Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
S oraiya went straight to the palace from the airport. It had only been four months since she’d been home, and already it had that strange combination of familiarity overlaid with a sense of something foreign. She’d become a stranger in her own home. No, she thought. It wasn’t because she’d been absent. It was because it was no longer her home. Sirun was. She swallowed down the lump that the thought brought. She couldn’t go there. Not yet. She had to remain focused.
She wasn’t surprised when she was made to wait. Tempted as she was to go to the privacy of her old rooms, she stayed, instead, in the main waiting area, along with other people wanting an audience with the king. It wouldn’t help her case to assume old privileges or status. Everything had changed now.
People came and went. She acknowledged the palace staff with a smile and a few words, but ignored everyone else. She knew she was the object of curiosity but held her head up high and refused to make eye contact. Instead she fixed her gaze on the fountain which played on the other side of the closed window. For the first time she noticed the chill of the air-conditioned reception rooms. Something they rarely used in Sirun. And went through yet again the details of the bargain she intended to offer her father while she waited. And waited.
At last she heard her name called and looked up to see a concerned-looking vizier. She jumped up and he gripped her hands.
“I’m so sorry. I was only just told. It seems your father…” He trailed off with an abject shake of the head.
She reached out to reassure him. “My father wanted to make me wait. I understand, Mohammed. Will he see me now?”
“He will. I made sure he will.”
Soraiya followed Mohammed through the corridors to the king’s office. He knocked on the door, announced her and then, with a grim face, stood back to allow her to enter. She didn’t move for a second as, even without seeing her father, she sensed his anger and knew how it would go. She drew in a deep breath and entered his office. It had always been a place where she’d been welcomed, even if it were only because of her efficiency and usefulness. Now, she’d lost even that advantage.
His tall, heavy-set figure dominated the office. But it was the contempt she saw in his dark eyes which made her falter. He stood over the desk, gripping its side as if it were the only thing stopping him from leaping over to her and attacking her. “ You . I’m surprised you had the gall to turn up here.”
She swallowed. “I’m still you daughter, and we have things to discuss.”
“You are not my daughter, and we have nothing to discuss!”
She flinched under the attack of his words, so violent that spittle flew from his mouth, spattering on the papers strewn over his desk.
“Then why did you agree to see me?” She was relieved to hear her voice sounded far calmer than she felt. The only way to deal with her erratic father was to talk to him as if he were an aggressive dog.
“Because my vizier advised me to. He had the temerity to tell me that I owed you. He is wrong of course, but maybe I was just curious. So, tell me what is it you want? Come to beg, I suppose?”
“No. I’ve come to bargain.”
“Bargain?” For the first time since she’d entered the room, there was a flash of interest in his eyes. “What with?”
She took advantage of the brief stay in hostilities to advance towards him and take a seat. She certainly didn’t want to collapse in front of him, and her legs felt like jelly.
“Perhaps,” she said, sitting down, “you should call in Mohammed.”
He grimaced but nodded all the same and pressed a buzzer which must have sounded elsewhere. Immediately the vizier appeared, and searched her face first, as if her reaction was the only one he was interested in. They’d always understood each other. She nodded and shot him a wan smile. Between the vizier’s support and her father’s greed, she stood a chance.
It didn’t take long to conclude the negotiations. It seemed an hour was sufficient time in which to trade all the wealth she’d inherited from her mother in exchange for land which would be signed over to the King of Sirun. She’d entered the room a wealthy woman in her own right, and exited with nothing to her name. Nothing except the knowledge that she’d put right the wrongs which her father had been prepared to inflict on Sirun.
But she’d got the result she wanted. Sirun would have the land it so desperately needed to win trade agreements and the investment it so urgently required. But she had no idea what any of it would mean for her. Maybe she’d be left with nothing except her honor? Or maybe she’d be reunited with Zak and all would be well. She hoped for the latter but had nothing to base her hopes on as she hadn’t heard a word from him. She had no idea whether he would be appeased by her actions or would want no further connection to the walking scandal which was his wife. One way lay destitution, the other happiness. She’d done all she could do to right the wrongs of her parents. The rest was up to Zak.
As she walked out of the palace in which she’d been raised, she realized it might well be the last time she ever saw her father, or ever visited her homeland again. He might have agreed to the bargain she’d offered but he clearly wanted nothing further to do with her now he knew his blood didn’t flow in her veins. She understood. One thing about her father was that he was consistent. He’d always stated that blood lines were important and he wasn’t about to make an exception with her.
She stepped out from the shelter of the portico and into the bright sunlight as a wave of nausea swept over her. She swallowed the bile down and gripped onto a railing to steady herself.
“Are you all right, Your Majesty?” one of the guards asked.
She tried to smile reassuringly, gratified that he’d noticed. She’d always got on well with the palace staff. Better than her own family. She wiped the sweat from her upper lip and put on her sunglasses. “Yes, thank you. But I need a car to take me to the airport. Could you please arrange transport?”
“There’s no need.” He pointed to a limousine parked close by. “It’s waiting for you.”
Frowning, she walked over to it. The driver jumped out and greeted her.
“Your Majesty. I have instructions to take you directly to the airport.”
“Instructions? From whom?” She needed it spelled out. She hardly dared hope.
“From His Majesty, Sheikh Zakariyya. He’s waiting for you on the royal jet. Waiting to take you home.”
