Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
KAMARAN
The tension from Kamaran’s shoulders lifted the closer he came to Rana’s room.
Despite the fact that he knew they likely wouldn’t have time for their nightly story and conversation as they had had the past five days, he had purposefully put Rana last on his list of wedding planning meetings so that he would still have something to look forward to at the end of the challenge.
And while he would deny it if pressed, he was curious to see what Rana would come up with. He was sure, given her obvious love of fashion, that the dress would take precedence, but he had no doubt that even if she spent all the money on her dress, everything would come out tasteful and beautiful.
“Is there a reason you don’t want me to deliver these to the council of judges yet?”
Startled from his thoughts by the reminder that his page was still walking beside him, Kamaran stopped and turned. He held out his hands for the bundle of papers that he had slowly been adding to over the last three days.
Jasper looked at him dubiously. “You’re not supposed to be carrying anything for at least a month still.”
“The weight is hardly enough to even notice. Besides, I’m just walking down the next hall.” He wiggled his fingers.
“Then I’ll carry them down the next hall. And you didn’t answer my question.”
Kamaran sighed and started walking again. “I don’t have to. I’m your Sultan, not your charge.”
“Right. Sorry, Your Majesty. I was just going to say…oh, never mind.”
He looked over at the page from the corner of his eye. “What?”
“It’s nothing. Probably a silly suggestion, anyway. You wouldn’t want to hear it.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“Only because you and Rana seem to be spending quite a bit of time together, so I just had a thought. That’s all.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t worry about it, Your Majesty. It was nothing.”
Kamaran breathed slowly through his nose as he pinched the bridge between two fingers. “Jasper.”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Spit it out.”
“Oh! Right. Well, I was just thinking that if you wanted someone to read those for you, Rana would probably be happy to help. Not to mention, she has a lot of connections with the local merchants, and Teta says that if you want someone to get a deal, Rana is your girl.”
Kamaran’s feet had slowed to a halt during Jasper’s short speech. Panic squeezed his chest. “Why do you think I would want someone to read for me?” He applauded himself for keeping his voice casual.
Jasper, realizing that he was no longer beside him, stopped and turned around.
“I noticed that you asked Zamar to read papers back to you sometimes. You don’t seem to like it very much.
” He looked up and down the empty hall before dropping his voice to a whisper.
“To be honest, neither do I. Your secret is safe with me.”
A breath of laughter, half amusement and half bewilderment, escaped him. Kamaran shook his head slowly. “Not much gets past you, does it?”
Jasper straightened, puffing his chest proudly. “Nope. If you ever get done needing a page, I think I would make a great spy.”
Kamaran jumped as a tiger silently appeared from the shadows, padding over to Jasper and chuffing as it butted its head into the page’s stomach.
“So would Spot,” Jasper added brightly.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He started walking again, giving Spot a few extra feet of space.
Jasper seemed content to spend the rest of the walk in peace.
He stopped just outside of Rana’s door and held out the bundle of papers.
“Oh, and just so you know,” he whispered conspiratorially.
“Rana doesn’t share her Adhavian Delight with just anyone, so if she offers you a piece, it means she likes you. ”
Kamaran couldn’t help the smile the words produced. “I appreciate the information.”
Rana’s voice floated through the open door. “What are you two whispering about?”
Jasper lifted his chin, calling out, “Nothing!” He turned back to Kamaran, winked, and tapped his temple as he whispered, “Remember—excellent spy.”
Kamaran shook his head as the page disappeared down the hall.
He stepped into the sitting room, immediately feeling at home as he took in the now-familiar sight of the crackling fire and Rana stretched out before it.
She jumped up and crossed the room as soon as their eyes met, a dazzling smile on her face that momentarily stopped him in his tracks.
“You’re early.” She reached for the papers and pried them out of his useless hands. “Why are you carrying this?”
He gave his head a small shake and blinked, waking his brain from its stupor. “I’m not an invalid.”
She turned, leading him back to the fire, and arched a brow over her shoulder. “Are you not a person still recovering? Or are we again rewriting the Adhavian dictionary?” She clicked her tongue. “You royals think you have jurisdiction over everything, don’t you?”
He gripped the sides of his chair as he slowly started to lower himself to the cushions, grimacing as the action caused the muscles in his side to tense. A sharp hiss startled him, and he quickly straightened his knees as Zade flew out of the seat where he had almost been sat on.
“I’m so sorry!” Rana dropped the papers on the table and was at his side in a moment, but he waved her away as he took his seat.
He pressed his mouth in a tight, thin line to keep from grimacing at the pain that bloomed in his side.
“I should have done a comfort-seeking menace check. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he managed to bite out. Then, aware of Rana’s troubled eyes as she watched him, he forced his expression to soften. “I just need a minute. And maybe a piece of that.” His eyes flicked pointedly to the plate of Adhavian Delight on the table.
She grabbed the plate without a moment of hesitation and held it out to him, and he couldn’t help but glow inwardly as he remembered Jasper’s whispered words: “If she offers you a piece, it means she likes you.”
Yes, but how much? He argued with the memory. Enough for her to want to win the contest? Enough for her to be willing to tie herself to me for the rest of my life?
A series of images suddenly sprang to mind—Rana in a white dress with a crown of flowers in her hair, standing in the garden with him in front of a priest. Long nights in front of the fire with her nestled in his arms, telling him stories as she created works of art with nothing but a needle and a piece of thread.
