Needing to get rid of him fast, Numair gave him the short version of the truth. “It is what I believe.”
“And you still got me here to seek a resolution?”
Najeeb answered his nod with a curt one, as if he now believed him. “Will you give me a chance to investigate this? I can’t even begin to consider that my father is capable of such a crime.”
He shook his head. “Listen, Najeeb—”
“No, you listen.” Najeeb’s agitation was no longer aggressive but entreating. “I’m not proud of my father. I know he’s vain, imprudent and sometimes unethical, but I know him. He’s not evil. And it would have taken unimaginable evil to have his own brother killed for the sake of the throne. He might appear power hungry, but he isn’t. He’s just a proud man who found himself in a role much larger than himself. He’s done a decent job considering he inherited the kingdom in terrible shape from my grandfather. But unable to do better, and not having the best counselors, he turned to expansion to sustain the kingdom, like his bid to reannex Jareer, and once that failed, turning to Zafrana.
“But he never wanted the throne. Everyone who was around at the time would tell you how distraught he was after his brother’s disappearance, how obsessively he searched for him, that even after being forced to abandon the search, he wouldn’t sit on the throne until a year later, and didn’t attempt to rule for yet another year, hoping his brother would return. But his cabinet eventually shamed and provoked him into taking his unexpected role seriously, and here we are today. Saraya, even with my father’s mistakes, is a better kingdom than the one he’d inherited.”
He ran a trembling hand over his close-cropped hair and ble
w out a heavy breath. “But not only am I convinced he isn’t capable of having anyone murdered, let alone the older brother he worshipped, I’m also certain he would step down once he realizes who you are. In fact, he might even be relieved to finally relinquish the throne to its true heir.”
Numair stared at Najeeb as he fell silent. He had heard everything Najeeb had said, but there was nothing inside him but the need to go after Jenan. Still, he had to say something to Najeeb.
All that came out when he opened his mouth was “I’m sorry I hit you, Najeeb.”
Najeeb waved away his apology. “I was halfway back to Saraya when I realized no matter how you started with Jenan, you now truly love her. And that I caused a major breach between you and deserved a few broken bones—what I realize you could have easily given me, not just this lockjaw and black eyes in progress.”
Needing this over now, Numair said, “I’m the one who gave Jenan every reason to suspect me. And I now believe Saraya’s true heir is you. You’re the one who lived there most of your life, who knows the country, who the people believe in and love. You’re also the one who ameliorated your father’s mistakes. Whatever Saraya is today, it’s because of you, not him. But all this has nothing to do with what I believe about your father.”
After a moment of total surprise, Najeeb’s wariness was back full force. “So you still believe he had your father killed and you will still expose him?”
“No. I can’t do that to you or to your siblings. This was what I got you here to tell you. That I’ll force him to step down so you can take his place, not me.”
This seemed to horrify Najeeb. “B’Ellahi...don’t. I’m not ready to relinquish my freedom. But if you want what’s best for the kingdom, we can work together behind the scenes to straighten things out without either of us being trapped in such a lofty position. You might think the throne is something to want, but believe me, what we now have is perfect. Power and the ability to do everything we want with it without being the ones everyone looks to for answers and solutions, the ones who are responsible and accountable for everything that goes on in their land.”
Numair shook his head, suffocating with urgency. “I haven’t made up my mind. I’ve just called you here to vet things out. I’m just telling you what I’ve come to believe lately.”
“If you’re still revising your stance, I hope you’ll reconsider your belief about my father’s guilt. I know I have no proof. I have nothing but my instincts and my lifelong knowledge of him. But if you’ve come to value me, I hope you’ll value my judgment, too.”
“Any resolution has to wait for another time, Najeeb.”
“Just promise me you won’t take any steps against him before we have unequivocal proof.”
“I will do nothing until I get Jenan back. Only she matters to me now. Only she matters, period.”
Knowing this was the most he’d get from Numair for now, Najeeb nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, he extended his hand. “I’m sorry I made things worse. I hope you forgive me. I will do anything to rectify my mistake.”
Even with a tornado of anxiety tearing everything up inside him, he took the proffered hand. “I was the one who started this, and I’ll be the one to end it. At any price.”
Before Numair withdrew his hand, Najeeb tightened his grip and dragged him closer, his eyes ablaze with sincerity. “I didn’t mean what I said about Jenan earlier. She loves you, and if you love her as much, she’ll believe you and in you again. She will take you back.”
Numair said nothing as Najeeb turned to leave. For he’d felt how hurt Jenan had been, how pregnancy had multiplied her feeling of betrayal by a factor of a thousand. As he’d feared it would. Getting her back now felt like an impossibility.
But if he couldn’t get her back, he would still pay his very life to restore her peace.
* * *
Two hours later, Numair couldn’t wait anymore. One more second of inaction and he would suffer a stroke.
So he rushed to Zafrana’s royal palace, all the way preparing his explanations. But he didn’t find her there. The last time her family had heard from her was when she’d gone to him earlier that day.
Knowing she wouldn’t answer him, he had her sisters try every method of communication. She answered none.
Out of his mind with anxiety, he sounded the general alarm to his brothers as he tore off to the States to search for her. But she seemed to have disappeared the moment she’d landed in New York, where all flights out of Zafrana landed in the States. During his flight, the men he’d sent looking for her couldn’t find her anywhere she used to frequent, or couldn’t even trace her steps after she left the airport.