Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
A pity, but she didn’t really care. As long as he continued to compensate her the way he did for their every meeting, he could even have her dress up as his mother and she would do it with a smile.
It was only minutes before dinner when Malik returned to his family’s private wing. Altair was nowhere to be seen, but his mother and Kyria were both in the living room.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of him. “Marhava.” She started to get up, but he forestalled her hug with an immediate shake of his head.
“I’m all dirty and sweaty,” he told her by way of excuse. The truth was, the mere thought of having her close while his skin still bore another woman’s touch was sickening. It didn’t matter that she probably wouldn’t even care that he had been fooling around with another woman. All he knew was that it didn’t feel right.
“You’ve been spending more and more hours riding,” she commented curiously.
“Yes, he has.” Vanna’s gaze bored through him. “Hasn’t he?”
His lips tightened, knowing the reason for his mother’s frosty tone of disapproval. As Vanna was strictly of the old guard, she fully believed in employing a retinue of spies in the palace, and he had no doubt she had received more than one report about him riding more than horses in the stables.
“A word with you in private, please.”
Kyria blinked at Vanna’s tone. “Is everything alright?”
“Don’t mind her.” Malik’s tone was light even as he gave his mother a look of warning. “She’s just upset I haven’t spending enough time with the family.”
“Oh.” She gave him a sheepish smile. “I kinda feel the same way, too.” Her tone turned wistful. “You really are away so much, Malik. It’s like you’re living here but you’re not really here, you know?”
Vanna patted the girl’s hand, saying reassuringly, “I’m sure he’ll go back to normal eventually. This obsession with riding is just a phase.” She glanced back at her younger son, saying with a smile, “Isn’t it, Malik?”
He smiled back. “Quite.”
But as soon as the two of them were in the privacy of Vanna’s study, the masks both mother and son wore disappeared in a flash, and she said sharply, “People are beginning to talk.”
“Let them.” Malik truly didn’t give a damn.
“Tarif is more than one too many playboy the palace can handle,” she snapped. “If you continue down this road, you might as well turn our kingdom’s palace into a brothel. What kind of message do you think that will deliver to the rest of the world? Do you expect other nations to take us seriously with the way you and Tarif are acting?”
Her words hit home, and he gave her a curt nod. “You’ve made your point.”
“Good.”
“If that’s all—-”
Vanna released a painful sigh at her son’s cold tone. “Oh, Malik. Surely you know I’m not your enemy here.” He didn’t answer, but he had also stopped moving, and she told herself to take heart from this. “I know it’s been hard for you—-”
“Understatement of the century, wouldn’t you think?” His eyes gleamed, and for one moment it felt like she had her younger son back, the one who was all too wickedly charming and gave Hadwin and her nightly headaches because of his excessive partying. The boy he once was might have been a little too self-centered and immature, but that boy had at least been happy.
This man before her was not.
He had not been happy for such a long time now, and sometimes she found herself wondering if she was to blame for all of this. That if she could turn back time, she wondered if it would have been better if she had simply turned her back on—-
Don’t say it, my love. Hadwin’s imaginary voice was amused and chiding at the same time. Don’t even think it. I know your heart’s in the right place, but those words you are thinking aren’t what you truly feel.
Her head lowered.
Oh, Hadwin. How you always save me.
Malik frowned, sensing a sudden change in his Vanna. “Mother?”
Hearing the note of grim concern in her son’s voice, she quickly looked up, saying simply, “I was talking to your father.”
“I see.” He paused. “You’re having hallucinations. You know that, don’t you?” He frowned at her. “Have you started starving yourself again with one of those fad diets?”
She let out an offended gasp. “I have never—-”
“Mother, you know we love you as we are, don’t you? So, yes, you may be a little overweight—-”
“You hateful boy!” She grabbed the first thing she could reach – a book from her desk – and threw it at him, but her son only caught it with a laugh.
Malik turned the book over and choked. “I knew it!” He showed her the book, and Vanna’s face turned red as she realized exactly which book she had thrown at him.