Chapter 7
Mariyah
T he next morning, with much groaning and regret, I forced myself out of bed at seven a.m. and washed my groggy face in the ensuite of the guest bedroom I was occupying for the duration of our vacation.
It was decorated in gold, red, and cream with dark wood furniture like the rest of the palace, the doors of my bathroom and walk-in wardrobe opposite the bed. My suitcases were still lying by the velvet chaise before the wooden bedframe, but I’d taken my coats and shoes and toiletries out last night and placed them around. I’d just been too tired to unpack all my clothes.
After some digging in my suitcase, I was fully dressed in a hoodie, gym leggings, and white trainers. Then I picked out a hairband from one of my clear makeup bags on the vanity and tied my hair in a low ponytail, the wolf-cut bangs I’d recently got done sliding free against my temples. Once I grabbed my phone and headphones, I made my way out of the bedroom…
Only to have the displeasure of finding Shehryar standing in front of me across the corridor as he closed his bedroom door.
Because there were eight hundred plus rooms in Chaukham Palace, and for some fucking reason, he had been given the room right opposite me to stay in.
Worse yet, one up-and-down glance of his hanging black T-shirt, matching workout shorts, white tennis trainers, and an empty protein shaker in his hand told me he was going to the same place as I was.
Goodbye to any possibility of an enjoyable workout.
My tiredness from earlier bowed under the weight of annoyance as he turned to face me, running a hand through his soft brown locks. The weight sank low all the way to my belly.
He was already ridiculously tall and wide as it was, but his stupid need to wear oversized T-shirts made him look like a fucking brute ogre. If only his face looked like it belonged to one too. I couldn’t even be grossed out by the fact he was the kind of gym freak who didn’t wear proper socks, or any for that matter, because I could see his socks clearly above his trainers.
His eyes narrowed, and an irritated crease formed between his brows. I responded by curling my upper lip before rolling my eyes as I angled to close my bedroom door. When I rotated around, he was already several ogre-sized steps down the corridor and I had no choice but to head in the same direction, though I kept a minimum three-step distance.
It was only two corridors down, when my annoyance settled, that I realised I didn’t actually know where the palace gym was, and I needed to head to the kitchen first for water and something to eat.
If the world had been coming to an end and Shehryar Dickhead Timur was the only person who knew where the safe room was that would have guaranteed my survival, I would rather have died than have asked him for its location. The same applied to the palace kitchen. I didn’t trust that he would have sent me in the right direction if I’d asked anyway. Neither did I want to give him any sort of opportunity to have one up on me and piss me off even more.
So, I followed him silently down to the ground floor until a member of palace staff passed by us.
“Good morning, Tris,” I heard Shehryar say as he walked past her.
I just about stopped the scrunch that wanted to take over my face as she replied brightly.
He knows her name? Why does he know her name?
And why the fuck is this Tris girl blushing?
Said girl, Tris, smiled at me when she reached me, and I had no choice but to smile back as I came to a stop. “Good morning, Miss Mariyah.”
“Morning—Tris, right?” She nodded happily. “Could you perhaps show me where the kitchen is?”
“Yes, I—”
“You can go, Tris.”
My lashes lifted, and I nearly growled. Why was he listening and butting into my conversation?
Shehryar smiled— sure fucking not at me . “I’m heading there now, so she can follow me.”
The poor girl had hearts in her eyes as she grinned at him. I should’ve warned her not to waste her time. Though if I poked her in the eyes…that would have got rid of the hearts too.
“Of course,” the girl chirped. “Pierre just arrived, so he will be able to help you once you get there.”
My brows lifted. “Oh, he has?” I said, and Tris nodded. “Great! Thanks, Tris.”
“No problem, Miss Mariyah.”
“Just Mariyah is cool.”
I turned to follow Shehryar again and found him heading around the corner at the other end of the corridor already. The fucking dickhead didn’t even bother waiting for me!
“Couldn’t you have just told me you were going to the kitchen before I asked Tris?” I said to the back of his head when I caught up.
“You didn’t ask,” he spat back.
I gritted my teeth, unable to argue, and like a pissed off thirteen-year-old boy, stuck my middle finger up at him. It didn’t matter that he didn’t see, it made me feel better, and that was all that mattered.
But the rest of our silent way to the kitchen, it was as if he was trying to get in his cardio before his gym session, stomping ahead so fast that I had to jog a few times to keep up.
