‘How is this marriage convenient for you, Elena? I have no title, no claim. I’m the pretender. Do you think your Council will approve your marriage to me? Or will Markos just use it as a reason to depose you, consider it another foolish choice you’ve made?’
She blinked back tears. ‘I don’t care.’
‘You should.’
‘Forget my Council!’ Elena cried. ‘Forget our countries or convenience. You told me you wanted to love me, Khalil. What happened to that? Did you decide you didn’t want to any more? Or were you lying?’ Her voice and body both shook as she demanded, ‘Do you have no honour at all?’
‘This isn’t about honour,’ Khalil retorted. ‘I’m setting you free, Elena.’
‘Setting me free? You haven’t even asked if I want that kind of freedom. Don’t hide behind excuses, Khalil. You’re a better man than that.’
‘Am I?’ he demanded, his voice ringing in the sudden silence. ‘Am I really, Elena? I don’t even know what I am any more, if I am not my father’s son. If I am not—’ He drew a ragged breath. ‘I’ve built my life on something that is a lie. Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve been...it’s gone. So what am I now?’
‘You are,’ Elena said quietly, ‘the man I love. I didn’t fall in love with the Sheikh of Kadar, Khalil. I fell in love with the man who kissed my tears and held me in his arms. Who protected and encouraged and believed in me. I fell in love with that man.’
‘And that man no longer exists.’
‘He does.’
Khalil shook his head then stared at her openly, emptily. ‘What am I going to do now, Elena? What purpose can I serve? Who can I even be?’
A tear trickled down Elena’s cheek. ‘You can be my husband, Khalil. You can be the Prince Consort of Thallia. You can be the father to our children.’ He didn’t answer, so she continued, her voice rising with determination. ‘You can be the man you’ve always been, Khalil. A man with pride and strength and tenderness. A man who commands people’s loyalty and who works hard for it. Why limit yourself? Why be defined by who sired you, or a title? There is so much more to you than that. So much more to us.’
She took a step towards him, her hands outstretched. ‘Kadar is in your blood, Khalil. It’s still your country, and you are still Sheikh of your own tribe. You told me you wanted to repair your country, and you still can. Aziz will need you to help him. Kadar needs you. People will look to you for the way forward, for peace.’
Khalil didn’t talk for a long moment. Elena held her breath, hardly daring to hope, to believe...
To trust.
Now, more than ever, she needed to trust him. ‘Khalil,’ she said softly, his name a caress, a promise.
‘Don’t you even care?’ he asked after an endless moment. ‘Doesn’t it matter to you that I’m no one now? I’m just some nameless bastard.’
And then she realised he needed to trust her as much as she needed to trust him. To trust her to love him, even now. Especially now. ‘I told you, you’re my husband, and I am your wife. It doesn’t matter, Khalil. It doesn’t matter at all.’
She saw a flicker of hope in his eyes, like the first light of dawn, then he shook his head. ‘Your Council—’
‘You told me I didn’t need a husband to stand up to my Council, and I don’t. I’m stronger now, Khalil. You’ve made me strong.’ Another step, and she was touching him, her hand curling around his arm. ‘But I need a husband to be my helpmate and equal. Someone I can love and support, who will love and support me. Standing side by side with me.’
Khalil closed his eyes briefly. ‘I feel as if everything I’ve ever known, everything I’ve counted on, has been ripped away from me. Destroyed.’
‘I haven’t,’ Elena said softly. ‘I’m still here.’
He reached for her hand. ‘After so many years of anger, I don’t know what to feel now. My father had a right to banish me.’
‘Did he? He could have treated you far more kindly than he did.’
‘And my mother...’
‘You don’t know what her situation was, Khalil. How unhappy she was, or what drove her to it.’
He nodded slowly. Elena knew it would take a long time for him to find peace with these revelations,, but she wanted to help him
He turned to her, his eyes wide and bleak, his voice raw. ‘I love you, Elena. I didn’t think I even knew what love was, but you’ve showed me in so many ways. You’ve believed in me, trusted me even when I didn’t deserve to have that trust. I still don’t know if I do. I don’t know what the future can look like,’ he told her, a confession. ‘I don’t know how to be.’
‘We’ll figure it out together.’ She stood in front of him, letting all her hope and love shine in her eyes. ‘I love you, Khalil. And you love me. That’s all that matters.’
His face crumpled for a second and then he pulled her into his arms. ‘Oh, Elena,’ he said, and he buried his face in her hair. ‘Elena. I love you so much. I’m sorry for being a fool. For being afraid.’
‘You think this doesn’t scare me?’ Elena answered with a wobbly laugh, and she felt Khalil’s smile against her hair.
‘Then maybe we’ll be scared together.’
‘That sounds good to me.’
Khalil’s arms tightened around her. ‘I don’t deserve you.’
‘I could say the same thing.’
He kissed her then, softly, and it was a kiss that held so much tenderness and love that her heart swelled. ‘I still don’t know what will happen. What—what the future looks like. I’ll have to talk to Aziz, renounce my claim...’
‘I know.’
‘You’re right. I can still help Kadar. I want to.’
‘They need you, Khalil. I need you.’
He pressed his forehead against hers, his hands framing her face. ‘I love you.’
She smiled against his palm. ‘You told me that before, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing it.’
‘Me neither.’
‘I love you, Khalil.’
He closed his eyes. ‘I never thought I’d ever hear anyone say that to me.’
‘I’ll say it. I’ll keep saying it.’
He kissed her again, pulling her even closer to him. ‘Don’t ever stop saying it, Elena. And I won’t either. No matter what happens.’
‘No matter what happens,’ she promised.
Neither of them knew just what the future held. Khalil would need to grieve; they both needed to grow. And their love, Elena knew, would keep them strong.