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She took a step away from him, just as her father leapt off the powerful stallion and strode towards them.
‘Liah, thank God! You’re safe,’ he said, then dragged her into his arms.
She clasped him around the waist and let herself be held, aware of the shudders wracking his tall, lean body.
When he drew back at last, and held her at arm’s length, she was shocked by the worn, weary expression on his face.
Her father was her rock—a man who never faltered, never lost his cool...at least not completely. But his hands were shaking as he clasped her upper arms, the look in his eyes one of utter relief.
‘You’re not hurt?’ he asked, his voice breaking.
Guilt seared her insides. She’d known he would be concerned she hadn’t returned sooner from the oasis, but she hadn’t expected him to be quite this frantic.
‘No, I’m fine. I’m sorry I didn’t come home sooner...’ She swallowed, trying to explain why she was in Zokar—and had been for four long days. Although she was a little surprised her father hadn’t already confronted Kamal. ‘There’s no mobile phone service here, so we weren’t able to let you know where we were,’ she said lamely.
He cradled her cheek, then to her surprise let out a wry laugh. ‘It’s okay, Liah, I’m not mad, just incredibly grateful you survived.’
Survived?It was her turn to frown.Survived what, exactly?
Before she could even formulate the question, her surprise turned to astonishment when her father turned to Kamal and clasped his arm, before shaking his hand vigorously. ‘Thank you for saving my daughter. My family and Narabia are for ever in your debt.’
Kamal nodded, apparently completely unfazed by the conversation. ‘There is no debt to be paid. It was my honour to protect Kaliah.’
I’m sorry—what now?
She’d expected her father to be furious, to demand to know what the heck Kamal had done, bringing her to the gorge—and keeping her here against her will. And, while she had been more than prepared to lie on his behalf, to protect him from any repercussions, now that Kamal and her were, well, friends of a sort, her father’s decision to completely absolve him was a little aggravating, frankly.
‘Excuse me, but what exactly did he rescue me from this time?’ she asked, testily, interrupting the developing bromance.
Her father’s eyebrows hitched up his forehead, then he frowned. ‘The sandstorms, of course,’ he said, looking at her now with something less than extreme relief. ‘Four major storms converged on the region the afternoon after you headed to the oasis—we had to declare a national emergency. Your mother has been coordinating relief efforts in Narabia while I’ve been searching for you. Nearly half of Raif’s tribal lands were hit. Two people died in Zafar from sand inhalation when it swept through there, and it buried the encampment at Aleaza. I thought you were under it, until we received word that Prince Kamal had made a detouren routeback to Zokar to check on you.’
He thrust his fingers through his hair, his drawn face making the guilt sweep through Liah again—this time on steroids.
Good grief.Kamal really had rescued her this time by insisting they leave the oasis. And she’d had no idea. Sandstorms were very rarely deadly, but she would have been alone and completely unprepared in the middle of what sounded like the worst storms for a generation. No wonder her father had been so frantic. He had to be exhausted too.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, horrified at her own selfishness. Her father had been trying to find her, when he would have wanted to be in Narabia to coordinate relief efforts himself. Could she actually have screwed up any more comprehensively than this?Doubtful.‘Is everyone okay in Narabia?’ she asked. They were her people, people she was one day supposed to rule, and yet she’d let them down again by going AWOL. And she’d had no idea.
Nausea joined the lump of shame forming in her throat. Her father had told her a week ago that not everything was about her. Perhaps it was past time she stopped thinking about herself—stopped panicking about how she would ever be good enough to be a queen and actually began behaving like one.
‘The repair bill is going to be enormous, but no one was badly hurt, which is the only thing that matters,’ he said.
‘Dad, I’m so, so sorry.’ She flung her arms around his waist again, buried her head against his sturdy chest and breathed in his familiar scent—leather and horses. The tears lodged in her throat like boulders.
He wrapped his arms around her, so solid, so strong, so dependable.
‘Hey, Liah, it’s okay,’ he said as he kissed her hair, in a way she remembered him having done so many times before, ever since she’d been a little girl when he’d always praised her out of all proportion to her achievements. ‘We’ve found you and you’re okay, that’s the main thing,’ he finished as he gave her a final squeeze.
She pulled back, swallowing furiously to contain the emotion pushing against her chest.
Kamal stood stoically beside them, saying nothing. But she spotted the confusion in his gaze before he could mask it. And it made her feel so much worse.
She had always had her father’s approval, her family’s unconditional love and support, even when she’d done nothing to earn it. While Kamal had had no one to protect him from that awful man who had beaten him. Everything he had, he’d had to fight for, while she had never had to fight for anything.
She’d fought her destiny for so long, even resented the fact she, and not her brothers, would one day be expected to rule Narabia. It was way past time she stepped up to the plate and began to earn at least some of her father’s respect.
So when her father frowned, his gaze going back and forth between the two of them, she decided she would do anything necessary now not to make this situation worse.
‘Just out of interest, Kamal, whydidn’tyou return my daughter to the Golden Palace several days ago?’ he asked, his gaze probing now as his euphoria at finding Kaliah began to fade.
