Jalal’s heart twisted with the force of shame. He felt sullied by yet another permanent taint inflicted by his family and his mother. By guilt for never bothering to find out Lujayn’s real history, or the extent of the abuse of her mother by his.
“It’s in the past,” Badreyah insisted. “And the moment Prince Jalal found out the truth, he not only took the necessary steps to reinstate our family, he offered your uncle a prestigious position he offers only to those he considers most trustworthy.”
“So we’re supposed to bend backward and yodel his praises?” Lujayn growled. “Then prostrate ourselves forehead-first in thanks? Or do we even need to go further and…”
“Lujayn!”
Her uncle’s soft admonishment finally brought her tirade to a halt, though she still vibrated with affront and anger.
Any other time, an hour ago, before he’d found out about her child, he would have reveled in the sheer magnificence of her fury and antagonism. He would have only invited her to hit him with more, vent all the justified ferociousness of her rage.
But he’d expended the last vestiges of his restraint. He had to end this, now.
He moved away from her, stood facing the others who looked like they’d rather the ground split and swallowed them.
Unable to agree more with the sentiment, he drew in a deep inhalation, unlocked his jaw. “Thanks everyone for coming and helping me celebrate Sheikh Bassel joining our team. We’ll have another meeting soon to discuss our future structure and strategies in depth. But I think we’re all ready to end this evening now.”
He thought he heard Lujayn mutter, “Boy, am I,” could almost hear the collective sigh of relief that issued from the group, venting their rising tension.
His lips twisted wryly. “Yes, everyone, if you’re waiting for me to spell it out, you can go.”
Lujayn was the first one to move, not sparing anyone another look, as if it would be too soon if she never saw anyone present again, maybe even including her family.
Everyone else gave him uneasy smiles and handshakes, relieved to escape the embarrassing situation. Her family seemed mortified and sounded like they’d never regretted anything as much as insisting that she come.
He stopped their attempted apologies, assuring them that ending the evening was for their sake not his. Looking marginally reassured and even more grateful, they followed Lujayn.
As everyone cleared the doors, he called out after them, “I said everyone can go. But ‘everyone’ does not include Lujayn.”
* * *
Lujayn shook under wave after wave of outrage.
She would have marched out and handed Jalal his head if he’d tried to stop her. Too bad it had been her family who had, with nothing but the force of their mortification. Even as fury disabled her brakes, her innate desire to please them had won. Jalal had won. He’d known exactly what buttons to push to get what he wanted from her.
Now he closed the doors after the last departing guest.
“What’s this? Detention?” she seethed as he turned to her. “For talking back to the headmaster? You did have us sitting there like kids who had to placate you or risk failing. Worse, like hostages forced to put up with the theatrics of our captor in fear of our lives.”
He stopped steps away, his eyes like turbid honey, something unsettled and unsettling buzzing. “I didn’t see you placating me or putting up with anything.”
A frisson of danger skewered through her.
Which was ridiculous because she’d never feared him. But his inexplicable intensity had her heart quivering. And it made her even angrier. If he thought he could intimidate her into cowering or simpering like he did all the others, as someone who didn’t give two figs about his rank, wealth and power, she was obliged to adjust his inflated view of his importance.
“You got enough of that from the others to turn the strongest stomach,” she hissed. “Not to mention the truckloads of adulation you got from my family. I always knew your family screwed mine over in so many ways, but to find out the real depth of their abuse, their…crimes, and to have the sordid details accompanied by my family’s gratitude and martyrdom was just too much. So if you detained me to chastise me for daring to voice my disgust in front of the thralls you call your campaign managers, let me tell you I’m only sorry that I didn’t get to say more before my family’s grossly misplaced sense of decorum and their impending collective stroke silenced me.”
The ferocity in his gaze rose with her every word. It made her barrel on. “Here, let me tell you what I would have said. I would have moved from condemning your family to condemning you directly. Your family members were straightforward in their subjugation of mine, showed them the kindness of open cruelty, leaving them the dignity of knowing their enemy and the relief of being able to hate them in their hearts. But your pretense of compassion and generosity is far worse since it makes them unaware of your abuse, and tricks them into being your slaves by choice.”
His stare remained unwavering, as if he were trying to read her mind, to decipher her last thought and impulse. But why, when she was whacking him over the head with it all?
Maybe she needed to be even more explicit. “You must think you’ve succeeded in using them to have me where you want me, since they almost pleaded for me to stay when you ordered me to. So enjoy this triumph because it’ll never be repeated. From now on, they know to leave me out of any feet-kissing rituals. And if you’re thinking of new ways to pressure me, let me tell you now nothing else will work. This Prince of Two Kingdoms thing clearly works on Azmaharians programmed to bow down to their royalty. But even if I wasn’t now a businesswoman who’s long left behind any tendencies to be bowled over by you, I’m an American and we generally have allergic reactions to royal entitlement.”
“Is that all you are, Lujayn?”
She blinked. His voice. She’d never heard it like that. Like the roll of approaching thunder. And what did he mean…?
“A businesswoman, an American. Aren’t you leaving something vital out?”
She frowned at that searing spike of emotion in his eyes, her heart starting to thud with confusion and wariness. “If you’re talking about my Azmaharian side, think I might have royalty-worshipping tendencies to unearth, save it. My only local ingredients are some genes and a passport that I never use.”
Suddenly he was closer, and not because he’d moved. It felt as if he’d expanded, as if everything inside him had reached out to engulf her. She felt him all over her, inside her head.