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Everyone kept waiting for one or the other to snap – for either Malik to start shouting or Kyria to start crying – but nothing happened. Instead, the two were entirely civil, exchanging nods upon passing each other in the hallway and when either was asked about what happened, Malik would only shrug and Kyria would only smile, neither of them inclined to say a word.
On Malik’s birthday, Vanna hosted a small intimate dinner in their private wing, with only the other four young sheikhs as their guests. She was quietly hoping thatthiswould be the night the two would make up, but instead everyone’s jaws ended up dropping when Malik and Kyria took their seats at opposite ends of the table, as far apart from each other as possible. Vanna did a quick mental tally and almost let out a gasp. This would make ittendays in a row.Ten, dear God!This was the longest those two were at odds, and she wondered uneasily if this was far more serious than she had thought.
As soon as dinner ended, Vanna sent a politely worded summons to her younger son and paced the length of her room while waiting. She waited and waited, and her temper simmered hotter all the while, knowing that Malik was doing this deliberately to let her know that he preferred she mind her own business.
Ha!
Too bad for him, she was his mother, and it was her God-given right to meddle until the day she died.
When Malik finally entered her room, she managed to wait only until the door closed behind him before snapping, “Have you lost your manners that you do not mind making your own mother wait?”
“If I say yes,” he drawled, “will you give me leave so that I may search for my missing manners?”
Vanna threw her son a fuming look. “This is not the time to be funny, Malik.”
But this only made his lips twist in a sardonic smile. “And you think I don’t know this?”
Oh!
Her mouth formed an O of dismayed surprise as she saw the look in his eyes.
“It’s over, Mother.”
“What do you mean?” she whispered, stricken.
“She doesn’t want me,” the sheikh said quietly. “That is all you need to know, and this will be the last time we speak of it.” Malik spun away without another word, the door shutting closed with a thud of such painful finality behind him that it made Vanna jerk.
Outside, Malik strode down the hallway at a brisk, grim pace. He was going to fuck his brains out with the first willing woman he found, and he would keep doing it until he had thrown out every piece of her that was lodged in his heart.
As Malik left the palace in a quest to thoroughly annihilate his feelings, the girl whom he sought to forget was doing the opposite. Curled up in her bed, Kyria allowed her tears to fall under the cover of darkness. She missed Malik, but she felt she had lost the right to be close to him again. His coldness hurt, but more than that, it made her feel ashamed. Almost two weeks had passed and even now she could still vividly recall with humiliating clarity how his touch made her feel.
She shouldn’t have felt such pleasure, but she had. She should have moved away, but she hadn’t. As such, all of this was her fault, and now only one question remained.
What to do about it?
Kyria fell asleep before she could decide on an answer, but unbeknownst to her (and Malik for that matter), the same question was being asked in another part of the castle, where Vanna was currently in a secret meeting with Altair and her nephews.
Should they or should they not interfere?
The five of them weighed the pros and cons, and in the end their verdict was unanimous. Painful as it was to see both Malik and Kyria struggling, this might be the final test that the two needed to overcome. Whatever it was that had them at odds, it might be for the best. Malik had really never allowed himself to see anyone else, and whether Kyria knew this or not, she hadn’t been able to see anyone else beyond Malik either. But things had changed, and now only time would be able to tell if they were truly for each other.
****
TIME HEALED ALL WOUNDSor so they said, but what few ever cared to add was that some wounds could be picky. Some wounds needed a certain time to heal and unfortunately for both Malik and Kyria, that time hadn’t come yet. For the sheikh, his temporary remedy was in devoting himself to his role as minister in the newly formed cabinet of Khalil, now the Emir Sheikh of Ramil. He kept himself as busy as he could, and what free time was left was divided between his breeding business and finding more women to fuck.
For Kyria, her options were more limited as Khalil was still in the process of reversing the kingdom’s outdated laws that tended to heavily police the actions of women. She poured all her time and effort in her studies, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to be so tired that the moment she’d get in bed, she’d fall asleep and not even have the energy to dream. It wasn’t her favorite thing these days, dreaming, mostly because when she did, it would always be about Malik andthatmorning.
Shortly after his coronation, the king married Harper Griffiths, an American woman whom Kyria had the pleasure of meeting several times in the past. She liked Harper a lot, and so when the king had asked for her help to secure the queen’s position at court, Kyria hadn’t even thought of hesitating, never mind if the particulars of his request were somewhat odd. For his birthday, he wanted Kyria to mingle with his guests and make more effort than usual to speak her mind. Despite her private misgivings, she did as asked, and the results were exactly as she feared.
One of the foreigners she had talked to started making a scene, and forcing herself to swallow her pride and anger, Kyria had prepared herself to apologize – only to realize she didn’t have to. Harper had suddenly stepped in, defending her just like the queen everyone knew she could be, and it was then Kyria understood that this was all part of Khalil’s plan.
How terrifyingly devious, she had thought back then. Conscience prompted Kyria to tell the truth about the role she played, but the opportunity only came up months later, following Khalil and Harper’s rather controversial separation and subsequent reconciliation. When told the truth, however, Harper had only snorted, saying, “Khalil’s actions may have surprised you, but it’s something I’d totally expect from him. I’ve always known he was a devil.”
“You knew he was a devil,” Kyria had echoed with genuine puzzlement, “and yet you still married him?”
The words, uttered in complete innocence, had made Harper turn red, but when Kyria stammered out an apology, the queen had only waved her words away with a grimace. “It’s okay. You have a point, and to answer your question, yes, I did still marry him despite knowing what a huge jerk he is.” The queen had then made a face. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this but...sometimes, the things that seem so wrong can actually turn out to be the best thing you can ever ask for. All you need to do is give it a chance and see where it goes.”
The words unintentionally struck a chord inside of her, and Kyria found herself mulling over them, wondering what it could mean for her. Could those words also be true forthatwhich she still couldn’t bear to think of?
