a dent, bruising his hand and bloodying his knuckles.
It couldn’t be true.
Yet he knew it was. And with that awful truth came the even more terrible realisation that everything he’d built his life on had been for nothing.
Every choice he’d made, every hope he’d had, had been for clearing his mother’s name and claiming his legacy. His birthright. It had been who he was, and now that it had been taken away he was left spinning, empty, exposed. He had nothing. He was nothing.
He would not, would never, be Sheikh of Kadar.
Neither, he acknowledged with leaden certainty, would he be Elena’s husband.
* * *
Elena paced the salon of Dimah’s townhouse, her mind spinning, her heart aching. Khalil had left that morning, right after that awful confrontation, and although it was nearing midnight he had still not returned.
Dimah had gone to bed, after reassuring her that Khalil would return soon and things would look better in the morning. Elena had felt like shaking her. Things wouldn’t look any better in the morning, not for Khalil. She knew what kind of man he was, how strong and proud. How he’d built everything on the foundation that the throne of Kadar was his by right. To have it taken away would devastate him...and he would be too proud to admit it.
And how would he be feeling, knowing that the man he’d thought was his father wasn’t? That the truths he’d insisted on believing for so long, that had been sustaining him, were actually lies?
She longed to see him, to put her arms around him and comfort him. To tell him it didn’t matter to her whether he was Sheikh or not. She didn’t care who his parents were, or if he had a title. She wanted to tell him she loved him properly, not just hint at it. She wanted that love to make a difference.
And yet, deep down inside, she was afraid it wouldn’t.
She heard the front door open and the slow, deliberate tread of a person who seemed utterly weary, even defeated. Elena hurried to the door, her heart thumping in her chest.
‘Khalil.’
He turned to face her, the lines of his face haggard and yet his expression strangely, terribly blank.
‘Elena. I didn’t think you would still be awake.’
‘Of course I’m awake!’ she cried. ‘I’ve been worried about you, Khalil, wondering how you are, how you’re coping—’
‘Coping?’ He spoke the single word with contempt. ‘Don’t worry about me, Elena.’
‘Of course I worry about you.’ She bit her lip then took a deep breath. ‘I love you, Khalil.’
He let out a hard laugh and Elena flinched. ‘A little late for that, Elena.’
‘Late? Why?’
‘Because there is no reason for us to be married any more.’
‘What?’ Shock reverberated through her so her body practically vibrated with it. She stared at him in disbelief. ‘No reason? Why is that, Khalil?’
He stared at her evenly, unmoved. ‘You know why.’
‘I know you no longer have a claim to the throne of Kadar. I know you’ve suffered a great disappointment. But I am still your wife. We’re still married.’
‘We’ll get an annulment.’
‘An annulment? How? We’ve made love, Khalil.’
‘It can be done.’
She shook her head slowly, shock warring with hurt. Then both were replaced by a deep, hard anger. ‘You coward,’ she said, and her voice was cold. ‘You selfish, thoughtless coward. You think because you have no need of me and our convenient marriage you can just forget your vows? Forget me?’
‘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
