"Marry you," he finishes at the same time.
Chapter Eight
HA. HA. HA.
Zahir stares at me oddly. "What are you doing?"
I stop with the fake laugh. "N-Nothing?"
He crosses his arms over his chest. "Did I hear you right earlier?"
"No?"
"Did you truly think—-"
"I honestly think—-"
"—-I would want to kill you?"
His gaze bores through me as he asks this, and I end up panicking in a mixture of guilt and shame.
"I'm sorry, okay? It was the only thing that made sense!"
"Spending the night together is a plausible reason for murder?"
"B-Because...you might not want others to know."
My voice is barely audible by the time I finish.
Several moments pass, but the silence remains unbroken. I finally lift my gaze...and the first thing I see is the brooding expression on his handsome face.
"I will never be ashamed of you."
No one has ever said such words to me.
No one.
And so...why?
Why is it Zahir of all people saying those words to me?
"Do you get it now,habibti? Do you finally understand the truth?"
The truth...
With everything that's happened, I actually forgot aboutwhywe had ended up hiding in Jamieson's room in the first place.
I told him earlier that I wanted to see the truth for myself.
"The boy from your past no longer exists."
But I no longer know if that's still the case—-
"And I am now both your present and future."
Because I realize now how terrifying the truth can be.
"We are already married in the eyes of Kivran laws, Alysse."