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“Nothing absolutely certain for now,” Altair answered as he returned to his seat at the opposite end of the table. “And you? Any developments on the emotional front we should know about?”
“It’s going—-” Tarif broke off when he realized the other sheikh had almost baited him into giving an actual answer. “Fuck you, Altair.”
But no one was paying attention to him. The other sheikhs were too busy laughing, and Tarif was exasperated when Khalil, Malik, and Rayyan reached for their pockets to dig out cash. “What did you even make a bet for?”
“The first person to have you act like the besotted fool you are,” Khalil answered without hesitation.
Tarif flipped everyone the bird. “Go to hell.”
“How are things between you two?” the king asked. “Since you haven’t fucked up for a month at work, I’m guessing it’s good, but I could be wrong.”
“Why are you all so damn invested in my relationship—-” Tarif broke off when the other sheikhs started grinning again. “What now?” he demanded in exasperation.
“You used the big R word, brother,” Malik informed him gravely.
“Big what?”
“Relationship,” Altair spelled out.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
“Does that mean you’ve told her you love her then?” Rayyan asked curiously.
Tarif’s face became inscrutable. “No.”
The other sheikhs exchanged looks, but it was the king who finally spoke, asking, “Why not? Your feelings – and the lady’s, too, actually – have been obvious for quite some time.” He saw his cousin’s lips twist at his words, and Khalil frowned. “Are you saying I’m mistaken?”
“There was a time,” Tarif said lightly, “when the whole palace also believed my mother was an angel rather than the psychotic bitch she was.”
Khalil wasn't able to answer right away. His Aunt Tamara had been monstrously manipulative, and even though Tarif had never blamed any of the other sheikhs for not realizing what he had been going through—-
A part of Khalil did blame himself for it, and he knew that the others felt the same, too. They had known each other their whole lives, and yet none of them had even a single fucking inkling that Tarif had been suffering that much.
But...things were different now. Tarif might think that their constant ribbing had to do with their collective desire to bring him down a peg or two, but in all honesty, Khalil and the other sheikhs had one other motive – one that was too appallingly altruistic the king knew they would never actually admit to it out loud.
And the truth was...they all just wanted the damn man to have his chance at happiness.
They might not have had a chance to help their brother against Tamara, but they sure as hell had a chance now in helping Tarif make things work with the woman he loved. And because they knew the way Tarif’s mind worked, they had simply pretended not to see the woods for the trees and jested about the matter like Tarif’s interest in Anisah was but a temporary sexual obsession.
Tarif had to see for himself that what he felt for Anisah was more than that, and Khalil and the others believed it truly was so, if the couple’s behavior in the recent weeks was anything to go by. To test the waters, they had even started mixing dreadful words such as “love” and “feelings” in their taunts – words that even the married Al-Atassi sheikhs normally avoided like the plague.
The old Tarif would have bolted out of his chair the moment he heard of such words, would probably have even broke things off with Anisah if only to prove to himself that those words did not apply to him.
But the Tarif in this room was a changed man.
Malik had used the dreaded R-word – relationship – and although it had made Tarif swear, it had not made the other sheikh leave. Rayyan had taken things one level further by using the dreaded L-word next – love – but this hadn’t even made Tarif flinch.
Instead, the other sheikh had stunned all of them by giving Rayyan a direct answer...and even speaking of his own mother, which Tarif had not done so for years.
And the fact that he did so now—-
The king chose his next words with great care, knowing that the slightest show of sympathy would alienate Tarif for good. “I won’t lie and say that I have not noticed certain similarities between your fiancée and your mother, but do you not think their differences are just as evident? Your mother’s obsession with the kingdom was unhealthy—-”
Tarif snorted. “And Anisah, with the way she hasn’t missed a single flag-raising ceremony, isn’t unhealthy?”
Khalil winced. “You have a point.”
“I don’t think Anisah’s love for Ramil is unhealthy,” Malik interjected in hopes of salvaging the conversation and painting Anisah in a good light. “Rather, I think her patriotism is quite, err, cute.”
