AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You do not get to order me around. I have spent enough time in captivity.”
“But are not concerned at all about putting others in captivity,” said Ariel. “I’m pleased that you’re alive, Riyaz,” she said. “But it doesn’t give you license to act like a monster.”
“Monster or not. You’re both coming with me. Back to Nazul. These games have gone on long enough. It is time I begin my rule.”
And that was how they all ended up back in the helicopter. And Brianna felt absolutely shamefaced sitting next to Cairo, with Riyaz across from her, and the very delicate and beautiful Ariel by him.
She couldn’t even bring herself to feel anxious about the helicopter ride this time. There was too much else that was going on.
Marriage.
She would lose everything. Her dreams for a normal life. She had loved Cairo all this time and never made a move toward him because she’d known he couldn’t give her what she wanted.
Her sweet little family home. Her sweet little family life.
And now Riyaz thought she could marry him? Live in a palace? Be...royalty? How?
You did touch him. You never really wanted Cairo. Not like this. Not like you want him.
But why was Riyaz even doing this? To save face after Cairo had taken his fiancée from him?
What was worse? Being forced into marriage and losing her last grasp on her idyllic, simple-life fantasy?
Or being forced to marry a man who was only doing it to get back at his brother?
It didn’t take long for them to get back to Nazul. For them to get back to the palace.
“Go into the palace,” Riyaz said. “I will follow you there.”
The helicopter went away, and Brianna stood beside him as he simply lingered, there in the desert. She watched as the sun touched his face, and even in her fury at him, she recognized the moment. His freedom. This first time just being. Outside. In the light.
“Riyaz... You cannot demand that I marry you.”
“Certainly I can. You are here. And I am the Sheikh.”
“Riyaz... You were held prisoner in a dungeon. You would do the same thing to me?”
“The whole world makes demands of you that you do not wish. And this... It is not a dungeon.”
And then he turned and walked back into the palace, leaving her there to marinate on her fate.
“How dare you make war with me when you have taken my friend—who I told you was fragile, and you have...”
Riyaz waved a hand, cutting his brother off. “Do not speak to me in such a way. You seem to think that because you lived on the outside for all of these years that you know more than I do. That you get to make commands. Dictating what you believe to be the right thing from your position. You have pulled the strings on all of this, as you have sought to pull the strings on me.”
“That is a lie. Everything that I have done has been for your benefit. Except for this. I want her. And I have wanted her from the beginning.” Cairo’s voice went rough. “I have... I have cared for her since I was a child. And it is... It felt a betrayal to me then. And a folly. And I could not control that which I wanted from her. When she was with me I... I found that I could not give her to you. She could only ever be mine.”
And Riyaz did not want her. He did not want two wives. He wanted Brianna, and there was no scope for anything else. No scope for anyone else. And he did not know why he hadn’t made that declaration in the first place.
It was only her. Only Brianna.
Would you do the same thing to me?
It wasn’t the same. And anyway. Had he not been denied enough? He would have her. He would keep her. He would give her more than she had ever been given. And perhaps... Perhaps this had been a big disappointment to her. Cairo marrying another woman. He would keep her from disappointment.
“Are you going to kill me?” Cairo asked.
“No. Enough blood has been shed in these halls. I am deeply uninterested in killing you over a woman that I do not want. I want Brianna.”