Shehryar
My morning workouts usually left me feeling refreshed and level-headed. Other than for my health, that was the whole purpose of exercising. It was my version of yoga—an outlet for my angry temperament so that I had a clear head each day. It helped ready me to do my duty as Esmeralda’s right-hand man, from being her protection to running over presentations with her and more.
But two hours after my workout, I stood in the grand entrance hallway of Chaukham Palace feeling anything but relaxed. In fact, there was a prowling, hissing energy in my veins that had me scrubbing a hand over my beard and shifting on my feet repeatedly.
A small part of it was down to the fact Esmeralda had asked me to attend the day’s plans as her friend and brother, rather than as her bodyguard. I’d downright refused until her expression drooped, making me feel guilty enough to agree to a compromise, which had still in truth felt odd.
But the vast majority of my restlessness was the fucking menace’s fault. Her presence in the gym had ruined everything.
She was also the one Esmeralda, Crown Prince Kai, and I were waiting for in the entranceway, with Gary and Rocco—Prince Kai’s drivers and heads of his security team.
As per Esmeralda’s request, we were headed to the Lyle National Art Gallery, housing famous pieces, and a dead duchess’s mansion that had been turned into a museum further in Pavilion City after lunch at a restaurant Prince Kai had reserved.
We hadn’t yet left, and I was already ready to return to the palace. Having to stick close to Esmeralda while still giving her privacy with Prince Kai meant I was no doubt going to end up closer to Mariyah. I wasn’t sure I could survive another mouthful from her without reacting. Badly.
I tried my hardest not to let her get under my skin, but sometimes…fuck, she was just so bloody—
“I found it!” I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes as the fucking brat’s singsong words came from the top of the central stairs. The sound of her galloping steps down was loud against the wooden surface.
“Sorry about the wait,” she added. “But no point carrying a polaroid camera without any film, right?”
“Like carrying a mug without any coffee,” Esmeralda said with a grin, standing in front of Prince Kai, while he frowned and fussed with her dark green coat. The prince had an abhorrence for the cold, and that extended to making sure Esmeralda was always wrapped up warm too.
“Exactly.”
Though I’d been turned away from the stairs, the menace still found her way into my eyeline anyway, standing close to Esmeralda’s side. I rubbed a hand over my jaw again to cover the flare in my nostrils as my gaze trailed down her body.
I hated to admit it, but Mariyah knew damn well how to dress herself.
She had on cream, square-tipped boots that cut off at the bottom of her curved calves, with a pearl-cream silk skirt that showed a couple of inches of bare skin above her shoes. It wasn’t quite a pencil skirt, but it still had a slimline shape to it that moved like water against her thick thighs, full hips, and arse. She’d paired the two with a thin brown jumper, the zip-neck collar pulled down to show off a silver chain around her neck, a pale sage-green, puffed jacket, and a small, cream handbag.
With her pink blush, mascaraed lashes, and half-up-in-a-bun, half-down hairstyle, she looked like a model on her day off—casual but still refined.
It was obvious why men drooled over her, but it was still irritating to admit. She didn’t need that kind of admiration from other men. It went to her head, and then I was left to deal with the repercussions of her bloated ego and arrogance. Not because seeing it made me grind my teeth to powder.
I glanced away and pushed my tongue against the inside of my cheek between my teeth, biting down to relieve the aching need to gnash and chew someone’s insides to pulp.
“Is he adjusting your coat again?” I heard Mariyah say, a teasing grin in her tone.
“Mm-hmm,” Esmeralda hummed.
Prince Kai’s frown flew to his hairline when he realised he was the centre of their attention, and the two of them giggled. He blushed and tugged at his left ear as he cleared his throat. “It’s cold outside,” he mumbled, fighting a frown and failing.
Esmeralda and Mariyah fell against each other as they laughed louder and harder, and Prince Kai looked like he was about to malfunction in embarrassment.
Once their laughter settled, the two-metre-tall bodyguards, Gary and Rocco, stepped up, dressed in black suits and overcoats. “Ready, Prince Kai?” Rocco asked.
“Yes.” He looked to Esmeralda and Mariyah, then me. “We are.”
“Okay. We have two options for transport. We can take one car collectively, or you can split up and travel in two.”
“We should definitely take two, right, Kai?” Mariyah said before anyone else.
My head jerked in her direction. What the actual fuck? Why would she say that?
No. No, I didn’t want to spend the day driving between places alone with Mariyah. Please no.
I pinned a heavy stare on Prince Kai, but the oblivious man didn’t lift his gaze from Esmeralda to see my urgent message. “I don’t mind. We can go collectively.”
