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He imagined showering her in gems. Wrapping her in beautiful silks. Making her the most beautiful room in the palace. He liked that.
But no matter what had passed between them...it did not change what he was. That he could hurt her. That he could hurt others around him.
She’d already had a life filled with pain. Lived in a home with a man she feared. He could not subject her to that.
“I just thought...” She got out of bed and turned to him, her expression pained. “Look, I understand that you’re marrying someone else. But I didn’t think that I was alessonforher.”
“You were not only that. I’m only saying that it is perhaps valuable...”
“Don’t try to dig yourself out. You’re only going to make it worse. I feel... I feel like an idiot. I feel like an idiot for having trusted you with my body. I thought that it meant something to you because it was a first for you. I didn’t realize that it was just... A lesson.”
“You were happy for the night,” he said.
“Yes. But I’m not happy now.”
She dressed, quickly. And he knew that he should probably say something, but he was too captivated by the sight of her body to speak.
She turned away from him, and began to walk toward the door.
“Brianna...”
“No. You and I are through. If this is only me training you, then I cannot give you my body as part of your training. I’m not prepared to do it. I was never with a man before you. I thought that it meant something. I thought that...”
How could it mean any more than it did? He would have stayed in this bed with her gladly forever. But hecouldn’t. That was clear to him and it should be clear to her as well. He didn’t know what she wanted.
And it... It enraged him. He was tired of not understanding.
He followed her out without bothering to dress. “What is your game?” he said. “You came to my bed knowing that I was to marry someone else. You know that I am the Sheikh. You know...”
“It’s what yousaid,” she said. “Can’t you keep it separate?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was trying to compliment you.”
“Well, it was a terrible compliment. You shouldn’t try that. Just be broody and hot and good in bed. But don’t try to make me feel good. You aren’t good at it.”
It felt just a little like she’d lodged a knife in his chest. “Am I allowed to be hurt by that?”
“That depends,” she said. “Areyou hurt by that? Are you just asking because now you want to pretend that it’s even somehow?” She looked away from him. “You are naked.”
“I don’t care. I’m the Sheikh. Everyone should be so honored as to see the entirety of my royal visage. And if not, they can avert their gaze. It is not my job to make anyone more comfortable. They are supposed to make me comfortable.”
“All those years in the dungeon, you’re out for just a little while and you think that you’re the only person who matters?”
“I was the only person that mattered in the dungeon. I was more free there then I am here. I had nothing and no one else to consider. Brianna, I am sorry that what I said hurt you. I have read a lot about feelings, but the thing about reading is...you see inside people’s heads and I cannot see inside yours.”
“Is it that you can’t see inside my head, Riyaz, or is it that people in books aren’t real?”
“I don’t know enough about feelings,” he said. “With real people, that is the truth.”
“Well, word of wisdom. When you actually do have a wife, don’t tell her that you learned interesting ways to pleasure her with another woman. Women don’t like to hear about other women in the bedroom. Would you like it if I talked to you about other men? If I told you that it was a great lesson? And the next time that I go down on a man, he’s going to benefit from what I learned from you? Maybe it will even be your brother.” She turned and began to walk away from him, and he growled, grabbing hold of her arm.
“I would not like to dismember my brother, Brianna, do not tempt me to it.”
“It is no less than what you said to me. Sit with it.”
And then she stomped away from him down the hall, leaving him alight with fury and rage.
And another feeling that—were he not him—he might have called regret. But he was the Sheikh. Whether he was in the dungeon or not. Whether she was angry at him or not.
