“Your uncle said something about ‘he has the bitch eating out of the palm of his hand’ and how Tasim uses charm like other leaders use missiles.”
There was a long, painful silence.
“Here,” Ella said.
Luna looked up. “What’s this?” she asked, taking Ella’s cell phone.
“It’s a picture,” Ella explained.
Luna looked down at the picture, a soft smile curling her lips. “I didn’t know that Tasim had a dog,” she replied, blinking rapidly.
“Until about six months ago, he didn’t.”
Luna looked up, trying to understand.
Ella nodded towards the picture. “Tasim adopted that dog. She had been mauled by some sort of wild animal. About six months ago, Tasim had gone out on horseback, the first time he’d been out in months! He’s painfully busy, so when he goes out, he really needs time to be alone so that he can regroup.” Ella sighed. “Apparently, Tasim came across this dog, which was pretty feral by that point. The dog snarled and growled as Tasim approached, but Tasim knew that the dog was just in pain and scared out of her mind.”
Luna gazed at the picture of the dog, then at Ella, confused. “But…this dog…? She looks fine to me.”
Ella smiled. “That’s because Tasim refused to give up on her. He had a vet air lifted out to his location because Tasim refused to leave the poor dog. The vet sedated the dog and brought her back to the animal clinic. The surgery to repair the dog’s muscles and tendons took about ten hours. There was damage to her stomach as well. Even after the surgery, she had to be hand fed a bottle for about two weeks. Tasim wouldn’t let anyone else near her. Only him. He cared for that dog, worried about her and coddled her until she was up and running around. The two are pretty much inseparable now. The dog sleeps in Tasim’s office during the day. She follows him into all of his meetings, even the top secret ones. The generals balked at having a dog in the room with all that super-secret information, but Tasim only laughed at their objections, assuring them that the dog wouldn’t reveal any state secrets to their enemies. So now, the entire palace staff treats that dog as if she were some sort of royalty!”
Luna couldn’t stop the tears from falling now as she continued to stare down at the picture of the dog. “The rabbit,” she whispered. Tasim’s pet rabbit. Or the rabbit he’d hoped to adopt all those years ago. “What’s the dog’s name?”
“Peter. That seems like a silly name for a female dog, but…” Ella shrugged as if there was nothing she could do about it.
“Peter Rabbit,” Luna muttered, mentally chiding herself for being so stupid.
When she returned the phone, Luna knew what she had to do. She’d messed up. Tasim had sent her several messages over the past two months. But Luna had ignored them. He had reached out. Now she had to hope, no pray, that she still had a chance.
“When do we leave?” she asked.
Ella’s grin was huge. “Elon and I leave this Friday. But what about if you get on a flight tonight?” She suggested. “I can send a message to Tasim, letting him know that you have something important to discuss with him.”
Luna debated for all of three seconds. “Call him,” she decided, standing up and walking purposefully out of her office. Out in the hallway, she didn’t walk. She ran! Startled, her assistant jogged alongside her. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Get me to the airport!” she gasped, sobbing as the horror of what she’d done washed over her. “I need to see Tasim. Call him.” She burst into her room. “No! Don’t call him. Not yet. We can call him when I land.”
“Your Highness,” her assistant stammered, “we need to go through the proper channels. We need to get your security team on board. They need to make arrangements.”
Luna closed her eyes, but the tears continued to fall. “I know! Just…do what you can! I need to be in the air as soon as possible!”
Several hours later, Luna paced the length of the plane, wringing her hands. The plane was scheduled to land in twenty minutes. Her guards had called ahead, asking for permission to land, which had been granted. The pilot had been asked who was on board, and they’d answered honestly. But that didn’t mean that Tasim would be happy to see her.
She’d messed up. Completely! She’d taken an overheard conversation and entirely misinterpreted Tasim’s intentions.
Or had she? Was Luna putting herself into an awkward situation? What if the general had been talking about her and not Peter, the dog? What if Tasim really had tried to charm her in order to ease the tension between them? What if…?
“Your Highness, we’re cleared for landing,” the flight attendant announced.
Luna nodded and, reluctantly, sat down and buckled herself in. “This is it,” she whispered to herself, unaware of her white-knuckle grip on the arms of the seat.
By the time the plane landed and taxied to a stop, the stairs pushed up to the door and the all-clear given from her security team to exit, Luna was a mass of nervous energy.
She should have waited, she thought as she picked up her purse with trembling fingers. She should have called Tasim and asked him about the conversation. She should have waited and come on the official visit with Elon and Ella. Yes, that would have been much less awkward!
Instead, she’d stupidly flown out here in a fit of insanity to ask him if…what? What was she going to ask Tasim? If he loved her? Of course he didn’t love her! They hadn’t had enough time for love!
So, why was her heart jackhammering against her ribs? Why did she feel like her veins were filled with champagne?