Altair - Marian Tee Page 0,15

to meet him. I wish you were alive so we could meet you. I miss you, Mama. I know it's silly to miss someone I never knew, but I really do. I miss you, and I love you.

A DRAWING ROOM RESERVED for the university's most important guests was quickly made available at the sheikh's request, and it was only when the door had closed and they were alone that the sheikh finally turned to face her.

Like him, she was still on her feet, and she was even more beautiful than he remembered. Long, black hair. Big, dark eyes. And a body that now looked even hotter in her Western-styled school uniform, with its too-short skirt and black thigh-high socks.

Fuck.

His princess was too fucking hot, and it was no fucking wonder all those dogs had been sniffing around her.

"How long has that been going on?" Altair bit out.

Safiya was stunned at the violence in the sheikh's tone. "Are you furious with me, alshaykh?"

"No, hamira. I'm not furious."

"But—-"

"What I am is jealous." It pissed Altair off to say the words, but what fucked him up even more was that it was the truth. He had never been jealous before, but he was now, and seeing the princess' bemused expression had him torn between wanting to bang his head against the wall...and shaking some much-needed awareness into his betrothed.

"You almost touched another boy's hand," he said between clenched teeth.

"But I did not," Safiya countered reasonably.

"Yet you almost did."

"But I did not."

Altair threw the princess a savage look. "What I want to hear is for you to promise that you will never let such a thing happen again—-"

Before he had even finished speaking, the princess was already doing as he asked—-

"I will never let such a thing happen again."

And the way she had uttered each word with such seriousness—-

Aira. Fuck.

He just couldn't fucking figure her out, dammit.

She was a princess whose beauty literally turned heads wherever she went, and yet every time she looked at him—-

Every time she talked to him—-

This was wrong, Altair thought broodingly. If there was even the slightest chance that the princess was innocent, then he had to put an end to his deception. Safiya was young and beautiful beyond words while he was old, flawed, and cynical. It was only understandable that he found himself attracted to her, but for the princess to feel the same way about him?

Safiya felt herself growing cold at the way the sheikh was suddenly looking at her.

I don't understand, Mama.

Why was the sheikh looking at her as if he wished to end their betrothal? Was this her punishment for becoming greedy?

I'm sorry, God.

She would never be greedy again.

So please, Mama.

She heard the sheikh inhale sharply, and Safiya felt herself grow colder.

"I'm sorry, hamira."

No, please, God, no. I promise I won't be greedy again, just please—-

"It was wrong of me to feel jealous—-"

Safiya desperately shook her head. "La, alshaykh. It was my mistake—-"

"Your only mistake," Altair said quietly, "is to believe yourself attracted to me."

Safiya, already prepared to list all the reasons there was for the sheikh to give her another chance, found herself stunned speechless instead.

"I do not deserve a girl like you, hamira."

Safiya stared at him in confusion. "Why would you say a thing like that?"

"Because it's true."

"But it's not."

Altair nearly fell for the same trap of he-said-and-she-said but managed to hold himself back in time.

"I am the one who doesn't deserve you—-"

"Many would beg to differ."

"Other people's opinions matter not to me," Safiya said simply. "It is only you who matters."

Altair's lips tightened at how easy it seemed for the princess to say such words. So fucking easy that, even though he was more than halfway convinced of her innocence—-

One couldn't help but wonder and doubt—-

"Do you truly mean that, hamira?"

Safiya was not at all hurt by the sheikh's question. She would rather he ask her straight like this, always, and so she simply shook her head and said, "I would never lie to you, alshaykh."

"Why?"

"Because you're my hero."

Altair's body turned rigid.

Hero.

He had been using her from day one, and she thought him her fucking hero, and God...

"What the hell am I going to do with you?"

He hadn't really been expecting an answer, but then he saw her bite her lip, and he knew he would get one anyway.

"Perhaps..." Safiya found herself hiding her hands behind her back so the sheikh wouldn't see her wringing them. "Perhaps you could start by calling me by my name?"

Altair's jaw clenched. She had noticed