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That undersold the situation.
“And what are we to do?”
“I don’t know.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CAIROFACEDHISBROTHER, who sat on the throne, looking ill-suited to the position. Their father had been sophisticated. Always well-dressed. Always well-groomed. Riyaz looked like a relic from another time. And a rather dangerous one at that.
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No. Enough blood has been shed in these halls. I am deeply uninterested in killing you over a woman that I do not want. I want Brianna.”
“Does Brianna want you?”
“She seems to want me well enough when she is naked with me.”
Cairo did not especially wish to think of his friend that way. Or his brother.
“She did not seem particularly like she wishes to marry you, though.”
He waved his hand. “Neither did Ariel. Did she wish to marry you?”
“That’s different.”
“Why? Because Brianna is your friend, and you feel possessive of her?”
“Did you only decide to have her to get at me? Was she collateral?”
“Do you love her?”
“No,” said Cairo. “Not like you mean.”
“She loves you.”
Riyaz looked... Mystified by that. Haunted by it.
Guilt stabbed his chest. “She doesn’t really. She idolizes me because I rescued her. It is not the same.”
“It is. She would’ve chosen you. Though... She cannot resist me. These are inconvenient things. Bodies. I have had no prior experience with it. It is... Intoxicating.”
Yet again more information than Cairo had wanted about his brother and his friend. “Marry her then,” he said. “But you must have a ceremony that gives the country hope. And you cannot have a bride that looks as though she is being forced.”
“I will handle it. And there will be no consequence for you and Ariel. It is also a good thing, I think,” he said slowly. “Yes. It is a good thing. Her marrying you or me... The end result is the same. It puts to right something that was wrong. It does not allow her father to have the final say, and it... It may heal something. For our people.”
“You are not quite so far gone as you allowed me to believe.”
“I was,” he said. “Brianna is remarkable.”
Brianna might not love Riyaz, but he had the feeling that Riyaz loved Brianna. Whether or not his brother would openly apply that word to it or not. “We will announce your marriage, and my upcoming nuptials before the people. I will appear before them for the first time.” He nodded. “Yes. This is the way. It will be an excellent first appearance.”
“You should get a haircut,” said Cairo.
“No. There are certain things about my experience that I cannot erase,” he said, gesturing to the scars on his face. “And there are certain things that I choose to keep. I will never be the king that our father was. After what I’ve been through, it’s impossible. But I will work to win back every single year that I lost. Every single year we all lost. I will be the ruler this country needs. On that you can trust me. Now. There are apartments set aside for you and your wife. Apartments fitting the new head of the military. We all have our responsibilities.”
Ariel was still sitting in the room with Brianna when Cairo appeared. “Good news. We’re not being thrown in the dungeon.”
“That is good news,” she said softly.
