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‘No, my love,’ said her mother, her voice warm and reassuring. ‘You haven’t hidden in romances. You’ve been learning. Learning what you like, what you want, and what you will and won’t put up with.
‘Romances don’t warp our expectations, they raise them. And there is nothing wrong with that. They show us that it is okay to put ourselves, our desires, at the forefront of our intentions. They show us not to be ashamed of our wants. Whether that want is emotional, practical or sexual, my love.’ While cringing at her mother using words like sexual, because that wasnevergoing to be okay, Star knew what she meant. ‘You should never have been made to feel ashamed or rejected. Not by your grandparents, nor your prince.’
‘He’s not my prince, Mum.’
‘They should be the ones who feel shame, Star,’ Mariam carried on as if Star hadn’t interrupted. ‘You reached out to make a connection with honesty, integrity, love and hope. They are lesser for turning you away. You are worthy of someone who reaches for you.’
Star smiled at the old family joke and she couldn’t help the flood of memories overwhelming her. Khalif reaching to take her from his horse...the incredible gift of taking her to the desert, giving her a connection to Catherine that felt fated...making her feel loved and wanted by her ancestors, even if he hadn’t been capable of it himself.
She allowed herself to feel that love, for her heart to swell with it as she promised to call her mother the moment she touched down in England. But as she ended the call, clutching the double-chained necklace which she kept interlocked together, she forced herself to face reality.
He had also left her alone without barely a thought and kept her hidden even when he knew he shouldn’t. He had pushed her away with cruel words because it was easier than fighting his demons. And he had made her feel just as unwanted as wanted. But, despite the hurt and pain she felt, she knew he had been right.
He couldn’t have chosen her any more than Catherine could have chosen Hatem, but she couldn’t help but feel that there was a sense of wrongness about repeating the same decisions that had been made by their ancestors.
She glanced at the departures board, frowning when she noticed that there was a delay sign against her flight that hadn’t been there two minutes ago. Everything in her wanted to go home, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that her home was no longer in England.
Perhaps the desert sand had got into her blood somehow. She shook off the curious notion as she noticed a few heads turn towards the entrance of the airport. There was a rise and fall in murmurs, like the dip and swell of the sea and, while she tried to ignore it, more and more heads were turning and she began to hear audible gasps.
A group turned into a crowd and nearly forty people were now gathered near the entrance, all focusing on one point and then parting like the waves to make way for...for...
Oh, my...
The first thing she saw was Khalif, his eyes blazing with purpose and something she dared not name. Then she saw the horse. Mavia, she recognised, decked out in a saddle that had more gold and jewels on it than Star had thought possible. What on earth was he doing here on a horse?
The gold brocadebishtover histhawbwas immaculate, and thekeffiyeharound his head picked out the same gold tones, making him impossibly regal and almost too handsome for her to look at. Star focused on as many details as possible, trying to ignore the burst of hope that swelled in her heart.
Mavia lifted her head as if to say hello and Star soon found herself within metres of the incredible animal and her rider. The crowd who had at first held up their phones to capture a picture of their Prince, soon began to lower them one by one, some being nudged by a neighbour, others of their own volition, and Star could have sworn that she’d seen Amin somewhere in the midst of it.
Khalif swung ever so gracefully from Mavia and took two steps towards her before dropping to his knee, much to the gasped delight of the crowd.
‘Kha—’ Star clamped her mouth shut, took a moment and tried again. ‘Your Highness,’ she said—clearly unable to ignore the royal on bended knee right in front of her.
Once again, she felt the familiar search of his eyes across her face, her body, as if trying to take her in all at once and it not being enough. At least that was what she felt she was doing to him. Searching, hoping...waiting.
‘Miss Soames,’ Khalif said, loudly enough for the entire crowd to hear, ‘I stepped down, trying not to look at you, as if you were a Star, yet I saw you, like a Star, without even looking.’
The words were poetic and lovely, but familiar and—She frowned. Wait, was thatAnna Karenina? If not in full, then near enough. She opened her mouth to ask, but he pressed on.
‘Because whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same...’ he insisted with a smile, as if confident she would recognise that as Brontë. ‘Because I assure you, I was asleep, until I fell in love.’
Star couldn’t stop the roll of her eyes. ‘I refuse to believe that you readWar and Peacein the last twenty-four hours, Khalif,’ she chided.
‘It might have been the crib notes version, but still... A very clever romance novel once said that “It is better to love wisely, no doubt: but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.”’
‘Thackeray,’ she whispered, the goosebumps spreading from her toes to her shoulders.
‘“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings willnotbe repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”’
She couldn’t smile—not yet. In spite of all the hope and all the love she felt in that moment, she needed more. ‘Pride and Prejudice? Really? Is that how you come to me? With the words of others on your tongue?’ she demanded.
‘No,’ he replied, with no hurt or censure in his eyes, as if he’d expected her to challenge him. ‘That was just to get your attention.’
‘And you didn’t think the horse would be enough?’ she teased.
The crowds laughed a little, reminding her that they had an audience.
‘Do you want to go somewhere a little more private?’ she whispered to him.
