Chapter 49
The Next Day
At the Hospital
The test results are in. My system was dosed with the herb.
The obstetrician said the only thing that kept me from losing my baby was the fact that I’d drunk the tea just minutes before the pain began and that I vomited soon after, while waiting for Kaled to arrive.
I’ve always thought of myself as a calm person, but today I feel murderous rage, and I think my husband does too. In truth, so does our entire family. My mother, Jazmina, even my father-in-law Kamran, all look like they’ve aged years. Their faces are drawn, their anger impossible to hide.
The plot is so sordid it doesn’t feel real; it feels like something out of a Hollywood movie.
When he told me they would interrogate Eiza today, I said I was going with them. Kaled tried to talk me out of it, but I stood my ground. I need to look that woman in the eye.
How can someone who is a mother find the courage to harm a child who hasn’t even been born? Any child? What kind of monster, someone who’s known the joy of giving birth, can scheme to steal another woman’s right to become a mother?
She congratulated me on my pregnancy, talked to me about childbirth, all while plotting to rob me of the privilege of delivering my son.
She didn’t just plan to kill my baby; if my husband’s theory is right, she wanted to destroy my entire family. Yes, because the only way it makes sense for her to target my son is if she intended to get Kaled out of the way too.
A shiver of fear goes down my spine.
When the pain started, I didn’t know what was happening. My abdomen seized in spasms, a sharp, ripping ache. My intuition screamed it was the baby, and it was a blessing that I moved quickly and called for help.
I’m trying to show him I’m in control, but the truth is I’m still terrified.
We’re waiting for the doctor to do the ultrasound. Even though the obstetrician assured us everything looks fine, I know I won’t truly calm down until I hear my son’s heartbeat.
“You’re very quiet.”
“I’m nervous.”
“So am I.”
I lift my head and, for the first time, see vulnerability in his usually unshakable face. It can’t be easy for a man like him to lose control of his own life.
“But whatever the results say, we’re in this together, ayuni.”
I understand what he isn’t saying: if what they gave me harmed our son in any way, we will love him all the same.
Of course that’s true—nothing would change for me—but my heart twists at the thought that my baby, who had been growing healthy inside me, might have been hurt when I couldn’t protect him.
“Ready, Your Highness?” the nurse asks after a knock on the door.
“Yes, we are,” I answer for both of us.
This isn’t my first ultrasound, but it feels like it. The first time I heard my baby’s heartbeat, I cried. This morning I spent hours praying I’d get to hear it again.
I squeeze my husband’s hand while the doctor turns on the machine. Kaled’s hand is cold too, though he hides his emotions better than I do.
We look at each other instead of the monitor. An invisible bond pulls us tighter than ever. Fear does that to you—it teaches you what really matters. There isn’t enough gold in the world to buy what I want most: to know our little one is healthy.
“Here’s our prince, Your Highness,” the doctor says with a smile, and then the room fills with the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard: the sound of life inside my baby boy. His heartbeat.
While the obstetrician explains that everything appears normal, all I can do is nod and give thanks for the miracle we’ve been granted.
That afternoon
Time to face that skirt-clad monster. A vile creature without a conscience who didn’t hesitate to hurt an innocent. All in the name of power.
But before we step off the helicopter, I remember something I haven’t told Kaled. I catch his arm to stop him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to tell you something that might matter.”
“Hold on.” He asks the pilot to give us privacy.
“My mother thinks there may be more than friendship between Eiza and my father.”
“What?” He goes pale, and I know why. On top of everything else she did, there’s the possibility she betrayed the trust of the kind former sheikh.
I quickly explain my mother’s suspicion about the closeness between his stepmother and Arif, and without my spelling it out, I can see pieces clicking into place in his mind.
“I couldn’t figure out how she orchestrated all this alone, but now we have an explanation. Someone was guiding her.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Arrest him until we get to the bottom of it,” he says, already taking out his phone.
Minutes later
At the palace
Before we enter the interrogation room, Kaled takes his father into another office, probably to prepare him for what’s coming. There will be a scandal when the first wife’s adultery comes to light.