Tiny, dark-haired children with his eyes and Rana’s mischievous smile—
“Kamaran?”
He blinked, pulled from his imagination to the very real and even better sight of Rana standing in front of him.
Her hair was loose, falling around her shoulders like a cascade of black silk, and she wore a sapphire dress with a silver trim that he could easily identify as her own handiwork.
She gently wiggled the plate of Adhavian Delight.
“I, too, am often overcome by the sight of Adhavian Delight, but I find that actually picking a piece and eating it helps.”
Kamaran reached automatically for a sugar-dusted cube, paying little attention to the color. Rana rewarded him with another smile, and she set the plate back in the middle of the table before swiping a piece of her own and popping it in her mouth. She lowered herself gracefully to the floor.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of an extra hour of your company?” Rather than immediately reaching for her sewing, she leaned back on her hands and tilted her head, regarding him with a curious expression.
“I came to see if you had any questions.” He continued to hold his back straight, willing the throbbing ache to subside.
“Questions?” Her brows furrowed.
A strange prickling sensation started climbing up his spine. “About your assignment? For the Queen’s Contest.”
Understanding dawned, clearing her expression. “Oh. No, I think I have it all worked out. I already spoke with Zamar and we made a plan. I’ll confirm with the ladies, of course, but he seemed excited about my ideas.”
“Oh,” Kamaran echoed, feeling as if a heavy weight were pulling his heart down to his toes. “That’s good.”
She was frowning again. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” He drew the word out as he shoved aside the overwhelming disappointment that she had apparently not needed him in the slightest.
Although I shouldn’t be upset. I was relieved when none of the other ladies wanted my opinions on things, because it meant I wouldn’t have to pretend I knew what the words they were pointing to meant.
“Will you help me with something?” he blurted out before she could follow up with any other prying questions. The prickling feeling continued.
Rana gave him a long, searching look before nodding. “What do you need?”
He lifted his hands out of the way as Zade bounded over and leapt lightly onto his lap. He absentmindedly ran a hand down the fox’s back. “Those papers you took—will you read them to me?”
“Of course.” She picked up the bundle. “Do you want me to move over there so you can see?”
“I…” Kamaran faltered. For as much as he wanted her near, he knew that it wouldn’t make one bit of difference.
She was already rising, apparently taking his hesitation as confirmation, when she suddenly froze. Her eyes grew wide as they looked from him to the fox perched on his legs and back again. Her voice cracked as she whispered, “Kamaran. Don’t move.”
Zade, rather than settling down into his customary donut shape, was standing completely still, save for the subtle twitching of his large ears.
His eyes were focused on something just over Kamaran’s shoulder.
Kamaran started to turn, intent on finding out what it was that held the creature’s attention.
“Don’t. Move.” Fear trembled in Rana’s voice, and her face had gone pale.
The prickling sensation he had attributed to nerves moved along his shoulder now, and he realized with a rush of terror that there was something crawling on him.
In the blink of an eye, everything happened at once.
Zade launched himself at Kamaran’s shoulder, knocking him backward with the unexpected momentum and sending a flash of hot, searing pain up his side as his torn muscles protested the movement.
He let out a grunt of pain. Rana gasped, throwing a hand over her mouth.
Just as quickly as he had jumped onto Kamaran’s shoulder, Zade leaped back to the floor.
He dropped something from his mouth, backed away, then pounced on it again, ripping and tearing with his tiny teeth.
After a few moments, he sat back on his haunches, calmly licking his nose as if he hadn’t just engaged in the most aggressive hunting behavior that Kamaran had ever seen.
“What is it?” He gingerly forced himself back to an upright position and craned his neck to see what was left of the ravaged red and black carcass on the floor. A broken claw and an ugly black stinger were all he needed to see. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made way for cold ice.
“It’s a red scorpion,” Rana announced quietly, the expression on her face a mirror image to the horror that he felt. “It must have been on the back of your shirt. If Zade hadn’t noticed…” Her words trailed off.
I could have been dead by tomorrow. Kamaran finished the grim thought in his mind.
As if reading his mind, Zade trotted over and rubbed himself against Kamaran’s legs like an affectionate cat before sauntering back to the carnage and crunching away happily.
“Well,” Rana said with forced brightness, clapping her hands together. “That was excitement I could have done without.” She studied him. “You should probably lie down. I’ll call Jasper.”
“No!” The word came out louder than he intended, and Kamaran cleared his throat. “No. I’d like to stay here.”
Near-death experiences aside, sitting in front of Rana’s fire was the one place he was able to be himself. His hours with her were precious, and he would rather deal with the pain than give them up.
She narrowed her eyes. “Fine. But then I’m helping you to the couch.”
He didn’t argue, especially when her help meant that his arm was looped over her shoulders and her side was tucked into his as she gently assisted him in moving the few feet from his chair to the divan.
She helped him lay back, fluffing the pillows for his head and carefully arranging his legs so that he didn’t have to pull them up himself.
“You would have been better off staying in bed this morning,” she remarked as she gently brushed his hair from his forehead. He resisted the urge to close his eyes at her touch.
“Probably. But then the challenge would have come to me, and I would prefer to keep Yasmin as far away from my room as possible.”
She chuckled as she drew away and retrieved the abandoned papers. “Fair enough.” She settled onto the floor in front of the divan, close enough that if he moved his hand just a few inches, he could run his fingers through her soft hair. “Now, what am I looking at?”