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‘At least you had your uncle to care for you.’
Alexa felt herself hovering on the brink of unfamiliar territory. This was the point where she should tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him the truth. But trusting anyone was so alien that she just couldn’t persuade her mouth to form the words. She just couldn’t take that final plunge. So she stayed silent, and was just about to change the subject altogether when she heard the sound of a vehicle outside.
She turned her head swiftly towards the doorway of the tent. ‘Did you hear something?’
‘A car. Probably late arrivals.’
But her sense of danger was so finely tuned that she just knew, and she stood up so quickly that she tipped several of the dishes onto the floor. ‘They’ve found us.’
Karim’s eyes narrowed, but he rose to his feet. ‘They will simply be tourists. Wait here. I will investigate.’
‘No!’ Forcing herself to think clearly, she grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t do that. Is there another exit? We need to get out of here before they find us.’
‘Calm down.’ Clearly believing that her reaction was wildly exaggerated, he gently removed his arm from her grip and strolled out of the tent.
Alexa didn’t waste a moment in contemplation.
Her hands and knees shaking, she stuffed her hair under a hat and grabbed her knife. Hoping that the Sultan would agree to pay for the damage, she cut a hole in the back of the opulent tent and slipped out into the night.
She wasn’t waiting to see who the visitors were. She already knew.
And she ran. As quickly as she could in unfamiliar terrain she ran, past a swimming pool, between the sloping palm-trees and out towards the desert. She didn’t know where she was going, but she hoped she’d be able to find somewhere to hide. Her heart was pounding, her mouth was dry and she stumbled twice as she ran in the darkness.
There were shouts from beyond the tents and then an explosion of gunfire behind her, and Alexa froze. She’d left Karim to handle them alone.
She looked over her shoulder, torn by indecision. He hadn’t believed her and that wasn’t all his fault. She hadn’t told him everything, had she? And now, because of her, he was in danger.
Cursing herself for not forcing him to leave with her, she turned back towards the tents, but then she heard the roar of a car engine and headlights came towards her.
Her heart pounded and a feeling of helpless despair swamped her.
They’d found her. And out here, trapped in unfamiliar terrain, she could do little to defend herself.
It was all over.
Unable to run, she stood staring at those headlights—stood waiting to die.
‘Alexa! Move!’ Karim’s harsh tone penetrated her haze of fear, but she was shaking so much she couldn’t do anything. He opened the door, jumped down from the vehicle and swung her bodily into his arms. ‘Now is not the time to stand still.’ Behaving as if she weighed nothing, he virtually threw her into the passenger seat, and was back behind the wheel and stamping hard on the accelerator before she’d even had time to catch her breath.
‘Do your seat belt up,’ he bit out sharply. ‘In the dark I can’t be sure I’ll avoid the holes in the ground.’
Her hands shaking, she did as she instructed and then gasped as she saw the stain spreading on his sleeve. ‘You’re hurt.’
‘It’s just a scratch.’
‘It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have let you come with me—’
‘Are they behind us?’
Alexa glanced over her shoulder and saw lights. ‘Yes. They’re following.’
‘Then we go where they won’t be able to follow.’ His tone grim, Karim spun the wheel and took the vehicle off-road.
Realising his intention, she clutched at her seat and looked at him in disbelief. ‘You’re planning to go dune driving in the dark?’
‘It will make it harder for them to follow. There is an old Bedouin camel-trail not far from here. If we can make it to there, then we will be safe.’ He took the vehicle up the side of the dune in much the same way as he had done that morning, only this time there was no laughter, and she was horribly aware of the stain darkening the fabric of his shirt.
‘I need to stop the bleeding. Does this car have a first-aid kit?’
‘Under the seat. Leave it. They’re still behind us.’ As they reached the top of the dune, he glanced in the mirror and gave a faint smile of triumph. ‘But not any more. They didn’t tackle it at the right angle and they have rolled to the bottom. Let’s move.’
‘Your arm—’
‘Hold on.’ He took the vehicle down the other side, driving with more care than he had during daylight hours. ‘Tell me who they are. Who are those people?’
‘I don’t know. Someone working for my uncle. It’s always someone different. To be on the safe side, I just suspect everyone.’
Karim muttered something in his own language, and then switched back to English. ‘Are you telling me that he employs different people to kill you?’
‘I did tell you that my life was under threat, but you didn’t believe me.’
‘Reasons might have helped.’
