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He had a strange sensation, like he was walking in two different timelines. This present moment, and one years before, when he had been a boy. He had not appreciated books then.
But he had learned to. They had been his only escape. His only window into any other part of the world.
And even though he had told her he did not enjoy romance... It was only that it had made him ache. For companionship, at times. But especially when there was explicit description of physical acts between lovers...
He had read in great detail how a man might please a woman in those books. And how a woman might please a man.
But sometimes it was too easy for him to picture such things. And it overtook him. If there was one thing that made him miserable in captivity, it was longing for the touch of a woman and being denied it.
But long for it he did. And being in proximity to Brianna only made it... That much more keen.
For the first time he stood near a woman whose hands he wanted on his body. And that was a need that surpassed any he had experienced before.
But then she pushed the doors open to the library, and for a moment his thoughts were interrupted. By memory. And by the grandeur of it. Books from floor to ceiling. Their colorful spines turned outward. Ladders were positioned around the room, on tracks so that you could explore all the shelves.
His father had spent hours in here.
And Riyaz had not understood the importance of it.
He did now.
“I cannot believe they didn’t destroy it. It seems the sort of thing they might had out of spite.”
“I don’t know very much about the people who occupied the palace before your brother... Before he took power back. But I have the impression it was a dark time here.”
“As funny as it sounds, since I am the one that has lived here all this time, not even I know very much about them. Only the palace guards. I’ve never even truly understood why the dictator kept me. Unless it was simply... He got something out of keeping me like a dog. Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps it is simply that chaining me was even more gratifying than killing me.
“Perhaps it made him feel secure in his power. Or maybe I was being held over someone’s head. I don’t know. I think Cairo had everyone killed. Not the guard who brought me books, though. I asked for him to spare his life.”
“Oh,” she said, looking pale.
“Did you think that this was bloodless? A coup never is. And the initial one certainly wasn’t.”
Tension rose in his chest as he fought against the images of those last moments that he had spent in the palace before being taken to the dungeon.
He didn’t wish to think of it.
Of course he didn’t. He did not wish to imagine his mother’s dying moments. And perhaps this was why he had not explored the palace before.
It brought the past too close to him.
He had not spent all these years living in the past. He had spent his days in the present. Because it was endurable.
These halls were filled with ghosts. He was not accustomed to managing them.
He walked to the first shelf, and took out a book.“Little Women,”he said. “I have read this.”
“Have you? It’s one of my favorites.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It is good.” He traced his hands over the letters on the cover. It had been years since he’d read it. It was one of the first ones the guard had brought him. He moved over to another place on the shelf. “Swiss Family Robinson.I have also read that.Pride and Prejudice.” He paused in front of another title. “I do not think my father would’ve kept this one in his library.” He touched the spine. It had been an extremely explicit book about a young woman and a billionaire embarking on a sexual relationship. He had found it instructive. And torturous. He was surprised to see it in the library.
She lifted a brow. “I think everyone read that when it came out.”
“Did you?”
She laughed and shook her head. “No. I didn’t have any interest. But really, a guard brought that to you?”
“Yes,” he said. “It was informative if nothing else.”
