Page 17 of The Prince's Wife

Anyway, he shouldn't complain. He'd once thought he'd never even manage to have concubines, and now he had a complete harem that loved him dearly.

"Don't give up," Heydar said, echoing Merza. "Perhaps she and Bakhti will get along horribly. That's the entire point of this trial period. Maybe if offered the chance, she would choose you. How can you know if you don't try?"

"And when I fail, the awkwardness of the whole thing will hang like a cloud over the family for years. No, thank you. Enough of this. Talking about it is just making everything worse right now. What I need is some pleasant distractions, if you three are willing."

Javed chuckled, pushing to his knees and kissing along Aradishir's chest before being dragged up by the hair to share a kiss with Merza.

As distractions went, that was a lovely start.

Chapter Eight

He woke later in the earliest hours of the morning, the world still dark, but with a hazy gray light around the edges, a promise of the pending sunrise. Yawning, Aradishir disentangled himself from the pile of warm bodies and clinging limbs. After refreshing himself and pulling on lounging clothes, he ventured out to his garden—and immediately spied an intruder. "I don't think you're supposed to be here, little man."

"Mama calls me Keri."

"I thought she called you 'little bird'," Aradishir replied with a smile.

"She calls me both," Kerrin mumbled, letting go of the poor frog he'd lifted from the pond. "Are you going to take me back?"

Laughing softly, Aradishir lifted him out of the pond and took him inside to get him dried off and improvise some dry clothes for him, careful to stay quiet all the while. When they were ready, he led Kerrin to the hallway. "Would you escort us, please?" he asked the guards posted at his door. Two of the six immediately stepped out of formation to do so, clearly curious about Kerrin, but far too well trained to ask.

Scooping Kerrin up, smiling as the boy laughed in delight and clung happily, with absolute trust, to his neck, Aradishir wove through the palace until he reached one of the entrances to his parents' gardens, and the far larger and grander fish pond therein. "How's that for water?"

Kerrin shrieked in delight and squirmed free of Aradishir's hold, rushing to the pond and practically throwinghimself into it. Aradishir waded in with him to ensure he didn't drown, and soon found himself catching fish to show him more closely, getting into a splashing war, and finally hauling Kerrin onto his shoulders, reminding him of all the times his parents had done the very same with him and his siblings. It was even more fun being the adult in the situation, bringing joy to a child so simply and easily, enshrining memories he'd hopefully look back on fondly.

Familiar laughter that he was already far too fond of drew them up short, and Aradishir flushed as he spun around to find Relanya watching them, accompanied by Jahanara holding her new daughter, and their handmaidens and concubines. Of course he had an audience. Relanya stepped forward slightly, still laughing as she managed, "So who kidnapped who?"

"Little bit of both, I'd say," Aradishir said sheepishly, wading out of the water and helping Kerrin down, smiling as he immediately ran to Relanya and immediately starting regaling her with all their adventures. If she was upset that her beautiful lavender dress was now soaked with pond water, she made no show of it, only listened attentively and made all the right noises throughout the torrent of words.

Aradishir watched them for the barest moment then accepted the towel that a guard handed him and dried off as best he could before joining his sister. "May I hold my niece?"

"Well, you're already charming your nephew, so why not?" Jahanara said with a wink. "Don't be offended if she immediately starts fussing though; she's done that with everyone but me and Dani."

"Nephew? Oh," Aradishir said, rolling his eyes, ducking his head to hide the hurt at being called Kerrin's uncle when he'd so much rather be—

Well, it didn't matter. He never would be. So he focused all his attention on his niece, who would be named after threemonths, the day that would also be considered her birthday, rather than the actual day of her birth. These days children were far less likely to die just days or weeks after birth, but the tradition of waiting three months continued.

She squirmed lightly in her sleep, a bubble of spit popping against her lips, before she went still again, happy in whatever dreams babies had. "She's lovely, Nara. You should be proud."

"Be certain I am," Jahanara said. "Look at that, still fast asleep. I guess you have a gift for children, Shir."

Aradishir gave her a look. "You sound surprised."

"Not really. You're the right combination of kind and stern, the same reason you're handling the trafficking problem so well. You have an empathy inherently that some of us have to learn, or have beaten into us, Bakhti."

He laughed briefly at that. There was nothing remarkable about him, but Bakhtiar deserved every insult levied at him. The jerk had better appreciate his new family, or Aradishir would drag him into the pond for a hostile talking to.

"Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Jahanara asked. "We were going to dine in Mama's butterfly garden and then go into town to do some shopping."

"I'd love to, so long as I have time to clean up first," Aradishir said with a laugh before kissing his darling niece and handing her back.

"As much as the court would delight in seeing you stroll the halls soaking wet," Jahanara replied dryly, "yes, of course you have time to change. Breakfast is in about half an hour now. We only left early because Kerrin had vanished, and you weren't in your room."

"What made you think to check here?"

"Relanya mentioned how enamored Kerrin is of water, especially your little pond. It wasn't hard to guess where he wentif he woke up and wandered off, and where you might have taken him from there. Though itwaseven more adorable than anticipated. The ladies of the court will be clamoring to be your wife after hearing how precious an uncle you are." She snickered as he rolled his eyes again. "Though speaking of wandering off, your harem isn't terribly amused with you."

Aradishir groaned. "I took guards with me! I didn't want to wake them." Heaving a sigh, he lifted a hand in farewell and headed back to his room, though even the looming dressing down from his harem could not dampen his smile over a morning perfectly spent.

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