“You care what happens to him?”
/> “No, but I don’t want him to meet with an unnatural end, either. For Saraya. For Najeeb. For peace’s sake.”
She thought his eyes flared at Najeeb’s mention, but he only said, “Peace is always achieved after a war. A war always comes with heavy losses.”
“I don’t want freedom that comes at such a price.”
“You think I’d kill him, don’t you?”
“You sure made it sound like that.”
“His demise can be easily arranged.” As she started to splutter in alarm, his lips twisted in a lethal smile. “But it just happens I’m not considering liquidating him. Just his chokehold over Zafrana, and with it, most of his assets.”
She held his gaze until she decided he was telling the truth, then collapsed back in relief. “For a moment there I thought I’d just signed Hassan’s death warrant.”
“It is the preferable, cleaner solution.” As her heart pounded again, he added, “But I won’t let him off that easy. Hassan’s actions deserve protracted punishment before I even consider granting him reprieve.”
“You still make it sound as if you’ll end up offing him!” When he only shrugged, she sat up again and threw her hands up in the air. “Ya Ullah...I can’t believe we’re sitting here haggling over the pros and cons of assassinating Hassan.”
“To off him or not to off him, that is the question.”
That, and his bedeviling expression, made her burst out laughing. “You fiend! You had me going there.” Melting back again, she grinned. “So what do you intend to do, for real?”
“Which part of that’s my business don’t you get? You made the demand, now sit back while I take care of it as I see fit.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers, huh?”
“You’d never be anything but what you are, a princess whose demands must always be met.”
His over-the-top statements kept leaving her breathless, her lips tingling with the need to taste them at the origin.
But she still had to make sure of one thing. “If my requests are that important to you, promise you won’t go overboard. Just do enough to set me free, and hopefully set Zafrana back on the road to economic independence. I don’t want any fallout to hit my father or Zafrana. Or Saraya.”
He inclined his magnificent head, making her again wish he’d release his raven’s-wing silk from its imprisoning band. “I promise I will be surgical. My excisions will leave the whole region healthier. Just for you.”
Breath left her on a choppy exhalation. “You’re really going to do this.” She shook her head dazedly. “Wow...just give me a second to get my head around all of this.”
“Take all the time you need.” He did this heart-melting gesture again, reaching for a lock of her hair and rubbing it in utmost enjoyment between his fingers. “But you can start celebrating your restored freedom right now.”
Moved to the brink of tears, she squeezed her eyes shut. When she finally opened them, they’d filled her eyes, soaked her voice. “I need to apologize.”
He frowned. “Never apologize, not to me. But what do you think you should apologize for?”
“For what I thought when I first thought of asking you for this.”
“What did you think?”
“That you’d never do anything out of the goodness of your heart. That you don’t have one.”
A mirthless huff escaped him. “You were right. I don’t have one. Not in any humanly accepted sense.”
“From where I’m sitting, you have something better. I thought you’d never do anything for anyone without something of equal or more value in it for you, and I was wrong.”
“Maybe you should withdraw your apology. Since you weren’t wrong. I do want something.”
Her heart forgot to beat. “You do?”
“Yes.” He held her gaze in the snare of his. “An heir.”