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Dark, drowning, devastating.
And he groveled. “No, I beg you, Kanza. I beg you, please…don’t say it. Don’t say it….”
She went still in his arms as if she’d been shot.
That ultimate display of defeat sundered his heart.
Her next words sentenced him to death.
“The moment you get your Zohaydan citizenship and become minister, let me go, Aram.”
Fourteen
It was as harsh a test of character and stamina as Kanza had always heard it was.
But being in the presence of Amjad Aal Shalaan in Kanza’s current condition was an even greater ordeal than she’d imagined.
She’d come to ask him as her distant cousin, but mainly as the king of Zohayd, to expedite proclaiming Aram a Zohaydan subject and appointing him to the position of minister.
After the storm of misery had racked her this past week, inescapable questions had forced their way from the depths of despair.
Could she leave Aram knowing that no matter what he stood to gain from their marriage, he did love her? Could she punish him and herself with a life apart because his love wasn’t identical to hers, because of the difference in their circumstances?
Almost everyone thought she had far more to gain from their marriage than he did, especially with news spreading of the minister’s position. Her family had explicitly expressed their belief that marrying him would raise her to undreamed-of status and wealth.
But she expected him to believe she cared nothing about those enormous material gains, to know for certain that they were only circumstantial. She would have married him had he been destitute. She would continue to love him, come what may. So how could she not believe him when he said the same about his own projected gains? Could she impose a separation on both of them because her ego had been injured and her confidence shaken?
No. She couldn’t.
Even if she’d never be as certain as she’d been before the revelations, she would heal and relegate her doubts to the background, where they meant nothing compared to truly paramount matters.
Once she had reached that conclusion, she’d approached a devastated Aram and tried everything to persuade him that he must go ahead with his plans, to persuade him that she’d overreacted and was taking everything she’d said back.
He’d insisted he’d never had plans, didn’t want anything but her and would never lift a finger to even save his life if it meant losing her faith and security in the purity of his love.
So here she was, taking matters into her own hands.
She was getting him what he needed, what he was now forgoing to prove himself to her.
Not that she seemed to be doing a good job of championing his cause.
That cunning, convoluted Amjad had been keeping her talking for the past half hour. It seemed he didn’t buy the story that she wished Aram to be Zohaydan as soon as possible for the job’s sake…that Shaheen needed Aram to take over before Johara gave birth.
He probed her with those legendary eyes of his, confirmed her suspicion. “So, Kanza, what’s your real rush? Why do you want your husband to become Zohaydan so immediately? He can assume Shaheen’s responsibilities without any official move. I’d prefer it, to see if my younger brother wants to hand his closest friend the kingdom’s fate as a consolation prize for the ‘lost years,’ or if he is really the best man for the job.”
“He is that, without any doubt.”
Those eyes that were as vividly emerald as Aram’s were azure flashed their mockery. “And of course, that’s not the biased opinion of a woman whose head-over-heels display during her wedding caused my eyes to roll so far back in my skull it took weeks to get them back into their original position?”
“No, ya maolai.” It was a struggle to call him “my lord,” when all she wanted to do was chew him out and make him stop tormenting her. “It’s the very objective opinion of a professional in Aram’s field. While there’s no denying that you, Shaheen and your father have been able to achieve great things running the ministry, I believe with the unique combination of his passion for the job and for Zohayd, and with the magnitude of his specific abilities and experience, Aram would surpass your combined efforts tenfold.”
Amjad’s eyebrows shot up into the hair that rained across his forehead. “Now, that’s a testimony. I might be needing your ability to sell unsellable goods quite soon.”
“As reputedly the most effective king Zohayd has ever known, I hear you’ve achieved that by employing only the best people where they’d do the most good. I trust you wouldn’t let your feelings for Aram, whatever they are, interfere with the decision to make use of him where he is best suited.”
He spread his palm over his chest in mock suffering. “Ah, my feelings for Aram. Did he tell you how he broke my heart?”
You, too? she almost scoffed.
