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“The government, or King Kadar?”
He shrugged again. “Possibly both.”
She sat back in her chair and rubbed her forehead, which was thumping with tension. “I don’t understand. Yes, I know the king, but there is nothing political in our…” She hesitated, groping to find the right word—“friendship.”
“You must understand, Miss Albright, that there is little that is purely personal in this country. Especially when it comes to the royal family. The personal is verypoliticalfor them. I’m afraid you’ve found yourself in the middle of a complicated web of political intrigue.”
She stilled, her eyes narrowing on the consul. “How so?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I suspect the answer lies with your grandfather.”
“My grandfather?” But as soon as she repeated the words, she realized it was more than her love affair with Kadar. There was nothing political, nothing of strategic importance there. No, there was something in her family history which Kadar and his vizier knew that she did not. And he’d kept it from her. Now she thought about it, he’d never said that he’d known of her parents’ death, or that he hadn’t known. He’d simply avoided the topic and had always changed the conversation.
Was everything Kadar had said a lie? She felt sick to her stomach at how easily she’d been manipulated. She’d fallen for him hard, and he’d used that for his own ends. She didn’t know what those ends were, because he’d kept her in the dark.For good reason, no doubt. And for a reason which she was determined to uncover, just as soon as she’d returned to the palace.
She looked at the consul directly. “Can you help me extricate myself from this mess?”
He pulled a face. “Regrettably, not until the paperwork has been signed. If we act prematurely, if we don’t do as the government requires, then our relationship with Sirun could be jeopardized. There’s more at stake here than your passport, Miss Albright.”
She nodded. She guessed he was telling the truth. He couldn’t help her. And if the government couldn’t help, then it was down to her.
“Then I have no option,” she said, walking to the door.
“Please, I strongly advise you don’t do anything rash,” said the consul, also rising to his feet.
She turned to him then. “Rash? My options are severely limited. I think ‘rash’ might be the only course of action available to me. I need to do some digging around my family in Sirun and then I’ll discuss this with the person who’s created this mess. It’s the only way open to me now. In the meantime, I ask that you do whatever you can to order a birth certificate for me. It’ll help expedite the paperwork and I’ve a feeling that the answer might lie there.”
“Certainly. If you come with me, I’ll get a clerk to work on your case. At least that’s something we can do to help. I apologize again, Miss Albright, but my hands are tied.”
He smiled, but his smile fell when there was no answering one. Because, once more in her life, she was on her own and she had no choice but to do battle to get herself out of this mess. And the only way she could think of was to find out what the hell they knew about her that she didn’t. Only then would she confrontthem. Knowledge was power. And she didn’t have that. Not yet, anyway.
CHAPTER 15
“The consulate?” asked Nabil, his vizier.
“Yes, apparently the consulate,” confirmed Kadar, trying desperately to control the feeling of panic which threatened to overwhelm him. Everything he did seemed to take him further and further away from what he’d wanted. He seemed to have been placed on a one-way track into deceit, which he detested. He felt as if the slight hold he’d had on his kingship was in danger of unravelling completely.
“Who gave her permission to leave the palace?” Nabil asked.
“She’s not a prisoner, Nabil. She can come and go as she pleases.”
“You don’t seem to understand what’s at stake here,” Nabil said.
“I understandexactlywhat’s at stake here. I thinkyoudon’t understand that Sarah is not some helpless pawn to be moved around as we see fit. She’s an intelligent young woman who has pieced together at least part of what’s going on.” It devastated him to the core to imagine the hurt she must be feeling because if only half of what the British Consul had told him was true, Sarah had partly discovered what was going on. “And I have no idea what she’ll do.”
“Do?Do?” exploded Nabil. “She’ll ruin our plans!That’swhat she’lldo!”
“Our plans had always been tenuous right from the beginning. If we had trapped her into marriage, as you wanted?—”
“Youalso wanted it,” Nabil interrupted.
And didn’t he know it, thought Kadar, closing his eyes at the thought. “If we had trapped her into marriage, then how long do you think it would have lasted—thealliancewould have lasted—after she’d discovered the truth?”
“It would be too late then. Divorce would bring shame to her tribe and herself. No, she would not do that.”
“You are wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.”
