“If he loved her? The answer is no. It was an arranged marriage. A deal between our families.”
“What went wrong?”
“We’ll never know for sure. But she looked much happier with Zarif than with her fiancé.”
“So that’s why they hate each other?”
“I’m not sure if theyhateeach other. They just act like they do.”
“I don’t see the difference.”
“My brother, our beloved Sheikh, never loved Hiba, but I think he was a bit bothered by how close she was to Zarif. Male pride, if I may say so.”
“Do you think Zarif loved her?”
“You’ve met him. Would you say he’s capable of loving someone?”
“How could I be sure? We’ve barely exchanged a few words, and he’s always so . . .”
“Flirty?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if you want my opinion, I don’t know whether Zarif loved her or just fed her feelings to annoy Kamal. The fact is, the closer Hiba and my younger brother became, the more irritated the Sheikh was.”
“And then?”
“Shortly before the wedding, she took her own life. No one knows why or the details, but I suspect Kamal does. Even so, he allowed her burial to follow almost all the rites.”
“Almost all?”
“Suicide is generally not accepted in our religion, but in Sintarah, we are even more intolerant about it.”
“What doyouthink happened?”
“I think she cheated on him and when my brother found out, he told her he would end their engagement. To avoid the humiliation of being rejected by the Sheikh, she killed herself.”
I listen to her attentively, unable to believe that a woman who could spend the rest of her life with Kamal would choose to cheat on him instead. “Why do you believe she cheated on him?”
“My brother is an honorable man, Madeline, and he wouldn’t have broken off the engagement unless something very serious had happened. I overheard him talking to our ab that there would be no wedding.”
I look at her but can’t gather the words to ask the next question, but I think Nawra can guess what I’m thinking.
“I don’t know if it was with Zarif that Hiba cheated on the Sheikh.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But that’s what you think.”
“Yes. I’m trying to connect the dots.”
“Honestly, I hope it isn’t true. If I find out that Zarif acted so vilely, sleeping with our brother’s fiancée, I don’t think I’ll be able to forgive him.”
Hours later
“You look deep in thought.”
It’s almost dawn. It’s the day our engagement will be announced to the world.
