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“Once the story broke, there was nothing you could do.” His father flicked a glance at the image of Sayed and Liyah in a passionate lip-lock—and not the first one in three days to run in their country’s most widely circulated newspaper. “The only course of action left open was to wait and see how it was received.”
“Pictures of Aaliyah and I kissing were on the Net hours after we arrived at the retreat.”
“You did kiss her outside.”
“In our private gardens!”
“Not that private.” His father seemed a lot less angry than Sayed would have expected. “You know how dangerous a high-powered camera lens can be.”
“How did they know we even left the palace?”
“You know we have media watching us all the time.”
“Not this closely. Someone had to have leaked something.”
His father shrugged. “Perhaps. Our people love the Cinderella angle. Have you noticed? Omar said it’s all over the social media sites.”
“And your fixer did nothing to kibosh it?”
“On the internet? Not going to happen.”
“I doubt very sincerely the border countries looking for an alliance are nearly as caught up in the romance of it all,” Sayed fairly growled.
“You would be surprised.”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently, none of them wanted us making such a firm alliance with the others. You marrying an outsider with no political agenda will actually work in our favor.”
“Who said anything about marriage?”
“Do you really think anything else will suffice after that?” His father pointed to the second photo in the story.
It was of Sayed and Aaliyah leaving the oasis tent, his arm around her, their expressions and manner clea
rly that of a couple who had just made love.
“What if she won’t agree?” Her reaction to Sayed bringing it up in response to her pregnancy had been a solid wall of negativity.
He hadn’t realized how much he needed her to want it until she’d made it clear she didn’t.
“You’ll have to convince her. From the look of things, it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“You have no idea.”
*
Liyah hung up with Dr. Batsmati, a tight band of disappointment squeezing her chest. They’d done a rush on the lab results.
He’d only drawn her blood a couple of hours ago. She wasn’t pregnant.
Pretty soon, she’d be leaving the palace.
And she’d never see Sayed again.
Pain ripped through her as she’d only felt once before. When her mother died.
The rejection of her Amari relatives and her father hadn’t been pleasant, but neither had caused this devastating depression to settle over her.
