The Bodyguard #2
Dayyan gathered my hair with reverent care and moved it over my shoulder before his lips brushed over my neck. As soon as his mouth touched my skin, I saw red. I shot to my feet and leaned over the bed, harsh breaths escaping my chest. I gathered myself and spun back around.
Dayyan had remained in the same spot I’d left him, and the passion in his gaze had faded into uncertainty.
I cast aside my raging thoughts and focused on the positive ones.
This was how I would heal. This would be my choice, not a moment stolen from me.
Not the queen mother’s or Shah Jihangir’s or even Dayyan’s.
This would be mine. I would turn this nightmare that had plagued me into something beautiful.
I reached for the clasps on my shoulders and unhooked them.
My dress pooled at my feet, and air brushed my bare skin, leaving me exposed and vulnerable.
My confidence abandoned me in an instant.
I wanted to hide, to run, to escape, but I kept my hands fisted at my sides, staring directly at Dayyan.
He blinked and slowly rose before starting toward me.
My entire body shook, but I held my ground.
He stood before me with something in his eyes I couldn’t decipher.
Then he leaned over, and I steeled myself in preparation.
Shock gripped me when he pulled my dress up and covered me.
He put the clasps in place, his jaw rigid and his eyes flecked with sadness.
“Why?” I whispered.
Calloused fingers brushed the underside of my jaw and lifted my chin. I met Dayyan’s soft stare.
“Until you are ready, I will not touch you, Farani. I will not hurt you.”
Hearing him say that name again and those fervent words broke the last of my resistance.
I fell, sliding along the frame of the bed, and curled my arms around my knees and sobbed.
I let loose the tears and pain I had been attempting to suppress for weeks.
No, for years. Dayyan sat beside me, his back to the frame, his head tilted up at the ceiling.
Endless minutes passed, but he didn’t leave.
When my tears finally dried, my throat was ragged.
“It was late. A night I will never forget.”
I couldn’t believe the words had slipped past my lips. Dayyan tensed, his posture indicating he was listening.
“I was scared for my father. He was appointed—” I stopped, calculating how to communicate something I’d never dared to tell beyond a single soul without revealing who I truly was. “He was on a mission to visit his citizens. Somehow, my guards had gone away, leaving my room unguarded.”
In truth, I’d had no guards. The lowly niece of the sultan wasn’t deemed worthy enough for protection.
“The door to my room opened.” Tears sprouted in my eyes again. The pain of the memory was too hard to conceal. “He approached my bed, and—” My voice broke.
Through my bleary vision, I saw Dayyan’s hand fist.
“He—” I swallowed. I couldn’t finish.
“Give me his name. I will kill him and bring you his head.”
I shook mine, my chin wobbling. “I never want to see him again. I never want to hear his name.”
Dayyan drew me into his arms. “I’m sorry, ashkim.” My love.
He’d called me his love. How could he after what I had told him?
“I understand if you want to end this marriage now.”
“Never. Never say those words.”
“B-but—” I stammered.
“Since I met you, there has been meaning in my life. The sun glows a little brighter; the stars shine a little brighter. Since you, I have been unable to think of anything else.” He took my hand, pressing it to his beating heart. “Without you, the desert is a wasteland. You are my oasis.”
My lower lip trembled at his confession.
He stood, retrieved a shawl, and wrapped it around me, then pulled me to my feet and led me from the chamber.
He gripped my hand all the way to the stables until we reached the open riding ground.
One look from their shahzadeh had the guards ducking their heads and scurrying away, leaving us alone.
Dayyan watched as I retrieved the altizar.
The horse snorted a greeting, allowing me to run my hand over her gleaming coat.
I brought her into the riding ground. Flickering torches glowed about us.
I led her in circles around the fence. Dayyan watched from a distance until he finally neared, joining me.
We worked with her until we grew exhausted and collapsed onto the ground after returning her to her stall.
Rough sand scratched my back through the soft layer of my dress.
“I had meant to return this to you earlier,” Dayyan murmured, placing a silver band in my hand.
I took the ring and slipped it into its rightful place around my thumb.
I stared at the twinkling sky above us, imagining my father had joined my mother in watching over me.
After he’d joined the army to fight against the Northerners, I had never heard from him again.
There was no grave I could visit, no body I could bury.
Only his stories remained with me. I remembered when he’d told me of the angels who worked for the Almighty.
How he’d once encountered what he believed to be one and the glittering light remaining after the angel had left.
“I could watch you observe the sky for hours.” Dayyan’s deep voice startled me, and I turned onto my side, finding him examining me. “You stare at the sky as though you wish to be a part of it.”
“When I was young, I didn’t understand that my—” I had been about to confess the death of my mother.
“A close relative of mine had passed on. My father didn’t know how explain death to me, so instead, he would say she was in the sky.
A beautiful star watching over me. He would say she was our star and I was his.
That we would all join her when our time came.
” I smiled, my heart squeezing at the remembrance of his soft baritone.
“I am sorry, Farani,” Dayyan said earnestly, regret pooling in his features. “About your father. About all of it. If only there were a way to make it better.” He still thought my uncle was my father—my uncle, whom he’d had killed before my eyes.
“If only,” I said without meeting his gaze.