The Sheikh’s Tempted Prisoner by Holly Rayner Page 0,21
meaning and so much depth. I don’t even have to search for a meaningful sentence—look, here’s one: ‘The sacred tomes were loaded with magic spells, though his ability to twist ink into magic had hardly made itself known up to that point.’ How can you say this book is poorly executed? It’s a classic!”
Atnan laughed, and the two proceeded to pick books from the shelf and discuss them, sometimes agreeing, sometimes not. When Atnan told Lily her favorite book was garbage, she nearly threw it at him.
“I’m kidding! I’m kidding! It’s a masterpiece, okay? Just don’t hurt me,” he laughed.
Lily grinned, even with her eyes still narrowed.
“You better take that back. This book got me through high school and college combined. I had to buy four versions of it because each one got destroyed after I read it—and cried on it—so many times.”
“I had no idea you were such a voracious reader, Miss Hawthorne.”
“One must be to survive the degree I did. We were assigned a book every week in one of my classes, plus a ten-page evaluation of it. Just a touch intensive.”
Atnan shrugged.
“That doesn’t sound so bad. At least you got to read fiction. Before spending time in here, I never realized just how much I needed to explore the world of make believe.”
“I’m a little surprised that your father kept these from you after your mother passed,” Lily breathed, before she could really think about what she was saying.
Atnan inhaled, gazing around him as though reaching inside the back of his mind for memories. When he exhaled, his expression was somber.
“I think he just wanted the pain to stop. The only way he could make that happen was to erase everything about her. He couldn’t erase me since he needed an heir, but sometimes I think he wished he could. Once he remarried, he worked hard to pretend that life before my stepmother had never happened. I’m afraid our relationship since then has been strictly business—how I will run the country, how I will ensure that I am a good leader, and the rest of it. It doesn’t go far beyond that anymore.”
Atnan sat on one of the plush sofas in the center of the room, and Lily plopped onto one across from him.
“I know how you feel, at least a little bit. My parents never wanted children. They told me that when I came, I would cry and keep them up at all hours of the night when they had classes to teach in the morning. They were both professors, very ambitious people, and a child did nothing but hinder them.”
“Did you get into education because of them?” Atnan asked.
Lily shrugged.
“I don’t honestly know. I’ve lived a pretty lonely life, to be honest. I always wished for a brother or sister, anyone to play with to pass the time, but books tended to be my only friends. Majoring in English seemed like a natural choice.”
“That does sound lonely. But then again, siblings aren’t always all they’re cracked up to be, either.”
“You have brothers and sisters?”
Atnan nodded, his expression darkening.
“A half brother, from my father’s second marriage. When he was little, we got on well enough, but as time passed, he became jealous, commenting on things I had that he didn’t, always picking fights to try to get me in trouble. I always did my best to love him, but after what he did brought me here…”
He trailed off, clearly realizing he had let something slip. Lily didn’t hesitate.
“Your brother is the reason you’re hiding out here?”
Atnan frowned deeper than he ever had before. If a storm cloud could have appeared above his head, Lily imagined it would have been a hurricane.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing to discuss.”
Lily yearned to press for more details. What could his brother have done to send him into what was obviously exile? Had he found a way to steal the future throne? Had he provoked Atnan beyond reason and caused him to do something unforgivable?
Her mind raced with the possibilities, her curiosity rising to new heights. There, in the safety of his mother’s secret library, she felt safe asking him such things. Taking another look at his face, she realized pretty quickly that that assumption was wrong.
Not wanting to ruin a perfect morning, Lily decided to let it drop. There would be time to figure out why Atnan was trapped in this crumbling palace. Until then, she wanted to earn his trust a little more.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
Atnan looked up,