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‘Where is the Emir?’ she asked, but the man in front of her said nothing as he strode ahead of her through the long corridors and past the accumulated treasures of millennia and out the front doors of the palace and into an inky night.
A car idled quietly, its lights on low beam.
And there was Kareem, standing there, watching her approach. He bowed low, his hand on his chest.
‘Sheikha,’ he said. ‘I have done you a great disservice. Please forgive me.’
And she guessed it was Kareem who had been alerted to her email to Matt and who had then alerted Rashid.
‘It doesn’t matter, Kareem. It was never meant to be. Can you tell me what is happening?’
‘You are leaving,’ he said, and, as if to support his words, her suitcase was delivered to the top of the steps. She swallowed.
‘Now?’ she said, caught between relief and a pang of regret for all she’d leave behind. The soft velvet night sky. Atiyah. Her heart. ‘Already?’
‘Already. His Excellency insisted.’
‘Where is Rashid?’
‘Waiting at the plane. He thought you would be happier travelling to the airport without him.’
Coward, she thought, but it was an accusation tinged with sadness. So she was to be seen off the premises like an employee who had been dismissed, her possessions hastily flung together, no chance to say goodbye to those she wished to? There was a lump in her throat the size and shape of a small child. ‘You’ll give Atiyah a hug for me?’ she said, trying to push back on the sting of tears, and Kareem solemnly nodded.
She hauled in a breath, casting a look over her shoulder at the amazing fairy-tale palace that wasn’t, before she turned back to Kareem and said with false brightness, ‘Then let’s go.’
* * *
He saw the headlights approach from where he stood at the foot of the stairs and felt sick to the stomach. She was leaving. Well, she’d always been going to leave, she was just leaving a little earlier, that was all.
And how could he not let her go? How could he keep her here as his prisoner and punish her for his own blind stupidity? How could he expect her to forgive him?
The car drew alongside the plane, its engines starting to whine, pulling up so the back door lined up with the red carpet that had been rolled out waiting for it, and Kareem emerged and offered his hand to the other passenger. Rashid swallowed.
Tora.
Looking like a goddess. Wearing the robe of orange and yellow she’d worn that day when they’d toured Malik’s palaces. Such a few days ago and yet it seemed like a lifetime, so much had happened, so much had been felt. He saw her thank Kareem as he handed her out and retrieved her suitcase and then she glanced up and her eyes snagged on his. She looked away at her feet, and his heart snapped in two.
Well, what did he expect? It was no more than he deserved. She’d told him she loved him and he’d flung that love back in her face with a few choice insults besides. Call himself an Emir? A ruler of men? He couldn’t even rule his own heart and mind. And if he couldn’t make them act in consensus, how was he supposed to manage a country?
As he might have, with this woman by his side. He might have believed it was possible.
‘Tora,’ he said as she drew closer.
She angled her head, her eyes sharp like daggers, even if their edges seemed a little dulled with disappointment. ‘Seeing me off the premises, Rashid? Making sure I don’t escape with the silverware.’ She held her arms out. ‘Do you need to frisk me to make sure I haven’t run off with any of Qajaran’s treasures to pawn when I get home?’
He sucked in air that smelt of aviation fuel. He deserved that. ‘I was wrong,’ he said. ‘And in so many ways, and I know I can never apologise for all the wrongs I have done to you. But please believe me when I say I am truly sorry for the hurt I have done to you.’
Her lips pressed tightly together. ‘Well, I guess that’s all right, then. So, what about my divorce?’
‘You will be notified when it is finalised.’
He saw her hesitate. ‘What will become of Atiyah now?’
And it struck him that even in the midst of her own private hell, she was worried about his sister. His sister, for whom Tora had cared more and been more loving. God, he’d been a fool!
‘She will be fine. She smiled at me tonight.’
‘She did?’ And Tora smiled, too, for a moment, until she remembered why she was here. ‘Excellent,’ she said before her teeth found her lip, and she looked up at the stairs, putting one hand on the rail. ‘I’m looking forward to being back in Sydney.’
