The True King of Dahaar - Page 31

“Then you seal your fate along with his.”

“It would seem so.” Nikhat nodded at him and Princess Zohra and left the hall with her head held high.

* * *

He was creeping through his own palace like a thief of the night, but he had left himself no choice. Behind him, the deserted corridor was bathed in yellow light from the lamps. He chanced a look at the courtyard, and the utter silence in there, in this whole wing, jeered him.

Azeez leaned his head against the closed door and struggled to get air into his lungs. He couldn’t hide forever from this. He nodded at Khaleef to open the door, and another figure appeared in the corridor and joined him.

Instead of recoiling, as everything inside him was wont to do, he let Nikhat lace her fingers with his. He didn’t question how she knew that he was standing outside Amira’s door at the first light of dawn, or how terrified he was of facing this day.

The palace was not the same without his sister’s laughter. But he had to apologize to her and he wanted to do it here, in her suite where she had laughed and cried, where she had lived such a vibrant life before his recklessness had shortened it.

He pushed the door and stepped in. The scent of Amira as he remembered—roses and something sweet—hit him in the gut. His knees buckled and tears clogged his throat, and he let them fall.

As Nikhat turned on the light, he walked around the huge chamber where everything had been left as it was before her death. Her jewelry lay haphazardly on the dark dresser, her nightstand overflowing with novels.

How he wished he could change his reckless behavior all those years ago, how he wished he had realized sooner that Amira and Ayaan had stayed back to confront him that night in the desert, how he wished he had taken the bullet that had claimed her life…

Her arm clamped around his middle, Nikhat hugged him tightly. And for once, he couldn’t find it in him to push her or the comfort she offered away. They stood like that for several minutes, drowning in memories but anchoring each other.

“Do you remember the time you complained that your prized bottle of single-malt whiskey had disappeared?”

Frowning, he nodded.

“You raised hell about it, turned the palace upside down. For so many days, I remember seeing the palace staff whispering, scared to tell you that they hadn’t found it. It was like martial law had been declared in the palace.”

He turned toward her. “What are you talking about, Nikhat?”

“Amira paid one of the maids to steal it.” She made a choking noise with her throat and stepped back as he advanced on her. Her hands up in front of her, her head shaking, her mouth wreathed in smiles.

It made her face light up, reminding him of a carefree time. “I saved it for so long, I…”

“I begged her not to, Azeez. It was the vilest thing I ever tasted in my life. I mean, after the first few sips, I couldn’t even stomach it. I told her we should return it, but by that time you had guards outside your wing like the crown jewels were lost. We had to pour the stuff down the toilet and I smuggled the bottle out of the—”

His mouth fell open. “That was eighteenth-century whiskey that my father gave me.” He suddenly remembered something else. “She was sick that next day. Did she—?”

Nikhat was openly laughing now. “She had a whole glass of it, and she called me a coward.”

That sounded very much like his sister, always getting into trouble, always trying to find new ways to defy their mother’s rules.

“She was so drunk, Azeez. You should have seen her. She used to mimic you…you know, the way you walked and talked, the way you would blush every time you saw Queen Fatima’s friend’s daughter. She was hilarious that night. I always wished I had been more like her. So full of life, treating every day as if it was an adventure.

“Her life might have been short, but she lived it to the full. Amira had been so happy that she was going to marry the man she loved, she couldn’t stop smiling. And you, you had made it all possible, Azeez.”

And then he had led her to her death before it had come true.

She put her arm around his. “She was so angry with me when I left that she refused to see me when I came to say goodbye. I miss her so much, Azeez.”

Nodding, Azeez pulled Nikhat close, the grief inside him tempering in that moment. “Thank you for bringing back fond memories for me.”

Her hand moved over his back, her breasts pressed into his side and suddenly, an uncontrollable hunger swamped his insides. With measured movements, he pulled her out of Amira’s suite and closed the door behind him.

Her hand still in his, Nikhat looked up at him. And he studied her greedily.

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