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More than that, the Sheikh had seemed to have come around there at the end. The anger had fizzled out and died, replaced by a surprising tenderness once he realized that she was pregnant. Perhaps that trumped everything, even her lowly position. Perhaps that was why he’d turned so kind and offered her this lovely, lavish guest room to rest in.
She hoped so.
Her hands went to her stomach, rubbing affectionately though there was as of yet no bump to show that she was with child.
Soon, she thought with a small smile. Soon I will be the size of a watermelon and I’ll waddle like a duck! And then I’ll give birth to a beautiful baby! Maybe even a boy, one who will grow to be the next Sheikh after his father.
The thought made her giggle a little. Who would have ever thought that Keisha Singh—Keisha Kandalama now—would give birth to the next Sheikh?
But even if the child was not a boy, she would be happy and love it with all her heart. It represented the best, happiest part of her and of Ahmed, she was sure. The child would be blessed with the best from both of them and it would grow into this world like a beautiful garden, she was sure of it.
The knocking that had initially awoke Keisha came again and she realized that it was someone at her door. Thinking that it was perhaps Ahmed—she did not know how long she had dozed off or what he had been doing in the meantime, and was suddenly very anxious to see him—she slid off the plush, huge bed and put her bare feet on the cold marble floor. She shivered a little at it, then hurried across the room to the large double doors. Pulling them open, she was surprised—and just a little bit disappointed—to see that it was not Ahmed at all, but two lovely women.
They were both smiling and had very similar features. Their faces heart shaped, their eyes dark, but lovely lined in thick black lashes and heavily done eyeliner. Their hair was just shy of being pitch black and hung down their backs almost to their rears in perfect, sleek plaits. One wore a purple Sari and the other wore a pink one, both lined in intricate gold designs and draped again by sheer, vibrant mesh and lace. They could have been twins, they were so similar, but Keisha had no idea who they might be.
The one in purple smiled sweetly and offered her hand. “I am Naiad, Ahmed’s oldest sister,” she announced, offering her hand which was delicate and soft. Keisha took it gently, then Naiad introduced the young woman beside her. “This is my younger sister, Mahira. Is not she lovely?”
Mahira was indeed lovely and it seemed like she most certainly knew it, too. She grinned widely showing perfectly straight, white teeth against her ruby red lips. “You must be our newest sister,” Mahira said in an excited, but quiet voice as though this were a delicious secret to be gossiped and shared between the three of them.
Keisha smiled hesitantly. Both of these girls—women—seemed very pleasant and they were so beautiful, both smiling happily at Keisha, that surely they were going to be the portion of Ahmed’s family that would accept her.
Opening the door wider, Keisha stepped back to allow them inside. “Please, come in? I’m afraid I’ve been sleeping most of the day away and it is so very wasteful. I would much rather sit and visit with the both of you.”
Mahira and Naiad both shared a look that might have almost been sly, but they smiled brightly at Keisha and thanked her quickly as they stepped into the room, as though worried she might change her mind at any moment. The two beautiful women hurried inside and gestured behind them at the door.
“You should close that,” Naiad told Keisha casually, still smiling sweetly. “There are so many ears in the palace and I think I would rather have a moment for just us girls before all of this business spills out into the rest of the world, would not you?”
Keisha was not entirely sure what to say to that. What business was she referring to? A stone of doubt dropped down into Keisha’s gut and she hesitated. Did they mean the wedding? The… the pregnancy? Or was she just talking about getting to know each other as sisters before the whole world turned upside down with the news of the only son of the Sheikh getting married?
It was impossible to say, but Keisha hoped blindly for the last of those thoughts and nodded her head. “Of course.” She went to the door and pushed it shut until it latched with a soft echoing sound. When she turned back around to face the women, both of them were already seated on the bed, their long legs curled up beneath them in mirrored images of each other.
Keisha was reminded of Siamese cats, their tails curled in opposite directions, but otherwise seating themselves in the exact same position. Even their painted, beautiful faces seemed catlike. Not necessarily sinister, but… mischievous. As though they always had something else going on rather than just what was floating around on the surface.
Mahira patted the bed between them, indicating that Keisha should join them on the bed.
Taking a deep breath, Keisha smiled at them and nodded. She walked over to the bed and slid up onto it, sitting on her shins rather than on one foot like the other two.
“So,” Naiad began, her smile still in place as her head titled slightly to the side, a cat cocking its head curiously as it inspected something. Most likely prey. “How did you meet Ahmed?”
Keisha swallowed heavily. Their meeting was innocent enough and she did not mind sharing the story, but would they continue with this question? Would they ask how long Keisha had been with Ahmed? Would they ask if… if the pregnancy was before the marriage? (Which it most certainly had to be.)
Clearing her throat, she began. “It was a year ago,” Keisha told them and instantly both of the other women’s features seemed to freeze. They seemed a little shocked by the revelation.
“A year ago?” Mahira repeated, eyes widening slightly as her face turned into a caricature of friendliness.
Naiad nudged her sister and gave her a pointed look, before looking back to Keisha with that same friendly smile. Except now there was something else flashing in her eyes. Keisha was not sure what it was exactly, but she did not think she liked it. “My sister is merely surprised that you have known our brother for so long and we have yet to hear a single thing about you. It hardly seems fair for us to know so little and for you to know so much, would you not agree?”
Keisha forced a smile, not explaining that the reason Ahmed’s family did not know of her was that they would not have approved of the involvement of a Sheikh’s son with a beggar woman. Surely, they knew that already anyway, did they not?
Beginning again, Keisha said, “We met a year ago. It was in the market and Ahmed, of course, was with his bodyguards. He had two that day and they were… overzealous.”
Ahmed was attractive. There were plenty of attractive men, Keisha supposed, each with a quality here or there that she found herself lingering on, but they never stayed in her mind for long. Keisha saw Ahmed only the one single time, but it was enough for his memory to lay embedded in her memory for the rest of her days. She was sure of it.
He walked with confidence and a lingering boredom that seemed impossible to cure. The guards who flanked either side of him told the entire crowd that he was a man of great importance, but Keisha could not say for certain who he was.
After all, there were foreign dignitaries who visited the city all the time and there were often council meetings or visiting nobles and any number of official people who might require guards such as those.
Keisha was intrigued and looked on from afar, but she had no impression of Ahmed one way or the other—beyond his physical attractiveness. She made a point of not having an impression, because of those guards. They meant that she surely would have no reason to be within ten feet of the man.
