CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘WHOWASYOURFATHER, then?’Safiyah could barely take it in.
Karim shrugged wide shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Don’tknow?’
Karim wasn’t a man to live with doubt.
‘Presumably the man my mother ran off with.’ His voice was bitter. ‘Though that’s pure assumption. Maybe she had several lovers.’
‘You didn’t ask her?’ It didn’t seem possible that he hadn’t pressed to find out.
‘She died of pneumonia when I was a child. There was no one else to ask.’
Except her lover—the man who might be his father.
What must it be like, not knowing who your parent was?
She frowned. It would be worse for Karim, since his mother hadn’t been around for much of his childhood. The only parent he’d had was the irascible old Sheikh—a man she’d found daunting and her father had described as arrogant with a mean streak.
‘I’m sorry, Karim.’
Another tiny lift of the shoulders but his expression didn’t lighten. Instead his gaze drilled into her.
‘Surely the rest isn’t true? You and your brother seem to be good friends. He didn’t really banish you?’
Karim snorted. ‘That’s nonsense. I decided to step aside from the crown. I actually had to persuade Ashraf to take it.’
‘So,’ she said slowly, ‘it was your decision to leave Za’daq?’
He nodded. ‘The last thing my brother needs is me hanging around. He’s a good man—a fine leader. But there are conservative elements in Za’daq who’d prefer me to be on the throne because I’m the elder.’ He laughed, but the sound was devoid of amusement. ‘Though they won’t feel that way now the truth is out.’
Safiyah disagreed. From what she could tell, most of the support for Karim had been because, while supporting his father, he’d proved himself an able statesman, fair and honest. He’d worked hard and achieved respect. The truth of his birth would be a shock, but it didn’t change his record.
Safiyah wrapped her arms around her middle, torn between sympathy for Karim and hurt that he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her this before. But why would he? They didn’t have that kind of relationship. Their closeness was only in bed.
She looked up to find his gaze fixed on her so intently she almost felt it scrape past her flesh to her innermost self. She looked away. That was nonsense—a product of sexual intimacy. But more and more she found herself stunned by howcloseshe felt to Karim. As if with a little effort all those romantic dreams she’d once held could come true.
Except when reality intervened, reminding her they didn’t have that sort of relationship.
‘You thought I knew all this?’
Karim’s expression was hard to read, yet she could have sworn he looked uncomfortable.
‘That evening we were supposed to meet…’
He paused, giving her time to recall her excitement and trepidation at the plan to meet him alone. She’d been so in love, so sure of his affection—though he’d never come right out and said the words—that she’d been persuaded to break every rule.
She’d thought the night would end in his bed. Instead it had ended with her romantic daydreams smashed.
‘Yes?’
‘I was waiting for you when Ashraf arrived instead. He had the results of some medical tests. We’d been looking for bone marrow donors to extend the Sheikh’s life.’ Karim’s mouth twisted. ‘The old man had always believed Ashraf wasn’t his son, but Ashraf was tested anyway—out of sheer bravado, I think. One test led to another and the results proved just the opposite. I was the illegitimate one—not Ashraf.’
Safiyah wondered how she’d been so blithely unaware of the undercurrents at the Za’daqi court. But then she’d been lost in the romance of first love—only love.
‘I still don’t see how—’