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Kadar stoodat the end of the formal reception room, surrounded by his advisers and watched Sarah and her family enter the palace. He couldn’t help thinking how different it was to her first entrance into his country. Then life had been so simple. Sarah had needed rescuing, and he’d rescued her. Thenthey’d fallen in love and consummated their feelings. For anyone else, what would have followed would have been predictable. But neither he nor Sarah was like anyone else and he knew their life would be anything but predictable. As Sarah and her family were about to find out.
“Your Highness,” said the Al-Barriq family elder. “Thank you for agreeing to meet.”
He inclined his head. “It is my pleasure.” He refused to look at Sarah. Not yet. That would have to wait, as was tradition. “Please, be seated.”
They sat around a conference table. This was no informal meeting of one tribe to another, but a long overdue council of peace. Both sides understood that, but only one person knew the outcome.
“We are here to offer the hand in marriage of our beloved daughter of our tribe, Sarah Al-Farriq. You know her lineage, Your Highness, and you know that such a marriage would be unequaled and in all our interests. Your union will bring a long-overdue peace to our lands.”
He nodded in agreement, and silence fell as everyone waited to hear what he’d say. But he didn’t speak immediately, just turned to look at Sarah, who had sat in silence.
“Sarah,” he said. Gone was the time for formalities. Everyone knew of their relationship and he had no wish for pretense any longer. “Do you wish to marry me?”
His question startled her. “Yes,” she paused. “I do.”
“Why?”
The quiet was thick with expectation. “Because…” He held her gaze. It all turned on her response. “Because it is my duty. Because, as my uncle says, it will bring peace to our country.”
He smiled. “Our county,” he repeated, liking the fact that she now regarded Sirun as her country. “Right. But, of course, nomarriage should be entered into unless there is trust on both sides. Do you trust I will always speak the truth to you?”
She licked her lips and he could see the struggle she was undergoing. And he equally saw when she gave up that struggle. She shrugged. “How can I? You wanted to trick me into marriage.”
“And yet you’re here, now wanting marriage.”
She nodded. “It is right.”
“For whom?” he asked gently.
“For us all.”
He glanced around at the others. “Leave us,” he said.
And the room emptied, leaving only Sarah and him, still seated at opposite ends of the table.
“Tell me, Sarah, what is it you truly want?”
“Truly? If I were just a woman, and you were just a man. If we were both free to choose with nothing to gain, then I’d know. Only then could I trust again.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
He rose and opened the door to the others. “I need more time before I give you my answer, but thank you for coming. My office will arrange a further meeting on the subject in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, I suggest you return to your city. I will be in touch.”
“But Your Majesty!” a furious Nabil exclaimed.
“Nabil! We need to talk.”
Sarahand her family had returned home immediately. There was confusion among her people around Kadar’s reaction, but also some degree of hope. It wasn’t a hope she shared.
She spent the following weeks with her family, discussing plans for the future and learning more about their culture and history—things of which she was sure her grandfather would approve. In private moments she thought about her baby, regretting she hadn’t had time to tell Kadar. She’d intended to tell him when they’d visited the palace, but she’d had no opportunity. But, whatever the outcome of their discussions, she promised herself that next time they met, she’d tell him.
It wasn’t until the third week that Sarah and Amena entered Amena’s parents’ house to be greeted by a group of relatives amid earnest discussions.
“What is it, father?” Amena asked.
Sarah’s uncle frowned. “Something is going on,” he said. “We’ve had word from our contact in the palace that the king and his ministers have been in meetings all day and the vizier is looking furious. Also, the king’s brother has made an appearance. And he prefers the high life in Europe and the US.” The old man shook his head. “He hasn’t been in Sirun for years.”
“I wonder what that means,” Sarah said.
