My heart squeezed. “What do you mean...different? Didn’t you...love her?”
Silence stretched between us, and my fingers clenched against my lap.
If he said yes...
If he admitted to loving Aretha...
I knew that would be the end of it.
No matter how much I loved him myself, I knew I could never betray Aretha’s memory that way. So if Mik’hail ever said—
“No.”
My head jerked up.
“I was fond of Aretha,” Mik’hail said roughly, “but it was not and had never been love between us.”
I swallowed hard. “And my sister—” My voice broke off at the way his gaze suddenly turned cold.
“She felt the same way.”
“I s-see.” I didn’t think Mik’hail was lying about there not being any love between him and Aretha, but there was something about the way he said those words...
It was as if he was hiding something—
Stop it, Aurora.
I mentally shook my head. I was probably projecting my own guilt, no doubt. I was the one who had the most to hide, not Mik’hail, and as the thought made my eyes squeeze shut in shame—
“You’re feeling sleepy already?”
The sheikh’s words nearly made me start. With all that talk about the past, I had almost forgotten what I came here to do, and my heart started to race.
This is it, I told myself.
This was the point of no return—
“Aurora?”
I tried to look groggy as I opened my eyes. “May I sleep here with you,akh?” I rubbed my eyes for effect. “I don’t want to go back to my room. I’m just too scared right now.”
The sheikh hesitated another moment before saying, “All right.”
“Thank you.” I spoke softly and slowly, like someone close to falling asleep, and the sound had the sheikh scooping me up in his arms.
“You don’t have to—”
“It’s fine.”
Mik’hail gently laid me on the bed, which was so enormous it could probably accommodate five full-sized adults.
I pretended to have a hard time opening my eyes as the sheikh tucked me in and left only the night light on. “Are you not going to sleep yet, Your Majesty?” I mumbled with a yawn.
“After a shower.”
“G’night then.”
“Good night, Aurora.”
