Altair (Desert Sheikh Romance, #5) by Tee, Marian (freenovel24 .txt) 📗

that he had nothing favorable to report following his meeting with the sheikh, but when he also saw Agent 53 among the agents called in to hear what he had to say...

One look at her face told him that she meant to make trouble, and Altair found himself deliberately choosing not to reveal about now being able to decipher the code used by Safiya and her father. And instead of letting everyone know that Mahmud had insinuated about one of his kinsmen being a traitor, he downplayed this by saying that Safiya's father had merely claimed that their inner circle was compromised.

But even in these things, 53 was able to find fault.

"Sheikh Mahmud was clearly fishing for something, alshaykh, and whether you wish to admit it or not, it is just as clear that Princess Safiya must have been colluding with her father all this time."

"And your proof for your allegations?" Altair challenged coldly.

"Blood," she spat. "The apple never falls far from the tree—-"

"Kafia!" Enough!

It took everything for 53 not to flinch at the icy rage she now glimpsed in Altair's dark eyes. "If you are expecting me to apologize," she managed to say defiantly, "then you will wait forever, I'm afraid. I said what I said out of concern. Her father is a traitor, and she—-"

"I will not warn you again," the sheikh cut her off in a dangerously soft voice. "Accuse my betrothed without proof one more time, and you will be punished."

53 could not remember Altair ever speaking to her in this manner before, and it left her torn between bitter resentment and agonizing hurt. A part of her was insanely tempted to just throw everything on the line. To scream that he was being a fool, just to see if he could truly punish her.

But common sense won in the end, and 53 was forced to swallow her pride. "Maehdina, alshaykh." I'm sorry, sheikh.

It was at that point that the king finally intruded to call an end to the disastrous meeting, and 53 couldn't help but notice how the other Al-Atassi sheikhs were now viewing her with disapproval. They, too, had known her for years, dammit. So why were they acting like she was the enemy when it was Safiya who was the daughter of a traitor?

The unfairness of it all left a bitter taste in her mouth, and before she could think of what she was doing, she was running out of the room...and running after the sheikh—-

Altair forced himself to stop and turn around when he heard the footsteps behind him, and he was unsurprised to find 53 coming up to him in moments.

"Do you really trust her, Altair? Can you truly trust her, after what you've gone through—-"

"Enough." The sheikh saw her pale, but the sight only made him feel weary. "It is not like you to act like this—-"

A shaken laugh escaped her. "I'm your ex-girlfriend—-"

"Exactly," Altair said tightly. "You and I were together in the past, and it is the princess now who is both my present and future."

Chapter Sixteen

Dear Mama,

I feel as if someone has been watching me. Someone...who doesn't want to see me happy. I know I should speak of this to the sheikh, but already I feel him drifting away from me, and I don't want to make things worse. He loves me still, but...something's changed again. I can feel him struggling, and I can only pray that he will open up to me about it.

THE PRINCESS DID NOT ask what transpired between Altair and her father. In her innocence, she had thought that by not speaking a word about it, she was proving that she had nothing to hide. And while that might have been the case, she had forgotten that she was hiding something else from the sheikh.

The sheikh had sensed the princess' fears from the moment she felt herself being watched. But because she had not confided to him about it, and her fears had manifested at about the same time Sheikh Mahmud had requested to speak with him, what the sheikh saw in her actions was not innocent...but guilt.

He could not help but liken her actions to an ostrich burying its head in the sand, but instead of having danger to fear, the princess appeared to him like someone who was unable to face the consequences of her past. Her feelings for him had not changed; he could see that easily enough. But just because she loved him now did not mean she had not done something wrong in the past. And just because she loved him still did not mean it would keep her from betraying him in the future.

He wanted to trust her. He was desperate to trust her. But he could not.

When he told Agent 53 there was no future for them, he had been speaking the truth. But what the other woman did not know was that while she had not succeeded in winning Altair back, her words had fared much better, for even until today those words poisoned the sheikh's mind—-

And it was because of her words that the sheikh began to distance himself from the princess.

More days passed, and by now both Altair and Safiya knew that something was wrong. But because Safiya still believed to ask would indicate guilt, and the sheikh saw that the princess still acted as if she was hiding something, the distance between them only continued to grow.

YARA DIDN'T NEED ANYONE to tell her to know that the sheikh and his betrothed's relationship was on the rocks. She had been one of the agents called in to the emergency meeting following Altair's visit to the Sheikh of Farigha, and she had been privately disgusted by Agent 53's attempt to discredit the princess and pass it off as well-meaning concern for the sheikh. Like many of her colleagues, she had known of the other woman's previous relationship with Altair, and because of this, they had also known