A few minutes later, we’re all assembled. The door to my husband’s office opens, and I finally get to face her.
Unlike these last two months, when she pretended to like me, Eiza’s face today is pure indifference.
Her outer beauty can’t hide the ugliness inside: a look heavy with rancor and disdain.
I have no doubt her anger is for having been caught.
There is no remorse, no sadness. She holds herself high, chin lifted, refusing to look any of us in the eye.
I burn inside. Kaled, however, is remarkably calm for the moment.
The lead officer begins, reciting her rights and explaining why we’re here.
Half an hour later
Eiza whispers with her attorney, probably taking instructions. She hasn’t cried, hasn’t denied anything, but she hasn’t confessed either. Nerves of steel.
Then the detective turns on a TV they rolled in, and I watch her crack. The faux composure collapses.
On the screen: footage from yesterday, her speaking with Sajida more than once and later walking to the maid’s quarters at night. According to Kaled, the maid said Eiza came to confirm she’d given me the drink.
“As you can see, we have irrefutable proof against you.”
It doesn’t escape me, and surely not her, that he doesn’t give her the courtesy title usually granted to the first wife of a former sheikh. It’s a message: her privileges are over.
“We intend to pursue the death penalty,” our attorney says bluntly, without preamble.
She finally deigns to speak. “Death penalty? I’m not being charged with murder!”
“Yes, death. Perhaps you should have studied the law before attempting to take the life of the unborn prince and the wife of His Highness, Sheikh Kaled. Crimes against members of the Royal Family are punishable by death, whether or not the attempt succeeds.”
She blanches and returns to whispering with her lawyer. Then he asks for a brief recess to talk to his client.
It feels like an eternity before they return, though my watch says only ten minutes have passed.
“Is there any possibility of a deal?” her lawyer asks.
“What kind?” our attorney replies.
I glance at Kaled, full of doubt. He can’t let her slip away. She has to pay.
But when he meets my eyes, I can tell he’s asking for my trust.
“One that takes death off the table,” the lawyer says. “We’d accept life imprisonment under house arrest.”
I relax a fraction. I don’t need her to die, as long as she pays and is removed from society.
Kaled looks at his father, who has listened in silence until now, face impassive.
“No,” Kamran says. “If she delivers her accomplice and details of this heinous scheme, we’ll commute the death sentence to life imprisonment, but not at home. A common prison.”
“Kamran, you can’t be serious,” Eiza says. Until now, she hasn’t shown a shred of shame before her husband.
“I am,” he answers, steady, and then, to the shock of everyone in the room, he renounces her three times aloud.
They are divorced.
The woman’s shock is visible. She looks ready to faint.
“So then, about the deal . . .” our lawyer continues, unflinching, as if nothing extraordinary has happened.
Perhaps understanding for the first time how dire her situation is, the woman finally yields. “Arif Ghazal. He is my accomplice. The reason we didn’t want this pregnancy to continue was so that our grandson would one day rise to power. My daughter Nalini is not Kamran’s child; she’s Arif’s.”
It’s as if someone hit a mute button. No one expected that.
I look at my father-in-law, worried how the revelation might affect his health, but the strength radiating from him surprises me. It’s like watching an older version of my Kaled. There’s so much dignity in his face that it hurts to see his life exposed like this.
If it’s possible, I hate Eiza a little more.
Apparently, he recovers before anyone else. “Did my daughter Nalini know about your plans?” he asks Eiza, and I’m awed by his honor. Any other man would disown the girl he raised as his own on the spot.
“No. She knew nothing, and she has no idea you aren’t her father.”
He nods once. ”Make the deal. If she delivers Arif to us, we will spare her life.”
I leave the room shortly after, letting the lawyers hash out the terms. Kaled follows me, but his father insists on staying to the end, a pillar of resolve.
I couldn’t remain in that woman’s presence. Being near Eiza is like staring into the face of evil.
In the corridor, with my husband at my side, we see Amin approaching.
“I have bad news, Your Highness.”
“What happened?” Kaled asks.
“Arif Ghazal. He’s fled the country.”