My shoulders relaxed. Thank Neves.
“Oh, come on.” Mariyah waved a hand in the air, the strap of the green, square camera wrapped around her other wrist. “I know we’re on holiday together, but that doesn’t mean we have to go everywhere together. So, don’t be shy, Prince Kai. You can say you want Esmeralda to yourself.”
What the fuck is she doing?
Prince Kai’s cheeks flushed, and he tugged at his left ear as he glanced between Mariyah and Esmeralda. He cleared his throat, and doom sank through me. “We’ll take two cars, Rocco.”
Fuck .
I pulled in a slow inhale as I glared at the blood-red carpet dotted with gold threads. It did nothing to curb the boil in my blood.
I’m going to strangle her. I should strangle her. I need to strangle her.
I slipped my hands into the slanted pockets of my coat to stop myself from seeing it through.
“Great,” Rocco said. “All the cars have been checked and fuelled, so you can take your pick in the garage. Are you happy to drive, Shehryar?”
I lifted my head and forced myself to hum my agreement. What fucking choice had the menace left me with?
“Gary and Earl will lead the way ahead of you, Prince Kai and Princess Esmeralda, and the others and I will follow behind Mariyah and yourself, Shehryar. Is that okay?”
“Wait, what?”
Everyone looked at Mariyah. I turned too, facing her fully. With a dead expression, I watched as her furrowed brows lifted slowly, higher and higher as understanding rounded her blue eyes.
The kind of ire that rose through me made me want to laugh like a madman while I held her in an unbreakable headlock until she stopped breathing.
The damned brat had opened her mouth without even fucking realising what Rocco had been asking.
“Is something the matter?” Rocco said.
“Yes, Mariyah,” I said, trying to keep my tone even. “Is something the matter?”
The menace, who could read me better than I wished she could, straightened and narrowed her stormy stare slightly. She smiled. “Oh, no. Rocco confused me for a second, but I’ve got it now.”
“Are you sure, Mariyah?” Esmeralda said, her worried gaze homing in on her best friend’s every move. “You don’t have to drive alone with Sher if you don’t want to.”
Mariyah opened her mouth, but I spoke over her. “We won’t have a problem, will we?” I angled my chin and arched a brow, daring her to say otherwise. She trapped us herself, and I’d be damned if I allowed her to escape now.
She might have been wearing blush, but I noticed the colour that flooded her light olive skin underneath. Her smile widened. “No.” I heard the gritted bite to her voice. “We won’t.”
The two palace guards standing quietly, dressed in Touma’s red and black livery, opened both of the reinforced, carved wooden doors. Gary and Rocco led the way out, followed by Prince Kai holding Esmeralda’s hand. As they moved out of earshot, I quickly slipped up close to Mariyah’s side.
“Next time,” I bit out by her ear. Her shoulders hitched. “Keep your mouth shut when you’re not being spoken to.” I walked off without giving her the chance to say something back.
The palace garage was a separate building at the end of a long line of parking spaces inside the front gold railing walls on the left side. It was made of the same red brick and could’ve passed as a single-storey mansion with how big and long it was. Split into two sections, one side housed the security Jeeps and cars Gary headed to, while the other side was filled with the royals’ private vehicles. Rocco went to unlock the metal box on the wall, storing the car keys, but Prince Kai politely dismissed him.
“Take your pick, Shehryar,” Prince Kai said to me, nodding at the line of ten cars of different makes and colours with his car keys in one hand.
I looked around. The sleek, black O’Royse was Prince Kai’s, and Esmeralda was waiting by its side. I knew the orange, two-seater Quorsha belonged to Prince Fay, but it stood out too much for my liking, and the grey Matchbox was Prince Adam’s—it had an “L” learner sticker on its front bonnet. I didn’t like cars that were too low to the ground—at six-five, they were too difficult to get in and out of—so that knocked off two more options. And out of the other five, the only one that appealed to me was the five-door, charcoal-grey SUV that had a smooth, classy matte finish.
“I’ll take the grey Sanza, please,” I said.
He unhooked the keys and placed them in my upturned palm with a soft smile. “It’s Uncle Arsh’s.”
Of course it was. But it was too late to change my mind when Prince Kai closed the metal box, and the electric lock snapped into place.
We walked towards his O’Royse, parked second in the row. Its lights flashed when he unlocked it with the press of a button on the keys. Prince Kai headed around to open Esmeralda’s door, but she was looking at me.
“Be nice to her, Sher,” Esmeralda said just loud enough for me to hear, her greyish-brown eyes unblinking and as pleading as they were stern.
