“So, you’re not upset about this situation?” Liyah found that hard to believe.
“What will be, will be.”
“But surely you don’t want me to be the mother of your grandchild.” Though the older woman had already made it clear she didn’t expect Liyah to be pregnant.
The queen reached out and patted Liyah’s arm. “As to that, I cannot say. I may instinctively like you, but we have barely just met. One thing I’m certain of, your presence here will shake things up.”
“And you think that’s a good thing?”
“Oh, yes. Both my husband and son are still living in the shadow of Umar’s death, though it occurred more than twenty years ago. I will miss my son every day until we are reunited in the afterlife, but it is time my family moved into the future.”
Liyah understood that sentiment, though it had only been a few months since her mom’s death. If Sayed hadn’t come crashing into her life, Liyah was pretty certain her own life would have slid into marking time as she grieved a circumstance that could never be changed.
“Don’t you think Tahira’s elopement was enough of a shake-up?” Liyah had the temerity to ask.
“Certainly that was the catalyst for change. I find it very interesting that my son’s response was to engage in shockingly unprecedented and personally perilous behavior with you.”
Liyah had no answer to that.
Queen Durrah’s beautiful face settled into thoughtfulness. “Honestly, I expected Tahira’s betrayal to entrench him even more firmly behind the walls he erected so many years ago. I am very happy to be wrong.”
* * *
Liyah paced her suite, having just returned from late-morning tea with Queen Durrah.
Who, despite her royal status and very definitive views on propriety, had turned out to be both likable and kind. And very much interested in her son’s happiness.
Liyah had been astonished by the warm reception she’d received from both the king and queen. She threatened their well-ordered existence and Liyah’s presence could do nothing but add to issues caused by Tahira’s defection.
Yet both the monarchs had treated Liyah with nothing but respect. The king was a little more standoffish, but she didn’t find that surprising. The fact he treated Liyah like a welcome guest to the royal palace did.
Queen Durrah had gone one step farther and taken pains to spend time each day with Liyah, however. Sayed’s mother seemed intent on developing a friendship with the hotel employee her son had temporarily plucked out of obscurity.
The melecha had managed to ferret out the details of Liyah’s estrangement from her Amari relatives in the mere two days since her arrival in Zeena Sahra. A very restful person with a smile very similar to her son’s, Queen Durrah had found her way into Liyah’s affections almost as quickly as Sayed had.
His mother had unequivocally denounced the actions of Liyah’s relatives, remarking that someone needed to speak to them and bring them to awareness of the error of their ways.
The rather fervid gleam in Queen Durrah’s amber gaze had given Liyah pause, but thankfully no rapprochement with the Amaris had been attempted.
Not that a queen would bother herself with the personal affairs of someone like Liyah, but for a moment there...well, Liyah had worried.