‘Never mind that now. Oh, God, there’s blood everywhere.’ She dug around under the seat, found the first-aid kit and flipped it open. ‘You’re going to have to stop so that I can look at your arm, Karim.’
He ignored her. ‘Talk to me, Alexa! Why would your uncle want you dead?’
‘It’s complicated, and you need to concentrate on driving.’
Rummaging through the first-aid kit, she pulled out a bandage. ‘Is the bullet in the wound?’
‘No. I’ve already told you, it’s just a scratch. Answer my question. What are we dealing with here?’
‘Cain and Abel,’ she muttered, and he glanced at her sharply.
‘Jealousy between brothers? That is what this is about?’
Alexa ripped the packaging from the bandage. ‘His brother—my father—is dead. I’m the last remaining obstacle between him and the throne of Rovina.’
‘He already rules Rovina.’
‘As Regent. He wants to rule in his own right. He’s always wanted that. If I reach my twenty-fifth birthday, then I take over as ruler. He isn’t going to let that happen.’ She steadied herself as the vehicle plunged and bounced on the uneven ground. ‘You need to stop so that I can see what I’m doing.’
‘We’re not stopping until I decide that it’s safe.’
‘Then I’ll just have to bandage it over your clothes. I’m sorry you were hurt because of me.’
He glanced towards her, his eyes gleaming dark and dangerous in the dim light of the car. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said that you were in danger. When it is safe, we will stop and you will start talking. And this time I’ll be listening hard.’
Her hands shook as she bandaged his arm. ‘We won’t be safe until we reach the Citadel.’
‘We will. The desert is a very unforgiving place for those without knowledge. This is an old Bedouin route. If we drive along here, we will reach the caves and we can rest there.’ Karim reached out a hand, punched a number into a satellite phone and then proceeded to speak rapidly in a language that she didn’t understand. When he finally broke the connection, she looked at him expectantly.
‘What was that about?’
‘I have asked for a security team to pick up those men and question them.’ His expression was grim as he gripped the wheel with his hand and drove hard and fast through the desert. ‘There may be others.’
The caves formed a dark, forbidding labyrinth at the base of the huge sandstone-cliffs. Alexa leaned forward, peering through the darkness. ‘We’re going in there?’
‘Yes.’ Karim parked the vehicle out of sight of the road and winced as he reached for a torch and some blankets. ‘No one will look for us here.’
Alexa felt her stomach lurch at the thought of all that dark, confined space, but said nothing. She knew that they needed to get out of sight, and she was worried about Karim’s arm. ‘Let’s go, then.’
She followed him into the entrance of the caves. ‘Shall we just stop here?’ Her voice echoed and he flashed the torch towards the back of the cave where the rocks narrowed.
‘Through there is a smaller chamber. We’ll spend the night there. It will be warmer.’
And darker and more closed in. Alexa stood for a moment, finding it impossible to make her feet move. Then she remembered that they were in this situation because of her, and forced herself to follow him through the narrow gap, reminding herself that she wasn’t locked in.
There was a way out.
Karim checked that the ground was dry and then dropped the blankets. ‘Sit down.’
‘ You sit down. I need to look at your arm.’ She undid the emergency dressing she’d applied and waited while he pulled off his shirt. Blood oozed from the wound, and she cursed softly and pressed down hard, staunching the flow. ‘It’s bleeding a lot. I’ll clean it and dress it, but I suspect that it could have done with some stitches.’
‘So blood is yet another thing that doesn’t frighten you?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Can you shine the torch on this so that I can see what I’m doing?’ Removing what she needed from the first-aid kit, Alexa swabbed the wound and took a closer look. ‘You’re right. The bullet just grazed the skin. I’ll clean it, but you probably need some antibiotics.’
‘And how can a princess, who supposedly isn’t interested in anything more than fast cars and high heels, be so adept at first aid?’ He watched as she carefully applied a sterile dressing to his arm and bound it firmly.
‘I’ve spent a lot of time working at the local hospital. William hasn’t invested any money in healthcare since he became Regent. The hospitals are struggling—no money, no staff. Morale is rock bottom. I help out when I can.’
‘You work in the hospital?’
‘As a volunteer.’ Alexa closed the first-aid kit. ‘I’m not trained, or anything. I would have loved to have been a doctor, but there was never any chance of that.’
He studied her for a moment, his expression forbidding. ‘Sit down, Alexandra. It’s time we talked about your uncle.’
