The True King of Dahaar

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“I need to speak with you.”

He didn’t wait for her answer. In true arrogant-prince fashion, he pushed his way past her into the suite. Flustered at his sudden appearance, Nikhat turned around.

“Close your mouth, Nikhat. And the door.”

She shut her mouth, not the door. Hopefully she looked defiant, because inside she was trembling. “Why?”

The curve of his mouth turned up in a smirk, his gaze shining with an unholy light. That spark, that smile, had once played havoc with her senses, and apparently it still could. Because her legs were barely holding her up.

“Are you afraid to be alone with me?”

She closed the door shut behind her with a thud that should have silenced the resounding yes in her head.

Her luxurious and vast suite, which had mocked all her New York sophistication, suddenly seemed impossibly small with him standing in the middle of it. He was like the sun, reducing everything around him to colorless insignificance.

Standing close, his gaze moved over her like a caress. “Why are you dressed in that awful thing? And what happened to your hair?”

Nikhat stared back at him, all her worldliness, her sophistication, sliding away like sand between her fingers.

She had prepared herself to bear the brunt of his contempt, even hatred, in the coming months. But his attention, especially of a personal nature? No amount of preparation could help her deal with it.

“If this is how you dress usually, no wonder they were so happy to be rid of you in New York.”

“I left of my own volition. I left a good position in a cutting-edge hospital to come back.” Too late, she realized he was playing with her. His whole demeanor today was different. It was as if he had a strategy, as if all the fire of his emotions was neatly packed away for now. And even as he cut through her with his acerbic words, she still preferred him like that. The real him. “To build something that’s very much needed here in Dahaara.”

“Ah….I heard about all your plans for the clinic. Princess’s Zohra’s pregnancy, Ayaan’s desperation to fix me, your history with me, everything’s falling into place for you, isn’t it? Like always.”

Anger burst through her. “You think it’s easy for to me to be back here? To leave behind the freedom, the position, the respect I had in New York? To constantly fight against invisible prejudices just because I’m a woman? Even being the Princess’s personal physician is still apparently not recommendation enough.”

“If you expected anything different, then you’re a fool, Nikhat.”

“Because I want to change some things for the better in Dahaar? You had a dream like that once, Azeez. Or have you completely wiped out everything from the past?”

He remained unflappable, even as her temper soared. “You chose a difficult path for yourself and an even harder one by coming back. Why stay if it’s so hard?”

“Because I know that I can make a difference. I want all the hard work I put in to amount to something for Dahaar. And I refuse to let any prejudice masquerading as tradition stop me.”

His silence this time didn’t grate on her. Because being back in Dahaar was harder not only on a professional level but a personal one. She had tasted freedom in New York. She could go wherever she wanted, she could talk to whomever she wanted to, without written permission, without seeing questions lingering in gazes wherever she turned.

“No, you never stray from your path once you decide, do you?” A grudging respect filled his words. “Just don’t expect any changes overnight, Nikhat.”

She nodded, fiercely glad for this discussion. Because even if he said his words in a mocking tone, Azeez gave her a sense of being understood that she needed so much.

“So, dressing like you’re going to your own execution is the first step to convince everyone here to take you seriously?”

She raised a brow and smiled, smoothing a hand over the stiff silk. “Your mask of indifference in slipping, Azeez. You sound rather interested in how I’m dressed.”

Something playful entered his gaze as he shrugged. “You look like a black hole, Nikhat. Unless you tell me why, I will assume it’s to dissuade my interest. Then I’ll have to inform you that I would rather take another bullet in the hip than touch you.”

Heat flaring under her skin, Nikhat glared at him. “My father is coming to see me any minute. And my sisters. If you need me to be your punching bag, I would like to schedule the session for some other time that suits me better.”

She checked her watch again, unable to contain her anxiety.

“You have to look like this to see your father? Is this some new law that Ayaan passed?”

She looked down at herself, knowing he was right. But she didn’t want to give her father any more reason to be angry with her, or to find fault with her in any way. Loneliness she had battled for eight years solidified in her throat. “I…I have not seen him in eight years, Azeez. My sisters…can you imagine what Noor would look like now?” she said, thinking of her youngest sister. “Please, just leave, for now. I don’t have the luxury to turn my back on my family like you have done.”

The humor faded from his face. “Why didn’t you see them all these years?”

“My father’s condition for when I left Dahaar to study was that I not return. What you don’t know, and I didn’t realize, is how intractable he is. He forbade me from seeing him or my sisters.”

Before he could reply, a knock sounded on the door. Panic tying her stomach in knots, she grasped his hands and jerked back as the contact sent a jolt of sensation through her. “Please, Azeez,” she whispered, turning toward the door.

