Protecting the Desert Princess(71)

                No palace would be big enough for such strong men.

                A sob came and she could no longer hold it in.

                Her father might be watching her from the window, Layla knew, and she fled down a hidden path towards the second palace, where Trinity and Zahid lived. But she did not run to them. Instead she sat on a stone bench and wept and sobbed as she never had in her life—not even when she had gone to choose her suitor. This evening Layla cried not just for herself but for Mikael, for he had no family and yet it felt as if he was a part of hers, and she would never see him again.

                ‘Layla!’

                Trinity had been walking, and at first had thought an animal must be trapped, such was the distress she’d heard. Trinity put her arms around Layla’s heaving shoulders and tried to find out what was wrong, but Layla shook her head at everything Trinity asked.

                ‘Is your father still cross?’

                Layla shook her head.

                ‘Are you scared of choosing a husband?’

                ‘No.’ Layla gulped.

                There was no room in her heart left to be scared.

                ‘I fell in love.’ Her tears calmed just a touch with the terrible admission. ‘I always thought I wanted to fall in love but it is horrible…it is agony. Please, please, don’t tell Zahid.’

                ‘He might understand.’

                ‘Even if he could understand it would make no difference, Zahid is not yet King.’

                ‘Who?’ Trinity asked. ‘Who did you fall in love with?’

                ‘Mikael.’

                Trinity blew out a breath. Perhaps Layla was suffering from a serious case of a crush, because if Mikael loved her in return surely he would not have let her leave?

                ‘I begged him not to let Zahid know there had been anything between us.’

                ‘He’s a brilliant actor, then,’ Trinity said, remembering Mikael’s bored expression.

                ‘He did it for me,’ Layla said. ‘No one ever knows what he’s thinking, yet he tells me how he feels.’

                ‘He feels the same about you?’ Trinity checked, and then double-checked again. ‘You’re sure that Mikael loves you?’

                ‘He asked to marry me.’

                ‘Mikael asked you that?’

                ‘Yes.’ Layla said. ‘And I laughed because it is so impossible. I love my family. I did not know how to say yes to what I want without hurting all the people I care for. He tried to tell me that he loved me and I would not let him, because those words only belong in marriage. But I want to hear those words now, and I want to tell him I love him too. I wish I had at least said that. If I could speak with him just one more time…’

                ‘Do you have his phone number?’

                ‘No, he gave it to me but I tore it up.’ Layla turned and managed a smile. ‘I don’t want his number—there would be too much temptation.’ The tears had stopped but the sadness was still there and very possibly would never leave. ‘I should get back to the palace.’