Gambling With the Crown(76)
She closed her eyes and forced herself to be calm before she could look into his gray gaze again. “You’re seriously telling me right now, right here, in front of a council of Kyrian leaders, that you love me?”
His frown deepened. “Bad timing, yes? I apologize, but I’m desperate.”
She let her gaze drift over the gathering. They still looked stern, but she was fairly certain they couldn’t hear what she and Kadir were saying. And then his words sank in and she realized what he was doing. Still playing the game, still trying to prove to these men he wasn’t a king.
“I take it your brother has arrived.” She said the words dully even as her heart froze solid.
Kadir was looking at her curiously. “Yes. I have summoned him to this meeting as well. He will be here any moment.”
“I see.” And she did. Kadir was making one last desperate bid for his freedom. Everyone believed he was the next king, but if his brother was here, then he could formally renounce the throne in front of the council and Rashid would take it. She was here to remind them how faulty his judgment could be. Perhaps he’d even decided to insist she be his queen. That would give the old boys a heart attack for sure.
He kissed her hand again and then tucked it into his arm before leading her up to the dais and seating her in one of the chairs placed against the wall. He touched her cheek, his fingers lingering for a long moment. It took everything she had not to lean into his touch. Not to close her eyes and press his palm to her skin.
He needed her to help him once more. To get him out of a predicament. So why did he have to carry the game too far and tell her he loved her? Her soul was already broken and battered because of the last few days with this man. She didn’t need to heap a false promise of love on top of the pile of rubble her life had become.
Kadir took his seat again. She tried not to look at him, but she couldn’t drag her gaze from his profile. But then the door opened and another man came in. This man looked so much like Kadir that she might have sworn they were twins. Tall, handsome, yet somehow colder and far more remote than Kadir had ever been.
Rashid looked angry, haunted, and yet he also looked as if no man in this room could defeat him. No matter what anyone did to him, his eyes said, he would always win. Because, she realized, he didn’t care what happened to him. She could see it in the set of his shoulders, the defiant look in his sharp gaze. He looked like someone who had lost everything and therefore couldn’t care about anyone. This was the Lion of Kyr, a fierce, hard, brooding man who would as soon chew his own leg off than be trapped and tamed.
“Welcome, brother,” Kadir said in English. The council swung their gazes to him, no doubt surprised that he wasn’t speaking Arabic. Kadir stood and walked down the steps to the floor. Then he turned around, his arms wide, and faced the entire council. He said something in Arabic and a man hurried over to the foot of the dais.
“Omar will translate what I say, but I will be speaking in English so that my wife can understand.”
Emily’s jaw dropped, but Kadir kept speaking. “Yes, you are still my wife, Emily. I have rescinded the divorce decree. We are married, unless you tell me you want it otherwise.”
He bowed his head a moment, and then he shook it, muttering to himself. A second later, he was bounding up the stairs and pulling her to her feet. They stood facing one another while the council, Rashid and the translator looked on.
“I will not divorce you, Emily. I love you too much. And if I am to be king of Kyr, you will be queen.”
Emily’s heart pounded. The words coming from his lips were so beautiful, so amazing, but she told herself not to believe them. It was a performance, and a good one. But oh, how it hurt. How much she wanted it to be real, for this amazing man to truly want her as his wife.