Page 184 of Shâhzâdeh

“Damn. I’m disappointed.” All eyes turned to Nate who was leaned against the wall with his foot propped behind him.

“For what?” My head cocked curiously because I almost felt insulted that we had not provided him sufficient entertainment in exchange for the use of the facility.

“I thought somebody was gone yell ‘This is Sparta!’ Or some shit.”

“Right? Nobody got kicked in a ditch or nothing.” Dom was standing up and nodding like Nate had made a good point.

My brows rose and I wondered if Kamran had gotten in a lick and made him forget what went down the last time I was in Texas. “We did zhat last time, remember? I distinctly remember helping your brother drop a body down a very deep hole.”

Nate hit his brother in the chest with the back of his hand earning a warning look from Sampson. “Shit! We should’ve done that then, Samp. Missing opportunities and shit.”

Sampson’s face remained serious as he huffed a laugh and shook his head. “We’ll remember that for next time, Nate.”

Nate grinned and nodded his head as he stood tall and slid his hands in his pockets. “Glad you know there will be a next time, big bro.”

“I really gotta figure out why you act like this.” Sampson looked at his brother like he was about to announce he had a whole secret life Sampson needed to know about.

“Bruh, we just watched this man cut his uncle in half and that’s what you need to figure out?” Nate was pointing at me and Sampson could only shrug ‘cause his brother had a damn good point.

“Hate to interrupt, but what are we doing with this one?”

I looked at Midas and he was pointing at Ibriham’s final son who was cowering on the floor as though we would forget he was there. The guards that hadn’t been killed in getting the family here weren’t standing up like they were trained to. Any sympathy I would’ve felt disappeared because they’d been sworn to protect the family with their lives and they weren’t.

Weak.

“You said you didn’t want me to play favorites, y’all have fun.”

Midas lips spread into a wide grin as he kissed the custom gun he had me make to match his wife’s. “Say less.”

VANYA

“IT IS WITH a heavy heart zhat I announce zhe death of my father, King Mohamed, my brozer zhe crown prince Ibriham and my nephews Kamran, Babak, and Farhad. Zheir plane crashed vhile heading for vacation to Dubai. Zhe Mahdavi family, zhe entire country of Iran and Persians zhroughout zhe vorld are devastated by zhe loss of our king, our leader and our father. My older brozer Bijan and myself along wiz our sisters ask zhat you pray for our family no matter chat religion you may observe zhat we find understanding during zhis difficult time.Khodâ rooh-shân râ ghereen-e rahmat konad: May God bless their souls with mercy. Zhe official forty days of mourning begin today. As per tradition, I will step in as head of my family to ensure zhat zhe legacy of zhe Mahdavi family continues to grow and become a light and symbol of hope, love, acceptance and prosperity to all zhe citizens of zhis glorious land.”

That was the news as we sat up against the soft Cannon blue silk headboard in our bedroom. I knew my husband had his hands all over this, and would probably look at the loss of an aircraft as an acceptable business expenditure. Of course, I’m sure it was overly ensured and he would have another on order within the week. The official statement had been done in Persian, Arabic and English ensuring that the news would reach whomever needed to hear it. I was throughly impressed by the way Afshin already looked every inch the king he now was.

“How are you?” I looked at my love who was sitting with his eyes still glued on the massive TV on the wall. He’d allowed me to make it one of the gold fancy frame televisions so that it would go seamlessly with the decor.

“About his deaz? Fine. I am slightly worried for my uncle, but I’ve made more zhan sure he is surrounded by good people. He’s ensured zhat he is going to have zhe love of the people wiz zhe way he’d shown up for zhem zhroughout zhe years. My aunts would have no choice but to rally around him because two princes of zhe Mahdavi line wouldn’t be able to be overlooked and if zhey attempted to push my fazer back into zhe line of succession, he would only abdicate to Afshin. My grandfazer’s widow holds no power so she is not a factor. So he will be king and we will be taking a trip to Iran for zhe funeral.”

He was speaking so factually, I couldn’t help but be impressed. My husband’s financial success had proven he was a smart businessman, but this required a far more intuitive and complex way of thinking that was far beyond simple business and contracts. Xerxes had wrapped up every loose end and had any potential dissenter backed into a corner so they wouldn’t be able to object.

Xerxes wrapped his hand within mine as though he were trying to see how I would feel about going.

“Of course. I know there are customs I have to observe.” Was I apprehensive? Of course. But also knew that I had nothing to be afraid of because Xerxes wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen.

A grateful kiss was planted on the side of my face. “Only in public and only for now. Afshin is going to make changes and alzough we don’t know how fast zhey will be, he doesn’t want to mandate wiz anyone zheir walk wiz Allah. We will have to be in all black while we are zhere. I’ve already sent your measurements so zhat zhey can get started on what you need to wear for zhe funeral.”

He was always two steps ahead so that I didn’t have to be bothered. His already having my measurements wasn’t a shock to me. I’m sure that he had all of that memorized because that was the type of person he was.

I smiled ruefully before running my fingers through his hair to get the strands off his face. “So I can’t pull a Megan Sussex and bust out the cape dress and the hat?”

He brushed my nose with his affectionately as he smiled. “Only on zhe way home, love.”

“That’s a good compromise.”

“How are you feeling?” He laid his head on my chest and listened to my heartbeat.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

---