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“Your parents’ e fell apart, too?”

“Yeah” She leaned on the wall, let out a ragged breath

“Theirs lasted a whopping five years Half of the misery I was only four and I still remember their rows”

“So you have a couple of bad exae institution is set up for failure?”

Her full lips twisted, ave hiainst the wall “Don’t you? You’re—what? Mid-thirties? And you’re a sheikh froes youths to marry as early as possible and a prince who must have constant pressure to produce heirs You e than e as a necessary evil to solve a probleritted his teeth “Marriage, like every other undertaking, is what youin, your actions and reactions while undertaking it But it’s ed on the reasons you enter it”

“Oh, ht he loved ”

“Then you were responsible for that failure, since you didn’t know hih to make an informed decision And then, love is the worst reason there is to enter a h to know that what you’re proposing is even crazier, and your reasons are even worse At least I married with the best of intentions”

“Those faures But my reasons are the best possible reasons for me to marry at all They don’t focus on impossible ideals and fantasies of happily-ever-afters and are, therefore, solid Ourlike the failure you set yourself up for when youchoice”

“And you think this isn’t another one?”

Another argu, trying to change her mind? This wasn’t about her, neither was it about him This was about Mennah And Judar What they wanted didn’t feature into the equation

“This isn’t a choice There isn’t one,” he said

“There has to be!” she cried, her eyes that of a cornered cat “And—and you’re a prince You can’t marry a divorcee!”

“I can hter’syou What’s more, I will declare that we are already e vows”

“Ex-exchange vows? But—but we can’t do that!”