Chapter 18
Tariq was walking along the carefully manicured paths in the garden when he spotted Aisha ahead. He half expected her to turn around and walk the other way, but she continued towards him. They stopped a few feet from each other.
‘Morning,’ he said.
‘Good morning.’
She seemed brighter than he had seen her in weeks. ‘Did your sisters settle in all right? Maryam said they stayed with you overnight.’
‘Did she?’ Aisha squinted up at him.
Maryam was only obligated to share visions that were relevant to Gruisea’s future, but lately he found himself asking questions about Aisha’s general wellbeing. ‘I happened to see her before I saw you.’ It wasn’t a lie.
Aisha searched his face. ‘My sisters and I had a lot to catch up on and fell asleep.’
‘I see.’ He looked past her to the fountain in the distance, where Lilah and Safiya were seated, watching Mira hunt an insect of some kind.
‘Do you have a moment?’ she asked.
For her, he seemed to always have time. ‘I do.’
She began walking, and he fell into step with her, aware of her sisters’ eyes now boring into his back.
‘I wanted to speak to you about the Promise Exchange,’ she began. ‘Have you decided what you’ll engrave on your token?’
‘Yes. You?’
A nod. ‘Yes.’ She fell silent for a few strides. ‘Do you get to choose what goes on yours? Or did the queen already have it pre-engraved on your behalf?’
‘Funny,’ he said, suppressing a smile. ‘Though we are supposed to choose with the king and queen’s wishes in mind.’
She looked up at him. ‘Will they want to approve mine?’
‘I’m sure my mother would love to, but the tradition has always been that each party asks for what serves their individual interests.’
‘It’s essentially another trade agreement,’ she said.
‘A trade agreement of the heart.’
They walked in silence for a moment, the gravel crunching beneath their feet.
‘Listen,’ Aisha said, clearing her throat, ‘about the kiss.’
He slowed mid-step. ‘The kiss?’
‘The one at the end of the exchange.’ Her voice was tinged with nervousness. ‘I know this might seem a bit forward, but with the king and queen present, Lilah thought it might be a good idea if we were to… practice.’
He stopped and turned to face her. ‘Lilah suggested this?’
‘She’s very thorough with these things.’
Tariq glanced in the direction of the sisters. They were too far away now to read their facial expressions. ‘Is she now?’
‘I know it won’t be our first time.’ Aisha’s cheeks flushed with colour. ‘But it will be our first time with an audience.’
He tried to hide his amusement. ‘That’s true.’
Aisha was looking everywhere but at him. ‘Do you think a standing kiss will be quite different from when we kissed… lying down?’
He crossed his arms, pretending to think about it. ‘I imagine so.’
She nodded thoughtfully. ‘I suspected as much.’
Tariq watched her chew that bottom lip as she weighed her next words. He couldn’t have looked away if he wanted to.
He should have told her that she’d been set up, that there was no kiss at the end of the exchange, but the memory of her impossibly soft lips against his kept him silent. And since there was a kiss on their wedding day, the practice would not go to waste.
‘We wouldn’t want to appear awkward,’ Aisha said.
‘No,’ he agreed. ‘No, we wouldn’t want that.’
She looked around. ‘Should we do it here? Get it over with?’
‘Sure,’ he replied.
He waited for her to look at him again and felt his pulse quicken when their eyes met.
Her chest stilled as he stepped closer, his shadow falling over her as he reached a hand up to lightly hold her face.
Her head tipped back slightly, the muscles in her neck softening.
His gaze fell to her lips as he brushed his thumb over her jaw.
He leaned in, then waited, giving her every opportunity to pull away.
But she didn’t move.
Slowly, he pressed his lips to hers, savouring the heat from them as the world fell silent around them. He should have stopped there. That was plenty for a kiss that wasn’t even part of the ceremony. But then she inhaled in a way that made his temperature rise.
He deepened the kiss, his free hand moving to the small of her back, drawing her closer. Aisha’s hands landed on his chest. He was expecting her to push him away, but instead, her fingers curled around the fabric of his tunic.
A throat clearing had them stepping apart. Lilah and Safiya now stood nearby.
‘Forgive the interruption,’ Safiya said, arms crossed. ‘We were taking a turn around the garden and didn’t see you here… talking.’
‘I think they’re still talking,’ Lilah said, tugging on Safiya’s arm.
‘No, they have definitely finished,’ Safiya replied, her feet rooted to the ground.
Aisha took another unnecessary step back from Tariq. ‘I think that’s everything sorted for the ceremony.’
‘Are you sure?’ Lilah asked. ‘Because we can go.’
Tariq could still feel the heat of Aisha’s mouth, and it was painfully distracting. He realised he needed to tell her the truth about the exchange. When she moved to leave, he caught her wrist. ‘Wait.’
Aisha’s gaze shot to his hand, then travelled up to meet his eyes.
He led her a few paces away from her sisters and lowered his voice so as not to embarrass her. ‘Listen, about the Promise Exchange.’
She waited.
He just had to come out and say it. ‘There’s no kiss.’
At first she looked confused, but then her eyes widened slightly. ‘What?’
‘There’s no kiss at the end of the exchange.’ He swallowed. ‘It’s possible Lilah got confused.’ Though he didn’t believe that for one second.
‘Oh.’ She looked accusingly at her sister. ‘You knew, didn’t you?’
Now Lilah appeared confused. ‘What?’
‘That there’s no kiss at the end of the exchange.’
A guilty expression swallowed her sister.
Aisha’s gaze returned to Tariq. ‘Why didn’t you correct me before? You let me make a complete fool of myself.’
He tilted his head. ‘Why do you think?’
She opened her mouth to reply, but words failed her.
‘I know I should apologise,’ he said. ‘The kiss was—’
‘It doesn’t matter how good it was,’ she said, cutting him off. ‘You should have told me before.’
His eyebrows rose. ‘I was going to say deceptive.’
Colour flooded her cheeks. She dipped her head, turned, and walked away.
She was halfway to her sisters when Tariq called to her. ‘It was good practice for the wedding ceremony. There’s a kiss at the end of that one.’
Aisha didn’t look back. She walked straight past her sisters. Lilah and Safiya exchanged a look before following her.
Only when the three of them were out of sight did Tariq release the grin he’d been holding back.