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‘Why?’
‘Because it doesn’t seem appropriate to walk through the palace in just my underwear.’
‘Then stay here.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Damn it, stop interrogating me. Isn’t it obvious? Do you really need to ask?’
‘You are angry. For what reason?’
She bit down on her lip, shaking her head with impatience. They were so disconnected, her emotions nowhere near in tune with his.
‘Because,’ she blurted out, staring up at the ceiling. ‘You—’ but she clutched the rest of that close to her chest, something holding her back from answering him too honestly. ‘It doesn’t matter. I just want to be alone.’ She yanked the dress on, pulling her hair over one shoulder so that the zip at the back wouldn’t get caught. She could only get it halfway up in her anger, but she didn’t care.
‘Allow me.’ His gravelled offer was the last thing she expected.
She shook her head. ‘No. I don’t want you to touch me right now.’
He lifted a sceptical brow, which only made her fury grow. She strode towards the door, hands balled into little fists.
His harsh laugh erupted through the room. ‘Stop.’
She didn’t.
She heard the rustle of sheets and his feet on the floor behind her, and as she reached the door he was there too, his palm pressing down on it. ‘Don’t run away from me.’
‘Don’t tell me what to do.’ She whirled around to face him.
‘Then stop acting like a child and tell me why you are upset.’
‘You just admitted you used me to hurt Astrid’s ex-husband, and you actually have to ask why that bothers me?’
He frowned at her, still clearly not comprehending.
‘Forget about it,’ she snapped. ‘I don’t want to discuss this. I knew you were callous and heartless when I first arrived here, I don’t know why I let myself start to think that you were different.’
‘Talk to me,’ he demanded, his hand on the door forming a sort of barrier, enclosing India. She stared at a point beyond his shoulder.
‘You have said worse things to me than anyone in my life. You have hurt me, you have demeaned me, and you have insulted me.’ She looked at him square in the face now and had the satisfaction of seeing something fleck in the depths of his eyes. But was it guilt? Remorse? ‘But that night...’ She shook her head sadly. ‘That night was...before all this. I know our babies weren’t conceived out of love, but I had been telling myself they were at least conceived out of intense attraction, and some kind of spontaneous affection. I liked you, Khalil. I went home with you because I really, really liked you. I actually—’
She swallowed back the words but he leaned closer, his voice gravelled. ‘You actually what?’
Forcing her eyes to meet his, she spoke honestly. ‘It was my birthday that night. It was my first birthday since losing my parents and I was struggling. Then I met you and everything just lit up. I actually joked to myself that you were some kind of gift from me to me.’ She rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the very idea. ‘I didn’t care that you were royal; I just wanted to be with you.’ Emotions clogged her throat. ‘I wasn’t thinking about anything that night except for that. Liking you. But you were just using me for revenge.’
Her skin blanched, her eyes closing. ‘And then you had the nerve to accuse me of being mercenary? You have been hanging that over my head since I got here, as though I was the one who turned that night into something sinister and cynical, but you’re the one who chose to seduce me because of who I was with. You’re the one who threw it in Ethan’s face, even when we’d agreed I would make up an excuse, lie to him, to avoid insulting him. You did that because you wanted to hurt him, and instead, it hurt me. I lost my job because of what you did, and you didn’t even care. You have all this, you wouldn’t have any idea what it’s like to need to work, to go from pay cheque to pay cheque. And all for what? So you could avenge Astrid? Do you think that’s what she would have wanted? If she knew what you did, do you think she’d be proud of you?’
‘She was devastated by their marriage breakdown.’
‘As I am devastated by our marriage agreement,’ India whispered. ‘But I guess that doesn’t matter. I’m no one to you, and never will be, right?’
He stared at the closed door for several seconds, her words slicing through him with all the intensity of a fierce sandstorm, and then he wrenched it inwards, striding to catch up with her. Of all the accusations she’d hurled at him, each had merit, but there was one that was pulling at him, so he found it hard to move. It had been her birthday. She’d chosen to spend it with him. It was such a sweet, lonely admission; how could it fail to touch something deep in his chest?
She went quickly, and was a long way down the corridor, yet he could have reached her easily if he’d wanted to. He let her go ahead, his heart pounding as he followed after. Even in anger, she exuded a classic elegance that was impossible not to notice, or admire.
She turned into the corridor that housed three guest suites, passing two guards stationed there as she went. They kept their eyes forward-facing, but as Khalil passed they bowed.
