Nothing productive could come from her talking to her mom right now. And her call with her father had been difficult enough.
Angele’s mother’s love and approval had always been freely given. The prospect that breaking the contract with the royal family of Zohra might change that was not an outcome she felt emotionally ready to deal with.
CHAPTER FIVE
HIS body beneath his robes of state rigid with shock, Zahir stared at his father. Replaying the words Faruq had spoken in his mind did not aid in making sense of them.
Angele would not have done this. She could not have done this. Not after their very successful night together.
“You did not expect this,” Faruq said with some censure.
No, Zahir had bloody well not expected anything like this. Not after last night. Especially after last night. But betrayal and shock were choking him, anger their close bedfellow, so he merely shook his head.
“Her leave taking, these letters…” Faruq wasn’t sounding like a father, but a disappointed king. “It all implies forethought and planning.”
“It’s one of her talents.” Zahir allowed with heavy irony to mask his growing fury.
His gazed jumped from his father’s grave expression to matching looks on the two other men in the king’s private study. King Malik’s frown was two parts anger, one part confusion. Cemal appeared resigned, though clearly not happy.
That attitude of resignation bothered Zahir more than he wanted to admit, feeding the anger he was doing his best to keep under control. “Did you know about this?” he asked the older man.
“No.” Cemal did not elaborate, but King Malik was more than willing to fill in the gaps. “She called him on her way to the airport.”
“And we were unable to stop her flight?” Zahir asked, knowing full well how feudal he sounded and really, not caring.
“She cut the timing too fine and left on the private jet owned by one of the wedding guests.”
Zahir cursed.
“She outwitted us,” King Malik said with some admiration.
Zahir did not comment, but reached out in a silent demand to see the letter hi
s father still held. He was not so impressed right now by Angele’s superb attention to detail.
Faruq passed the papers over. “She included a copy of her press release as well—it denies rumors of your possible betrothal.”
“You’re serious?” Zahir asked in an angry disbelief he was unable to entirely quash.
There was being thorough and there was being outrageously stubborn.
Faruq nodded grimly. “According to her letter, it won’t go live for a few hours.”
“She did not want us blindsided by the announcement,” King Malik said.
Blindsided? After the night they had spent in his bed, how could Zahir be anything but? He scanned the pages in his hand. “Like hell she does not wish to live in Zohra. She loves it here.”
Both kings nodded their agreement, though it was King Malik that spoke. “That has always been my understanding.”
“She chose the excuse most likely to lose her favor with the people of Zohra and Jawhar while increasing Zahir’s sympathy with them.” It was the first time since Zahir had entered his father’s study that Cemal had offered anything more than a monosyllabic answer to a question. “It is the equivalent of her falling on her sword.”
The words conjured up Angele’s claims she would not allow herself or Zahir to be railroaded into marriage, and her subsequent promise to take the blame in the media and with the royal families. He’d convinced himself she didn’t mean it. Clearly he’d been spectacularly wrong regarding her motives for their “wedding night.”
Not in the least comfortable with an image of himself as being so weak he needed such protections, the fury inside Zahir went from simmer to full boil. He was not that man. That she could not see that truth infuriated him, but like always, he kept his emotions under tight control.
“The fact she broke the engagement was enough of a sympathy vote for me,” Zahir said with cold sarcasm.
Cemal shook his head. “Not if she gave her true reason for doing so, which I’ve no doubt she did to you.”