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Until Ameera’s cryptic comment.
‘I think he is not a man like his father—and you are nothing like his mother—so your wedding night should be a good one.’
She probably shouldn’t ask Ameera about Karim’s parents. His past was none of her business. But she was desperately curious about them both. She knew Karim hadn’t had a good relationship with his father, but she also knew how much he was struggling with his death, even if he didn’t want to admit it. And now she was wondering about what had happened to his mother on her wedding night, too.
Was being curious about Karim’s parents and their relationship so wrong? After all, she might well have to actually marry Karim this evening, because they were running out of time to have the wedding stopped.
‘Did you know Karim’s mother, Ameera?’ Orla blurted out.
Ameera’s smile faltered, and her eyes lost the twinkle of amusement that had been an essential part of her personality over the last few days. Did she regret letting the information slip? Orla felt sure she did, but just when she was convinced Ameera would refuse to answer, the lady-in-waiting nodded. ‘Yes, I knew the King’s second wife. I was a maid in the palace, when she first arrived here and they married.’
‘What was she like?’ Orla asked.
‘The King has not spoken o
f his mother to you?’ the woman asked, her gaze kind, but also probing.
Orla blushed at the perceptive comment, but the lady-in-waiting’s gaze remained kind and knowing.
‘Karim and I haven’t known each other that long,’ Orla said, carefully. That definitely wasn’t a lie. ‘He’s never talked to me about his mother, but I know he didn’t get on very well with his father.’
Ameera let out a sad laugh. ‘The new King has not visited Zafar since he was a boy, and has not seen his father in over a decade, so, yes, it is true. They did not get on well.’ The sad smile flattened to be replaced with a guarded expression. ‘I am afraid I cannot tell you about what went on in the marriage, because Cassandra swore me to secrecy many years ago. And it is a vow I have never broken. His Majesty was only five when he left Zafar with his mother, but I think if he was aware…’ She paused, sighed. ‘Then he would not wish me to speak of it either.’
Orla’s pulse pounded heavily at Ameera’s statement—and the sadness in her eyes, which was so unlike her usually cheerful demeanour.
So something had been terribly wrong in the marriage before the divorce, and Karim might have witnessed it? Was that where the haunted look had come from when they drove through the walls of the palace into the grounds?
He’d insisted he had no feelings for his father, but it had been obvious then, as well as the night she had gone to his study, that the truth was more complex. Perhaps it wasn’t that he didn’t have feelings for his father, but that he didn’t want to have feelings for him.
‘Do you…? Do you know why Karim and his father didn’t get along?’ she asked.
He had seemed so alone in his study that night, but also during the flight over and the journey to the palace. So closed off and wary and tense. Karim had always been dominant, commanding, pragmatic rather than demonstrative, so it hadn’t really surprised her that he hadn’t wanted to lean on anyone, let alone her. But she knew he could also be playful, and unbelievably hot—because she’d glimpsed that man too during the heated moments they’d shared in the car—before all this had happened.
And she wanted to help him find that man again. Somehow.
But how could she do that, when she had no idea what he was struggling with? She knew he needed a friend, but how could she be a good friend if she didn’t know more about where that haunted look came from?
‘All I can tell you,’ Ameera began, ‘although you must not repeat this to anyone, for it is disrespectful to talk so of a king…’
Orla nodded, realising that Ameera was taking a risk by speaking to her so candidly about her former employer.
‘Is that King Abdullah, His Majesty’s father, was not a man made for marriage…’ Ameera paused as if looking for the right words. ‘Or, I think, for fatherhood. He could be harsh, as a husband. And also as a father. During the summers His Majesty Karim came back here to Zafar as part of the divorce settlement, they clashed often—especially as His Majesty got older—and the old King would have him punished severely for his disrespect.’
‘Oh, no.’ Orla felt her throat closing. Poor Karim, no wonder he was so conflicted now about assuming the throne. And still so angry with his father.
Although her relationship with her own father had become increasingly difficult after her mother’s death, he’d never been a violent man, or a cruel one, or not intentionally so—just increasingly absent.
She was getting the impression King Abdullah Zakar Amari Khan had been both.
‘It must be such a struggle for him to assume the throne if that’s his only role model,’ she murmured.
‘The new King’s advisors say he is very competent and has already made many good changes that are long overdue,’ Ameera interrupted Orla’s thoughts.
Orla’s heart stuttered at the odd wave of pride.
She could well imagine Karim would make a good monarch, he certainly made an extremely efficient businessman, although it wasn’t really what she’d meant.
As if guessing as much though, Ameera added, ‘But his manservant tells me he does not sleep well at night. That he wakes from nightmares and paces his chamber. They believe he is troubled, yes, but it is not their place to understand what is in His Majesty’s heart,’ she finished and Orla heard the soft note of censure.
