Evie moved gracefully to the door and locked it emphatically. This conversation was necessary though she didn’t relish it. “I’m sorry that he ended things with you.” She spoke calmly, hoping it would prove contagious. “I’m sorry that you are no longer his lover.”
“Oh, you have so much confidence in your abilities to hold his interests. You! He told me you were a virgin, you know. Do you think you have what it takes to keep him faithful?”
Evie’s heart bounced a little. Her confidence faltered. “I don’t believe you,” she said finally, with a shake of her head. Why would he have betrayed her like that?
“Snap out of it, Your Highness.” The title was infused with condemnation. “Don’t be such a child. How else would I know?”
She scratched around, her mind searching for an explanation – any explanation –that would absolve him of such a betrayal. “Your brother! Nilam? Your brother is one of his friends. His closest friends!”
“Yes,” Leilani agreed. “And through him I am in possession of other information about you. But your innocence? This I know from your husband.”
Evie’s face drained of all colour. Her breath was acidic tasting in her mouth. She worried at her lower lip, her eyes not sure where to settle. Heat fevered her brow. “So what?” She said finally.
“So what? So what, you silly, silly woman, is that you are bland and boring and he will tire of you within a week.”
Evie lifted her chin, her eyes sparking defiance. “We’re married. And I know him. He wouldn’t ever cheat.”
Leilani cackled. “You think you know him?”
Uncertainty frayed at the edges of her brain. She didn’t answer the cruel question. “I know you’re hurt,” she said again, schooling her voice to be gentle. “Losing him can’t have been easy. But for all of our sakes you need to accept it and move on. There is a child involved. A little boy, and both Mal and I are committed to doing what’s best for Kalem.”
“Oh, you lie so naturally!” She said with a growl. “You are in love with him. This is why you slept with him and why you married him. I almost pity you, for loving a man like him is a sure fire way to end up miserable.” She dragged in a breath to fuel her angry tirade. “And he does not love you. Do you hope he does? Do you believe he might?”
“I believe that how I feel for my husband is not your concern,” she said with hauteur. “I believe you have drunk too much and that you should go now before Malakhi discovers what you’ve been saying here.”
Leilani ’s eyes narrowed. “You are right, Your Highness.” She slurred the title, though out of drunkenness or disapproval, Evie couldn’t have said. “I have drunk too much. If I hadn’t, I do not believe I would have dared do this.”
“Do what?” Evie snapped, impatient now. She crossed her arms over her body to hide that she was shivering.
Leilani pulled some paper from her clutch purse, her eyes triumphant as she shoved it at Evie.
With a frown, Evie unfolded them. Her heart lurched painfully as she saw Sabra’s beautiful, flowing signature at the bottom of the page. Beside it, her brother’s small, neat letters signalled his input.
“What is this?” She looked up at Leilani .
The other woman was leering, and lurching a little on her feet. “See it for yourself,” she spat.
Evie turned the pages, looking for some hint of what the hell had caused her husband’s ex-mistress to exhibit such boastful delight.
IN THE EVENT OF THE DEATH OR INCAPACITATION OF SABRA JASAM ADAMS AND DAVID WILLIAM ADAMS THEIR SOLE SURVIVING DEPENDANT MALAKHI KALEM ADAMS WILL BECOME THE LEGAL WARD AND FALL UNDER THE ENDURING LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP OF EVELYN ANN ADAMS. THE CHILD IS TO BE RAISED, IN ALL MATTERS, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GUARDIAN’S WISHES.
Her eyes read it three times, and still it made no sense. She checked the date of the document and shook her head. Realisation and memory slammed into her like a freight train. Crap. How had she forgotten?
The will.
Sabra had mentioned it the morning they’d left Australia and stupid Evie had been so caught up in grieving and then romance that she hadn’t even thought of it. What a fool she was! What a mad, idiotic fool!
Her brain fired to life, connecting pathways, making sense of the ramifications of this.
It was too much.
She had to prop her bottom against the marble vanity of the powder room. It was hot and she was sweltering. Her face had drained of all colour; Evie wondered if she might actually pass out.
“Where did you get this?”
“You think it possible he didn’t know?” Leilani taunted, coming to stand over Evie. Her face, so beautiful in design, was ruined by the negativity that screeched from every pore.
“Where did you get it?” She enunciated each word with care, speaking slowly and clearly. It was for her benefit. She couldn’t let her despair show or this woman would finish her.
“Where do you think?” She snarled, her teeth bared as she leaned forward.
“No.” Evie shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I know Malakhi would never have shown this to you. He kept it from me.” She didn’t mind making the admission. After all, the other woman obviously knew at least that much from Evie’s reaction. “He didn’t want me to know this. So he wouldn’t have told you – not when you have so much motivation to show it to me.”
She fanned her flushed face with the document, her mind ticking over. Malakhi’s deception would need to be addressed at some point, but for now the mystery of exposure was uppermost in her mind. “Your brother.” She pinned her eyes to Leilani ’s and knew instantly that she was right.
“So?” Though her cavalier attitude was lacking conviction. Anxiety seemed to leach from her pores.
