The True King of Dahaar - Page 58

The chasm of yearning in his gut, it felt as wide open as ever and just as painful. He heard the door open behind him and barked an order at whoever dared to come inside after he had banished them all.

Silence met his command. And then he felt it. The way the hairs on his neck stood up, the hint of evening breeze that reached his nostrils coated with jasmine…

There was no jasmine in the courtyards of the Dahaaran palace.

He turned around just as she reached him. Her arms wound around her midriff, her face turned up toward him, she was warmth, she was light, she was the most beautiful, the most courageous woman he had ever seen in the world.

And his heart hurt to look at her and not reach for her.

He stepped back from her, ruthlessly cutting away the thread of hope that flagged within. “Who do I have to punish for letting you in here?”

She didn’t answer. Only continued to stare at him—hungrily, greedily, as if she owned him. And she did, she had done for so many years.

“Nikhat?”

Blinking, she met his gaze. “Zohra.”

“Ah…of course. I have never met a more stubborn woman, except perhaps you. I have no idea how Ayaan puts up with her.” He turned away from her, her wind-kissed hair, the dark shadows under her eyes, challenging his very will. “Why are you here, Nikhat?”

“Will you forgive me, Azeez?”

* * *

Nikhat shivered, wondering if she’d died a thousand little deaths in the few seconds that Azeez took to respond. When he turned around, there was no softening of the hard planes of his face, no fire in his empty gaze. He looked tired, drawn, as if he was made of ice and cold rather than the heat and blaze of the desert.

And she realized, she had done this to him.

There was no power in it, only shame. She had truly not been worthy of him until now. She shoved away the clamor of fear that said she had lost him forever, that voice of despair that threatened to pull her under. If she lost him now…

Reaching into the pocket of her coat, she pulled out the box Ayaan had handed her just a few minutes ago, before he had enfolded her in a hug that sent tears to her eyes. She wished she felt half his confidence.

The long velvet case was soft in her hand. Her fingers shaking, it took her what felt like an eternity to open the jeweled clasp. He still didn’t say a word.

But now, now Nikhat could feel the tension coil around them, as if someone had left a live wire around them, fizzing, crackling with expectations, and hope and love.

Her jaw fell as she saw the two rubies—one big, sitting in a stark setting, and the relatively smaller one set in twinkling diamonds. She almost lost her nerve then. She looked up to see Azeez eye the rings, saw the moment realization dawned on him.

His jaw tightened, but the fire in his eyes, she knew that fire. “Be very careful about what you’re going to say, ya habeebiti.” Instead of scaring her, however, the low warning note in his words stirred her, stroking her heart, her skin, the very core of her.

Clasping his hands, she looked up at him. “I’m sorry for running away from your love. I’m sorry for not trusting you enough. I thought my condition made me unworthy of you, but it was my fear, my doubt of your love and my own.” She had to breathe to speak past the lump in her throat. “I know that you’ll protect me from the world, from everyone, even my own insecurities. And I need you, Azeez, I need the joy you bring to my life. I’m ready to be your wife, Azeez, I’m finally ready to be your queen.”

The fingers that tilted her chin up were shaking, and when she met his gaze, the love that glimmered in those dark depths shook her from within. “It killed me to send you away, Nikhat.” A shudder racked his powerful frame and she hugged him harder, tighter, realizing it was fear. “It wrecked me to tear out my own heart like that, habeeba. But you, your magnificent strength, your innate duty, you left me no choice. Realizing that I was in love with you again, whilst also realizing, in that same moment, the man I needed to be, it tore me apart. But I couldn’t ask you to bear this for me. Not when you made the choice once to walk away from this very fate.”

“No. Not from you.” Pressing her cheek to his chest, she curled around him, feeling the hard muscles, learning him. He was her home, her everything. “I understand now, Azeez. And I’m so sorry I took so long to realize it. I wish—”

Clasping her cheek, he pressed a fierce kiss to her mouth that shook her very soul. The scent and taste of him seeped into her, invigorating her, filling her with a dizzying joy that had her shivering.

With a hard grip, he tugged her against him, until there was nothing to look at but his beautiful, proud face. “I’ve never doubted your strength, Nikhat. Your strength in the face of everything you went through, your sense of purpose in everything you have accomplished, it made me realize what I needed to do.

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