“Do you know what I was doing the night my brother died?” He said, lifting her chin so her face tilted to his.
She shook her head a little.
“I was out in the desert, licking my wounds, desperately trying to work out how to be with you. I was considering leaving all this, my place in the succession, my responsibilities to my family and country, to be with you. If Adan hadn’t died…”
She gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. “Is that true?”
“Cora, you are everything I have ever wanted. From the first moment I saw you, I felt as though I’d found a part of myself I hadn’t even known was missing. Everything I have shared with you has been new and different for me, because I have never felt like this about another soul.”
She closed her eyes.
“Ikidnappedyou,” he muttered, shaking his head angrily. “The moment I learned you were pregnant, everything I most wanted was within reach. I knew I had to bring you here. That I had to convince you to marry me. But until two minutes ago, I didn’t understand why I have done any of this. Why I thought about leaving my role within the royal family, why I desperately needed to marry you as fast as possible.” He lifted his brows. “As I said, I’ve been a monumental idiot.”
Tears sparkled on her eyes and now, they had nothing to do with hormones. She washappy.Deliriously happy. And any fear she might have thought she’d feel, when standing on the precipice of a moment like this, was nowhere to be seen. Because she had no doubts. She trusted Samir, utterly and completely. She adored him, she loved him, and she knew, with all of herself, that he was her future.
“I love you,” he repeated, with a sense of wonderment. “You have no idea how good it feels to finally realise that.”
She laughed, lifting up onto the tips of her toes. “Perhaps as good as it feels to hear it?”
Their eyes met and his swirled with emotions. “I will say it, often.”
“Every day, for the rest of our lives?”
“Every day,” he agreed, kissing her forehead slowly, inhaling, as though he needed to fill himself with her. “For as long as we both shall live.”
“Excuse me, Your Highness,”a voice from the door finally broke through their embrace, where they both stood, arms wrapped around one another, hearts beating in unison. “I am very sorry to interrupt.”
Samir pulled back a little from Cora, sending her a fulminating glance. “Don’t go anywhere.”
She laughed softly. “Where would I go?”
“Please, just, wait,” he begged, and her heart somersaulted.
Samir opened the door a crack, staring out at Rami. “What?” He growled, surprising his longest friend and servant with the impatience in his voice.
“Nicholas Xenakis is here and he isinsisting, quite loudly, on speaking with you, and seeing his sister. I tried to get him to wait but he’s—,”
Samir’s expression was rueful. Ofcoursehe’d have a lot of explaining to do to his friends. “I understand. Please, tell him we’ll be right down.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Rami’s exhalation left Samir in little doubt as to just how persistent Nick was being.
“Are you ready to face the music, my darling?”
She lifted a brow quizzically.
“Your brother is here.”
“Oh no,” she grimaced. “My voicemail.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, gosh.” She pulled another face. “I suppose we’d better go talk to him.”
Samir made a growl of agreement, moving back to Cora. “And then, my mother,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “Your mother?”
“You’ll love her, as she will love you.”