Chapter 6
Shehryar
A fter Crown Prince Kai’s surprise and cake-cutting in the kitchen, Mariyah and I were taken to our respective rooms to wash up and rest, while the prince set Esmeralda up in his room. We freshened up, then everyone gathered back in the private dining hall to continue the birthday celebration.
Lunch was laid out as an endless array of sweet and savoury finger foods on the two dark oak tables that took up the central space, with birthday bunting hanging from the sides. All the chairs had been scattered around to sit on, while a space at the end of the elegant hall was being used as a dance floor. And whoever was in charge of the music had a taste for old-school hip-hop and pop.
It wasn’t my kind of scene. Parties weren’t in general, but parties that included mingling with royalty especially. I much preferred sticking to the walls as a guard than being an active participant. Yet, my mother had me standing right next to one of the tables of food in the middle of the whole event.
“Oh, and has Jude been keeping an eye on the separation of white sheets and coloured? There hasn’t been another laundry mishap since, has there?” she asked me.
I sighed up at the golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling before dropping my head back down. “Mum. Do we really have to do this right now?”
Katiya Timur, my mother, bunched her softly curved brows together like my question was absurd, the pale-green eyes I’d inherited from her crinkling at the outer corners. “Of course. I need to know that my staff are doing well under Mona and are not giving her any unnecessary trouble.”
I hadn’t seen my mum since September, almost two months ago, but of course, she was more curious about how “ her staff ” at Jahmal Palace were getting on without her than she was about me. They weren’t even her staff anymore. They hadn’t been for five months.
It wasn’t because she didn’t love me. She was just a workaholic and a mother hen who needed to know everything and everyone she cared about were well and looked after. Considering she’d spent nearly all her life working in the palace, it was understandable she was concerned so much.
My mother had been hired as a nanny to the then newborn Esmeralda when she was just twenty-four years old, but quickly became a confidant to the late Queen Amara too. At the time, I’d only been four, so I’d spent most of my day in the nursery with them. Growing up beside her, Esmeralda had never simply been a princess. She was the little sister I vowed to protect and support from the beginning.
More than twenty-three years later, I’d made good on that vow, but Mum was struggling to accept the fact that she no longer had to worry about anyone but herself anymore. That was Mona’s job now—the woman Mum had hired herself as her replacement.
“Mona has everything under control,” I assured her. “They all work hard, and they respect her. But I’ll give you a full update on everyone when we’re not standing in a room full of people supposed to be celebrating Prince Kai’s birthday. Also, you haven’t told me how you’ve been doing.”
Her expression melted from concern to soft motherly love as she smiled. “I’ve been wonderful, Sher. But gosh, have I missed you, and Esmeralda, and everyone at Jahmal.”
I curled my arms around her shoulders, and she met me halfway. With her being a tall woman, it was easy to rest my jaw against the top of her head as she squeezed my waist in a tight hug. “I’ve missed you too, Mum. We all have.”
I hadn’t been a lost puppy without my mum around in Jahandar. But I was my mother’s son. Excluding my two and a half years of training in the Special Operations Brigade in the Armed Forces, I’d never really been without her. Even then, she’d always been close enough that I could make sure she was safe and happy and healthy. Not being able to do that with her so far away had taken some getting used to. It still did.
“I know.” She sighed as she pulled away. “But how have you been, really? Anything I should know about?” Her eyes glittered hopefully. “A girlfriend? Or boyfriend? Someone you like even?”
My smile dropped. “No, Mum. And you don’t have to ask me every single time. If I meet someone, I will tell you myself. But now isn’t the right time for me to date, so it won’t be for a while.”
She absently picked a bit of fluff off my black jumper over my chest. “There’s no right time to date, Shehryar. When it happens, you care enough to try and make it work. But I understand.” She patted my chest, and I reeled a little, because it kind of felt like she was dismissing me. A big grin took over her expression as she pivoted. “Isn’t it lovely that Mariyah is here with us?”