She smiled for the first time in what felt like days. Home. She liked the sound of that.
Zak was waiting at the top of the flight of steps which led into the plane. His hands were on his hips, and his agitation was clearly etched in his face. Behind him stood his vizier. She felt the curious stares of other staffers as they watched her from the windows.
“Soraiya,” Zak said, pulling her into his arms. “Thank God you’re alright.” He released her suddenly. “You are, aren’t you?” he asked, gazing deep into her eyes, as if realizing there might be hidden pain and hurt not immediately obvious.
She nodded and looked around at the vizier and others. It looked like they’d assembled for a meeting of the cabinet.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just needed to speak with my father. Alone,” she added.
“What happened, Your Grace?” asked Aabid.
She looked pleadingly at Zak who turned to the others. “Later. My wife and I need time alone before we all meet.”
He led her to a private cabin and closed the door behind her. He took both her hands in his, his eyes still searching her face for answers she’d not yet given him. “Are you sure you’re all right? You scared the hell out of me, disappearing like that.”
“I left a message telling you where I’d gone. Didn’t you get it?”
“Eventually. But you should have discussed it with me first.”
“I couldn’t. I felt too ashamed, at my mother, at my father’s reaction, and not least at how you, and Sirun had been fooled. You’d been landed with a woman who wasn’t what she’d claimed to be, and who couldn’t bring you what you’d been promised.”
“There’s nothing you should feel ashamed about. None of this was a result of your actions.”
“Even so, I know what a scandal this will be for you and Sirun. And I want you to know, Zak, that I understand if you wish to annul our marriage.”
He frowned and shook his head, as if bewildered. “Annul? You mean pretend it never happened? How on earth do you expect me to do that?”
“Easily. I walk away today from you, from your ministers, from this plane and go live somewhere else. You can do the paperwork and marry another woman. Someone royal who will bring you the respect you, and Sirun, deserve.”
He shook his head. “Soraiya. Don’t you understand? I know.”
A wave of icy fear swept through her and she sat in the nearest chair. She licked her lips. “Know what?” she tested.
“I know you’re pregnant. But what I don’t know is why you didn’t tell me.”
“I was about to when…” She grimaced. “Events intervened. I didn’t want it to complicate things.”
“It doesn’t. It makes them more straightforward.” He lifted her chin so she couldn’t hide her thoughts or feelings from him. She’d never been able to. “You’re pregnant with our child which means our future is together. How could I allow the mother of my child to leave? Hey?”
Conflicting emotions clashed and tangled as she let his words sink in. Their future would be together which was exactly what her heart wished for. But the reason? That wasn’t what her heart wished for. She’d hoped he loved her. Hoped that the love which had grown inside of her over the past months had also grown inside of him. But it seemed not. His mother had been correct. It appeared there was no way that any red-blooded king of Sirun was about to allow any child of his to leave him. His need to keep her close was there in how he looked at her, there in the way he held her hand tight, as if he’d never let her go. She was his. And, God help her, she’d settle for that if that was all he was offering. Love was like that—it made you want to take whatever you could get.
She nodded, blinking back the tears. “You couldn’t. I understand.”
A shadow passed over his face. “You didn’t want to leave, did you?”
She shook her head. “No. I left for one purpose only. To see my father.”
He led her to the chairs. “Are you reconciled?”
“No. But I knew he wouldn’t be interested in that.” She paused. “I hoped we would be, of course I did, but deep down I knew that blood lines mean everything to him, and I’ve never meant very much. I mean even less now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. We may not be reconciled but that wasn’t my aim in seeing him.”
His eyes narrowed. “What was?”
“To strike a bargain. I know how important the land is to Sirun. There is so much depending on it that I made my father an offer I knew he couldn’t refuse. You know I inherited property in the most prestigious areas of Paris from my mother’s family. My father once tried to take it from me and might have succeeded if it weren’t for his vizier. He made sure it was untouchable. But I knew it was the only thing that might persuade my father to honor his commitment to my grandmother to pass the land to me. And so it turns out.”
Zak’s face darkened with anger. “Soraiya! You shouldn’t have made such a bargain! That property was yours. It wasn’t part of the matrimonial settlement. It must have been worth millions.”
“It was. And just as well it was because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make him keep his promise to give us the land. You see, after my eligibility for the land has been revoked, it would revert to him, to do with as he pleases. After our meeting, it pleases him to give it to me.”
He sighed, looked away, and muttered a string of expletives. He turned to her eventually. “You’ve sacrificed everything for me and for Sirun. You shouldn’t have done. We’d have found another way.”
“Maybe. But nothing as effective as this. Besides, I couldn’t bear the shame of my father reneging on the arrangement. No, I had to put things right.”
“I thank you, Soraiya. And so will our son. Your future is with me in Sirun.”
As he pressed his lips to hers, she realized that he hadn’t asked her whether she wanted to stay, but had told her. The kiss sealed her fate but, God help her, it was one she wanted, whether she was loved or not.
When they returned to the main cabin to join his vizier and other ministers, there was no more talk of babies or their future together. It was all about what happened between Soraiya and her father. And it certainly made the council meeting simpler to conclude. There was only one course of action now.
Phone calls were made, a new flight plan was lodged, and they took off as soon as they could, heading toward Paris, not Sirun.