Evie shook her head. “It didn’t occur to you until now that you were going to expose him to Malakhi’s wrath, did it? That in hurting me like this you’ve hurt him too?”
“He did nothing wrong,” Leilani said weakly, but she rallied again quickly. “He might have mentioned the predicament Malakhi was in. That his only option was to marry you before you discovered that you already had a greater legal claim on the child than he. But I found the document for myself. I knew without proof you wouldn’t believe me.”
Evie’s laugh lacked humour. “Yes, that’s true. I’m as naïve as you believe me to be.” She tilted her head back, her eyes concentrating on the elaborate chandelier above. Her breath was loud in the room.
“So? You are married to a man who thinks you are stupid, who has a sexual appetite you could never fulfil. A man who married you just to secure his claim on the heir. Do you really believe your position so secure in his life? Do you still pity me, Your Highness?”
Evie stood, shoving the will into a fold of her gorgeous dress. “Yes.” She said simply. “You are a bitter woman, and you always will be. Whatever his reasons, Mal married me. He slept with me when he had you. Yet you suggest I’m the one who can’t satisfy him?”
Leilani ’s mouth dropped at the insult and before either woman knew what was happening, the glass of champagne was flying through the air. It hit Evie’s chest hard, splashing the liquid over her face, her breasts and all the way down the full skirt.
They stared at each other, both equally shocked by this turn of events. Leilani seemed to realise, almost immediately afterwards, that she’d gone too far.
She opened her mouth and perhaps she wanted to apologise, but she couldn’t bring herself to utter the words.
Evie held up a hand to silence whatever might have followed. “Go immediately.” Her eyes were like diamonds in her angry face. “Send Amina to me and then leave this palace immediately. Consider yourself lucky I do pity you, or you would be facing charges.”
Leilani ’s lips gaped, her mind whirled but finally she spun, wrenching the door open. She left without another word and as soon as Evie was alone she locked the door and leaned against it.
Her sobs came dramatically. They were not quiet and she knew she mu
st have looked awful.
The dress was every bit as beautiful and fiddly as that which she’d worn to the betrothal affair, but determination had her fingers unhooking the side buttons. She wanted it off her immediately. She snagged a nail on one of the hooks and swore but kept working.
At the moment of freedom, when the last eyelet was released, there was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” She called crossly.
“Amina, madam,” came the response.
She stepped out of the dress, hanging it on a hook near the door. Wearing only a slip, she carefully pulled the door inwards, shielding herself from any accidental exposure.
Amina moved in quickly. “Leilani was in a foul … oh!” She started, freezing on the spot. “What’s happened, madam?”
“Nothing,” Evie snapped and then shook her head. She put a hand on the young woman’s wrist to retract the harsh response. “I need your help.”
“Of course.”
“Obviously I can’t go out there like this.”
“No. Of course.”
“And I can’t leave yet, can I?”
Amina searched for the right words. “It would be … unconventional. Unprecedented.”
Evie nodded, admiration for the woman’s grip on English an odd thought to have in that moment. “Okay. So? What do we do?”
Amina stepped closer, studying Evie’s face. “I can fix this,” she nodded. “But I need another girl for help. Okay?”
Evie nodded. “Fine. My dress is ruined. Wet.” She didn’t want to explain further so she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m clumsy.”
“If you say so.” Amina was already at the door. “Wait here.”
Evie laughed with a hint of genuine amusement now. “Really? I was just about to go and demand everyone’s attention.”
Amina grinned, slipping out of the door and Evie locked it before turning to her reflection in the mirror. Her eye makeup, so incredibly elaborate, had begun to smudge. There was nothing for it. She grabbed a towel and dabbed some soap and water onto it then wiped first one and then the other. Clear of cosmetic enhancement altogether was better than the wet-clown look.
“Madam?” Amina whispered at the door.
Evie went to it. “Yes?”
“We’re here.”
Evie pulled the door inwards, hiding behind it again.
“Thank goodness.”
“We have to hurry,” Amina said, locking the door after another maid had entered. “His Highness has been asking for you.”
“Has he?”
God! Malalkhi. Coldness iced her bones. How could she face him?
The will! She moved to the dress and pulled it from the fabric. She folded it into as small a piece as it would go and pressed it against the fabric of the bra. She wouldn’t ask Amina to take it to her room. She trusted the young woman but then again, Malakhi had undoubtedly trusted Leilani ’s brother and look where that had got him!
“Where is this dress from?” She fingered the fabric as the other maid held it open for Evie to step into.
“Anita had several fashioned for the wedding day,” Amina said. “In case you changed your mind at the last minute.”
“How thoughtful of her,” she remarked, because something seemed to be expected in response.
The attendants worked fast, pulling the dress into place and tying it at the sides before addressing her bare face. They didn’t have time to recreate the bridal look but at least a lick of mascara and a hint of blush made her appear more like a princess and less like the pawn she’d begun to feel.
Her hair had copped only a small splash of champagne and Amina simply brushed her fingertips over it until it sat back in place.