My brain stuttered from the sudden whiplash in conversation. It took a couple of blinks for me to recover and feel the usual irritation at the mention of the menace coat the inside of my mouth.
“It’s lovely for Esmeralda,” I said, trying to keep my tone neutral.
Mum narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”
Someone cleared their throat. “May I join the conversation?”
Mother smiled in delight, but I didn’t feel her joy. Not even close.
Distrust formed a rumbling cloud over my chest as I spread to my full height and breadth. The protective urge to step in front of her and keep the threat away was there and strong, but I held myself still as Prince Arsh Touma, King Rami’s younger brother, stepped into my mother’s open arms.
“Of course,” she said, gleaming at him as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Right, Sher?”
They both looked at me. Mum with an exaggerated, warning smile. And Prince Arsh with a twinkle of cautious hope in his gaze. It made me feel the tiniest bit guilty for immediately experiencing distrust around him.
I shifted my weight from foot to foot as I tried to offer him a smile. It came out as more of a tight lip-press instead. “Yes. Sure.”
Between avoiding Mum’s scolding laser beams and Prince Arsh’s small smiles, I ended up looking from the glass in my hand to the food on the closest table. And fuck, was it awkward.
“What were you talking about?” Prince Arsh said after what felt like a painfully long minute.
“I was telling Sher how lovely it is to have Mariyah here too,” Mum said.
“It is.” The man grinned. “Everyone’s already in love with her. Especially Mother.”
I scratched a finger by my temple to stop myself from rolling my eyes. The only sense of humour that Gigi , the retired Dowager Queen of Touma, King Rami and Prince Arsh’s mother, had was insulting people. So, I wasn’t surprised to hear she liked Mariyah’s equally bad wit.
Mum gleamed. “I don’t doubt that. Mariyah has a rather roguish streak that Gigi will admire. But Esmeralda and her combined? Gosh, you’d never guess the things those girls had me doing and saying the few times I visited them at uni.” Prince Arsh’s brow shot up before he chuckled. Mum smiled sheepishly and leaned closer into his side. “But she’s also such a sweet girl.”
The scoff was automatic. Sweet, my fucking ass.
I thought the sound had been quiet, but when I peered up, Mum and Prince Arsh were staring at me. Fuck.
“What was that for, Sher?” Mum asked, her tone laced with accusation. I opened my mouth, but no explanation came out when her eyes narrowed. “You don’t agree that she’s sweet?”
Ah, shit.
No, I didn’t agree one bit. But I couldn’t tell Mum I thought Mariyah was about as sweet as the bitter peel of a lemon and just as sour as the flesh inside. I’d hear an endless lecture about how I was being rude and judgemental.
I straightened and scratched a set of fingers over my trimmed beard as I thought of a cover-up. “Uh, no. It’s not that I don’t agree.” I forced my lips up into something that hopefully resembled a smile. “I was just thinking of some of the things Mariyah and Princess Esmeralda used to get up to.”
Prince Arsh chuckled. “I take it they gave you a lot of trouble?”
I hummed and nodded. “They did.”
Trouble was one name for it. A fucking cycle of rage-induced aneurysms after hateful hard-ons was another.
“No wonder she’s getting on so well with Pierre,” Prince Arsh said and nodded to something on my left. “I mean, look. He’s still glued to her side.”
It wasn’t as if I wanted to look or as if I cared. But I had the same reaction as when someone said, “ Look! A bird! ”. My attention zipped around to find it. Find her.
My teeth, my fingers around the glass, and every damn muscle in my body clenched as a searing current sparked inside me and slowly pulsed up to cover the entire surface of my skin.
Pierre was handsome, I’d allow him that, with his ruby-red eyes and white-toothed grin. But he had no fucking concept of personal space. And Mariyah was drinking up his attention shamelessly.
They were chatting and staring into each other’s eyes like there was no one else there. Kind of like they’d been doing outside the kitchen. It was disgraceful.