Giving her the barest of nods, I made my way to the seventh spot where the Sanza was. “Come on,” I said in passing to Mariyah as she gawked at Prince Fay’s bright orange sports car in the middle.
I unlocked it before I reached the car, opened the driver’s side door, and slid in. As I adjusted the seat, the left backseat door clicked open. Someone jostled into the car and shut the door.
I paused for several blinks, then pushed one hand against the top of the dashboard to twist around. I scowled at Mariyah as she wriggled and pulled at the open sides of her coat.
“What are you doing?” I growled.
“What does it look like? I’m getting comfortable.”
I gritted my teeth, reminding myself to hold on to the few fraying strands of calm I had left. “Why are you sitting at the back?”
She pulled a face. “Where else am I going to sit? Up front?” She scoffed. “No thanks.”
“I’m not your driver, Mariyah. Get in the passenger seat. Now .”
“No. I’m fine where I am.”
Paths of fire crossed inside me. “I wasn’t asking you. I was telling you.”
Her gaze turned to a choppy storm. “And I’m telling you, no.”
I lurched towards her. “Get in the fucking front, Mariyah, or I swear—”
She leaned forward, squaring up to me. “Or what, Sheri?”
The last silk-thin hairs of my composure snapped and fell into oblivion, never to be seen again.
I snatched the keys out of the ignition and shot out the door. Mariyah’s head turned as I rounded the back, trying to keep out of sight of Esmeralda and Prince Kai. Huffing and puffing in rage, I yanked her car door open, piercing her glare with my own.
“What are you—”
“Get out. Now.” My warning came out deadly low and grated.
She had the sense to stiffen warily but said, “No.”
Shit ! She was such a fucking spoiled brat. Thought she could boss me around and treat me like I was her staff or something. She was acting beyond disrespectful, and I wasn’t having any of it.
I relaxed my clenched jaw. “You have five seconds to get out of the car, Mariyah.” Her eyes stilled as I eased slightly back but kept one hand on the top arch of the door. “Five…four…three…” Her hands tightened around the straps of her bag and camera. “Two…one.”
Stupid girl . She genuinely thought she could remain stubborn with me once I’d snapped.
I probably threw more than her weight around in the gym on a five-days-a-week basis during my warm-ups and cool-downs, so it only took one tight hand around her upper arm to drag her out of the car. She tried to resist, but she came stumbling out anyway, almost colliding into my chest.
“What the fu—”
I pushed the door shut behind her. It didn’t rattle the car, but it was loud enough to drown out her frustrated words.
Then I was on her.
Splaying the hand holding the keys flat against her stomach between her open jacket, I shoved her back against the car. She gasped, but my other hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her.
Her bag slipped off her shoulder, and her head knocked back under the weight of my palm. I didn’t care. I stepped closer. Pressed down with both hands heavier, squeezing her cheeks, keeping her pinned at my mercy. I wasn’t trying to hurt her, but scare some sense into her? Fuck yes. Someone had to.
Even with the added two inches from the block heels of her boots, her being curved back against the car still put my face above hers. Staring into her wide eyes, a hot, thick tingling sensation spread right above my groin, but I ignored it and focused on the stampede in my veins.
Within a split second, Mariyah’s brows drew together, and her stare flashed with outrage. One hand shot with the speed of a viper between us, clawing at my wrist by her chin. She couldn’t move me. And fuck, it felt good to finally hold her down and overpower her after five years of dealing with her obnoxious shit. I realised then I should’ve done it long ago.
I leaned down closer. “I’m going to explain to you what is going to happen,” I said with deceptive calmness, “and then you’re going to do exactly as I tell you to. Is that clear?” Her muffled voice rose behind my hand, but I shut her up with a quick, hard jostle. “ Is that clear?”
I gave her a second to decide whether she wanted to argue again or not. Her eyes screamed curse after curse at me, but she kept quiet and still. I made her wait another few beats.
I spoke my next words slowly, making sure the threat dripped off thickly into her head. “I’m going to let go, and you’re going to get into the front passenger seat, quickly and calmly, without making a sound or drawing attention to us. In fact, I don’t want to hear a single fucking peep out of you until we arrive at the gallery, or so help me, Mariyah. I will wring your bloody neck. ”
“Fucking try,” she hissed against my palm, shoving against me. Her words were so muffled I almost didn’t make them out. But it was Mariyah and me. It was so easy to guess what she was saying after grasping onto a single syllable.
