Page 29

I had tried to come up with excuses for his actions but I couldn’t anymore.
I have had enough.
My father was a terrible person and he didn’t deserve to live.
I held the hilt of his sword from the wall where it was hung for display, the family heirloom that was passed on from generation to generation. I squared my shoulder, begging him to stop when he called Zara a witch, a monster. But he didn’t hear me.
I could only stop him by driving the sword through his chest, tears running down my face as I looked at the man who had caused so much pain and misery to my loved ones.
For a moment, all I felt was relief.
Good. He won’t be able to hurt us anymore. He won’t ever hurt Zara. She will be able to roam freely around the palace. She will be able to step out and go see the desert on a horse. She won’t be restricted to her room anymore.
Then I felt the trickle of warm blood on my hands, the gasp of my sister as my father’s blood sprayed on both of us, the wall painting red. So much red.
Red. I had seen that red before. When I was fifteen, on that backyard with her. Carrot pin on her hair. Sketching with her.
“I want to go back to that orphanage,” I remembered telling my mother in the car wishing I had asked that girl her name.
My mother smiled at me and ruffled my hair. “Give her roses when we visit again, Khalid.”
I promised I would. That’s what gentlemen do when they want to impress a woman.
Red.
That night the memories of red blended in my head and I cried for the first time in ages and paintedLimerencein my room. I had killed my father. I had taken someone’s life.
I woke up next morning with my bedsheet drenched in my sweat. Sighing, I held my head in my palms. Over a decade had passed and yet those nightmares troubled me.
I took a few deep breaths and checked the time. Right. I had to wake up Valeria from the guest room and drive to the airport. I shook off the flashes of nightmare and took a cold shower.
Valeria. I will focus on her. Not my past. At least for a month.
* * *
I lookedat the cloudy view from the window of the private plane, my skin prickling with nervousness to get back to my country. With a woman I adored.
A secret smile curled my lips when I looked across the seat and found her dozing off against the neck pillow I had gently laid to support her head. Her pink lips, the ones which I had devoured the night before, were a little parted. Her breathing was even with her lashes, making shadows on her soft cheeks.
I had woken her up from the guest bedroom early morning after spending the night shuffling on my bed. I wasn’t able to sleep when Valeria was sleeping in the next room. I wanted to cuddle her, hug her to my chest and smell the roses from her hair the first thing in the morning. But I had controlled all my urges.
I had thanked Benjamin and Mabel for packing her a suitcase and handing me a box of chocolate chip cookies with a secret recipe of Mabel’s which Valeria loved to devour. I had politely asked for the recipe and Mabel had given it to me with a big smile.
Zain knew that I wouldn’t arrive at the palace straight away. I had a business to do.
By business, I meant Valeria.
Valeria
I covered my mouth, stifling a yawn when the plane trembled with turbulence. The air hostess had offered sweet dates, and I had passed out after eating a few of them. I tried to pat down my hair as much as I could, feeling Khalid’s eyes on me. It was a warm sensation that made my body respond differently. I had never felt it before.
After my business took off, I had given dating a try, but I could never feel comfortable with my date, and if I did, he would try to get in my pants at the end of the second date.
With Khalid, I wanted to have sex with him the night we met. It’s crazy how sexually attracted I was towards him.
Khalid took my palm as we descended from the plane, his hold tight. I was clutching the cane he had gifted me in my other hand even though I didn’t need it when he was with me.
Heat washed over me like a caress. It felt heavy and freeing at the same time. It was afternoon, and I could feel the sweltering sun looming above us, perspiration forming on my brow.