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“Does Brianna want you?”
“She seems to want me well enough when she is naked with me.”
Cairo seemed to dislike that statement.
“She did not seem particularly like she wishes to marry you, though.”
He waved his hand. “Neither did Ariel. Did she wish to marry you?”
“That’s different.”
“Why? Because Brianna is your friend, and you feel possessive of her?” Riyaz asked.
“Did you only decide to have her to get at me? Was she collateral?”
“Do you love her?”
“No,” said Cairo, frowning. “Not like you mean.”
“She loves you.”
He hated that she did, but she’d said it herself, and why should Cairo not know it?
“She doesn’t really. She idolizes me because I rescued her. It is not the same.”
“It is. She would’ve chosen you. Though... She cannot resist me. These are inconvenient things. Bodies. I have had no prior experience with it. It is... Intoxicating.”
“Marry her then,” Cairo said. “But you must have a ceremony that gives the country hope. And you cannot have a bride that looks as though she is being forced.”
“I will handle it. And there will be no consequence for you and Ariel. It is also a good thing, I think,” he said slowly. “Yes. It is a good thing. Her marrying you or me... The end result is the same. It puts to right something that was wrong. It does not allow her father to have the final say, and it... It may heal something. For our people.”
“You are not quite so far gone as you allowed me to believe.”
“I was,” he said. “Brianna is remarkable.”
It was no less than the truth.
“We will announce your marriage, and my upcoming nuptials before the people. I will appear before them for the first time.” He nodded. “Yes. This is the way. It will be an excellent first appearance.”
“You should get a haircut,” said Cairo.
“No. There are certain things about my experience that I cannot erase. And there are certain things that I choose to keep. I will never be the king that our father was. After what I’ve been through, it’s impossible. But I will work to win back every single year that I lost. Every single year we all lost. I will be the ruler this country needs. On that you can trust me. Now. There are apartments set aside for you and your wife. Apartments fitting the new head of the military. We all have our responsibilities.”
Cairo looked at him, hard. “Do you love her?”
Everything inside of Riyaz rejected that. Rejected anything like it. He had to keep his emotions more stable than that. He was a potential danger, he knew.
That was why.
He had to protect her. So he had to be in control of himself.
“I don’t love,” said Riyaz. “But I want her. And I will have her. And you... You won’t stop me.”
“You’re right,” said Cairo. “I won’t. Because I have the woman that I want... You should have the woman you want.”
“So cheaply you sell your friend. The woman who loves you.”
“Do you intend to hurt her?”
