“Thank you,akh.” Her voice wove a spell around him. “You really are the best brother I could ever wish for.”
The sheikh could only smile tightly, thinking that Aurora, on the other hand, was the worst sister-in-law he could ever have.
Aurora smiled up at him. “Walk me to my room?”
“Of course.”
The two walked out of the dining hall, hands clasped behind their backs, and heads bent towards each other as they spoke of how their respective days had gone.
It was a beautiful moment, marred only by a pair of eyes that followed them with jealous fury.
*Traitors,* the unnoticed woman screamed silently at the two. *You will pay! I will make you all pay for your treachery!*
****
THE RIFT BETWEEN THEsheikh and his intended only worsened with the passage of time. As it had become increasingly harder for Mik’hail to hold his tongue and not defend Aurora as he wished, he had taken to spending most of his days working either in his study or performing manual labor in the conservatory, personally tending to the roses that had been the late queen’s legacy.
And it was on such a day, when Mik’hail had just entered the conservatory, that he heard an unexpected sound.
“Welcome back, Mik’hail.”
The sheikh was startled at the husky voice that floated towards him. “Aurora?” That was her voice, wasn’t it? What was she doing here and why was she calling him that?
“Over here,” she sang.
The sound of her voice made him hesitate, his body stirring in ways that it should never do—and for the only eighteen-year-old girl in the kingdom that he must never touch.
Even as he told himself it was better to turn away and leave, the sheikh found himself doing the opposite, the pull he felt towards Aurora as irresistible as ever. Walking further inside the conservatory, he finally found her next to the garden beds, down on her knees, smudges of dirt on her face.
“What are you doing here?”
“What areyoudoing here?” she returned cheekily.
“Escaping,” he said bluntly, but neglected to tell her that it was her sister he was trying to escape. He liked the peace and quiet the trees and flowers in the conservatory gave him, something that was the exact antithesis of what Aretha currently symbolized in his life.
Her eyes narrowed at him. “You look bad,akh.”
He winced, for her. That was not exactly the proper thing to say to the sheikh who owned the palace where she was currently residing for free. “Do me a favor,” he said dryly, “and do not let your parents and sister hear you talk to me like that.”
Below him, Aurora’s grin had only widened at his words. “I’m only being honest—and concerned. You do look bad, you know.” Her arch tone, combined with her hair pinned up in a ponytail and the faded, oversized dress she had on, made Aurora appear more like a child playing grown up than anything else.
The sheikh sighed at her stubbornness. “I appreciate you telling me so, but again, please refrain from saying such things in front of your family.”
“Relax,akh. They’re off to another party,” she told him gleefully.
He had never seen her so relaxed or more vibrantly beautiful, and he suspected it had much to do with the fact that her whole family was out of the palace. “I know better than to ask whether they invited you or not,” he said, “but if they did, would you have liked to go?”
Aurora rolled her eyes. “Duh,akh. I like it better this way, and you know why that is?”
Something about the mischievous smile curving over her lips hit him harder than it should have, and he had to turn sideways, keeping his expression carefully blank even as he answered. “Why?”
“Because I’mfreeeeee!”
The way she shrieked the last word out had him wincing, but it also had the sheikh’s gaze gleaming with amusement, and Aurora beamed back at him.
“They won’t be back until tomorrow either,” she added cheerfully. “I heard them say so.”
“Let us hope then,” he murmured, “that you will not find yourself bored.”