Fuck. I wanted to go over there and yank them apart. Because Mariyah was Esmeralda’s friend, and it was embarrassing the way she was leaning up to whisper in Pierre’s ear.
My teeth rubbed across each other, creating a disgusting squeak in my ear that made my jaw twitch.
Someone needed to gouge Pierre’s eyes out for practically licking up her body every chance he got.
I could have done it. All I needed was a knife.
It didn’t have to be sharp. In fact, I’d have preferred it not to be.
“Oh, just look at them,” Mum fussed excitedly, placing a hand against Prince Arsh’s chest. “First Esmeralda and Kai fell in love, so wouldn’t it be sweet if now their best friends fell in love too?”
I gulped down the rest of my drink to avoid laughing at how ridiculous the idea was.
“What’s the plan?” Prince Arsh asked.
Mum lifted a brow. “Are you suggesting that I am about to meddle, dear?”
I covered my mouth with my fist as the sparkling liquid went down the wrong pipe. Eyes watering and burning, I tried hard to keep the spluttering coughs quiet while my focus flew between my mother and her secret boyfriend-turned-fiancé.
The man chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare, my love. But I agree that a little encouragement might help.”
“Brilliant! Then I’ll go speak to Esmeralda and see what she thinks.”
Mum kissed his cheek before patting mine and then left me standing there trying to catch up with the conversation I’d just witnessed. But as I blinked at Prince Arsh, and he smiled softly back at me, it occurred to me that Mother’s nonsense about Mariyah might have only been an excuse to get away.
She bloody damn schemed to force me to be alone with Prince Arsh.
Trying to talk to him for her sake would have been the right thing to do, but I was tired from the early morning flight, and I didn’t want to deal with an unwanted interaction. I promised Mum I’d be open to getting to know him better over our stay, but I hadn’t meant immediately.
I lifted the empty flute in my hand the moment Prince Arsh opened his mouth. “I’m going to get a refill,” I said and stepped back. I bowed my head and turned, but—
“Shehryar.”
I stopped and sighed. There was no getting out of this, so I pivoted back around.
He watched me as if he was giving me a chance to say something, but when I didn’t, he stepped closer. “Look…I know you dislike me—”
“I don’t dislike you, Prince Arsh,” I quickly corrected, but rather than the bored tone I’d been aiming for, the words bordered on harsh.
His mouth tipped in a self-deprecating smile that made guilt pinch my skin. “Well. You don’t exactly like me then, shall we say.”
I didn’t correct him, but he wasn’t deterred by my silence. Neither did he break eye contact as I took him in, considered him, and formulated my answer.
There was nothing overtly wrong with the man. Health, job, or personality wise.
Just over fifty, he was tall, lean, and active. I could see why his bright hazel eyes, charming grin, and brown hair scattered with a touch of grey could be deemed attractive. And while he’d never been married, he didn’t have a toxic arrogance about him that came with some lifelong bachelors who “ chose ” to be single because it was “ fun. ”
In fact, he was the opposite, really. Now that they weren’t hiding their relationship, he hugged Mother and kissed her wherever they were. It was weird how touchy-feely he was, though Esmeralda claimed it was romantic. But at the end of the day, he was kind to Mum—the entire Touman royal family was—and he respected her too. He gave her everything no other man ever had.
And yet…
“It’s not you, Prince Arsh,” I finally said. “I don’t like that, for four years, Mum thought she couldn’t tell me about her relationship with you. I don’t like that if I hadn’t found out the way I had during the Peace Celebrations, then I would probably be standing here right now none the wiser. And I just…”
There was more, but I drifted off. Because the more I thought about it, the angrier it made me. And I didn’t need to start spitting fire in his face when it wasn’t entirely his fault.
“Would your reaction have been any different if she had told you sooner?” he asked.
