Feeling her entrenched convictions being uprooted, leaving her in a free fall of new confusion, she released a tremulous breath. “You’ve got yourself one effed-up family, Jalal.”
“Tell me about it.”
She teetered on the verge of throwing herself into his arms and hugging the despondency out of him.
One more thing first. “So why didn’t you persist, after your mother was out of the picture and I was no longer in her range?”
His look of self-blame almost made her stop him from answering. “Because I was going through some … heavy stuff, with Haidar, with … other people, and I acutely felt the kind of anger and hurt that could fuel your hanging up on me after six years. I thought I’d be a reminder of your worst memories after you’d moved on. I was also not in any shape to take more emotional upheavals at that time.”
Her hands fisted on the urge to reach out. “What’s changed?”
“You did.” His golden eyes blazed with pride and fondness so powerful and pure, hers started burning. “You came back. It proved to me you’re ready to face your demons, to snatch what you deserve from their fangs. I now think having me back in your life won’t resurrect painful memories—you’re ready to remember the good ones and form new and better ones. And I have also changed. I’m removed enough from my ‘effed-up’ family that I can be your haven again. And the big gun in your camp.”
The tears she’d been holding back for eight years cascaded down her cheeks. He reached for her as she did him, took her into his long-missed affection and protection.
He kissed the top of her head. “Does this mean you believe me?”
She raised a face trembling with mirth and emotion. “What else could it mean, you big, wonderful wolf?”
“That you’re too softhearted, that you forgive me even if you still believe I befriended you to seduce you away from Haidar.”
She smirked, poked her finger into that dimple in his left cheek. “As if you could have seduced me. Or even wanted to.”
His smile was relief itself. “Aih, I would have found Haidar’s accusations hilarious, if I hadn’t been so incensed with him. You felt like my real twin from the first time we met, ya azeezati.”
A sob escaped her at hearing him call her “my dearest” again. “You don’t know how much I missed you … ya azeezi.”
“That’s it?” he mock reprimanded her. “You’re taking me back into your heart? And I’d hoped you’d grown as diamond-hard as the exterior you project. You still have a gooey center.”
She knew what he was doing. He was taking this away from acute emotions, even if the positive, wonderful variety. “Takes one mushy core to know another.” She jumped to her feet, dragged him up with both hands. “I didn’t have breakfast yet. Share it?”
His grin lit up the whole world. “Sure will. I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday, dreading this confrontation.”
“Says the man who once went swimming with sharks.”
“Azeezati, first, that was for a zillion dollars in donations for your list of causes. Second, your possible rejection—and worse, my inability to heal your pain—were far scarier propositions than being gnawed on by sharks.”
She kissed him soundly on the cheek for that.
For the next hour, they talked and laughed and shared news and opinions as if they’d never stopped. It felt like being in the past, when she’d raced through her work so she could run to her squash date whenever he was in the kingdom.
They were sipping mint tea when he said, “Apart from being my friend and sister again, I need your professional services.”
One eyebrow rose. “Uh-oh. This was too good to be true.”
“You think all this—” he gestured to their cozy companionship “—was me leading up to this request?”
It took her a moment to make up her mind. “I might be a colossal fool with syrup for blood, but no. I trust you too much.”
“You didn’t trust me at all till a couple of hours ago.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true. Even if I didn’t hear you defending me to Haidar, I would have believed that however things started, the feelings you developed for me were genuine. It was because I thought you cut me from your life that I developed a grudge against you. I missed your friendship sometimes more than I missed the illusion of my love for Haidar.”
He dragged her into his arms for a convulsive hug. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am, how angry I am for the heartache my family caused you and forced me to be party to inflicting on you.” He set her away, held her by the shoulders. “But I will never let anyone hurt you again.” She nodded, a tear slipping down her face. He wiped it away gently. “This means you’ll consider my request?”
She mock shoved him. “Without knowing specifics, I have to remind you that friends and business are never a good mix.”
“Usually not, but not never. When it’s the right people, the right friendship, results can be spectacular. And lifelong.”
“There have been recorded incidents.” She faced him, folding her legs on the couch. “Okay. What do you propose?”
He mirrored her position. “With your connections, you must have heard I was approached by four of Azmahar’s major clans to be their candidate for the throne.”
“I was asked to weigh in on candidates. You, Rashid Aal Munsoori and … Haidar are the ones who made it to the final round.”
He couldn’t have missed her hesitation over Haidar’s name, but made no comment. “I want you to be my consultant, my all-round adviser. I am ambivalent about this whole thing, and I need the guidance of someone I trust implicitly, someone neutral, who knows all the goings-on of the political and economic scene. Is there anyone else on the planet you know who fits the bill?”
“With those criteria, no.” She chewed her lip. “Though I must qualify your ‘neutral’ assertion.”
His head shake was adamant. “What you lack in neutrality, you’ll make up for in professionalism.”
“Vote of confidence appreciated and all, but …” She took a deep breath, admitted, “This will put me in contact with … him.”
“If that’s your objection, then my quest is done. Haidar and I will probably not be in each other’s vicinity in this lifetime.”
Her heart missed a beat. “It’s that bad?”
“I haven’t talked to him in two years.”
That was bad. But … “You were always ‘not talking to each other.’ Then you’d end up drawn back together like magnets.”
“I thought so, too. I left him that day eight years ago with the agreement that we were getting the hell out of each other’s lives. But we were drawn back together, over and over. During the crisis in Zohayd, it seemed we were back to being as close as we were as children. Then—” a spasm contorted his noble features “—we clashed again. The last time we met, he renounced our very blood tie.”
Her heart quivered, her lungs burned. If their bond had been truly severed this time, Jalal must be bleeding internally.
As for Haidar, his reptilian genes no doubt protected him from injury. The man who’d goaded, manipulated and almost seduced her out of her mind hadn’t been suffering from anything.
She drew in a ragged inhalation. “Okay, I’ll do it. But I’ll make sure that there is no conflict of interest with my job, and I won’t divulge anything that would provide you with any unfair advantage,