With a hard look at her, he walked around the sitting area and into her bedroom.

Only after she heard the click behind her did Nikhat’s heart settle back into place. Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, she opened the wide, double doors.

The smile froze on her mouth when she saw her father, alone. “Hello, Father,” she said, unable to pull her gaze away from the eerily silent corridor.

His hands folded behind him, her father stepped into the suite. He stood there stiffly, casting a glance around the room, not a hint of warmth in his gaze or welcome in his stance.

Swallowing back her disappointment, Nikhat gestured toward the seating area. “Would you like something to drink?”

“I cannot stay long, Nikhat. There’s an urgent security issue that I have to address with Prince Ayaan.”

Nikhat nodded. “I understand how busy you are. I just…I thought the girls were coming with you.”

His gaze remained steady on her, nothing betrayed in his set face. “I wished to make sure it was suitable for them to visit you here.”

“It’s the palace, Father. It’s the most secure place in Dahaar. Ayaan said—” She caught herself at the spark of displeasure in his tight mouth. “Prince Ayaan informed me himself that I have permission to have guests. I’m the personal physician to the Crown Princess, not a prisoner of state,” she said, bitterness spewing into her words.

“I did not think you were a prisoner.” Even more hardness settled into his features, making his expression intractable. “I have heard rumors, however. Nothing I would repeat. In fact, it is what I need to address with the Crown Prince. But between the rumors and his sudden command to call you back to Dahaar, I do not like the conclusions I had to draw.”

Anger filled her, replacing the powerlessness that had been clawing at her. All she wanted was to see her sisters. One small thing. And it seemed as if the whole universe was conspiring to deny her that. “What are these conclusions, Father?”

“I will not repeat them. And certainly not in front of you.”

Hot fury filled every inch of her. “Yes, you will. I am your daughter and I’m thirty years old. I have lived outside Dahaar, in a foreign land among strangers for eight years. Without any man’s protection, I have seen the world. I have not only taken care of myself but I have also flourished in my career. If I’m being denied the chance to see my own sisters—” she knew she was shouting at him now, that her voice was breaking, but she didn’t care anymore “—you will damn well tell me why not.”

“Swearing when you speak to your father? Is this what you have become?”

She gritted her teeth. For so many years, she had kept quiet. Even before she left Dahaar, she had always tried to be a model daughter, tried to be the son he had always wanted. “What have I become? What have I done that is so wrong that you’re still punishing me for it?”

He shook his head and Nikhat felt the one thing she had wanted slipping away from her hands. Everything she had achieved amounted to nothing if she still couldn’t see her sisters. “You owe me the truth at least.”

“Who are you serving, Nikhat? The Crown Princess Zohra or Prince Azeez?”

Nikhat could feel the blood fading from her face. “You cannot mention your suspicions to anyone. You cannot betray them.”

Her father flinched. “I would never betray the royal family. It’s all the small things I’ve been hearing. And no one else can come to the conclusion as I have. You and Prince Azeez…” He looked away from her as though his very thoughts were shameful. “I knew there was something between you all those years ago. Time and again I reminded you to keep your distance from them, to remember the disparity between our life and theirs. You never paid any attention to my warnings. You never do once you settle on something.”

Nikhat tried to wrap her mind around what he was saying. The truth of it shone in his unforgiving eyes.

He had known she had been in love with Azeez and he had assumed she had left Dahaar because her relationship with the prince had fallen apart. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at how perceptive her father was. “I have never done anything to bring shame upon you.” Even when she had known that she had to walk away, she had still refused herself what she wanted more than anything in the world.

“It does not matter. But if the Crown Prince has summoned you back to the palace, if he’s keeping you here because he thinks it will…help Prince Azeez…then I can’t risk bringing your sisters here. Your life, your reputation, it’s out of my hands. You took the right to protect you away from me when you left Dahaar. When you finish this…assignment, you will leave again. Leave whatever scandal you might create behind you. Your sisters have to live here, marry and make their lives. And I am still their father. I have to protect them.”

“What would you have me do, Father? Deny the Crown Prince’s request after everything King Malik has done for this family?”

“No, do your duty, whatever it…entails.” Tight lines fanned his mouth, and Nikhat knew what it cost him to say those words. And yet, it didn’t shock or surprise her. Her father had served King Malik for forty years. His loyalty was what had brought Nikhat to the palace to be educated at Princess Amira’s side. “But do not ask me to involve your sisters in this. Not until whatever you are doing for the Crown Prince is finished, not until I know this will not affect their reputation.”