“Oh, I’d practice it here like I have been so far. I’d probably do far more good in the long run than I do patching up people who go out and drive recklessly or OD again.”
He raised a slice of apricot to her lips. “But you’re a very complex being, ya nadda jannati, a product of dozens of centuries of human evolution. I am best qualified to judge how sturdy and tenacious you are, but beyond the comforts you’d substitute with the pleasures of healthy living and labor, you’d itch for what the people here can’t conceive, need challenges they can’t provide.”
He knew her too well. And she could say the exact same of him. She nodded. “Probably. It’s just the simplicity, the contentment and tranquility that breathes in this place is enchanting. If I had my way, this would be normal life and the bustle of the twenty-first century would be the vacation.”
“Then you will have your way.”
It felt like a pledge. As if he never meant this to end.
Yet she had no illusions, no hopes. Oceans of harsh realities, mountains of obstacles existed between them.
She was a commoner from another country and culture and he was a prince with a binding duty to his people. Then there was Todd’s ordeal. She had no idea what securing his freedom would mean, to Harres, to his family. Even if there could be a solution that didn’t end up harming them and making her Harres’s enemy, he was probably—like that woman her brother had fallen in love with—intended to marry for king and kingdom.
Not that she’d ever put Harres and marriage together in a linear thought where she was concerned.
She now watched as he braided palm leaves into an ingenious basket for her fruits. Then she said, “You know, I came here thinking all of you Aal Shalaans were pampered perverts, mired in excess, useless at best, and helpless without your guards and gadgets, that all there was to you was unearned wealth and inherited status.”
His nimble hands had stopped midway through weaving his own basket, his eyes becoming somber, contemplative. Then he inhaled. “So what did you think of me specifically?”
She owed him the truth, no matter how ugly it was. Feeling shame surge into her cheeks, she said, “When I first heard the tales of your valor and victories? I thought you were the most obnoxious of the lot, playing at being a hero, taking credit for the achievements of the true but faceless heroes, or at best relying on the safety net of your men’s lives and your endless resources to play the role of Zohayd’s Guardian Prince. I thought you’d show your true colors when you were stripped of your force field of assets.”
He put a palm over his heart. “Ouch. And now you think all that plus a few more choice put-downs and denigrations?”
She cast him a reproachful glance. “You know what I think now.”
“Tell me.”
The way he’d said that. The way he looked at her. As if he couldn’t live without this vital knowledge.
Breath left her. “You know what you are. You have a whole kingdom who revere the dirt beneath your feet.”
He sat up slowly. “Reverence doesn’t matter to me. I never do anything in anticipation of anyone’s thanks or admiration. I surely don’t expect either, or care if I get them.”
Her lips twitched. “Too bad. You’ll just have to keep your chin up and take shiploads of both like the worshipped prince you are. Judging by the way the oasis inhabitants treat you, you’re far more than that to them. And it is only you, not the whole royal family. You personally have done so much for them.”
“I only do what I am in a position to do. I don’t deserve credit or gratitude for doing my duty, but I would have earned disrespect and disrepute if I didn’t.”
“As you say around here, ‘squeeze a lemon on it,’” she teased.
“So I can stomach the queasiness of adulation? Do you at least believe I never expect, let alone crave, any of it?”
“Oh, yes. I saw you squirming when they told tales of your glories last night. You sure don’t crave anyone’s adulation.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Her heart punched her ribs. “You…crave mine?”
His nod was solemn. “I crave your acceptance, your approval.”
“Uh…you have been around the past two weeks, right?”
He rose until he was on his knees, towering over her. “I need to hear it, ya nadda jannati, in your inimitable words. What you think of me is the only validation I have ever craved.”
She struggled with an attack of arrhythmia. But he’d demanded. And the truth was his due, the least she could give him when she owed him her very life.
She gave it to him. “From the first moment, you forced me to reassess you. With every action and word, you showed me you are all that’s advertised and far more. Stripped from all the trappings of your power, you proved to be the total opposite of what I thought, with stamina and resourcefulness and bravery that constantly awe me. You showed me you take your duty to protect anyone weaker than you, at whatever cost to you, more seriously than I thought possible in this day and age. I believe you’re one of a kind, Prince Harres Aal Shalaan.”
His gaze lengthened, heated, until she felt she’d burst into flames. Just when she was about to whimper, please, enough, he took her hand, buried his face in its palm for a long moment.
Then raggedly, still against her flesh, he whispered, “You honor me with your opinion. I will always strive to deserve it.”
From then on, the atmosphere seemed charged with emotion, intensifying each sensation into near distress.
As if by agreement, they barely spoke as they had their meal. She was thankful for the silence. It gave her the chance to deal with her upheaval and face herself with more truths.
There were Aal Shalaans who hadn’t hesitated to destroy Todd’s life to gain their ends, but she could no longer dip the whole family in the bile of her anger and prejudice. And just as she didn’t know who exactly among the Aal Shalaans and Ghada’s family were culpable, there could be sides to the story that would change her perspective. Whatever that became, she now believed, from Harres’s example, that the Aal Shalaans weren’t an evil regime that deserved to be deposed.
Which led her to more realizations. And a decision.
Soon it got chilly and they rode through the now sleeping oasis back to the cottage under the blaze of a full moon.
Inside, they took turns bathing.
The moment he came out into the sitting area, she began. “I decided something when I thought I was dying.”