Honestly? I probably would’ve reacted worse if Mum had told me a year before I found out, let alone more than four. That was saying something considering when Esmeralda, Prince Kai, Fay, and Adam, and I had walked in on them kissing nine months ago, I threatened to kill Prince Arsh, effectively committing a minor form of treason. With how hot-headed I had been four or five years ago, I probably would have followed through on the threat.
So, maybe it wasn’t so bad I’d only found out early in the year, and in truth, I’d gotten over the hurt of Mother not telling me sooner. But it was impossible to accept or like the situation, knowing there was another rich man who now held her fate in his hands.
One more powerful than my bastard of a father had been.
Yet even with how powerful he was, the world still had the right to comment on everything in his life. Including my mother. That’s what worried me most of all.
I rotated away and then revolved back on a deep breath. “Probably not. But when I was told isn’t as important as what comes after. And this situation…” I shook my head. “Your circumstances…”
“I know.” He shuffled closer but still kept a safe distance. “I know my being a prince isn’t ideal—your mother has dealt with enough scrutiny from people who can’t keep to themselves as it is. But being a prince is also what has allowed me to gain approval across the states to change the marriage and law acts. For your mother’s sake. Not anyone else’s.”
His voice dropped but was just loud enough for me to hear over the music. “And I understand more than you realise, more than the world will ever know, what it’s like to watch your asshole of a father hurt your mother in a way she never deserved.” A tightness pulled through my body that was reflected in the older prince’s demeanour too. “That protectiveness you feel for your mother, I feel for mine too, and any other woman who has been through a similar situation.
“And while I know you have no reason to trust me on this yet, I swear to you on my life, my family, and my title that I will never treat Katiya the way your father did. Nor mine. I love her, Shehryar. And I will put her first. Above everyone and everything else.”
He seemed genuine, and I couldn’t pretend there was a single word in his sentence that was amiss that I could latch onto or would have given me comfort in my distrust of him.
There was nothing comfortable about the feeling of being wrong nor the guilt of knowing I was judging the man because of someone else’s actions when he was being sincere.
While it was the kick up the backside I probably needed to actually try to give my mum’s fiancé a chance, it wasn’t enough to convince me the problem with the rest of the world would be solved.
Prince Arsh hadn’t yet actually managed to pass the revised version of the marriage and law acts, so technically, while they were engaged, he couldn’t marry my mother. And the fact there was a law that prevented a “ low-born ” maid from marrying royal blood in the first place was an impossible barrier that I could not get over. The people in power had never wanted their blueblood to be soiled. Especially not by an unmarried single mother.
So many people already had a lot to say about it online as it was.
I knew many of these things were out of Prince Arsh’s control. That didn’t stop me from placing some of the blame on him for putting Mum in a vulnerable situation. But my mother was more than a willing participant in their relationship, which made me feel even shittier for making it seem like I was against them.
“Okay,” I said quietly, forcing the tension to leave my shoulders. “Okay. But I meant what I said the last time I was here.” Ignoring all rationale, I edged closer, looking down my nose at him. “If you hurt her. I will kill you. Painfully and slowly.”
That was my second act of treason in less than a year, but the man grinned happily. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
I stuck my hand out, and he settled his palm against mine and squeezed just as firmly as I did.
Mariyah
“So, what’s the deal with you and Shehryar?” Pierre asked, his voice prickling over the shell of my ear.
I rolled my eyes as I pinched the glass straw between my fingers, lifting the chunky tumbler of soft drink in my hand closer to my lips. “There’s no deal.”
Pierre rolled his eyes in return, adjusting his stance. “Look, Mar. We’re already at the stage of nicknames and you eating off my plate in our relationship, so I think we can stop with the lies.”
I grinned with the straw between my teeth. “I think this relationship is moving too quickly for me. Next, you’re gonna try to get me to meet your parents.”
He shrugged. “Well, you’ve already met my uncle. So, what’s the harm in meeting my parents too?”
I chuckled and shoved him playfully in the chest.
