“I think education is a cornerstone of any civilized society.” The Sheikha’s voice carried to him even though she was across the room, and he was in the middle of his own conversation. It was as though she had the ability to tunnel right down inside of him, to speak to something deep in his being.
He lifted his head, pinpointing her with his gaze, curious as to who she was speaking to – curious and alive with a possessive heat he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Ali Burkhan, a thirty-something investor in the private education sector, and a friend of Malik’s from when they were teenagers.
Ali smiled. “Indeed.”
“Affordable, and accessible education,” she added meaningfully.
He laughed. “Didn’t we speak about this on the yacht last summer,” Ali drawled, leaning a little closer, so that something inside Malik fired. He didn’t catch the rest of what Ali was saying and now he wished to be nearer to his wife and friend, to be a part of their conversation.
“Excuse me.” He nodded curtly towards the couple he’d been exchanging pleasantries with. The royal couple had been at this affair for three hours. Parliament had officially welcomed his wife, and now he wanted to have her all to himself again.
“And nothing in your policies has changed,” she was murmuring, smiling, an easy, natural smile that was remarkable for two reasons. Her smile was one of the most beautiful things Malik had ever seen. And looking at it now, Malik realised she’d never smiled like that for him.
It was no surprise. They were generally arguing with one another, and yet, he realised now how often she’d smiled and laughed with his brother. How easily she smiled now.
His stomach tightened but he didn’t approach them. He hovered just outside of their range, looking without interrupting.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed that,” she added for good measure, the lightness to her tone drawing him in, warming him.
“Have you been checking up on me?”
“Well, your website at least,” she winked, and Ali laughed – Malik, on the other hand, was not amused. He knew enough of his wife’s easy nature to know she wasn’t flirting. Charm came easily to her – she did it without thinking, reflexively. But that didn’t lessen the impact it had on Malik.
Suddenly, as though lightning had pierced his soul, splitting him clear in two, he remembered how close Sophia had come to marrying another man. How he had been so close to living his whole life like this – looking at her from the outside, watching her smile and laugh, with no right to touch her, to kiss her, to hold her, to make her cry his name out.
And a dark, angry guilt churned through him, because his own brother’s death was the only reason they were married. Had Addan lived, she would be his by now, perhaps rounded with his child in her belly.
Frustration gnawed at his insides. She was his wife – it was done. Finished. No matter what should have been her life, they’d found themselves here.
“I think you’ll find, your highness, that we’ve widened our selection criteria and dropped the age of applicants.”
“I did notice that,” she conceded.
“And it is a step in the right direction, yes?”
She tilted her head to the side, feigning deep-thought. “I suppose so,” she murmured, a dimple in her cheek flashing when she grinned at Ali. “But don’t think this lets you off the hook. I’ll be watching you.”
Ali dipped his head forward in a bow. “And I hope to earn your approval.”
Malik stepped closer and Sophia lifted her head, a smile still on her face when she looked at him.
“It is time to leave.”
Her smile disappeared completely.
“Mal,” Ali extended his hand and Malik shook it. Ali was one of the few people who referred to him so casually – and it didn’t occur to Malik to mind. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.” He nodded in curt acknowledgment.
“Her highness here was just trying to guilt me into opening up my scholarship program one-hundred-fold.”
“And I’ve explained why,” she turned back to Ali, smiling once more, though with an air of constraint now. “You have no idea what potential you are limiting by not granting scholarships to intelligent, gifted, but financially impoverished students. What if the person who will cure cancer for good is living in one of the slums to the east?”
“Well, the slums, majesties, rather fall into your domain,” he pointed out archly.
Malik shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It isn’t an easy problem to address.”