page5 (1/1)
“Ah,” Khaled said, more to himself than Nasser, “but that only means she is one of their ‘every wo more than to tell thereat and powerful through their own inner strength, or some such nonsense It is part of their cultural DNA”
Inside the room, his own little brown mouse sat on one of the settees, bent over at the waist, elbows on her knees and her forehead cradled in her hands He thought she was si Not this one, with her talk of villains and axes and her foolish courage He’d seen the hint of fear in her eyes when he’d ordered her back to the palace He’d scared her, he knew, and if he regretted that—if he regretted the necessity of squelching that spark of defiant fire that had transfor out in that alley, if he regretted the s so cavalierly—he ignored it
There was no place for regret There never was There was only Jhurat
“She has been traveling, as she said,” Nasser continued after anot to comment on either fairy stories or ht hand and best friend since they’d been boys “She flew to Scotland sixwhat appears to be a largely whiap-year journeys, it seeh she finished her university studies so herself’?”
Khaled snorted at his aide’s dry tone “And instead she found me Poor little mouse”
“There is no need for you to deal with this situation any further if you don’t wish it,” the other irl Especially one who cannot possibly cause a single ripple, no matter what becomes of her”
“And can you handle our enemies, too? Who even noork to have me removed from the palace because of my tainted blood?” What they whispered was that Khaled’s line eak, that the son would inherit his father’s de? He shoved that aside “I am certain they have already leaked the fact that I have a young female American in custody to the papers It is inevitable”
“The papers can be dealt with”
“Our papers, perhaps” But that was how his father had done things, and look what it had wrought: this h he often doubted he could He doubted anyone could, but it was his duty—his fate—to try anyway, no matter what happened “But what happens when they take it to the international stage? Which they are certain to do” Because it hat he would do, and Khaled had the peculiar pleasure of knowing his enemies well “Hoe look to the world when I am painted as soirls from the streets?”
He already knehat it would do to the contracts they needed to lock down to bring co of the much-needed influx of international wealth, which, with the increase in tourisht tip the scales in Khaled’s favor In Jhurat’s favor, at long last
He couldn’t afford any backsliding Not now
“The people do not want to revert to the Stone Age,” Nasser said darkly “They want theirwith their paychecks from all the new jobs No matter what that fool may tell himself”
“That fool” was Talaat, the leader of the resistance movement that opposed Khaled’s claim to the sultanate with the assertion that Khaled’s blood was tainted with the same infirmity of mind that had taken his father down Can we risk the country? Talaat liked to ask on the news and all over the papers, so reasonably
Talaat was also Khaled’s cousin on his ether as small boys It made a kind of poetic sense that his own cousin should have becoht, since he couldn’t re butAmira’s stunt today
“Talaat does not care what the people want,” Khaled said shortly “He cares about power”
Nasser didn’t respond, because this was an unfortunate truth that ht not ain footholds in the proper places, and Khaled’s mouth twisted in a wry sort of smile It wouldn’t do to become the next internet sensation at a time like this It would take very little to tip public sentiainst hins and their internet apps that could a htest provocation