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Lacey made him look at his life differently. She showed him what really mattered. “Perhaps I was only supposed to hold on to the crown prince title temporarily.”
Ashraf gave him a suspicious look. “Do you really believe this, or are you trying to talk yourself into giving it up again?”
“I was holding on to the title until you were ready.”
“You were born a crown prince,” Ashraf said, his voice rising with anger. “You were destined to take care of this country, just like you were destined to marry for duty.”
“I marry tomorrow,” Hafiz said, grimacing.
His brother studied him carefully. “If you don’t marry, you will be exiled. For life.”
Hafiz flinched. He lifted his head and allowed the cool breeze to glide across his skin. Inhaling the scent of palm trees and sand warmed from the sun, he felt the land beckon his Bedouin blood. He opened his eyes and stared at the dunes in the distance, feeling the depth of his connection to his ancestors.
“Marry their choice of bride.” Ashraf gave him a firm shake. “You were going to before. What could possibly have changed?”
“I found out what life was like without Lacey.” Life without any contact with his woman was slowly destroying him. Hafiz returned his attention to the horizon, wondering where she could be. She’d vanished, sending her message loud and clear. Don’t follow me. Don’t find me. Get on with your life.
“Do you have any idea what life will be like without Rudaynah?” Ashraf asked.
Living away from the land he loved was a misery all of its own. No matter where he had been and how much he enjoyed his travels, his heart always heard the call from the land of his people. Sometimes the ancient call brushed against him like a haunting song. Other times, it crashed against him with the beat of tribal drums. “I’ve lived elsewhere,” Hafiz finally said.
“But always knowing that you could return in an instant,” Ashraf pointed out.
Hafiz closed his eyes, and his shoulders sagged. Was he wrong to consider life with Lacey when she’d made it clear she’d moved on without him? Was it foolish to hope for the impossible or was his faith in his love being tested?
“No matter what happens, you are my brother, and that will never change.”
Hafiz inhaled sharply as the emotion welled in his chest. Ashraf would never know how important it was to hear those words. He stepped forward and embraced his brother.
Ashraf returned the embrace. “And when I reign,” he promised fiercely, “you will be invited back to Rudaynah with open arms.”
“Thank you.” His words were muffled into his brother’s shoulders.
Ashraf stepped away and met his brother’s gaze. “But our father could reign for years. Decades. Are you willing to risk exile for that long?”
Hafiz realized he couldn’t answer that. What did that say about him and the strength of his love for Lacey? “I don’t know.”
“Rudaynah is a part of you,” his brother reminded him. “You can’t deny that.”
“But Lacey is a part of me, as well.” To deny that was to refuse the man he was. The man he could potentially be.
“Then for the next twenty-four hours you need to decide which one you can live without.” Ashraf pressed his lips together as his stark face tightened with apprehension. “Because this time, my brother, there’s no second chance.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE ELEGANT SURROUNDINGS in the lounge seemed a world away from the trendy nightclubs and blues bars of her past. She was a world away, Lacey decided as her fingers flew over the piano keys. Istanbul was a culturally diverse city, but it wasn’t home.
Home. Lacey gave a slight shake of her head. A simple word but a complicated idea. Home wasn’t St. Louis. She had no family or connection there. Nor was it Abu Dhabi. While she had friends in the beautiful city, she didn’t feel as if she had belonged.
She chose to move to Istanbul because it felt like a bridge between Hafiz’s world and hers. She tried to take the changes in stride, but she felt the loss of everything familiar. Of everything she’d left behind.
The only time she had felt at peace was in the penthouse apartment in Rudaynah. Lacey didn’t know why she missed that place so much. She had been hidden and isolated. She couldn’t count on the basic necessities. She’d had difficulty living in the sultanate, but that apartment had been the one place where she and Hafiz could be together.
