One Night

Chapter Seven

Alara

From the moment the Hakeem mentioned my 'royalty', the unnamed guard's eyes have pierced through me over and over—multiple assassinations happening in his head.

It doesn't help that his punishment for helping me is having to guard me. But there's no point worrying about it, because I am trying to win the affection of a prince, not a guard.

But he won't stop following me.

The shuffle of my footsteps is the only sound is the grand hallways of the palace. His footsteps are silent. He must have been trained to go by unheard; unnoticed.

But I can feel him watching me. Every time I take a corner, I see his shadow shifting across the candle light.

I stop at the edge of a turn and press myself back against the smooth walls. The people in the portraits hung along the hallway seem to watch me, holding their breaths with me. The silence starts to make me feel like I have lost my hearing, like I am going crazy and there is nobody following me.

Until he steps around the corner. I jump out of the shadows. "Ah!"

He doesn't blink twice, his face stone cold and staring ahead. The set of his jaw is tightened. "Why did you leave the ma'duba?" he asks.

I walk to stand in front of him, but still, he looks past me and refuses to meet my gaze. "What?" I wave my hand in front of his face, wishing that he would look at me again with that charm that glittered in his eyes before he realised I am not a good person mmm mmm. "You think I'm going to steal something?"

"Yes, and thanks to you, you're my problem now. There's many other things I'd rather do than—"

"Follow me around like a lost puppy?" I roll my eyes. No, I don't blame him for thinking I am going to steal. But he can at least meet my eyes when he speaks to me. He's treating me the same way I've felt every day in the souks. Invisible.

He doesn't react to my words. That's not surprising.

"I'm not going to steal." I try to stand on my toes to get into his line of vision, but I'd need a ladder to get close to his line of sight. "I wanted to get away, okay? Prince Nawaz moved to the next girl so fast."

"What did you expect? Do you think that because you're beautiful you're going to win the heart of a prince?" His voice roughens. Then he notices his words—beautiful—and his eyes fall to mine for a second, his lips parting. But he quickly closes his mouth, knowing that retracting those words would be pointless.

"Just so you know, I'm not here to take anything from the palace or from the prince. I made a dea—" I shut my mouth. Why am I telling him about my deal with the Hakeem? It's not necessary to prove myself to a man who doesn't even want to look me in the eyes. I gently tug at the sleeves of my dress.

His lack of curiosity bothers me. There is not even the raising of an eyebrow at the information I nearly gave away. I want to wrap my hands around his large neck and choke him until he reacts. I'd bet he still wouldn't.

"Fine, if you won't even look at me then just keep following me from a distance." I turn and sprint as fast as my legs can take me. I didn't say I would be easy to follow.

My footsteps thud against the majalis carpets that line the polished stone floors. I can't hear his footsteps, but he is a trained guard and I am not going to slow down to check.

My breath rushes in and out of my lungs at a constant flow until all I can feel is my pulse pumping through every inch of my body.

Finally, six sets of doors come into view. I push through a random one and pull it shut, turning to press myself against the engravings set into the wooden doors. Until I realise that all six doors lead into the same place—a library. A huge library.