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Don’t. Get. Involved.

And she shouldn’t. She mustn’t. A proper queen wouldn’t involve herself.Right?

The sheikh’s words returned to her.

Don’t do this for me.

Her teeth gnawed on her lip. If she got herself involved, she wouldn’t exactly be scoring brownie points with the sheikh, but she would at least be proud of herself, that she stood for what was right. Maybe that was what the sheikh had indirectly asked her to do.Don’t do this for me. Do it for yourself.Maybe that was what he wanted her to realize?

Behind her, Jennifer was going on and on about the detrimental effects of theabayaon the overall culture of feminism, and Harper started grinding her teeth.

Don’t do this for me. Don’t get involved. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.

Ah, God, this was so confusing.

She thought about the sheikh. Thought about herself. Thought about Kyria.

The next thing she knew, she had already whirled around and was marching determinedly towards the group of women. The guests in her way immediately scooted back at the militant look on the queen’s face, and both Kyria and Jennifer appear startled when Harper suddenly joined them.

“Your Majesty.”

All of the women except for Jennifer bowed in her presence.

“It’s my personal belief that we’re all created equally,” the other woman said with a smile, “so I hope you don’t mind if I don’t bow and scrape.”Like others do.

Everyone heard the unspoken implication, yet another example of the woman’s unbelievable tendency to be microagressive, but this only made Harper even more determined. Smiling back, she said easily, “I don’t mind at all. I think it’s important we don’t impose our own beliefs on others, especially if such beliefs do no harm.You agree with this, too, don’t you?”

“Actually...” Jennifer’s tone was of polite amusement. “It’s the cornerstone of my platform.” The words were spoken in such a way that made the queen appear uninformed, and the other women in their growing crowd shifted uneasily on their feet. “I even spoke of this recently when CNN invited me to speak about Arab women.” She paused, a look of embarrassment on her face. “Or don’t you guys have CNN here?”

Harper refused to be sidetracked, saying simply, “We have it.”

And when it became clear that was all that the queen had to say, Jennifer’s smile became brittle.

Harper waited patiently, knowing the other woman was the type to want to say the last word.

And she was right.

After a moment, Jennifer started to speak, and Harper immediately cut her off, saying, “I’m glad to hear you believe in the same things, Jennifer. I guess that means you may have only misunderstood Kyria’s stance earlier.”

Jennifer frowned. “I—-”

But Harper, still smiling, cut the other woman off again. “You, as someone who believes in the importance ofnotimposing our own beliefs on others, should understand more than most people that her choice to wear anabayamust be respected, whatever her reason is.”

Silence.

“Unless of course you believe that her choice of clothing is harmful to others?” Harper paused. “I grew up in America as well, but perhaps it’s changed in the short time I’ve been gone. Is it different now? Are women’s clothes considered a murderous weapon – or was that you just being catty?”

Jennifer’s face turned red with rage, and she snarled, “How nice. Just because you’re a queen, you think can say such things to anyone—-”

Harper let her eyes go wide, saying with all earnest innocence, “Oh, but you’re mistaken. It’s because I truly believe in equality that I’m saying this. I may be a queen, but I’m a woman first. I have every right to be a bitch when I see someone being unfairly attacked—-”

“It’s not my fault if she can’t defend her own position, is it?” Jennifer retorted. “And you coming to her rescue is exactly why people think women are weak—-”

“And it’s people like you that make everyone think feminists are all idiots and bitches combined,” Harper snapped.

The AFK’s faces turned stony, all three of them recognizing the signs of the queen’s anger. Once her temper was riled, there was no stopping it—-

And they were right.