“There.” They stood back as one to regard their efforts. “Perfect. You are a Queen once more.”
A Queen who had been betrayed by her King in the cruellest of ways.
She flashed a determined smile at her servants, then put a hand on Amina’s shoulder. “Thank you. You don’t know what trouble you’ve saved me.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Your absence has been conspicuous.” She had changed clothes. It was the first time in his life Malakhi had paid any attention to what a woman wore. But what didn’t he notice about his bride?
“Has it?” Was he imagining the icy veneer to her expression.
He reached down to speak to her softly and she flinched, pulling away without dropping her smile by even a degree.
“What is it, Jamila?”
Her cheeks flushed. Had he called Leilani that? Or did he have a different name for her?
“Speaking to a guest,” she said flatly, her eyes skimming the crowd to give her a source of distraction.
“Which guest?”
She forced her eyes to meet his, but she looked away again almost instantly. “No one you know,” she lied. Though was it actually untrue? She doubted he had ever encountered that side of Leilani’s personality.
“I know everyone here,” he corrected. “And I know you, perhaps, best of all. What are you not saying?”
“Nothing,” she said softly.
“Why have you changed dress?”
“I spilled something on the other one,” she murmured, surprised that telling him the truth didn’t even enter her mind. “I was careless.”
A smile passed his lips briefly. “It is only a dress.”
“Yes.”
And this was only a marriage.
Evie felt as though a boulder had been placed on her chest. It was squashing her. Crushing her. She focussed her attention across the crowded ballroom. “Excuse me. I see someone calling to me.”
He followed the direction of her eyes. When he spoke, it was a single word, loaded with impatience. “Who?”
She flashed him a dismissive smile before walking away, her back ramrod straight.
It was only a marriage.
But it was her marriage.
Could she really do this?
Could she really accept the truth of what they were?
And what was the truth? Her mind was so utterly muddled that she could hardly disentangle the threads of reality.
She believed herself to love him, and yet how could she love a man capable of such manipulative dishonesty? She wanted him physically, but would she still feel that way after this discovery? And what of Leilani’s claim that he’d betrayed her privacy by talking about her sexual inexperience? And would he really bore of Evie and seek out more experienced lovers? Could she live with that?
Stars danced across her eyelids.
Panic was setting in. She moved quickly through the crowd, a polite smile pinned to her face but an urgency in her step that didn’t encourage interruption. On the edges of the party she turned left and skirted along the wall a little way before taking a doorway. With no idea where it led, she slipped through it and moved quickly, moving down a corridor until the din of the party was just a noise in the distance. Then, and only then, did she stop.
Her back was pressed against the wall but still the panic deepened. She could hardly breathe and her eyes were flashing with every colour.
She swore angrily under her breath.
What the hell had she been thinking? Out of nowhere, she saw Sabra’s face, smiling with that sweet way she had and Evie groaned.
Sabra would never have condoned this union.
She would have railed against Malakhi as Evie should have done! She would have told him, in no uncertain terms, to stop being such a bastard. To stop thinking with one rather virile part of his anatomy and instead use his head. His brain. His heart.
Did he even possess such a thing?
Surely not. For no matter how she looked at the matter of their wedding, only one conclusion could be drawn. Her husband had lied to her. He had lied to her and he had tricked her into the necessity of marrying him. Why?
Because it suited him!
Because he wanted Kalem to grow up in Ishala and she could have taken him home at any time. Before they’d slept
together. Certainly before she’d agreed to marry him.
She swore angrily under her breath and paced to the other side of the corridor, her head bent in deep thought.
If he’d spoken to her? What might she have said?
She would have left. Because she’d known all along that there was danger in being close to him. Proximity was a double-edged sword. For years she had dreamt of him and she had jumped at the chance to become his lover.
She stopped walking and stared up at the ceiling. Shame coloured her cheeks. The morning after their first encounter, when she’d been resigned to return to Australia, he’d begged her to stay. He must have known that it would only have been a matter of time before she’d learned of the wills.
Oh! How foolish she’d been to forget her final conversation with Sabra. It had all been so rushed. Just a throwaway reference to the wills when they were walking out the door. Why hadn’t she thought of it? Why hadn’t she wondered?
She threw her head back and made a growling noise of self-directed anger.
“Here you are.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, her chest racked with the effort of breathing in and out.
“Go away,” she said, without looking at him.
“Your husband sent me.” Fayaz analysed her appearance with a growing sense of concern. “He said you were not yourself.”
“I’m more myself than I’ve been in weeks,” she contradicted forcefully. “I just needed a minute.” Did Fayaz know? Had he been caught up in this web of lies? Had he himself lied to her? Whether by choice, or omission? Or had he been commanded to lie to her, by his ruler?
“You are as white as a sheet,” he observed calmly. “Are you ill?”
“Not at all.” Her smile was forced. “Please, just let me have a moment.”
“What has happened?”
“Nothing! Why do you think …”
“Evelyn,” the word was a sound of complaint. “I have come to think of you as a friend. You were dear to Sabra, and you are now married to Malakhi. Though I am but a servant, I consider them also to be my family.”
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