AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His apology undid something inside of her. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
But he shook his head, taking a step back from her, like she was some fragile piece of glass he was afraid of breaking. “Please go and rest, azeezi. I do not like to see you like this.”
His concern softened something inside of her. She expressed a sigh, torn between doing what he suggested – and what she really wanted – and sticking to her guns.
“I want to make a good impression, Elon,” she said quietly, by way of explanation. “I know what people think of me, and that’s my fault. I actively sought the reputation I have, now I have to undo the damage. Starting with days like this. Okay?”
He didn’t cometo her room that night, and the disappointment was crippling. The thought of being alone with Elon had got Ella through the hectic afternoon, and had helped keep her smiling even when her eyes were drooping with tiredness. She’d returned to her suite and showered with the expectation that Elon’s touch would soon be running over her body. Only it wasn’t.
She ate dinner alone, at an exquisite table that had been set for her on the terrace that overlooked the capital city of Kakrit, the distant lights glowing gold and warm. She worried that she’d find it difficult to sleep, but almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyes shut and she was sucked into dreamless, mindless oblivion.
She was sleepingwhen he went to her, blonde hair like a golden skein across her pillow, pale limbs like cream in the dim light of her room. He crossed the space and pulled closed the French doors that led to her balcony, smiling when he saw a book of Salim history lying open at the foot of her bed.
He contemplated bending down to kiss her forehead but stopped himself just in time. That wasn’t their relationship.
He left her room just as quietly as he’d entered it.
“You seem better,”he murmured, surprising her as he had the day before. This time, she was in an ancient library lined with some of the most precious texts in the country. Her day’s schedule had been noticeably quieter, providing the opportunity to explore in between formal engagements.
Ella wished her body wouldn’t respond so immediately to his arrival, but her pulse rate shot up and her palms began to sweat. She did her best to ignore the thundering of her heart, infusing her voice with calm patience as she angled her face to his. “Better?”
“Less tired.”
“Ah. A good night’s sleep will do that for a girl.”
He studied her as though she were his science project, analysing her for change. “I am glad.”
She didn’t tell him that she’d missed him the night before. She didn’t say that she’d woken up disappointed beyond belief that he’d stayed away from her room. She didn’t want to admit how quickly she’d come to rely on him, to depend on his presence.
“I spoke to your brother this morning.”
Tasim! The thought jolted her out of her reverie, and a hint of guilt stole through her. She should have been in contact with him. But how? Her cell phone had been lost in the bomb blast. How much she’d let go in light of more pressing personal matters.
She forced herself to concentrate on all the things she should have focussed on before now.
“How is he?”
“Furious,” Elon said with a smile that did little to assuage her guilt.
“With me?”
“With you?” Elon’s laugh was grim. “No, azeezi. With me, of course.” He moved closer, his body so strong and big, so instantly comforting. Her eyes flittered to his, so she drowned a thousand times in their jet-black depths. “I am the big bad wolf who’s stolen the precious virgin away, remember?”
Her heart stammered at his description of their relationship. “What did you tell him?”
“That we were to marry within a month.”
She made an anguished noise. “Elon, you should have let me do that.”
“Not ‘your highness’ today?” He was teasing her, but she wasn’t in the mood.
“I’m serious,” she said quietly, turning away from him, and moving towards the shelves. She stared at the spines of these books without seeing. “I should have been the one to break this news to him.”
“And suffer his anger all yourself?”
“So he was really angry?”
She turned to Elon just in time to see the lift of his head. “He’ll get over it.”
