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“Mother, please, wait,” he said, interrupting her before she got too carried away. “You must let me finish.”
His mother looked confused by his insistence and just as she was about to ask what was going on, the large doors at the far end of the room opened up and his father walked in.
The Sheikh Itamar Kandalama was a tall, firm man with sharp features who towered over all. He ruled fairly, if not exactly kindly, and made decisions with the best interests of the nation in mind. It made him a good ruler. It did not make him a good father.
Ahmed sucked in a quick breath, even as his mother rose and crossed the room to her husband with a smile on her face. They embraced quickly and she kissed either of Itamar’s cheeks, before turning to walk back towards their son. She began talking immediately thereafter.
“Our son has made a wonderful announcement, Ahmed!” she cooed, her voice laced with giddiness, telling Ahmed that she had all but forgotten his request to hear him out before making any adjustments.
“Is that so?” asked his father, his voice as deep and stern as the rest of him. A single dark eyebrow rose in question as his dark eyes darted towards Ahmed.
Instantly, Ahmed felt sick. It was one thing to tell his mother, but his father was an entirely different animal. Aisha was softer with her children and doted endlessly on her only son. She would not be pleased with his announcement or for his love of Keisha, but she would be much more accommodating than his father would be. At least she would try to bargain with him, to make them both happy, and when she could not, Ahmed felt confident that eventually she would cave to his personal desires.
But his father?
Ahmed knew he had to reveal his intentions and his love, but it made his stomach roil about as though he might vomit at any moment. He knew his father would not stand for it and Ahmed was trying to desperately come up with an argument to counter his father. Because if he could not convince Itamar to allow him to marry Keisha, then he had no idea what he would do instead.
It was difficult to go against a Sheikh.
“Well?” his father prompted impatiently as he and his wife strode across the room, finally coming to stand before their son. “Are you going to share this announcement with your father?”
His tone was as close as it ever came to teasing, likely a result of Aisha’s presence and her own excitement rather than anything on Itamar’s part.
Sucking in a harsh breath, Ahmed braced himself for the fight to come. This would not go well. He nodded once. “Yes, my announcement. I… I have asked to speak with both of you, because… because I intend to marry.”
Aisha clapped her hands and laughed a little, thrilled once more by the announcement. Itamar did not look nearly as excited, but he looked pleased. Father and son had been going rounds about choosing a bride and this seemed like an end to the fighting.
Oh, if only he knew, Ahmed thought miserably. I suppose in a second, he will.
“I will get the list of young women I’ve been making for years,” Aisha said, emphasizing years to let her son know just how long she had been waiting for this particular announcement.
He sighed in dread, knowing that now he would have to do this. “Actually, mother, that is very kind, but also very unnecessary.”
Both his mother and his father froze. They had been only moderately surprised by the announcement of marriage; it was high time that he stopped being a child and settle down for the inevitable. But this? To already have someone in mind?
Finally, his mother’s enthusiasm began to drop. She must have realized that the announcement was less about the marriage and more about the woman he intended to marry, and she must have realized, too, that he did not have access to the same family names that she did.
Swallowing harshly, he finally came out and said it: “I will marry Keisha Singh.”
He waited for the fall out from his announcement, but initially it did not come. Both his father’s and his mother’s expressions were blank, as though they were uncertain of what he just said. When his mother’s eyebrows pulled together in a confused frown and she looked at her husband inquisitively, he realized what it was: They had no idea who she was.
“Singh?” his mother questioned. “Is she farther North?”
Ahmed considered his options quickly. Perhaps, if he acted fast enough, he could pretend—at least for the time being—that Keisha came from a well to do family that was—
But it was already too late. His father fixed him with a sudden, piercing stare, his eyes hot coals, flaring with the promise of danger and violence. He had already realized what his dearest wife was overlooking.
“I have heard the name Singh before,” he said in a low voice that was eerily calm and very at odds with the rest of his expression, not to mention the tension laced through his wide shoulders. “And it is not for any respectable family that I know.”
Aisha’s mouth snapped shut as she turned to look at Ahmed with wide eyes. She looked… hurt. As though her son had lied to her. Which, in all fairness, he supposed he had, if only by omission.
He swallowed again, his eyes darting between his parents as he struggled to find something to say that would convince them. “I—”
“You would marry a beggar?”
Anger flared within him. “She is not a beggar!” Not exactly.
His father fumed, Ahmed’s vehement denial and defense of the woman, enough to condemn her in the eyes of his father. “I forbid you to marry this woman. In fact, I forbid you from marrying any woman who is not on this list of your mother’s! You will respect our wishes and this family!”