Wildfires burst across my skin, flashing red in my head, and drawing a pool of molten liquid down my torso. But before I could react to the feeling, a bucket of ice-cold reality splashed over me.
“Is everything okay over there?” Esmeralda’s voice rang through the garage. “Shehryar?”
It took a second to force a neutral expression onto my face, but I eased my hand off Mariyah’s stomach and poked my head around the side of the car. Prince Kai had edged forward out of his parking spot, and Esmeralda was frowning out of her rolled-down window.
“We’re fine.” I swallowed the rawness from my voice. “Mariyah’s coat got stuck in the door.”
Esmeralda’s eyes narrowed. “Mariyah?”
I leaned back out of sight and quietly growled, “You’re the one who said Esmeralda was already stressed because of us, so don’t fucking make it worse.” I lifted my hand off her mouth.
Mariyah jerked her head and hand away, throwing the framing locks of hair against her temples across her eyes. Red imprints of my fingers were painted over the region of her lips and cheeks. It wasn’t a dishevelled sight I’d thought I’d ever see in real life, but I didn’t dare look at it more than once.
She parted her lips, and I pressed my hand into her belly, warning her not to say the wrong thing. “It’s fine, Ez,” she finally said, a slight croak in her voice. “I’ve almost got it unstuck, so you can head out first. We’ll be out in a second too.”
“Okay,” Esmeralda said with a reluctant sigh. “Be out quickly.”
“Sure,” Mariyah said.
At the same time as I said, “We will.”
The barely audible sound of Prince Kai’s car driving out filled the few glaring breaths of silence Mariyah and I shared before she shoved my hand on her belly away.
“Get your fucking hands off me,” she rumbled through her teeth, her chest heaving and face red.
She tried to move out from between me and the vehicle towards the front passenger seat door, but I blocked her path with my arm. “I’m not done talking.”
“Move.”
There was something so satisfying about her ire. That I’d pissed her off enough that she wanted to get away from me but couldn’t because I wouldn’t let her, which was making her even angrier. She was usually so confident and sassy, but in such moments, she completely lost her composure, exposing a vulnerable, humiliated side of herself that made me want to poke at her and force her to peel apart even more, just for the satisfaction of seeing her crumble.
It sounded cruel, but I just wanted to dig into her the way she dug into me.
After all, it was only fair we both pushed each other to the limit.
Though, right then, I wasn’t trying to elongate our game of push-and-shove-back-harder. Still, I didn’t exactly tame the smirk that tucked into my cheek.
“Are you going to behave?” My tone touched the line of mocking.
She jerked forward. “Fuck you, dickhead.”
My satisfaction bloomed heavier and hotter. “You’re a fucking menace, do you know that?” I growled, but I swore there was some sick sort of amusement in my voice.
A breath of swollen silence fell between us before I shook my head. “I’m not going to let you ruin my relationship with Esmeralda, work or otherwise, and I doubt you want to ruin your friendship with her. But keep acting the way you do with me, and she will pick up on it even more than she already has, which is only going to put her in an uncomfortable position. And she doesn’t deserve that. Especially not now when she wants to enjoy her time with Prince Kai and include us too.”
“I said that yesterday,” she hissed, “but you didn’t agree with me, did you?”
“Well, staying out of each other’s way didn’t exactly work out, did it, when you insisted we share a car.” I dropped the accusation from my brows. “The only other way this is going to work is if you stop acting like a spoiled brat, so we can be civil enough in front of Esmeralda.” Her lips parted, but I spoke before she could. “So, are you going to stop giving me unnecessary attitude and behave?”
With a clenched jaw, she swung around and charged the other way to get around me. I reacted quicker, slamming my hand to the car and blocking her in entirely.
“Shehryar!”
My smirk stretched wider but tightened too. I was losing my patience, and Esmeralda was going to grow suspicious if we took any longer. “Last chance, Mariyah. Will you or will you not behave?”
“Okay, fine,” she snapped, malice shooting from her every cell. “Now move.”
She rammed against my arm, and I let her through, adjusting my stance as she got into the car—in the correct seat—and slammed the door shut.
Fucking brat . She didn’t even care that it was someone else’s car and needed to be careful.
I should’ve dragged her out and made her get in again properly. But as the ringing from the slammed door stopped vibrating through me, I was distracted by my hyperawareness of something else.
I had two heartbeats pounding through my body in sync.
One coming from my chest.
The other far, far lower.
And I hated Mariyah for it. For pushing all my wrong buttons purposely.
And unknowingly, pushing all the right ones too.