Annie West - Royals Untamed!

‘What about Annie and Claude? Have you any news from them?’ A little edge of desperation crept into her voice. She hadn’t spoken to Annie and was nervous as to what she would say, especially about her marriage. Shamefaced, she realised that if she’d lied to Kazim by omission she’d also lied to Annie the same way.

‘They are due to return from America next week, all being well.’ He walked along the pathway that staked its claim boldly through the garden. He broke the eye contact that had seen every move she’d made, every emotion that had crossed her face.

After a few paces he stopped, his back to her, pausing as if he wanted to say something else. She waited. Nothing.

She looked at him, drinking him in as if it was the last time she’d see him, trying to imprint him on her memory, her heart.

‘Good, that will give me time to get the flat in order before they return,’ she said brightly—a little too brightly if his sudden glance at her was anything to go by. ‘I’d like to leave as soon as possible.’

* * *

Kazim knew what she said made sense. Their marriage should never have been revived. It had been a mistake for him to ever think of getting her back, they were so wrong for one another. Yes, he might desire her with a raging fire more wicked than the desert heat, but that wasn’t a foundation on which to build his marriage and the future of his kingdom. Still, her eagerness to leave hurt.

‘I have a plane ready. You will leave at once.’ He couldn’t look at her and instead feigned interest in the plants that flowered in the garden, with little regard for the anguish he felt deep inside. That pain was something he couldn’t yet analyse; all he could do was lock it away, pretend it didn’t exist.

‘You have a plane ready?’ The shock was more than evident in her voice and he closed his eyes against the wave of nausea that thrashed his body. He nodded his answer, unable to trust his voice to work, and remained with his back to her. He had to appear in control and right now he wasn’t.

‘How? Why?’ she said, stammering slightly over the words.

‘Because you are right,’ he said as he whirled round to face her. He could at least say these words to her face—the beautiful face he would never forget. ‘We should never have got married and divorce is, as you suggested, the only option.’

He watched the soft skin of her throat, skin his lips had caressed, move as she gulped back her shock. Her eyes widened. She took a step towards him, her hand almost reaching out, then she snapped it back against her stomach, as if she too was in pain. She nodded her head slowly, the sun gleaming in her raven-black hair, and stepped back several paces. Back and away from him, he felt her retreat, felt it in the tight band that crushed his chest, threatening to suffocate him.

‘Divorce,’ she said firmly. ‘Of course. It is the only option and the one I wanted that very first night you found me in Paris.’

It was what he now had to do. Recent discussion with his officials, those who helped him rule his country, had made his options clear. He had to let her go. ‘We have no choice in the matter now, Amber.’

‘We don’t?’ Her delicate brows drew together in confusion.

He sighed, wishing she could at least, just once, own up to her lies and deceit.

‘Not any more.’ He let the words hang between them, waited as the stillness of the garden captured them. He saw her lips form the word ‘why’, but didn’t hear it. She was speechless with shock. Just as when he’d been told what he should do, but now he had to be firm, use a hard voice, anything to keep at bay the fire of desire that raged inside him.

‘Your past has caught up with you.’ Every muscle in his body tightened as he said the words that would finish their marriage for ever.

‘My what?’ She flung the question at him full force.

‘It has come to the attention of officials here at the palace exactly where you worked whilst you were in Paris.’ He fought hard to keep his voice calm, still humiliated from being told just what she’d been up to. She’d made a fool of him.

‘I was a waitress!’ she said, interrupting his explanation—one he still found hard to believe, but the evidence had been put before him. The decision was no longer only his. He was now doing his duty. As the only heir to Barazbin, he had no option, no other choice. They couldn’t remain married and that was before he took her activities with her father into consideration.

‘I have told them exactly that. I defended you, Amber.’ Strangely, after every lie had been exposed, he did believe she had only been waitressing.

‘Why?’ Her voice was hardly above a whisper as she spoke.

‘That I can handle. That I can sort. But it is not just that, Amber,’ he said quietly, unable to believe how events had unfolded since their return from the desert. There, as the wind had calmed its fury, he’d thought they had made a truce. But he’d been wrong. ‘It is your involvement with the rebels—you knew that attack was going to happen.’

She shook her head fiercely. ‘No, not that. I don’t know anything about it.’

‘That is not what the evidence suggests,’ he said and walked towards her, unable to help himself. He balled his hands into fists at his sides, trying to keep from touching her. Her gaze darted to the movement then back to his face, questions lingering in her eyes.

‘B-but...’ she stammered then shook her head as if knowing that any form of defence would be useless.

‘I want you to go, leave Barazbin. Divorce is the only option and, for my people to consider that, they must have more than sufficient evidence against you.’ He couldn’t forgive her part in the rebel attacks. She had to go. The marriage had to end.

‘So, I am no longer fit to be your princess,’ she said haughtily. ‘No longer fit to be the mother of the heir of Barazbin and all because of lies. Lies that aren’t mine, Kazim.’

‘I can’t forgive what you have done to my people. There is no way back from that.’ He clenched his jaw against the hurt of her betrayal, wanting only to have her gone from his kingdom and his life.

She shook her head. ‘It’s lies—all lies.’

He couldn’t say anything to that and closed his eyes briefly against the tidal wave of strange emotions that crashed against him, demanding his attention. When he did open his eyes she was watching him, her face marred by confusion. Once again he’d hurt her, but this time it really was out of a sense of duty instead of the cowardly panic that had seized him on their wedding night.

‘Is this your duty too, Kazim?’ she said tartly, her chin lifting in defiance, making her more elegant than ever. ‘Are you following orders or do you hate me that much?’

‘I don’t hate you, Amber,’ he said more softly and gripped his hands harder into tight fists. He mustn’t weaken his resolve. He had to be firm and tell her. ‘Your reputation has been brought into question and against that I stood firmly with you. As for the rest, there isn’t any choice; you might as well have attacked me personally. I have to do my duty, honour my kingdom. I cannot defend what you did, not ever.’

‘Cannot or will not?’ She glared at him, her eyes sparking with gold, highlighting her anger.

‘We both know our marriage isn’t a love match and, in light of current circumstances, it can’t go on.’ Now he sounded just like those men who had informed him, as his father looked on, that he must get rid of his wife. Cold and unyielding.

He didn’t want to send her away; he wanted her to stay. He’d glimpsed last night what they could have had, how it could have been. But that was over now. He could never forgive her involvement in the attacks, however small it might have been. All he wanted was to see her leave—right now.