“He’s not nearly the jerk I thought he was.”
Sayed agreed. “Just a man with fears and worries like anyone else.”
“You know he offered me an equal trust fund to what my half siblings have been given,” Aaliyah informed him.
Sayed had expected something like that and would have been disappointed if Gene had not done so. “What did you say?”
“No.”
“Good.” He’d expected that, as well.
Aaliyah smiled. “I don’t need his money. I never did.”
“You just wanted family and now you have mine.”
“It’s a pretty wonderful family.”
“My mother and father will be pleased to hear you say so.”
She frowned up at him as they walked back into the palace. “You’re not going to try some kind of intervention with the Amaris, are you?”
Sayed shook his head. “Absolutely not. If you were not good enough to recognize before becoming emira, they will not be allowed to claim you now.”
She nodded decisively. “Good.”
“Besides, if we had any of the Amaris in hitting distance, I’m not sure my mother could control herself.”
Aaliyah laughed. “Now, that would make an interesting picture for the front page.”
“No doubt. Let’s avoid it, shall we?”
“Your mom calls me her daughter. I like it.”
“So does she.”
His father was extremely fond of Aaliyah, as well, but then so was Sayed. More than he’d ever thought he could feel for someone not born into his family.
He wasn’t sure he was in love with her, though he thought he might be. Until he knew for certain, he wasn’t saying anything. She deserved truth, not confusion.
*
Aaliyah’s wedding was a royal event, attended by dignitaries, heads of state, sheikhs, other royals and European nobility.
But she was most pleased by her father and his fiancée’s presence. Aaliyah’s only other personal guest was Stephanie Carter, the head housekeeper from the Chatsfield San Francisco, a woman Hena Amari had called friend.
Aaliyah wore white, her dress a traditional Middle Eastern ensemble designed by a prominent Italian designer who had designed several gowns for Queen Durrah. Sayed wore a more ornate version of the outfit he’d proposed to her in.
His coronation took place directly after their wedding, though it wasn’t the one everyone had been expecting. Sayed was given the distinction of crown prince, but his father had decided he wasn’t ready to retire.
&
nbsp; In fact, Sayed had shared with Liyah that King Falah had liked the idea of training his nephew to take Sayed’s place as emir before he was crowned melech. She hadn’t been surprised, though she didn’t tell Sayed so.
She’d had her own little talk with her soon-to-be father-in-law about the timetable for Liyah becoming melecha. She’d let him know in no uncertain terms she wasn’t ready yet.
He’d taken it in good humor, and though he’d blustered a bit, he’d given in pretty easily with her idea of training Bilal to follow in Sayed’s place.
The entire country celebrated the wedding and crown prince coronation into the early hours of the morning.