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

"He broke her that night."

The world around Altair started spinning as soon as he heard the words, and a buzzing sound filled his ears as the pain inside of him—-

It was welling up again.

Like a fucking tornado.

And all the while everything around him kept fucking spinning.

Faster and faster.

It was all the sheikh could do not to throw up.

Took everything of him just to fucking stay on his feet until the buzzing went away.

And when it finally did—-

Altair found Beatriz staring straight at him through the two-way mirror, and she was screaming-—

"You're there, aren't you? You heard everything, haven't you? Damn you. Goddamn you. How could you, damn you? She loved you. And yet you hurt her."

Altair stumbled back.

She loved you.

And yet you hurt her.

She loved you.

And yet you hurt her.

She loved you.

And yet you hurt her.

The pain inside of him exploded, and the next minutes were a complete blur as he felt himself break down just like Safiya had broken down.

By the time he regained awareness, Altair had two sheikhs on each side holding him back, and he could not understand why. Could not remember what happened until a stinging sensation made him glance down.

His fists were bleeding.

And when his head jerked up, and his wild gaze scanned his surroundings—-

Holes in the fucking wall. Soldiers looking at him like he was a madman. Chairs with broken legs and desks that looked as if they had gone through a fucking war. And finally—-

The glass wall had shattered into pieces, and on the other side of the room was Beatriz.

She was still crying.

Crying so damn hard it had her body trembling violently.

And yet—-

All the time he was looking at her, all he could see was his princess.

All he could imagine was his Safiya...

And how the princess must've cried just as hard so many times...because she had been foolish enough to think angels like him would not be able to hurt her.

ANOTHER WEEK PASSED. With the public still reeling from the shock of Tamara having seemingly returned from the grave, the palace was able to continue conducting their search for Safiya in private. Unfortunately, there was little progress to celebrate, and at present, the team's only success was having located Urwa in a Bedouin encampment.

The eunuch, after learning what happened to Safiya, agreed to come to the palace to be interviewed. But like Beatriz, the older man was only able to speak of the past.

"I wish I could be of more help to you," Urwa said heavily when all the others were gone, and it was just him and Sheikh Altair in one of the palace's drawing rooms. "But it has been years since I last spoke to the princess. We had not any contact since Saul convinced Sheikh Mahmud to banish Beatriz and me from Farigha on false charges."

"You are not to blame for anything." Altair's tone was harsh with self-recrimination. "It is my fault that she is gone, and I only wish to find her and ensure that she is safe."

Urwa quietly studied the sheikh's stoic features. When looking at Sheikh Altair, he supposed that most people would never care to look past the surface. Scarred and intimidating, the sheikh did not appear to be the type to care for his betrothed in any significant amount.

But when one looked really closely—-

That was when they would see the depth of torment in the sheikh's dark gaze, and the sight of it had him swallowing hard. Although Beatriz had scoffed at him the first time he spoke of a relationship between the princess and the sheikh, he had always secretly prayed it would be so. Because after all that Safiya had undergone, he had thought that she, more than anyone else, would deserve to marry a hero like Altair.

And yet in the end...

Urwa cleared his throat and waited until the sheikh glanced at him—-

"There was once a eunuch, an aging harlot, and a princess..."

"That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke," Altair muttered

"It is," Urwa acknowledged. "But you will need to hear it anyway."

Altair frowned when Urwa repeated the same line.

"There was once a eunuch, an aging harlot, and a princess..."

What the fuck was this about?

"And of the three...could you guess which one of them didn't know a thing about love?" Urwa saw the sheikh's jaw clench, which told him that the younger man knew exactly what he meant.

That the girl knew how to love, there was no question of. The girl loved true, and the girl's love was constant, to the point that Beatriz and Urwa often wished it was not so.

And as for the sheikh...

Urwa had asked the younger man earlier about his relationship with the princess, and the sheikh had been honest - painfully so at times - in admitting how his distrust had caused him to misunderstand many of Safiya's actions. The manner in which the sheikh spoke had also been telling. The man clearly believed he deserved to lose the princess; the only reason the sheikh was desperately searching for Safiya was to ensure her safety, and it was because of this—-

Urwa knew that the sheikh's feelings for Safiya were what he had always dreamed the princess would someday have. Imperfect as the sheikh was, and regardless of how the sheikh's relationship with Safiya had been rooted in deception and distrust - all of those things were immaterial.

What mattered was that the sheikh loved Safiya.

And his love was just as true and constant.

His love was the kind that would last.

And most importantly of all, his love for the princess, even in the times he had been blinded by fear - his love had always put Safiya first, and for a girl who had been abandoned and neglected by her father for her entire life -

That was the love that would mean the world to the princess, and the thought had Urwa's voice turning thick with emotion when he started speaking again.

"The girl knows how to love, alshaykh, but she knows nothing of love.