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It...was real?

“Malik?” she whispered.

“Aren’t you going to let me in?”

Tears of heaven, it really was him!

The realization made her pale and her body stiffen. A thousand things that she wanted to do raced in her mind, but none of them was appropriate. She wanted to jump for joy, throw her arms around him, kiss him—-

Stop thinking crazy things, Kyria Markides!

Panic gripped her, her eyes flying to his in horror, but this turned out to be an even bigger mistake. Malik’s handsome face filled her vision, his sheer presence overwhelming her, and her mind...sort of...snapped.

Bang!

Kyria stared at her door in complete misery.

She had just shut the door on the sheikh’s face.

****

IT WAS ALREADY WELLpast lunch by the time Kyria mustered the courage to use her door’s peephole, but the sight of her empty hallway only resulted in mixed feelings. The sheikh was gone.

Her shoulders slumped.

Well, of course he was. Not only had she hung up on him yesterday – which she was now gloomily certain he was aware of – but she had also added insult to injury by slamming the door in his face. Honestly, with all of these, she wouldn’t be surprised at all to receive an email from the palace anytime about her citizenship being revoked.

For the rest of the day, Kyria waited and paced in anxious silence in the event that the sheikh were to call or visit. But neither happened, and before she could stop herself, she was already on the phone and making a call to the one person she knew who would always give it to her straight, albeit tactlessly.

“Well, hello there, prank caller.”

Kyria grimaced at the way the beloved Queen of Ramil seemed to take relish in speaking the words. “Very funny, Your Majesty,” she muttered. “I take it everyone knows?”

“That you hung up on Malik?” Harper asked cheerfully as she resumed walking down the hallway. “Absolutely. Have you two talked then?”

“Not...exactly.”

The queen blinked. “What does thatexactlymean?”

She hesitated, knowing how Harper could be.

Sensing something juicy coming up, Harper said cajolingly, “Come on, Ky. Who else can you to talk to about these things?”

Well, that was true, but—-

“Promise me first you won’t laugh,” she demanded.

Harper crossed her fingers behind her back as she entered the bedchamber she shared with the king. “Of course.”

Kyria took a deep breath. “He came here this morning, and I was so shocked that I kinda......slammed the door on his face?”

For one moment, there was silence—-

And then the Queen of Ramil was gasping, laughing so hard she was literally gasping for breath.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh,” Kyria protested.

“It’s y-your fault,” Harper managed to choke in between laughs as she sat on the edge of her bed.