Beneath a cushion she spied his neatly foldedghutrah.She drew it out and lifted it to her cheek, inhaling its beloved hint of citrus and spice.
She must have dozed, because suddenly she was jerking upright as the phone in her suite rang.
‘I see the Prince hasn’t given you up.’
Waking from dreams of Khaled, the unexpected voice confused her.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Don’t bother denying it,’ said George Hyde-Wallace. ‘I know he spent the night rutting in your bed. But you should know he can’t marry you.’
She fought off the remnants of sleep.
‘As Leader of the Council of Families, when I see our future king being beguiled by an unsuitable woman, I must act.’
Unsuitable? That woke her up. ‘I’m the granddaughter of a duke.’
‘Biological granddaughter only, I’m afraid. Your father didn’t bother to check that his wedding was legal. He wasn’t married in the eyes of the law, which makes you illegitimate—and so barred from ever being our Queen. In short, you are entirely ineligible.’
Shock silenced her. That cherished image of her father, the fact that he’d loved her mother enough to whisk her away to a tropical beach for their ceremony. Was even that a lie?
‘Imagine the scandal,’ George drawled. ‘The great name of Azir being linked with a woman of questionable birth. There would be a constitutional crisis. It might even destroy the monarchy. But you can prevent that if you do as I say.’
She wanted to denounce him for the scheming traitor he was, but she had to think of Khaled and his family.
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘The King may not last the day, and by nightfall your lover might be our new monarch.’
Oh, Bassam.Lily squeezed her eyes shut against the sting of tears.
‘There must be no hint of scandal...of anything that might throw a shadow on the Prince taking the throne. If you leave now, I’ll make sure what I’ve discovered never reaches the press. A car will be on the palace forecourt in ten minutes to take you to the airport. You have a seat booked on the next flight to London. Be on it.’
Whatever rosy future she’d hoped for, she knew she had to walk away and spare the royal family the trauma of a scandal. Even if that meant never seeing Khaled again.
Somehow keeping the heartbreak out of her voice, she said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.’
‘A wise decision. Let’s just say a foreign national getting caught up in all this would be...inconvenient.’
There was no chance for her to ask what that meant. George had cut the connection.
Numb with shock, Lily replaced the receiver, then realised she still held Khaled’sghutrah, crushed in her other hand. The once crisp white cotton was crumpled and soiled. Now it was no better than a rag.
No longer fit for a prince.
She had only ten minutes before that car arrived, and she was grateful. Less time to dwell on what she’d just learned. She focused instead on preparing to leave.
She was already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. While Khaled had been in the States her bank card had been returned, and her passport delivered from London. She tucked them into her back pocket now. She grabbed a sweater for the plane, a jacket for travelling through London, and she was ready.
Everything else she left. Including the dress she’d first arrived in. She’d never wear it again. The memories would be too painful. Even the clothes now on her back she’d donate to a women’s refuge. She wanted no reminders of her time here.
She sat down to pen a note to Eleanor, thanking her for all her kindness and explaining why she’d had to leave so suddenly. Something about it being too uncomfortable for her now Khaled was home again and wanting to give the family space while the King was ill...
It wasn’t entirely untrue.
She looked up at the knock on her door. Time to leave already? Her stomach twisted.
But it was Sabir, and all other thoughts fled as she took in the secretary’s anxious expression.