Page 46 of Shâhzâdeh

“Nozing else. Hopefully, they take this L and keep moving. But you and I know the likelihood of zhat happening is slim to none.”

Ori’s grumbling laugh echoed through the near empty room. “More like none to none. Kamran has no clout without your money. And that shit has been a drug to him. For him to do as much dirt as he does, he sure as fuck doesn’t hide it. Never seen a prince with a fucking social media presence like him.” Ori was disgusted because of the things he’d seen with the government, we knew it weighed on him. Hell, the stuff we’d discovered on accident was enough for us to seek vengeance. And we did. But Ori was bound by the confines of the law and the system of justice he knew was flawed.

“He’s not ashamed of wasting money and few people take him seriously enough to warn my grandfather about him.”

“A problem that will soon come home to roost.”

“Precisely. I zhink zhat very few monarchs realize zhat people are no longer enthralled with zheblood made me zhis waymentality. It has spread zhrough all zhe colonizer countries—”

His cavernous laugh sounded through the room, and he sat his empty glass on the table. “Bruh, you realize that your father’s people and the Arabs fucked up the Horn of Africa, right?”

I smirked because the Persian side of me was so diverse that it was hard to tell where all of our ancestors descended from. “No denying the truth. But ve have at least started to make amends. The programs that those of us who care about the people of the country are doing what we can to change the way people view the family.”

“Certain parts of it.” Ori wasn’t being negative, but he was reminding me there was only so much that could be done. Saving the public image of my relatives wasn’t my goal. Restoring the family name was.

“Zhey could all get zhe goodwill if zhey did the good work. I’m not in zhe mood to carry a man when he is perfectly capable of walking. Zhat smacks of weakness and I can’t abide it.”

“Your last shipment is coming in tonight. Who will be point to pick it up?” Another subject change, but this time for my benefit instead of his.

“Quentin’s people. Zhey’ve got zhe buyers lined up for zhis set of weapons so all I had to do was collect zhe fee.” I drained the rest of my water going through my schedule mentally.

“Easy money.” He rubbed his hand as he grinned wickedly. I could only imagine what he would do when he got away from his government position.

“You could say zhat. Any issues on your end?” Ori looked calm but his eyes were tight like something had been on his mind.

“My mother.” That was a response I hadn’t expected to ever hear him say.

“What about her?”

He looked nervous, a state of being that was probably as unfamiliar for Ori to feel as it was for me to witness. “She keeps wanting to have conversations and I’m not in the mood for them.”

“Why not?” The conversation about his mother was one he never delved into. I thought it was too painful for him, but there always seemed to be something major unresolved that he never wanted to speak on.

“There is too much about this situation I don’t know about and kinda want to leave it where it’s at. I’m trying my best to just not let the past fuck with me you know? But then she pops up and this shit is going to fuck with my head.” Ori scratched his head again, but he looked like he needed to get it off his chest.

I was still shocked at how much he shared. “Damn, you been waiting to let zhat shit out, huh?”

Ori flipped me off and took another sip of his beer while I laughed at him. “What happened to safe space, muhfucka?”

“It’s zhere. But I get it. My fazer feels zhe same. His fazer had no issue treating his mother like she was less zhan. Her people had lost everyzing after zhey were forced out of Palestine and you know how people in the Levant can be.” Persians could be some of the most self-isolating people in the Middle East. Some of them, my family included, felt as though they were better than their Arab neighbors.

“Yeah but a lot of that is over resources and regular we wanna rule everything bullshit.”

“True. But my grandfazer liked to hold it over her head zhat she had nowhere else to go without him. He could do what he wanted and my fazer is convinced zhat zhe king’s first wife was zhe reason his mozer died so young.”

“Damn. You saying that real calm.”

“Can’t get upset about something zhat happened before I was born. Besides, zhe queen is dead. My father will ensure zhat his father pays for zhe sins of his fazer.”

Ori’s foot was tapping and he clearly wanted to act but couldn’t. “So, we’re in a holding pattern.”

“It won’t be long, my friend. Moves will be made soon because I’m too impatient for Vanya and I can feel now is zhe time to strike.”

Hearing the word strike brought a smile to his face and he nodded his head happily since cutting up was on the horizon. “Bet. Just give me enough time to get down there. Y’all not about to leave me out the fun.”

I raised my empty glass of water, and he did the same. “You have my word.”

“What’s the problem?”

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