Closing his eyes, he eased his neck. He longed for the cleansing heat of the desert and the cooling waters of the oasis, but the truth of that terrible night wouldn’t go away. Pushing back from his desk, he stood up, and was glad of a muted tap on the door to distract him.
‘Come...’
His housekeeper entered and stood politely just inside the entrance. ‘The Gilded Stateroom is almost ready for your inspection, Your Majesty.’
‘Thank you. Please let me know when the final touches have been made, and I’ll inform you if I require anything else.’
‘Of course, Your Majesty.’ With a curtsey his housekeeper left the room.
He didn’t check every guest room, but this was for a particular guest, his old friend Tadj. Otherwise known as His Radiance, the Emir of Qalala, Tadj and he had been friends since school and university, and had joined Special Forces together. Khalifa and Qalala were trading partners, with valuable sapphire mines adjacent to each other in the mountains of Khublastan. The boundaries of several countries converged in this same region, which had led to their rulers becoming known collectively as the Sapphire Sheikhs. He was looking forward to Tadj’s arrival. Things were stable again in Khalifa after Saif’s tumultuous reign, and Khalid had not taken a break for some years. Having built a strong team around him, he could afford to do so now. This trip was an opportunity to build relationships between nations, and also to give him the chance to view the royal marriage mart to see if any of the available princesses would do. Tadj might advise on that—then again not, he thought dryly. Tadj was the devil incarnate where women were concerned.
Not wishing to dwell on thoughts of marriage, Khalid returned in his mind to Khalifa, that most beautiful of countries. Prosperity in the last few years had led to modern cities rising like mirages out of the ocean of sand, and though the desert might seem hostile to a casual visitor, it was teeming with life, especially around the oases where the animals he loved, the ibex and desert oryx, thrived beneath his protection. A crystalline ocean yielded more than enough food for his people, while a dramatic snow-capped mountain range held the precious seams of sapphires that gave them security, wealth, education, and medical care. To him there was nowhere to compare with Khalifa, and his spirits soared as he thought about the country he loved.
The stateroom for Tadj!
As he turned to leave his study something drew his glance to the window where, far below him on the rain-swept dock, a mini-drama was playing out. A small figure cloaked head to foot in sensible oilskins was attempting to gain entry onto the private walkway leading to the Sapphire. A sentry stood in her way. He could tell it was a woman from her height and tiny hands, with which she was gesturing vigorously as if to impress upon the guard that her mission was urgent and she must be allowed on board. She had a large, wheeled container at her side, and it was this that his security personnel, quite rightly, was intent on searching.
‘No,’ she told them with a decisive shake of her head, staring to the sky, as if to point out the obvious: that the rain would ruin her goods. A quick-thinking guard stepped forward with a sniffer dog. Once the dog had made a comprehensive inspection, she was allowed to pass.
Satisfied that she would be accompanied every inch of the way, he pulled back from the window. His guests would be arriving soon for a glamorous evening, so it came as no surprise to him to discover that deliveries were being made.
An officer greeted him as he left the study. ‘A message from the mine, Your Majesty.’
‘Oh?’ Concern struck him as it always did where work underground was concerned. This would mean a delay to his inspection of Tadj’s quarters, but the depths of the earth, like the deeps of the ocean, were unpredictable territory and inherently dangerous, and the safety of his staff was paramount.
‘Good news, Majesty.’
He relaxed. ‘Tell me...’
The officer could hardly contain his excitement. ‘The new seam of sapphires is almost ten times larger than first thought, Your Majesty.’
‘Good news, indeed!’
Returning to his study, he placed a call to congratulate his team. As he waited for the line to connect, his thoughts returned to the young woman on the dock. She’d be on board by now, with his security guard in attendance. No visitor would ever wander the Sapphire unattended again. After the tragedy under his brother’s rule, Khalid had vowed that he would never take a chance with another person’s life.
‘Ah, Jusef,’ he exclaimed as the line connected. He enjoyed an upbeat exchange with the manager of his mine, ending with the promise, ‘I’ll be home soon to celebrate with you.’
It was a good enough reason to postpone his search for a bride, and he left his study in the best of moods. A final glance through the window reminded him of the girl, and he smiled to think of her standing up to his guards, and getting her own way. That was no mean feat. His guards were ferocious.
There was just time to check the arrangements being made for Tadj, before taking a shower and preparing for the evening ahead. It would be a very different party from those his late brother had held on board the Sapphire, in that the people present would be interesting and stimulating company and there would be no wild excesses of any kind. Saif had been furious to have his pleasure curtailed, and had ordered Khalid off the Sapphire. Echoing the words of the girl’s mother, he’d accused Khalid of being a killjoy.
Better that than a killer, Khalid had always thought.
RETURNING TO THE Sapphire wasn’t as easy as Millie had imagined. Her heart had started thundering out of control the moment she’d set foot on deck. However many times she told herself that this was a rite of passage, and she must get through it, her body’s reaction was out of her control.
I’m not a teenager, finding my way and feeling awkward, but a successful woman, confident in my own skin.
She had silently chanted this mantra from the moment she’d entered the locked dock. The past couldn’t hurt her, if she didn’t allow it to. The emotional scars from that night hadn’t weakened her, they’d made her strong. Unfortunately, none of these self-administered reassurances helped to soothe her as she stepped onto the recently swabbed teak and all the memories came flooding back. Her throat dried when the guard beckoned her towards the impressive double doors leading into the interior of the vessel.
Taking a deep breath, she braced herself and walked in.
The first thing she noticed was the lack of a sickly-sweet smell. She hadn’t known what it was eight years ago, but now her best guess was cannabis. The air inside the vessel today was as clean and as fresh as the air outside. And there wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen, let alone a carelessly stubbed out cigarette, or an empty bottle left to roll aimlessly about. There was certainly no jarring music, or cruel laughter, just the low, almost indiscernible hum of a well-maintained engine of the type Millie loved—
She jerked alert as the guard coughed to attract her attention. ‘Sorry to keep you,’ she said. ‘I was just getting my bearings.’
A steward was on hand to take charge of her oilskins and the wheeled trolley. Watching her oilskins disappear around a corner definitely gave