t allow that, not when there was so much more to learn about her family. About herself.
Absently, she noticed her wrist being tugged and turned her head to see Dr Basim taking her pulse. She held her breath as he finished up.
‘Well?’ Zufar demanded.
‘She’s fine, Your Highness.’ Dr Basim smiled at her. ‘As long as you take it easy, the episode shouldn’t happen again.’
‘It shouldn’t have happened at all,’ Zufar stated with a near growl.
‘I’m fine. Really.’
‘So you keep telling me. And yet the evidence tells a different story.’
Dr Basim tucked his stethoscope away. ‘I’ll leave you to rest.’
‘Wait,’ Niesha rose off the bed, only to be firmly tucked back in by Zufar. Her glare merely bounced off him. She redirected her gaze to Dr Basim.
‘Can we... Can we keep this confidential? I don’t want anything to get out until...in case it’s a false alarm.’
The doctor smiled. ‘I’m almost certain it won’t be, Your Highness—’
‘Nevertheless, I want your word that nothing about this will get out until we have an answer one way or the other. Zufar... I mean, Khalia can do without the upheaval right now.’
Beside her, she saw her husba
nd’s imperceptible stiffening. ‘You’re thinking about me? My people? In this moment?’ There was a trace of astonishment in his voice.
‘They’re my people too, aren’t they? They deserve better than to have another bombshell thrown in their laps.’