Our “ relationship ” had begun in the two hours we’d been in the huge, high-ceilinged private dining hall of Chaukham Palace, sometime after Esmeralda properly introduced me to Kai and his family. I met his parents, Queen Leila and King Rami, his grandmother, Dowager Queen Giselle (or “ Gigi ” as she blackmailed me into calling her), the adorably awkward nineteen-year-old Adam, and the prettier artist brother, Fay. After which she introduced me to some of the staff too.
Pierre had basically proposed to me with a plate of sweet and savoury tarts when I’d been talking to his uncle, Nur. We’d spent the rest of the time mingling around the hall and flirting in the exaggerated way two people who were comfortable with each other did.
“But don’t think you can avoid my question.” He poked my hollowed cheek as I sucked in a mouthful of fizzy apple liquid. “What in Neves was that ‘ You’re in my way ’ in the corridor?”
I nearly snorted out the drink at Pierre’s imitation of Shehryar’s voice. “Isn’t it obvious? The dickhead has issues.”
His mouth twitched. “And do these issues have anything to do with the fact that every time I look up, Shehryar is glaring at us?”
I held his gaze for a still beat. His smirk widened, and my head flew around.
“Don’t make it so obvious.”
Fuck being discreet .
I found Shehryar within three seconds of turning my body. Not because I’d been tracking his presence in the hall, but it was kind of hard to miss the piercing green eyes of a bull-sized man drilling into me from across the space.
My pulse jolted hard into the rhythm of angry hatred and… no, nothing else . The twist low inside me was part of that feeling, not something separate.
His thick brows weren’t quite pinched, but the irritation in the harsh lines of his face was enough to pass his expression off as a scowl. He wasn’t even ashamed that he’d been caught, which pissed me off even more. He kept staring at me through narrow, frosty orbs, his posture wide and confident where he was standing like some all-seeing guard by the wall.
The temptation to snarl at him was unreal, but I refused to seem like the crazy one. So, I grinned and lifted my free hand, waving my fingers at him.
His response was to shift his stare to Pierre for a few beats of the loud music playing.
And then he blinked. But it wasn’t just a blink.
It was a flicker of his lashes as he tried to hide that he was rolling his eyes.
And I knew that look all too well.
It was judgement. Disapproval. And it was a lick of fury right through me.
Who the fuck did he think he was to disapprove of what I was doing? Fuck him, bastard!
Teeth locked, I swung back around, fumes coming out of my nose and ears.
“Woah,” Pierre uttered. “You good, Mar?”
“Feed me something from your plate,” I growled through a forced toothy grin. “Then wipe my lips with your finger after. Now , please.” He started turning to look in the dickhead’s direction. “No. Don’t look at him, just do it.”
He eyed me warily but did as I’d told him, picking up a small piece of birthday cake between his finger and thumb. But halfway to my lips, he stopped. “Are you using me to encourage his jealousy?” I gaped, entirely shocked and confused by the inferences in his question. “Look, I’m not saying I’ll be hurt if the answer is yes. I just wanna know so I can use my full potential to help you.”
A spluttering laugh came out of my mouth. It was high-pitched and bordering on hysterical. “Are you fucking mad? Was that supposed to be a joke?”
“No. I’m being serious.”
“No, no. I definitely think you’ve lost it if you think he’s jealous and that I’m trying to encourage it. Why the fuck would you even think that?”
He arched a brow, his mouth sloped in an unbelieving smirk as he shook the piece of cake in his hand before me. “Uh, maybe because you want me to feed you to make it seem like we’re a thing, and he’s been glaring at us like he doesn’t like thinking we’re a thing.”
The hysterical laugh rose again, but the hot blood that surfaced to my face shoved it back down. There was no such thing between me and Shehryar. Like, why the fuck—what? Pierre was mad and so wrong it was ridiculous!
