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“You cannot be sure she was.”
“She ran off with him.”
“For love, if her note to her father is to be believed. I raised you better than to simply assume the worst on the basis of circumstantial evidence.”
“Yes, you did.”
“And I raised you better than to hurt someone the way you did Miss Amari arguing with your mother about spending time with her.” His father frowned. “Didn’t you tell me you promised to show her the country of her mother’s birth?”
“It was a foolish promise to make.”
“But a commitment nonetheless.” The implacability of his father’s tone and expression said this was not an argument Sayed had a hope of winning.
Especially when it meant fighting his own deepest desires.
As he went to leave his mother’s receiving room, his father’s voice stayed him at the door. “It may help to remember a salient truth, Sayed.”
“Yes?”
“Both your mother and I have already committed to accepting and helping Aaliyah succeed in her role should she be pregnant.”
“And if she’s not.”
“You know us well enough to answer that.”
Sayed wasn’t so sure. He’d only come to realize very recently how mistaken he’d been about himself. He’d thought he would have been content to marry Tahira and only now realized how miserable he would have been.
He thought he might even owe her a thank-you for the elopement.
*
Standing on the balcony overlooking the harem gardens, Liyah ignored the second knock on her door in less than hour.
Hopefully, if she didn’t answer, whoever it was would take the hint and go away.
The sound of a door opening and soft footfalls across the carpet told her she had not been so lucky.
“I was an ass.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to deny the obvious.
Nevertheless, Liyah did not react outwardly to Sayed’s presence or his surprising admission, though her heart started beating faster.
Honestly, if she could ignore him completely right now, she’d prefer it.
But Sayed was a guy who took responsibility and apparently his mother believed he had some sort of obligation toward Liyah. Queen Durrah had apparently convinced her son of it, too.
So, here he was. To apologize? To invite Liyah on an outing?
Whatever it was, she wanted it over and him gone. Her defenses were always at her lowest around this man and she did not want him to see the tears tightening her throat.
He stepped up behind her, laying his hands on her shoulders. “I hurt you.”
She shrugged, unwilling to lie and equally loath to admit to her weakness. It was too close to admitting why she was so susceptible to him.
Love hurt. There was no other name for the conflagration of emotion he sparked in her. She loved him.
She was pretty sure she always would, too. That one-true-love stuff she’d always thought a ridiculous fairy tale? She was living it. Only the happily ever after? It was still in the realm of fantasy and always would be.
