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Elon fought a wave of derision. His own love for the desert was ingrained in his soul, scored into the fibres of his being. He shouldn’t expect that she would have the same affinity with the land as he did. In fact, he should have known she wouldn’t, given her upbringing and character.
“I see.” He compressed his lips, focussing his attention back on the speaker, who showed no signs of nearing a conclusion.
Ella sighed,a sinking sensation shifting through her belly. She’d been a bundle of nerves all day, feeling completely like she’d been thrown in the deep end by her bloody brother. Oh, she loved Tasim to bits – there were times when he felt like the only person who looked out for her – but there were other times when she wanted to throttle him.
Like right now, for example.
Asking her to attend such an important event meeting with a gallery full of Sheikhs, Sultans, Emirs and Delegates from around the world, she felt as though she stood out like a sore thumb. And she did! Everyone seemed to know each other. She’d spent the whole of morning tea hiding behind a palm tree, pretending to check her emails, so as not to make it obvious that she was a pariah here. The unwanted, unacknowledged, illegitimate daughter of a dead Sheikh, and a Westerner with bright blonde hair, to boot. What could she bring to this anniversary?
Damn Tasim for insisting she come!
And now, to be seated beside this hulking minotaur of a man, all broad chest and scowling face, with thick dark hair and eyes that seemed to be carved from obsidian. Her stomach had been in loops all day. She just wanted this to be over so she could get back to the palace.
But even there, this feeling followed. People looked at her with scorn in their eyes, each of them thinking what she knew to be the truth. No one wanted her in Mosar. If it weren’t for Tasim’s insistence that she be brought home and treated as another heir to the throne then the country would have very happily gone on without her.
She knew no one wanted her, so it wasn’t particularly necessary for the man she was sitting beside to scowl and glower to make the point.
“The desert is a part of us,” he said, quietly, so she had to lean a little closer to hear. She immediately regretted the decision, when the proximity meant she inhaled his masculine fragrance – something woody and alpine, spicy and dark. She pulled away again quickly, sitting with her back ramrod straight in her chair.
“Of who?”
“Your brother. Me.” He gestured around the room. “Most of these people.” She followed his gaze, her stark difference to those assembled hitting her anew. While they were calm and businesslike, he pulsed with a raw animalism that reminded her of a wild beast, impossible to tame, a creature seeking the freedom of the desert with only the elements as his companions.
“I don’t doubt it.”
“What did you think, when Tasim took you out there?”
She turned towards the window. It showed a view of white sand giving way to a distant, glistening ocean. It was different to the desert she’d seen in Mosar. That had been endless and golden, with little rays of heat radiating from the surface of the sand, so that she’d felt warmth rushing up her legs from the ground as they’d walked.
She contemplated his question for a moment, turning to face him right as something shook her chair. Not just her chair, but the whole room. An earthquake? Impossible. Not in this region. Something hit her hard on the side of the head. There was the sound of splintering glass then a burning sensation on the right side of her body; her face ached. She stared at Elon in total confusion, trying to make sense of what was happening, but he was already moving, pulling on her arms so that she was in a standing position. The air around them smelled unlike anything she’d ever known – clay and ash and something else she didn’t recognise. He pulled her quickly, so she went to shake away from him. His grip tightened.
“What are you doing?” Her teeth were chattering.
“Come with me.”
His dark eyes were looking beyond her, focussed on the rest of the room. On autopilot, she turned to see what he was looking at and gasped as the reality of their situation hit her square between the eyes.
Half the room was on fire, delegates running in all directions, some hunched over their desks. Glass had shattered, and the ceiling was in pieces, likely to fall at any time.
What had happened?
“We have to save them, your highness,” she said, urgently, gesturing to the people who were hunched over their desks.
Elon’s lips compressed and then he bent down, grabbing her around the waist and lifting Ella over his shoulder. “There is no time for them, but you I can save.”
