Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,26
her!” the princess blurted out, a fresh wave of tears adding more sparkles to those amazing eyes.
“Knew her?” she echoed, not really understanding.
“My sister,” Talia explained, staring down at her fingers, twisting the lovely piece of linen with the embroidered flowers. “Orella was so much older than me. I never got to know her. And I’m so angry with her for not bothering to get to know me, for not taking the time to be my sister.” She sniffed, blinking and Harper could have sworn that those incredibly long lashes caused a hurricane to form somewhere. “And even worse, I used to want to be like her. I thought that Orella was amazing! She was so adventurous, so eager to face danger head on.”
Harper thought that Princess Orella sounded like a self-centered pain in the neck. But she smiled gently. “I’m sure that your sister was a good person inside.”
Talia laughed, shaking her head. “She wasn’t.” There was a long sniff. “She was so self-centered and…” she sobbed, wiping a fresh tear. “She was mean. So mean to me. She hated coming home and having to be around the rest of us.” She sighed and looked up, her normally-straight spine slouching with the weight of her words. “My parents would get news of one of her stupid screw-ups, or Orella would get arrested in some foreign country. Diplomats would have to get involved, her security team was admonished, even though they all swore that they’d tried to stop her from doing whatever crazy stunt she’d thought up. Orella basically created chaos wherever she went.” Talia sighed as if she’d just released a huge weight off of her shoulders. “I hated her so much and, at the same time, I wanted to be just like her.” Talia turned to face Harper, stunned to hear those words spoken out loud. “I’m sorry,” she gasped, shaking her head again. “I can’t believe I said that!”
Harper’s heart melted. Placing a hand over the young woman’s, she said, “I know you’re not going to believe this, but I understand.”
Talia laughed, sort of. “Well, then could you explain it to me? I know that you’re a professional and this is your job and all. But it still feels wrong to say such things to a stranger.” She bit her lip. “I just…Amit would be furious if he knew I felt this way. And I know that it’s wrong to hate one’s sister. Maybe I don’t actually hate her. Maybe I’m just angry that she’s not here anymore.”
Harper nodded. “Yeah, I suspect that your oldest brother wouldn’t like any sort of crack in the family picture that might fracture how the world sees the family.”
Talia smiled, but the expression quickly turned serious. “You’re probably right, but please, don’t think badly of him.” She smiled and the change lit up her whole face. “I know there’s something going on between you two. I think it’s wonderful.”
Harper pulled back, horrified. “No! There’s nothing going on between us,” she asserted firmly. Perhaps too firmly, she thought, as Talia’s lips curled upwards slightly. It was a surprising expression, so similar to her brother’s that it was oddly disconcerting. “I mean, yes, he’s a handsome man, but…” she stopped when Talia’s mouth curled up into a full out grin. “Right. We were talking about you,” she replied and shifted slightly. “I want to tell you a theory that I have about older siblings that might help.”
“Okay. What’s your theory?”
“Older siblings are a bit like super-heroes in the minds of younger siblings. They can do no wrong. For instance, if my older sister told me that the sky was purple, I would walk around telling everyone else that the sky was purple. It didn’t matter that I knew that the sky was blue. My sister told me that the sky was purple, so it was purple.”
Talia nodded, but obviously she didn’t understand, so Harper continued. “Older siblings don’t realize how much power they have over us younger kids. Many younger siblings try to annoy their older siblings, by pestering or invading their bedrooms or personal space. When that happens, the older sibling yells and fumes at the younger sibling’s invasion. It might be out of anger or irritation, but to the younger sibling, it doesn’t matter. They’d still gained the attention of their older sibling and that’s all that they needed. It’s a weird dynamic, but younger siblings idolize the older ones.”
“That’s definitely true about my relationship with Orella. Every time she’d come