Emir and Rakhal were getting on tonight—oh, she knew it was all for show, but still it riled her. She put it aside, for it seemed impossible to hold a grudge on this night. The whole palace was alive with celebration, there were parties in the streets outside, and though she ached to be alone in the desert with Emir, to be with her new husband, it was the best night of her life.
Amy allowed herself simply to enjoy it right up to the end, when she accepted a kiss to her hand from Rakhal and, as instructed, smiled and chatted briefly to Natasha as they prepared to leave for the desert. Then it was time to say goodbye to the twins.
God, but she loved them. Nakia was now literally following in her big sister’s footsteps, toddling too, and both loved calling out ‘Ummi’. They would always know about their real mother, but it was bliss not to correct them, just to scoop them into her arms. She did it now, kissed their little faces and told them she would see them tomorrow.
She feared the wedding night in the desert more than a little—always felt as if the desert knew something she didn’t, as if somehow it was a step ahead of them.
‘It’s dark.’
The last time she had been there the sands had been lit by a huge moon, and there had been stars, but tonight the desert was clouded—not that Emir seemed concerned.
‘There will be rain, which is good,’ he said. ‘After rain comes new growth.’
The rain met them as they landed—a driving rain that had the helicopter flounder for a moment, a pelting rain that soaked through her gown. As she stepped into the tent maidens were waiting, wrapping her in shawls, and a feast was laid out for them. There were a thousand things to get through when all she wanted was to be alone with him, to speak with him. Emir must have sensed that, for he dismissed the maidens and took her into his arms.
‘Should I be offended,’ Emir asked, ‘that my wife did not enjoy her wedding day?’
‘I loved it, Emir.’ She looked up to him. ‘Every moment of it.’
‘Every moment?’
‘I struggle to be polite to Natasha and Rakhal. I understand that I have to be, that without communication …’ She did not want to talk about them on her wedding night but, yes, she might have been a little rude. ‘I struggle sometimes to stay quiet when I believe there is injustice.’
‘I had worked that out,’ Emir said. ‘I know there is much on your mind. All day I have wanted to speak with you. There is something you need to know, but there has not been a suitable moment.’
‘Oh!’ Amy had been about to say the same thing. ‘Emir, there is something—’
‘Amy,’ he interrupted, for his news was too important not to share. ‘You know I spent last night in the desert? Usually the night before the King marries is a time for feasting and celebrating; instead I spent that time speaking with Rakhal.’
‘And you didn’t pull your swords?’
He heard the teasing in her voice. ‘Rakhal listened to all I said to him that day—he thought long and hard about it and though things have worked out for him, though he is happy, he does not want the burden he carried to be passed on to his son. He agrees that we are Kings without power unless we make our own rules for our own lands.’ Emir picked up the vial that hung around her throat, knew the terrible pressure that had been placed on her. ‘Our decision will be refuted by the elders, of course, but with both Kings in full agreement there will be no going back.’
‘I don’t understand?’
‘The predictors are wrong,’ Emir said. ‘Alzan and Alzirz are two strong and proud countries. It is time for them to break free from the rules of old. Of course the people and the elders will challenge this. They believe …’
‘Emir!’ That whooshing sound was back in her ears, ‘Emir, wait!’ Anguished eyes looked up to him. ‘I did enjoy today, every moment of it, and if I seemed distracted at times …’ Amy took a deep breath. ‘I didn’t faint from nerves.’ She still couldn’t take the news in, had been reeling from it all day. ‘Well, maybe a bit. But when the palace doctor examined me …’ She’d never thought she’d hear herself say these words. ‘I’m pregnant, Emir.’ Amy was crying now, and not just a little bit. ‘I had him retake the test and he is certain—it would seem that first night …’
‘But you said it was impossible.’ It was Emir who didn’t understand.
‘There was always a slim chance, apparently,’ Amy explained. ‘I just didn’t hear that and neither did my fiancé.And I never went back to the doctor to properly discuss things.’
Emir held her as she cried. The news was as shocking as it was happy, and it took a moment for it to sink in.
‘The rules might not need to change. I might have a son,’ Amy said.
And he held the bride whom he loved, come what may, and he loved her all over again.
‘Soon we will be able to find out what I’m having.’
‘There is no need to find out,’ Emir said. ‘For whatever we are given we will love. The rules will change.’ Emir’s voice was firm. ‘Clemira is a born leader, that much I know, and Nakia will be a wonderful support for her. It is right she be second in line.’
‘But the predictions!’
‘Are just that,’ Emir said, and he looked to the woman who had healed his black and tortured heart, the woman who had swept into his office and challenged his way of thinking, and he could not believe what he had. His instinct was to kiss her, to hold her and soothe her fears, and then he paused for just a moment as the news truly started to hit him. And he told her why the predictions were surely wrong. ‘They did not factor in that a king might fall in love.’
‘HE is beautiful,’ Emir said.
Amy could not stop looking at her newborn son—could scarcely believe that she was holding her own baby in her arms. Just feeling him there, she knew all the hurts of the past were forgotten, the pain of the last twenty-four hours simply deleted as she looked down into his dark eyes.
‘Are you sure he’s mine?’ Amy teased, because he was completely his father’s son. She looked up to Emir and he kissed her gently, and she was bathed in a happiness made richer because he loved her and his daughters, with or without the gift of a son.
He took the baby in his arms and held him for a long moment, and Amy could see the pride and also the pain on his strong, proud features, for he was surely remembering the bittersweet time when he’d last held a tiny infant.
‘I don’t want to miss a moment of his life,’ Emir said. ‘I missed way too much of the twins’ first year.’ He closed his eyes in regret.
‘Emir, there was a reason.’ She understood that now.
‘Every time I saw them, every time I held them, all I wanted was to do what was best for them, and yet I had the responsibility to put the future of my country first.’
‘It