I squared up to him, narrowing my eyes in warning. “Look here, Pierre.” I jabbed a finger to the centre of his chest, and he chuckled, lifting his hands in surrender. “Get that fucking absurd idea out of your head because it couldn’t be further from the truth.” He nodded, but his smirk still taunted me. “Shehryar doesn’t like me. In fact, he absolutely hates that I’m friends with Esmeralda, because he thinks I’m some spoiled, self-centred rich girl who’s loose and shameless.”
That knocked Pierre’s smile away, and honestly, it dampened my anger too. “So, you’re wrong. He’s not jealous. He just disapproves of me flirting with you.” I lifted my chin stubbornly. “But no fucking way will I ever let him think he has the right to make me ashamed of myself. So, that’s why I asked you to feed me. It was a ‘fuck you’ to him, not to make him jealous.”
Pierre didn’t say anything at first, and I became increasingly conscious of the fact I had admitted far more about my thoughts than I originally planned.
“Yeah, I’ll help,” he finally said and lifted the piece of cake to my mouth. “Fuck him, Mariyah.”
My mouth slowly slanted in a smile that he returned before I chomped down the cake.
Pierre wiped the corner of my lips with the side of his index finger and sucked the rest of the cream off his skin as he turned and set the plate down. “Come on.” He wrapped a hand around my glass, but I clung on to it. “Give me that.” I let him take it. He placed it down on the table next to us, then wrapped his fingers around mine. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
He grinned cheekily. “The dance floor. You’re going to swing those hips, and I’m going to swoop you around like we’re on a professional dance show.” He leaned into me. “And then you’re going to help me distract Kai, so I can steal Princess Esmeralda.”
I arched a brow. “Are you two-timing me?”
“Nah. I just like pissing Kai off and watching him get all moody and flustered when I’m around her.” I laughed, and he shrugged. “Plus, she’s my friend. I’ve missed her too.”
I loved his plan, but it needed one adjustment. The choice of music.
We found the DJ first—Gary, who turned out to also be Kai’s driver—and requested a raunchier song that belonged in a club and not within the four walls of a century-old palace— the great kings, queens, and royal musicians of the past were rolling in their graves . The staff cheered the change of melody as they adjusted their moves. Fay and Esmeralda were laughing at the choice, while King Rami was grinning and suggestively nudging his beautiful wife, Queen Leila. Dear TRG was the only one who seemed to have no idea what the song was, but he happily let Esmeralda pull him for a dance.
“Do you even know how to dance?” I asked Pierre as he guided me into the middle of everyone.
“Mariyah.” He pulled me closer with both hands wrapped around each of mine, painting the picture of mischief personified. “I know I’m not a prince, but I basically grew up in the palace. I’ve been a dance partner to Kai and Fay for the majority of my life.”
I chuckled at the image he depicted. “All right then.” I pulled his hands to my waist and settled mine against his shoulders. “Show me what you’ve got.”
Oh, he showed me. And damn did Pierre have moves.
He had the kind of rhythm in his hips that made heads turn and mouths fall apart.
He spun me and dipped me and turned me in his arms so we could dance back to chest with his fingers threaded through mine. He joked in my ear, and I laughed so much, enjoying myself to the point I forgot about the dickhead as one song turned into three.
It was only when Pierre and I slowed down to catch our breaths did I end up with Shehryar right in my eyeline, still hovering by the wall. But I met his dark expression with a smirk and glanced away.
“Wanna irritate Kai now?” I asked, flicking one side of my wolf-cut bangs off my hot, damp forehead.
“Damn yes, I do.”
“Okay, disappear for a second while I distract him.”
“Have I told you that I love you?” Pierre purred, bending into me with a goofy grin.
I rolled my eyes. “Love bombing doesn’t suit you, Pierre. Now go.”
We both laughed as I shoved him away, and he went, muttering about his feelings being the truth. I weaved off in the opposite direction, searching the last spot I’d seen my best friend and her crown prince boyfriend. They’d moved further towards the corner of the dance floor, but I found them immediately. And the sight of them was the squeal-inducing kind of adorable.
