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“You think your mom sent me to you?”
His smile was a flicker. “No. I don’t factually believe this story. But it doesn’t change what you are and what you did for me. The way you locked up my sadness and turned it to joy. The way you made me smile when I thought I had lost that ability altogether.” He sighed. “I was as foolish as the man in the parable. I pushed you away when I should have held you tight.”
Her heart turned over at the perfection in his words. “So why?”
“I told you …”
“I know.” She closed her eyes and exhaled a shaky breath. “The thing is, I was in the same boat. I couldn’t have left you. Not for a million dollars.” The irony of that expression landed on her gut like a tonne of cement. “It wouldn’t have even occurred to me to try.”
“No,” his nod was a slow acknowledgement of that.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a prince?”
“Because you were the first person in my life not to know,” he grinned, sipping his champagne and rubbing his foot against hers beneath the table. “And I loved the way you treated me like an equal.”
“We are equals, right?” She said with steel in the words.
“No, Najin.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. She’d just married the guy and if he was going to pull some archaic nonsense about his masculine superiority then she’d run out of there immediately, to hell with the consequences. “No?”
“I think you are far superior, and I have no doubt you hold all the power in our relationship.”
It was a lie; her heart was weak when it came to Syed, but hearing him say it filled her with hope. Hope and love. So much love.
“Where do you live, in Kalastan?” She changed the subject swiftly, freeing her hand on the pretence of adjusting her crown. Her crown! God, if Cameron could see her now. Or the guys from Larry’s. She bit back a smile at the comments they’d make, forging a mental note to send them a selfie later on.
“I have a residence in the old city,” Syed spoke with an apparently relaxed approach. “An old palace that fell into disrepair. My parents were renovating it when I was a teenager and the first time I stepped into it I was completely taken.”
“Why? What’s it like?”
“Very old,” he murmured. “Ancient. It was originally set up as a watch point to protect the town from Bedouin tribes sweeping across the desert. There are underground tunnels designed to take villagers out to safety. It feels half haunted and half magic. You can feel the ghosts of the past thousand years at your fingertips.”
A shiver danced down Sarah’s spine. “You’re making this up.”
“Nope. You’ll see for yourself one day.”
She wanted that. To see his home, to see him in his element. He was such a big man, so broad and strong, so capable. He belonged in the wild, rugged sand plains of Kalastan. Just him and his strength and wits to keep him alive.
“Maybe,” she said noncommittally.
The waiter approached slowly, cautiously, but Syed nodded his approval so the man increased his speed, depositing two entrees down on the table. Sarah studied hers before pressing a fork into the gelatinous shape.
“It’s a fish pate,” he said quietly. “With spices grown in the palace gardens. You’ll love it,” he promised. “It’s a traditional recipe.”
“So much tradition,” she murmured, the light-hearted rejoinder barely covering anxiety.
“Yes.”
“And I’ll need to know all this? To be a part of it?”
His smile was impossible not to be warmed by. “Eventually. If you want to.”
“I’m just a small town girl, Syed. I can’t be a princess…”
“Really?” He arched a thick, dark brow. “Because I believe you already are, your highness.”
“Lord, the boys at Larry’s would get a kick out of that,” she grinned, tasting her pate without realising, and making a small noise of appreciation. She was so perfect, so beautiful, determination that he had done the right thing was cast from steel.
