Page 85 of Modern Romance November 2024 5-8

It was as the helicopter swept them across the desert that she accepted that.

The sun was a ball of orange fire as it lowered, and she looked over to Sahir, the first person she had ever truly given her heart to.

He sat opposite, staring out of the window, and she looked at his rough unshaven jaw and the mouth that could sink her to her knees. And then he turned and gave her a small smile—and, yes, she loved him.

Violet couldn’t help but go misty-eyed at the sight of the palace from the sky. Last time she’d been too anxious to really take it all in, but now she truly didn’t want to miss a thing.

Carved into the rocks—or from the rocks—it was incredible. Within the palace walls there was a beautiful central star, and from each point emerged a separate wing. From high up they looked like beams of light.

It was a fractured star, though, for as they hovered to descend she could see the rubble and the ruins Sahir was fighting to have rebuilt.

A plane was on the runway when they landed—not the royal plane that had brought her here, but the small dark one she had seen on the runway in London.

Sahir’s private jet was all prepared and waiting...

Gosh, they really did want her gone.

She briefly met Aadil’s gaze and then flicked her eyes away, feeling guilty at her own audacity in her refusal to leave.

She walked with Sahir, her stomach knotted as they passed through a beautiful arch and the mechanical world of jets and helicopters was left behind...

It was paradise—or it felt like it.

The sun was still low in the sky, and after the heat of the desert there was the cool shade of trees. Little birds perched on fountains, and huge butterflies hovered over flowers.

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said.

‘There are several gardens,’ Sahir told her as they walked. ‘This is the welcoming garden.’

‘Really?’ she asked with a slight edge, even as Aadil’s eyes shot daggers into her back.

‘Youarewelcome,’ Sahir said. ‘You are my guest and do not forget that.’

‘Sahir. I’m sorry if this is—’

‘Such a clear night,’ he interrupted, glancing up at the sky.

She guessed they weren’t allowed to discuss private matters.

‘The view is magnificent from the Inanna wing,’ he went on. ‘That means Venus.’

‘What’s your wing called?’

Pria let out a small cough beside them and she realised her innocent question was not allowed either.

‘I was just...’ God, she always said the wrong thing. ‘I can never remember the planets,’ she said as they walked.

She stopped her nervous chatter; nobody was really listening anyway.

Two guards opened some doors and bowed to Sahir.

They entered, stepping onto a stone floor. Embedded within it was a golden star, where a bearded man paced. She thought it must be the teller.

Her eyes were drawn upwards to the huge arches and stairs, and to a central tower that stretched so high she had to put her head fully back to see the top.

‘The observatory is above us,’ Sahir said, still being formal. ‘Beyond the ceiling are the tower windows.’

‘It’s incredible...’

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