Kai was pretty much a whole foot taller than Esmeralda, but they fit together so well as they swayed to their own beat. Her hands were on his shoulders, his were locked tightly around her waist, with their faces tilted to each other’s as they chatted through their permanent smiles.
TRG wasn’t a classically pretty prince like his brother, Fay, but he had a ruggedly charming look to him just like his father. He had the square, permanently shadowed jaw of a king in the making, thick, almost stern brows, and a strong, regal nose too. His ink-black eyes didn’t transform to a brown in the light, but his whole appearance was softened by his loosely styled, raven-black hair and the dimple in his right cheek.
Paired with his awkward, slightly grumpy, but sweet personality, he was as cute as he was handsome. Plus, he only had eyes for Esmeralda in a way that had me grinning. She had quite literally found her perfect man. His nickname was even “ The Perfect Prince” for Neves’ sake!
In other words, Kai and Esmeralda were meant for each other. That I could have bet my entire life on.
And yeah, I was fine being single. It was easy and mostly enjoyable. But sometimes I really fucking craved the kind of head-over-heels love she had with him.
It must’ve felt really good to be the centre of someone’s world.
Looking at Kai and Esmeralda, it seemed like it felt fucking epic.
One day, Mariyah. Your turn will come one day.
Pushing the bittersweet longing to the deep, dark, untouched depths of my soul, I called out to Esmeralda. The two lovers stopped in their swaying and slowly untangled themselves to face me. But Kai kept a possessive arm around Esmeralda’s waist, holding her close.
“As much as I’m enjoying seeing you two act adorably cute together, I would like a moment, please,” I declared with a big fat grin.
Colour washed across their cheeks in perfect sync before they both smiled, Kai’s polite in comparison to Esmeralda’s giddy one.
“Of course,” he said, looking lovingly down at our beautiful girl.
I shook my head. “Oh, I wasn’t talking about Esmeralda. May I have a word, Prince Kai?”
If I thought the man had been blushing a moment ago, then his warm golden cheeks turned into an inferno as his eyes widened. “Me?”
“Yes,” I said through a chuckle. “Unless Esmeralda minds.”
“Why would I mind?” Esmeralda said, her pouting lips turned up. “It’s not as if you’re taking away my boyfriend who I haven’t seen in two months.”
Kai grinned as he tugged on his left ear, while I smirked. “You’ll survive a couple of minutes without him, honey. Prince Kai?”
He pressed a long kiss to Esmeralda’s forehead. “I’ll be back.”
I smirked over my shoulder in reply to Esmeralda’s playful glare as Kai and I walked to the side.
“You don’t have to call me Prince Kai,” he said when I turned back.
“Does TRG work then?” I teased. He fumbled for an answer, causing me to laugh. “What would you like me to call you then?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Kai is fine.” I agreed with a nod.
We came to a stop, and he stood as stiff as a child waiting to be scolded.
“You can relax,” I said, chuckling. “I’m not gonna grill you about Esmeralda. A few minutes watching you with her told me all I needed to know.”
His shoulders eased as his mouth lifted. “What did you see?”
“That you love her a touch more than she loves you, which is saying a lot because she is obsessed with you. And that reassures me that her heart is in the right hands.”
A starry glaze spread over his eyes. “Thank you, Mariyah. And I do. I love her more than she knows. But as her best friend, you still have the right to question me. I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“All right then.” I tipped my chin up. “What are your intentions with my best friend?”
His expression took on a genuine seriousness like I was interviewing him for his dream job. “I want to spend the rest of my life loving her and making her happy.”
I blinked in pleasant surprise and grinned. “Wow…I mean, I was just kidding, but that was an excellent answer. Which kind of makes me feel bad now.”
“Bad?” His brows pinched together. “Why?”
I pulled a sheepish grimace. “Because, uh…I helped Pierre steal Esmeralda away.”
I swore his head nearly screwed straight off with how quickly he turned to find them.
And damn, quiet and awkward, where?
TRG was a jealous, fire-breathing dragon.