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BA’SH
Ba’sh took a deep breath and knocked briskly on Yasmine’s door, still holding the headpiece in one hand.
When it opened, Yasmine studied him with serious eyes. But she tilted her chin up, as if denying him more of her tears.
“May I come in?” he asked.
She stepped aside silently.
He walked past her, but was suddenly uncertain what to do with himself. He was a world leader, prepared for anything, or so he had thought.
He knew all the rules and expectations for a thousand social situations. But standing in the bedroom of his daughter’s beloved nanny, with whom he had shared intimate relations, and lost his temper, all in the last twenty-four hours?
There was no etiquette for that.
“I spoke with Pia,” he said gruffly, pacing over to the window and looking out over the lawn, then down at the headpiece. “She explained everything. I didn’t know this was in her room.”
Yasmine didn’t respond.
He turned back to her, but she merely observed him with that same guarded expression.
“And I can see exactly how it happened,” he went on. “Our wedding photo was all over the planet during the election. But you weren’t on this planet. It was a very unfortunate misunderstanding.”
She didn’t respond, and her silence only served to infuriate him.
“I’m trying to tell you I’m sorry, Miss Hall,” he exploded. “Surely, you can see how I might have gotten the wrong idea.”
“I am sorry that I embarrassed you and your family,” she said quietly. “Perhaps the new nanny can check in with someone on her wardrobe before she leaves the house.”
“We don’t need a new nanny,” he said firmly, waiting to see her smile of relief and gratitude. “I’d like you to stay.”
But she didn’t smile. She didn’t react at all.
Maybe she hadn’t heard him properly, or she was just taking time to process. Her calm expression told him nothing.
This would all be so much easier without the damn circlet.
“I will stay until my replacement arrives,” she said crisply. “So that the children’s routine can be consistent. But as soon as they arrive, I will be heading back to Terra-17, immediately.”
“You don’t have to do this, Yasmine,” he said, shocked to find himself ready to fall at her feet and beg. How did this infuriating little Terran have such a hold on him?
“If you’ll excuse me, it’s time to pick up Jax now,” she said, marching right past him and out the door.
Ba’sh stood frozen in front of the window, feeling like a fool, thinking of what his daughter had suggested.
Was expecting some poor Terran girl to be grateful for the opportunity to work for him really a stereotype? She might be poor by his standards, but she had as much right to her pride as anyone else.
Still, he was a world Ruler - he held the well-being of the planet in his hands. He made decisions every day that had repercussions across entire systems. His people trusted him to do what was best.
And she had just walked away after he’d personally apologized to her and asked her to stay. Would she really rather go back to one of those cramped Terran apartments than live in his beautiful palace with his children?
And with me?
But he already knew the answer.
The afternoon sun caught on the gems of the headpiece he still held in his hand.
I’m sorry, Breeta. She was good for the kids.
