page22 (1/2)

But there would only be this week, and then they would play their appointed roles, and he kneas the best way The only way Hadn’t he seen his parents try and fail tobut destruction

“Where are we?” she asked, her voice a rough little whisper that he felt like a caress

“It is an oasis It is much more private than the palace We’ll have it to ourselves for the week”

He didn’t try to contain the heat he felt at that idea, and he knew he needed to burn this all away He needed to wrestle it into submission He needed to be in control Of it Of her Of all the things that had happened since his sister had jumped in front of her car

Because he had nothing but this country, could want nothing but this country, could focus on nothing but this country It was the only thing he allowed himself to love, and he knew too hat happened whenelse He’d watched it play out in front of hihout his childhood He’d lived with the results With his mother’s abandonment of him, of Amira, of the world, because she loved her own misery and broken heart more than her family—and what it had done to his father

He would not let history repeat itself He would take this week—and then he would put Cleo in her proper place and keep her there, no matter what happened No matter how he felt

Not that he felt anything, he told himself sternly That was for lesser men

“I’ve never seen an oasis before,” Cleo said after a ht and wasn’t at all sure he won inside “But this is exactly what I iined one would look like”

Khaled was too consumed with her to look around, and besides, he knehat he’d see The layers of trees that ringed the soft aquas, lit up with a hundred lanterns tonight to greet the sultan and his new bride The s in the center,torches at the entrance, which here he headed now And around the but the deep quiet of the desert sands and the riot of galaxies above theht sky

As though they were all alone in the world The whole universe

That howled in hi need

Khaled pushed through the tent’s heavy flap, and only when they were inside did he place Cleo on her feet With a gentleness that spoke to a level of emotional attachment he refused to admit he felt Because he couldn’t

She swayed slightly, he reached out a hand to steady her, and then he watched her face intently as she looked around in undisguised wonder Tapestries flowed froround, carpets stretched lush and deep across the ground and the tent was furnished with a seating area, two dressing areas and the wide, inviting bed that stood in the center