To her.
“You seem very distracted, Kamal,” Adil says.
“The investigation into Hiba’s death—how is it going, Adil?” I ask, trying to busy my mind with practical matters.
“Nothing yet.”
I feel my face tense up. “Leave.”
“We could try—”
“Now, Adil.”
He looks at me as if he can’t believe I’m serious, but I am.
After a few seconds, he leaves.
I pick up my phone and make a call.
It takes a little while before it’s picked up. “Kamal, is something wrong with Maddie?”
“No, my fiancée is fine,” I answer, annoyed. Despite Christos’s wife being related to my woman, it pisses me off that he still feels the need to monitor her, as if I can’t take care of her. “I’m not calling about that; I want to talk about another matter. Is it safe to speak on this line?”
“You know it is.”
Yes, I do know, because the phone we’re both talking on was designed by Odin Lykaios, his cousin, known as the emperor of security technology.
“I need answers to questions that I’m not getting through conventional means.”
“About what?”
“My ex-fiancée.”
I explain the situation, and he listens in silence.
“Five years is a long time,” he says once I’m finished. “You should have come to me earlier. Evidence may have been destroyed.”
“I know, but I was trying to handle everything within the walls of Sintarah. Do you have any idea how scandalous it would be if the truth came out?”
“I can imagine.” He stays silent for a while. “Is this situation just because you need closure, or do you still think about her?”
I don’t hesitate. “Closure. I don’t like unfinished business in my life. I feel nothing for Hiba except contempt. She’s dead, and even so, I don’t forgive her.”
“Odin will find out the truth, wherever she may be, but you need to know that his means aren’t always ethical.”
I understand what he doesn’t say: his cousin won’t hesitate to invade anyone’s privacy until he finds what I want.
“He has my blessing. As long as I can finally understand this whole story, I don’t care whether he even has to look under the rugs of my palace.”
Chapter 41
I watch from afar as Irfan and Zarif arrive at the palace.
I have had a smile plastered on my face for so long that I fear my muscles will never go back to normal.
Today is the first time I have set foot here since we got back from the oasis; I feel confused and out of place.
Kamal keeps his eyes on me like a hawk watching its prey. I’ve barely spoken to him since I came down the stairs to the main hall to greet his relatives.
