Nate.
Her head felt stuffed with cotton wool, her body equally feeble, but Lily summoned what strength she had and forced her eyelids open.
Three figures swam into view.
Nate was here. Whoever that other man was, she was safe.
Perhaps she’d given voice to that fervent wish.
Three heads swivelled in her direction.
‘Baby Sis? Oh, thank God.’
Nate reached her side and took her hand. The woman, a nurse in spotless scrubs, bustled towards her, smiling kindly. The third figure, the owner of that disturbing voice, came closer, too, but Lily instinctively shrank back. A bolt of pain shot through her right side.
‘Where am I?’ Her voice was a scrape of air in her throat.
‘You’re in the Prince Faisal Hospital. You were injured, but you’re safe now,’ Nate said, squeezing her hand.
The nurse fussed around her, checking tubes and charts.
‘Injured?’
‘There was an attack on the palace,’ the stranger said. That voice... It was so achingly familiar... Whowashe?
The memory hovered, just out of reach.
She’d been running. To warn someone.
Her gaze focused on Nate.
‘Sabir? The staff?’
It wasn’t Nate who answered.
‘They’re all safe,habiba.’
Sweetheart.
Fragments of memory formed.
There had been a night. A magical night when, out of love, she’d given herself to a man. She glanced at him.This man.He’d called her sweetheart. His big body had moved over her, inside her, coaxing her to the heights of ecstasy and she’d given him everything she was.
But what had she been worth to him? The position of mistress. Good enough to warm his bed. But nothing more.
Second-best.
The hurt and humiliation came flooding back.
She tugged her stepbrother closer. ‘I don’t want him here.’
Khaled flinched as if he’d been struck. ‘Lily, let me explain.’
Frowning, the Sister planted herself firmly between him and her patient. He turned ashen, as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
‘Come, now,’ said Nate. ‘I know he can be a difficult bugger, but does he really deserve to be sent out, hmm?’
Lily tightened her grip on his hand.‘Please.’