She was not letting that traitorous bitch steal Altair away without a fight.
Chapter Fifteen
Dear Mama,
I'm scared. But of what, I don't know. Why does Papa want to talk to him? Why him and not me?
SAFIYA DID NOT LIKE being superstitious. More often than not, superstitions made one weaker and careless, and such mistakes were things she could never have afforded in the past. But even so, a part of her remained stubbornly fatalistic, and try as she might, she just could not help indulging the tiny suspicious part of her with the little things. This part of her was why she avoided opening umbrellas inside anyone's house, and this part of her always had her knocking on wood (thrice!) when she inadvertently uttered something she didn't wish to happen. Being superstitious appeared to be a permanent part of her psyche, and it was this side of her that prevented Safiya from being completely happy even as she saw her relationship with the sheikh blossom into something real and precious.
The past year had been nothing short of magical for Safiya. She had always thought of the sheikh as a warrior, and since the warriors she had read about in history books were often self-contained in nature, Safiya had been prepared for Altair to be the same.
But he was not.
In the times they were alone or in Mushriq, where there was no danger of having their photos taken, the sheikh turned out to be exceptionally demonstrative. He appeared to enjoy having their bodies in constant contact, even if it was something as simple as holding her hand while he read a submitted report or having her seated in his lap when they were enjoying lunch with her friends. He had also requested that she text and call him frequently, to the point that her friends had taken to teasing her for reducing Ramil's greatest hero into a clingy, obsessive stalker.
Yet another thing that Safiya's friends liked teasing her about was what Ella described as Altair's shamelessly "over the top" way of spoiling his betrothed. Aurora, being slightly more diplomatic, preferred the term "high key". Either way, Safiya herself had been stunned and bemused the first time the sheikh asked her about what she wanted. Having grown up mostly ignored by her own father, Safiya had been completely uncertain on how best to respond: all her life, she had only done either what was expected of her...or what was most likely to keep her safe. But as for what she wanted?
Only Altair had cared to ask her that, and at first a secret part of Safiya was just waiting for the sheikh to lose interest.
But when time passed, and he had never changed...
It was because of the sheikh insisting they eat in different restaurants in Mushriq that she now knew she loved uni sashimi but disliked the taste of tofu. It was because of the sheikh insisting she sign up for all sorts of activities, either with him or her friends, that she now knew she enjoyed the challenges of rock climbing but found herself bored after a mere ten minutes on the treadmill. And last but not the least, it was because of the sheikh's "over the top" and "high-key" spoiling that she now chose her words with care. When he overheard her saying she liked roses, he had the most expensive variant shipped to Ramil...as well as ordering her rose-colored lingerie. When he overheard her saying she enjoyed a certain restaurant's blueberry cheesecake, he had immediately made himself an investor of said restaurant...as well as ordering a box of edible blueberry-flavored lube.
With all the spoiling going on, one might think that she now had every reason to believe the sheikh was in love with her. And while she did believe that now, she did so not because of how much money he spent on her. Even without him saying the words, Safiya knew what her heart was telling her was true.
Altair loved her.
She saw the truth of this in the way the lines of strain on his face faded whenever he was with her. She felt his love for her in every instance he kissed her. Touched her. Adored her with his lips and hands.
He loved her.
She wasn't quite sure why he had yet to say the words, but she was sure of it.
He loved her.
And while it was something she wished she could celebrate, that suspicious part of hers...
It worried endlessly about the timing of things.
It wondered why, just when she and Altair were happy, one tragedy after another befell the royal family. Anisah Kahveci, who was not only the queen's court tutor but the fiancée of Sheikh Tarif Al-Atassi as well, had been abducted and almost died because of it. Months after that, a corpse had been discovered in the royal palace of all places, and it belonged to a woman posthumously identified as someone who had conspired with the opposition to overthrow the Emir Sheikh.