Chapter 17
“Married?” Faye gasped, bouncing Shanta in her arms the following morning.
“Yes,” Zantar replied. “Married.”
Faye shook her head, trying to figure out what was going on. She was tired, having gotten only about four hours of sleep last night. Plus, those four hours had been broken up. She’d jerked awake only to find herself safe with Zantar’s arms still around her. They’d both been fully dressed, which had only confused her further.
Now he was standing in front of her, announcing that they needed to get married. Her world…last night she’d been confused. Now she felt as if quicksand was swallowing her up!
“But Zantar, we can’t…”
“We must!” he reiterated firmly. “For Shanta’s benefit, we must be married.”
Oh, that hurt! Faye turned away, trying to hide the pain lashing at her from his words.
If only he’d said that they needed to be married because he couldn’t live without her, that he’d been searching for her while she’d been in hiding. That he loved her and had missed her!
She sighed, squeezing her eyes closed as tears threatened once again. If she’d learned anything over the past year, it was that life wasn’t a fairy tale. It was harsh and brutal and generally completely unfair.
“Fine,” she whispered, giving in to his demand. In that instant, she also gave up her hopes of love and a man who wanted her so badly, he’d get down on his knees and tell her of his undying love.
“The ceremony will take place this afternoon.”
Faye’s eyes opened with a jerk, and she spun back around to stare at him. “This afternoon?” She looked down at Shanta, who was still crying, still uncomfortable for some reason. She had a dry diaper and a full belly. But Shanta squawked and cried out, refusing to be comforted.
“Yes. We will have a small wedding, just a few important guests.”
Faye sighed, trying to force her mind to work through the confusion caused by…well, by the chaos of the past twenty-four hours, lack of sleep and…yeah, the lack of sleep was the biggest issue.
“Fine,” she whispered, wanting to curl up into a ball. She was just tired, she thought. And frustrated. And she didn’t know what was wrong with Shanta!
“Is something wrong with our daughter?” he demanded, his eyes sharpening on the tiny bundle that was his daughter. Faye smiled tearily at the use of “our”. At least he wasn’t doubting Shanta’s paternity, she thought. That was something, wasn’t it?
“She’s just cranky,” Faye explained but her frazzled, frantic feelings only increased as Shanta wiggled and groused about…something.
“Is it because you are so tired?”
Faye laughed heartily at that question. “Zantar, I’ve been tired for the past twelve-plus months.” She gestured to the dark circles under her eyes. “This isn’t anything different from any other day.”
His lips compressed and, instantly, Faye felt guilty for telling him that.
“Why don’t you give Shanta to the nanny that I hired? Give yourself a small break. Maybe take a short nap?”
Faye shook her head, dismissing his suggestion. “I’m not giving Shanta to a stranger, just because…”
“Faye,” he interrupted, smiling slightly with a gentle shake of his head. “You’re going to become my wife. You will be surrounded by servants that are here to help you with whatever you need.”
Faye didn’t know how to respond to that, so she simply pressed her lips together and bounced Shanta faster. Her arms ached and there were shoots of pain spiking up her back, but she still didn’t feel comfortable handing her cranky daughter off to a stranger just because Shanta wasn’t being sweet and wonderful.
“I’m fine,” she told him.
“You’re not fine, Faye!” he snapped. “You weren’t fine a year ago and you wouldn’t let me help you!” He threw his hands in the air, his frustration intensifying. “How can I get you to trust me? And if not trust, then how about just letting me help you?”
Faye was startled, but her nerves were right on the edge. Shanta also chose that moment to go from cranky to outright furious and announced her state of mind with a loud wail.
“Fine!” she snapped right back at him and walked over to Zantar. “You want to help? You soothe her!” she said and transferred their cranky daughter into Zantar’s arms, then walked out of the room.
Zantar stared down at his daughter, who had abruptly gone silent, and suspected that he had the same stunned look on his face. Father and daughter stared into each other’s similar eyes, both trying to figure out if they liked this new situation.
For his part, Zantar shifted his daughter in his arms, wondering if her tiny fists and bouncing arms was a problem. Should she be this small? Was this normal? And was she about to wail again?
“Hello,” he said awkwardly, then cleared his throat. He felt ridiculous, but also wanted to introduce himself to the infant daughter. “I’m your father,” he told her, reverting to a stern voice. “And we are going to get along famously.” She didn’t look impressed. Her eyes remained unconvinced while her mouth opened, her red lips looking as if she wanted to say something, but like him, she wasn’t sure what words would suffice at the moment.
“You’re not going to be betrothed as my mother was,” he vowed. “You will choose your own husband.” He pulled her even closer, shifting her so that he could see her more clearly. “And you will be happy. I guarantee that.”
He took a tentative step and, when Shanta didn’t scream in protest, he took another. And another. They walked around the room and Zantar explained his world, telling her about all of the things he would teach her. “You will be an expert with horses. We will ride along the dunes. Your first horse will be a pony though,” he told her with an admonishing voice. “You must learn slowly. And you will also care for your own horse. There is a bond that forms when you brush down your horse. You connect with the animal and she or he connects with you. It helps both of you to understand each other. That will make you a better rider.”
Zantar nodded firmly with that. “And you will be good with our people. I will introduce you to the world and they will adore you. Just as I do,” he continued with a gruff voice, unaware of how his arms were now bouncing the small girl in his arms.
Faye stood outside of the room, looking around and wondering where she would go. She’d stormed out of the bedroom in a huff, furious with Zantar for his announcement that they would marry this afternoon as well as his admonition that she should give their daughter over to someone else and…well, everything! She was just so confused! And overwhelmed.
She’d tried to be calm yesterday when she’d first seen Zantar in the school yard, as well as afterwards when he’d shuffled her and Shanta into the SUV and then the helicopter and then into this magnificent palace where she didn’t know anyone and didn’t understand what was going on!
Faye was scared. That was the real problem, she told herself. She was terrified! This was a strange world! What was she supposed to do? How should she act? She’d loved Zantar a year ago, but that was before she had known who he really was! The man was a freaking world leader? How had she missed that? How had she not known that the man ruled an entire country?
Rubbing her forehead, she paced along the expanse of the beautifully decorated room. It was filled with large sofas, an immense television and strange electronic components that were probably a state of the art sound system. But Faye couldn’t figure out how to turn on the television. Besides, she’d done without television ever since arriving in Skyla to do her research and…! Her computer! All of her work was on that computer! Her research, her dissertation! Her lesson plans and her whole life! She accessed her bank, paid her bills, and connected to her friends from that computer! It had all of her contacts on it and the device was back at the school, locked away in her classroom locker!
Turning, she headed right back to Zantar, ready to demand that he find her laptop and bring it to her. But Faye stopped in the doorway, listening to Zantar talk about horses and diplomacy. He also vowed that she wouldn’t be betrothed to anyone for political reasons and…was that still a thing?!