Chapter 24
“The guy is here,” Raj announced, hurrying into Khal’s office.
Khal’s eyes narrowed on his brother and he leaned back in his oversized leather chair. “Why the hell is he early?” he asked, his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I don’t know. We don’t know much about Sheik Hamsa’s son. Crown Prince Amit is a bit of a mystery.”
Khal’s expression didn’t change. “And mysteries are bad. I suspect Prince Amit is even more dangerous than his father. The man’s young, but shrewd and not ruled by his emotions, which Hamsa occasionally is prone to do.”
“I agree,” Raj replied, sitting down in the chair in front of his brother’s desk. “However, Amit is also the reason that Uftar is doing so well economically. In fact, I’d like to work with several of the companies in Uftar.” There was a small pause, then Raj continued, “Are you ready to suggest additional economic ties with the country even if you’re not quite ready to have formal diplomatic relations?”
Khal hesitated briefly before he nodded. “Yeah, I’d like to figure out how to smooth over the tensions between our countries. Joran says there is trouble brewing on the border in several spots. If we could start to ease the tensions, maybe the troubles would ease up, and we could allocate resources elsewhere instead of having to post additional troops in those hot spots.”
“Plus, if we could ease the tensions, there could be more cross border trade and that would eventually form financial ties that would bind everyone together. Nothing unites like a mutual financial benefit,” Raj added, always one to see the financial aspects of an action. His mind worked like a calculator doing high powered economic deals. Some actually doubted if the man had the capability for emotion, but they would be wrong. Raj was capable of emotions, he just buried them deep inside, unwilling to show them to the world. Only his mistresses were privy to his emotions, although even he would admit that those lovely ladies only saw pleasure, mild irritation, and boredom. There was one woman that…! Raj quickly dismissed her from his mind.
“Do you think you can negotiate with Prince Amit?”
Focusing on the current conversation, Raj leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’d love to try,” he replied.
Khal nodded. “Fine. Let me know when he arrives. We’ll talk to him and feel him out. But we should figure out why he’s here first. This is an unprecedented visit. It wasn’t arranged ahead of time either, which concerns me. Usually, visits like this are arranged well in advance, all of the visual and social details worked out carefully so that the optics are beneficial to both parties.”
“Agree,” Raj replied, standing. “We’ll proceed carefully.” Then he turned and walked towards the door. But when his hand rested on the handle, he paused. “Have you spoken to Marianna after she found us having lunch together?”
“No,” he replied, frowning. “I couldn’t find her but I know she’s upset though.”
“Yeah,” Raj replied, shifting his shoulders again. “We should have asked her join us for lunch today even though we thought she was in class. When she saw us together in the dining room, she looked hurt. I suspect that she’s going to try to isolate herself again, thinking that we still don’t consider her part of our family.”
“I thought we were done with that nonsense,” Khal snapped, then sighed with frustration, tossing the report back onto his desk. “But I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been as attentive as I should be.”
“I haven’t either. I wonder if she’s feeling left out again.”
“Nonsense,” Khal argued. “I’ve repeatedly told her that she’s part of the family.”
“I have too.” Raj paused, then sighed. “Maybe I’m wrong and she’s just got a lot going on with her new classes.” He pulled the door open. “I’ll check in with her after this visit from Amit.”
“Good plan,” Khal replied, then pulled the report forward again.