I started to turn away, but the other girls kept dragging me out of the dormitory.
“Please, Lady Aurora. We’re crushing on his friends, and we won’t be able to hang out if you refuse to meet with him.”
All I wanted was to be alone, but the way the other girls were looking at me with sad puppy eyes was impossible to resist. Anyway, maybe it was better this way. If news of me spending time with other boys reached the sheikh’s ears, it could make him think I was happy, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about me.
I had already caused him too much trouble. The least I could do was pretend I was...okay.
Even when I wasn’t.
****
IT HAD BEEN ANOTHERweek. Two weeks total since I’d left the palace. Two weeks of silence, of pretending I was fine, of telling myself I didn’t care.
And now he was here.
In my school.
Standing in the middle of the visitor’s parlor in his traditional robes, looking every inch the powerful king he was. My traitorous heart stuttered at the sight of him, and I had to fight the urge to close the distance between us and bury myself in his arms.
Silly Aurora.
Silly, foolish girl who still believed in fairy tales.
“Your Highness.” I curtsied, keeping my expression carefully blank. “To what do I owe this honor?”
The sheikh’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t send you here to flirt.”
If only he knew how little I wanted to flirt with anyone. If only he knew that every suitor who came to call only made me miss him more.
But I would die before I told him that.
“Is that what you think I’ve been doing?” I asked sweetly. “Flirting?”
“The entire kingdom is talking about how many suitors Lady Aurora has. How she receives flowers and gifts every day. How she—”
“How I what, Your Highness?” I stepped closer, emboldened by the anger that was rapidly replacing my heartache. Close enough to catch his scent. Close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body. Close enough that my skin prickled with awareness. “How I’ve been living my life? How I’ve been doing exactly what you asked and keeping my distance?”
A muscle jumped in his cheek. “That’s not—”
“You told me to stay away,” I cut in softly. “You told me you were going to marry someone else. So forgive me,akh, if I’ve decided to do the same.”
The sheikh went very still. “What did you say?”
“I’m considering marrying someone else.” The words came out calm and steady, even though my heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe. “There are several candidates, actually. All from good families. All perfectly suitable.”
“You can’t—”
“But I can, sheikh.” It was a miracle that my voice came out soft and steady still, even though all I wanted to do was cry. “I may be your ward, but I’m also from another kingdom, and governed by those rules as well. If you’ll excuse me, Your Highness, I still have to choose from my suitors—”
He moved so fast I didn’t even see it coming.
One moment I was turning away, and the next his hand was gripping my arm, spinning me back around, and then his mouth was on mine.
Oh.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t tender. It was bruising and desperate and furious, and I hated how my body responded to it instantly, hated how my hands fisted in his robes, hated how I arched into him like I’d been starving for this. A sob escaped my throat, and he swallowed it, kissing me deeper, harder, until I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began.
“You willnotmarry anyone,” he gritted out against my lips.
