‘Tell me about the last ten years,’ Gracie said after a moment. ‘Not just the government stuff, although I know that is of course a big part.’ She gave a light laugh. ‘But you. What have you been doing? What are your hobbies, your interests?’
Malik blinked, entirely discomfited by such a question. ‘Hobbies?’ he repeated. ‘I don’t have any.’
‘You must.’
He thought about the twenty-hour days he’d had, negotiating peace treaties with various tribes, sleeping rough, on constant alert. ‘What are yours?’
‘Oh. Well, I like to do needlepoint. I find it soothing.’ She smiled impishly. ‘You could try it.’
He smiled back, enjoying this unexpected banter. ‘Perhaps I will.’
She laughed again, the rich gurgle he remembered from so long ago. ‘Now I really can’t picture that.’
‘What else do you like to do?’ Malik asked. He was genuinely curious.
‘Oh, the usual. Movies, books, dinners out.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I sound like I’m completing a dating profile for the Internet. I suppose I’m pretty boring.’
‘Not at all.’ He found her anything but.
‘Gardening, when I can, although my mother is possessive about her vegetable plot.’
He thought of the extensive gardens at the royal palace, modelled on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. ‘Perhaps one day you’ll have a plot of your own.’
‘Yeah, maybe.’ She didn’t sound convinced. ‘I like to spend time with Sam, really, as much as I can. Though I volunteer at the day centre for the disabled in town. And I read books to elderly people on Saturdays.’
‘You sound busy.’
‘I enjoy helping people. I’m never going to be a brain surgeon or something, but I like doing small things that make a difference.’
She sounded just as she had ten years ago. ‘And what kind of things do you and Sam do together?’
‘Anything and everything. As you might have noticed, he’s a constantly moving ball of energy.’ A smile curved her mouth as her face softened with love, making her even more desirable. ‘He loves trivia of all kinds, especially geography. And we play board games together.’ Her eyes lit up. ‘There’s your new hobby. Playing strategy games with your son.’ Gracie paused, hesitant now, and yet also determined. ‘It would be good for the two of you to spend time together, you know.’
‘That is what I intend.’ And yet he had not envisioned himself playing board games with his son. He had not pictured any sort of family scene; he didn’t even know what one would be like. He had no reference, considering his own lonely childhood. And yet sitting here, basking in the warmth of Gracie’s smile, he realised he would like to do that, very much.
Their first course came, and over a salad of couscous and cucumber Gracie asked him about Alazar. ‘It sounds like a pretty harsh place. But you mentioned a capital city?’
‘Yes, the royal palace is in Teruk, which is very beautiful. The Old City has some of the best preserved architecture in all of the Middle East.’
‘And what about the rest of the country?’
‘The interior of Alazar is mainly desert, surrounded by mountains. Inhospitable, and yet Bedouin tribes have made their home there for thousands of years.’
Gracie’s smile wavered. ‘And they’re the source of the instability you were talking about.’
‘Yes, but just before coming here I negotiated a peace. The tribes merely want to be assured that their way of life can continue.’
‘And can it?’ Gracie asked frankly. ‘What with all the changes you are trying to make?’
‘I hope it can. We cannot let all the old ways die, and there is little point in Westernising people who will live all their lives in the desert. The people of Teruk are a different matter.’
‘Are they happy to modernise?’
‘I believe so, yes.’ Malik took a sip of wine. He was enjoying discussing these things with her, he realised. It was so different than the terse or even hostile exchanges he had with his grandfather. ‘Some people, of course, welcome change more than others. There is a new school being started for young women, for example, that they are very pleased about.’
‘That’s good.’
‘Of course, there is still a long way to go in other matters of education,’ Malik continued. ‘Special needs, for a start.’
Interest sparked in her eyes, as Malik had known it would. Was he manipulating her, or simply presenting a pleasing opportunity? He didn’t know any more. Everything felt tangled, complicated. ‘Special needs?’ she repeated.
‘As it happens, we have very little provision for special needs in Teruk or elsewhere in Alazar. It is something I would like to work on. Now that the country is stable, it will hopefully be possible to do so.’ He paused while she considered this, and then added, ‘You wanted to train as a special needs teacher, did you not?’
‘Yes.’ She shook her head slowly. ‘It almost seems as if you remember every single thing I said that night.’
‘I do.’ The two words slipped out, low and so heartfelt Malik felt as if he’d exposed something he would have rather kept hidden. ‘It was a magical night,’ he said, an attempt to defuse the moment, but instead it only heightened it and he felt himself start to be pulled under yet again by the tide of memory that washed over him.
With the candlelight flickering between them, the room dim and hushed, he could remember just how that night had felt. How unique and wondrous it had been. And he wanted to feel it again, in its entirety. ‘Walking down cobbled streets...’ he said, unable to keep from saying it. ‘Throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain...’
‘Two coins,’ Gracie recalled, her voice as low as his, her eyes blazing gold. ‘For a new romance.’
‘Perhaps it should have been three.’ He held her gaze, letting her see the heat in his eyes, the heat he felt through his whole body. Letting her consider their future in a whole new light as desire uncoiled and snaked between them, drawing them closer, tangling them together.
Gracie broke their locked gazes first, passing a trembling hand over her face. ‘Don’t do this, Malik.’
‘You feel it, too, Grace. Gracie.’ He allowed himself to say her true name, the name he’d called out in his sleep more than once over the years, to his own savage frustration. ‘I know you do. Back in the bedroom...’
‘Of course I do.’ Her breath came out in a shaky rush. ‘But we can’t complicate things, for Sam’s sake.’
‘This doesn’t have to be complicated.’
She swung her gaze back to his, and now ire flashed in her lovely golden-green eyes. ‘It doesn’t? So what are you suggesting? Another one-night stand? Sorry, but I’ve been there, done that. I’m not interested.’ She pushed away from the table, her lithe body taut.
‘I wasn’t suggesting a one-night stand. Far from it.’
‘What, then?’ she demanded.
Malik was silent, considering his options. He could not play his whole hand now. Gracie would reject it instinctively. There was still too much she didn’t know or understand. ‘All I’m asking,’ he said, his voice low and steady, ‘is that you keep an open mind...to all the possibilities.’
Confusion clouded her eyes. ‘What possibilities? Why do I feel like you’re keeping something from me? Something big?’
‘The future is unknown for all of us, Grace.’