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“That was very good of you.”
“Why?”
Brianna looked away. “I know it was complicated because she was your...”
He gripped her chin and turned her head to face him, forcing her to meet his eyes. “I don’t want her.” The flame she saw there burned, and it took him a full minute to release his hold on her. “I do not want her in the least. It was not hard at all. It was nothing.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Cairo... He told me something. He is the reason that those men were able to get into the palace. He gave information to Ariel’s father, because he trusted the man. And he was afraid that he and Ariel would get in trouble for being outside the palace. They were children.”
“Oh, Riyaz. That must be... Devastating.”
He looked up at her. “Why should it be? My brother was a child. He meant nothing by it. He was no more wrong for trusting that man than my father was.”
But there was tension there. Something that he wasn’t quite telling her.
“Riyaz... Speak to me.”
“There is nothing to say.”
“Well, would you at least come upstairs for dinner?”
“I... I could.”
“Come with me. I don’t think you should be alone. I’m also happy to bring something down here. If that’s what you want.”
“No. We will go upstairs.”
She could feel erratic energy coming off of him. And she didn’t know what it was. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking or how... Black his mood was. There was a roast turkey for dinner. And the spread on the table was lovely. Riyaz did not observe any of his learned manners when he sat down, throwing the chair out behind him, and sitting heavily.
“It’s all right if you’re angry,” she said, dishing herself some turkey, and adding some jeweled couscous to her plate.
“I’m not angry. Everybody trusted Ariel’s father. All of the men in my family. Why should that make me angry? It simply is. Cairo is no less than my father.”
“Is that honestly how you feel?”
“It doesn’t matter what I feel. Feelings are not the facts of the situation.”
“Or maybe it does matter what you feel, Riyaz. Maybe it does.”
“He is my brother,” he said. “He is my brother, and I will not condemn him.”
“You don’t have to condemn him to feel something.”
“Enough,” he said. He began to put food on his plate. “I am the Sheikh. Cairo is my brother. There is no scope...”
“Who cares about the scope? You’re right. Why don’t we have honesty between us for a moment. Wildness. Who cares if you’re the Sheikh? Who cares if I’m supposed to civilize you?” She wanted love. She recognized that now. She understood it. For what it was.
“Be honest about what you feel. Because it’s the only way that you’re actually going to move forward from any of this.”
“Moving forward. This is not pop psychology. This is my life. This is a kingdom.”
“Right here, with me, this is just... Real. This is just feelings. Please. Riyaz, tell me what that made you feel.”
“It makes me feel... Makes me feel as if my mother’s blood is on his hands. And he... He went free. He ran away, didn’t he?” Riyaz looked up at her, his dark eyes blazing. “He ran away from this. From us. He’s been free. All this time. Earning money and making the life that he wanted, and... Hell. He’s had whatever he’s wanted. All the women he’s wanted.”
Pain lanced her chest. “Is that what you need? Do you need more women...? Do you need...?”
