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“I thought it was a good opportunity to...to talk about expectations.” Her heart was thundering hard. “Because, of course, I have decided to marry you.”
A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “It would be awkward if not, considering the wedding is fast approaching.”
“Yes,” she said. “I suppose that’s true.”
“You know as the Sheikha, you can be in charge of any number of things. Just tell me what would make you happy. You can head up any cause that you would like. That is a common thing, is it not? For the spouses of those ruling the country.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “It is. So, I will find something that matters to me and set up a foundation.”
“Yes,” he said.
Something ached inside of her chest, but she opted to ignore it. Because she had to hope that this would help with her restlessness. That it would give her something to pin her desires onto.
And children.
She looked at him hard.
“Even when you were in the dungeon, did you know that you would get out? Did you believe in it?”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t. I never let myself wonder about that, I never let myself carry concern about it. I simply took the next breath.” He paused for a moment. “Do you want children?”
“What would you do if I told you I didn’t?”
“We both know that it might be too late for you to make such proclamations anyway. Given that we have not been careful.”
“I know.” She was silent for a breath. “I do want them. But I was just wondering... Since you never asked.”
“But you do. And that’s a good thing. Something that I can give you.”
She thought it was strange, the way that he phrased that. Something that he could give her. She wondered what he meant by that. She wondered what exactly that meant to him.
“A foundation. And children.”
And she was happy sitting there by his desk. Even though for some reason she hesitated to say it to him.
She didn’t know why that was so difficult.
Maybe because this was nothing like she had thought. It certainly wasn’t a sitcom life.
Except...
Maybe she had never wanted that classic two-story house. With a staircase that had a bend in it so the kids could run down the stairs and then jump over the railing at the end.
Maybe she had never wanted family dinners and big misunderstandings, and hijinks with pets.
Maybe what she had really wanted was to live in a house full of love.
Maybe that was what she really, really craved most of all.
That realization made her feel like something was pressing down on her chest.
Made her feel like she was carrying the weight of something impossible on her shoulders.
Because she was beginning to believe that she loved Riyaz. But as to whether or not he loved her, as to whether or not he could ever love anything. She simply didn’t know. And she was too afraid to ask.
Then suddenly a man came through the door. A servant looked wide-eyed and terrified to be entering the Sheikh’s domain.
“Ariel Hart has left. Cairo sent her away.”
