He’d given her plenty of time to cool off. At first—he could admit to himself—he’d thought she was overreacting, saying things in the heat of the moment. But she’d stayed away.
A knock sounded at his office door. “The meeting has been adjourned,” he snapped at the mahogany.
“I’m not here for a meeting.” It was his younger brother, Yaseen. “There’s a rumor going around that you stormed out of a council meeting. Is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything’s perfectly fine,” said Zayid. “That’s why I’ve insulted the council and come here to think about what I’ve done.”
Yaseen came in, a skeptical glint in his eyes. “What was the topic?”
“I don’t know.” Zayid folded his arms over his chest and swiveled away. “I was too distracted by...things with Laila.”
Yaseen dropped into the chair opposite Zayid and gave a slow shake of his head. “I never thought you’d last this long with her—even with my situation. A serious person like you? I never saw it coming.” He stared at Zayid across the table as if waiting for him to crack. Zayid’s brothers knew his marriage was one of convenience, but they hadn’t discussed it much. The rest of the court held to the opinion that marrying Laila after such a whirlwind courtship had been a crazy risk.
“I didn’t see it coming either. But I don’t regret it. She’s fun and passionate, and I never enjoyed life in the palace so much as I have since I met her. I even started to look forward to those official receptions.”
Yaseen arched an eyebrow. “I thought you liked official receptions.”
“I tolerate official receptions, like everyone else. Who do you take me for, Yaseen? I might be crown prince, but that doesn’t mean I’m not human.”
“You look perfectly human, brooding in your office. What are you brooding about? Whatever it is, you should do something about it.”
Zayid stared at his brother.
He had a point.
He stood up and left his office.
Zayid hooked Makin by the elbow on the way, sending the guard to get the SUV. Laila had the pottery center on her schedule today. He was acutely aware of her schedule now that she was pregnant, because he sent an extra security squad in plain clothes every time she left the palace. Not that he’d told her that. Maybe he should. Maybe he should also tell her that he’d donated…a significant sum…to the center.
But the security and the donation weren’t why he had the SUV drop him off at the fountain courtyard.
He wanted to see her.
Guards at a safe distance, he strolled by the front of the pottery center, coming level with a window he could use to see inside from the raised patio of a cafe across the street. People passed in front of the building, leaning close together and talking, the midmorning sun gentle on the old building facades. This part of Raihanabad hadn’t changed since he was a child—not the buildings, at least, though some of them had been freshened up. What had changed was the energy. This was no empty market corridor. And the person who brought it the most light was Laila herself.
Inside the studio, Laila stood with Maha, beaming as if she’d won first prize in a worldwide pottery contest. She and Maha were talking with a child—it looked like Maha was translating. The child bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, then Maha whispered something in Laila’s ear, and she tipped her head back and laughed.
The joy on her face punched him in the chest, bruising his heart. Laila was wrong. She would make a wonderful queen. All of Raihan would love her the way he—oh, god—the way he loved her. She was gorgeous. She was joyful in giving her time to Raihan’s youth. And she was doing it all while carrying his child.
He needed her in his life, and not just now—always.
The waitress at the cafe came, and he ordered a drink without thinking. His beautiful wife, across the street in the pottery studio, held him transfixed twenty feet and a million miles away.
It was going to be an uphill battle, convincing her that they would make a good pair. He would have to work to win her over. But Zayid had never shied away from a challenge in his life. He wouldn’t start now.
16
Maha bustled around Laila in her bedroom, helping her with her hair. When she’d first arrived at the palace, Laila had insisted on doing her own hair, but now she sat quietly in