Alexa sat down on the rug and tried not to think about the darkness. They weren’t closed in, she reminded herself. ‘I’m really sorry I got you into all this. I knew it was a mistake to take you with me.’
‘I didn’t give you a choice in the matter.’ He sat down next to her. ‘But clearly, I should have listened to you more carefully. I’m listening now, Alexa. Start talking.’ The silence of the cave closed around them like a protective cocoon.
‘I wouldn’t know where to start.’
‘Start with why you’re marrying the Sultan.’ He shone the torch towards her so that he could see her face. ‘It doesn’t have anything to do with the money or the status, does it?’
‘I’m marrying the Sultan because it’s my best chance of staying alive. You keep telling me that he’s going to lock me behind the walls of the Citadel, and that’s what I’m hoping for,’ Alexa said softly. ‘I want to reach my twenty-fifth birthday. I want to rule Rovina. Since my uncle took over, I’ve watched the country slowly crumble. He has diverted money away from the things that matter, like healthcare and education, and instead spends it on things that benefit only him. Like refurbishing the palace, and adding another priceless stallion to his stud farm. My uncle has stripped Rovina bare over the sixteen years since my father died.’
‘So you’re marrying the Sultan to escape?’
‘In the short term, yes. In the longer term …’ She hesitated and then gave a shrug. ‘The Sultan is a powerful man, and I know he’s turned Zangrar around in the past few years. If anyone can help me solve Rovina’s problems, then it’s him. His father and my father were friends. I just hope that’s enough to persuade him to help.’
‘Your uncle intends to prevent you from becoming Queen? This is the reason you believe he has tried to have you killed?’
It felt completely alien to confide in someone, and she sat for a moment, trying to find the words.
‘I know it, Karim.’ It was easier to talk in the semi-darkness. ‘It started off as a campaign to discredit me with the public. He thought that if he made me look bad enough then no one would want me as ruler. My wild image was orchestrated by him. Starting with those awful photographs of me topless.’
‘The photographs were fake?’
‘No.’ Alexa curled her legs under her. ‘They were real. It was the first and last time in my life that I allowed myself to trust another person. Let’s just say that he was an actor, and he was good at his job. I was so lonely, and to have someone pay me attention …’ She gave a short laugh. ‘Not that that is an excuse for being stupid and gullible, I know.’
‘You were manipulated?’
‘My uncle paid him to be caught in a compromising situation with me. They both did very well out of it. The actor’s career took off, and the photographs were published again and again all over the world as an example of how I’d gone off the rails. Anyway, although the public was shocked, they still supported me. Perhaps they were tolerant because I’d lost my whole family. I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t like William. By then they could see that he had no commitment towards Rovina as a country. He just used his position to enhance his own lifestyle. Either way, he obviously decided he had to work a little harder. And that was when I suddenly became so accident prone.’
‘Your car accidents—’
‘On both occasions, someone tampered with the brakes.’
The breath hissed through his teeth. ‘You are sure?’
‘Yes. I was just angry that I let it happen twice. After that, I stopped driving, or I borrowed cars at short notice.’
‘You didn’t try to escape? Drive over the border?’
‘I was watched all the time. I was lucky if I managed to get beyond the palace walls. When I was little he locked me in.’
Karim muttered something under his breath. ‘And that is why you hate locked doors?’
‘Yes. Silly, really. It’s just a psychological thing. I like to know that I can get out if I want to. He only did it when I was little. As I grew older I was a little harder to contain. He wanted me dead, but if he couldn’t have that then he wanted me where he could see me. It became a game of cat and mouse. I’d disguise myself and find different ways of slipping out.’
‘He always caught you?’
‘He has supporters. Greedy people, like him, who are interested in themselves and not Rovina.’
‘The speedboat accident?’
‘Not an accident.’
With a driven sigh, Karim ran a hand over the back of his neck. ‘The time you were removed unconscious from a nightclub?’
‘I was drugged. I wasn’t even in the nightclub at the time. They staged the photographs, but by then most people just assumed I’d gone off the rails because of my parents’ death. “The rebel princess” they called me.’ She laughed. ‘I sort of grew into the role. I had to, in order to stay alive.’
‘You had no one to protect you?’
‘You have to remember that most people just thought what you thought—that I was a bit of a wild child. No one really understood what my uncle was capable of.’ Alexa felt a lump in her throat. ‘Every time I allowed myself to trust someone, it proved to be a mistake, so I stopped trusting. It was safer for everyone if I just lived my life alone.’
