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But they kissed each other’s wounds, there in the dark of their big, wide bed. And when he moved inside her and she clung tight to him, they found their way back to each other. Sooner or later, they always found their way.
As the years passed, Tarek became a powerful new voice in the region. And Anya found ways to use the power he’d given her to truly do her best to make the world a better place. She and her sister-in-law Nur first became friends, then partners in a charitable initiative that promoted women’s health and wellness.
“Finally,”she told Tarek at the charity’s inaugural ball.“A use for all my medical knowledge.”
“You will always be my doctor,habibti,”he’d told her, there in the center of the ballroom where his gaze told her what his hands and his mouth would, later. When they were alone and naked and making each other fall all over again.
Anya thought of her mother daily and never did have another panic attack, as she’d known she wouldn’t. Instead, she pursued the dreams of that long-ago little girl. She danced often, because she was a queen and her husband was a king and there were an endless array of balls for them to attend. She had tried painting things as a hobby, but had found herself both terrible and bored.
Her true artistic genius was still in the medium of crayons, in her opinion—something she discovered by coloring things with her children and then festooning them about the bedroom for Tarek to find. Then find creative ways to both laugh at her and praise her at the same time.
Usually he chose to take her flying, without wings or a plane, as only he could.
The most surprising twist had happened back in Seattle. Charisma had left Alzalam a new woman. She had stopped fluttering and had laid down a series of ultimatums, the crux of which was that she no longer intended to be a lapdog of any kind.
Anya’s father and his latest, youngest wife were still together, ten years later. With twins Preston doted on.
“Part of me wishes he could have been a better father to me,”Anya had confessed to Tarek one night, after one of her father and Charisma’s annual visits—something else her stepmother had insisted on.“But if he had, would I be here now?”
“That almost makes me like him,”Tarek had growled.
She and her father were not close. He had never apologized and never would. She didn’t understand him and never would. But they tried, in their way. And she and Charisma had become friends out of the bargain.
It was hard to imagine a better outcome.
And now a whole decade had passed, laced with its own share of disappointments, certainly. But brighter with hope, all the same. Stronger by far for the tests they’d faced along the way.
“Life is good, Mama,” Anya whispered into the night. “Life is so good.”
She heard Tarek come out of the tent, then. They liked to come here whenever they could, but that didn’t mean he could always leave the palace behind. After their long, leisurely dinner in that bright and sprawling room where he’d once tried to put her in her place, he’d taken an urgent phone call.
Anya had checked in with the children and their nannies, had taken care of a pressing matter with her own doctor, and had come outside to wait for him.
She tilted her head, listening to the cadence of Tarek’s voice and ready to be what he needed when he came to her. Sometimes he raged. Sometimes he grieved. Now and again he was lost.
He came to her as he was, however he was, and she held him. She challenged him. She was strong for her King and when he could be a man again, he was always hers.
Always and ever hers.
Tonight he sounded good. And then he ended the call and she heard him walk toward her.
And wasn’t at all surprised when he simply lifted her up, turning her so he could hold her in his arms.
“Happy anniversary, my love,” he said in a low voice, there against her mouth.
“Only a decade,” Anya replied. “It seems like a week. And forever.”
Tarek kissed her as he always did. As if it was the first time, desperate and needy.
And when she was panting against his mouth, he smiled. “Well?”
She laughed. “Why do you ask when you already know? You always know before I do.”
Tarek moved back, then went to his knees before her. This big, strong man. This powerful King.
He slid his hands over her belly and kissed her there. Then grinned up at her.
“Every centimeter of you is precious, and mine,” he said with all the dark arrogance she adored. “I know when something changes.”
“Yes, I’m pregnant again,” she said. “The doctor just confirmed it. But you knew that.”
“I did.” His grin faded, and something stark replaced it. Stark like the desert all around them, beautiful and vast. “You keep teaching me that no matter how much I love, there is always more. There is no end to it.”
“There is never any end,” she agreed, her eyes getting glassy. “Not as long as we’re together.”
Tarek stood them. He bent to scoop her into his arms and then he held her there, gazing down at her.
“Come,habibti,” he said, the way he always did. The way he always would. “Let us fall the rest of the way together.”
And then he carried her off into the night, falling sweetly into the rest of their beautiful lives.
