Page 37 of Her Vow to Be His Desert Queen

A wife who knows you, deep down.

Yes, she knew him. Knew parts of him, the man he’d been certainly. But she didn’t know everything. She didn’t know what he’d had to do to make himself strong, the lessons his mother had taught him to protect him.

Hard lessons.

He couldn’t tell her about them, though. She didn’t need to hear how painful they’d been. It was his own pain, and he would be the caretaker of it.

But the most important thing was that she’d agreed to be his wife. Now she would help him change his kingdom for the better. She would help him rebuild what his father had broken. And he would help her in turn with her charity. He’d rip out the substandard office in the Queens’ wing and install the fastest internet connection he could, ensure that she had all the technology she needed. Perhaps he’d even buy her a royal jet of her own so she could come and go to England as she pleased.

They’d discussed it over dinner and then she’d filled him in on the progress she’d made over the past five years. He’d been so impressed. Her charity work was amazing, and she had such vision. Such drive. She’d always had that, even back in university.

Satisfaction filled him. She was going to make the most remarkable Queen.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

At that moment his phone buzzed and he took it out of his pocket, glancing down at the screen, then hitting the answer button. ‘Galen.’

‘Khal. You left me a message. Is this about our meeting next month in Al Da’ira?’

Every month, or whenever their schedules allowed it, he, Galen, and Augustine would get together to renew their friendship and to allow themselves time to be just men, not kings. Also to remember old times, when they’d been the ‘Wicked Princes’ back at Oxford, causing mayhem in their respective colleges and breaking hearts everywhere.

One of the three would usually host their get-togethers and it was Khalil’s turn next month. He’d already decided ages ago that the timing would be perfect to host an engagement ball just like the one Galen had had for his beautiful wife, Solace. His friends already knew of Sidonie—they’d teased him good-naturedly back at university about their friendship—but Khalil had made sure to keep her away from them, since both Galen and Augustine had been unrepentant playboys and Sidonie was nothing if not lovely. Galen, however, was now happily married, though Augustine had remained the same unrepentant playboy as he’d been all those years ago.

However, now it would not be an engagement ball.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I wish to throw a celebration for my marriage while you and Augustine are here, and I could use your advice.’

There was a long silence down the other end of the phone and then a strange choking sound.

Khalil stared at the fountain in his courtyard and frowned. ‘Galen? Are you still there?’

‘Yes.’ His friend sounded slightly strangled. ‘A celebration for your marriage? When did this happen?’

‘It has not happened. Not yet. I am getting married tomorrow.’

Galen coughed. ‘You’ve been keeping that quiet.’

‘Keeping what quiet?’

‘The fact that you even had a fiancée.’

‘You did not need to know,’ he said, since it was the truth.

‘You are, as ever, an enigma, Khal.’ Galen sounded amused. ‘So are you going to tell me who the lucky woman is, or do I have to guess?’

‘You remember Sidonie? My friend at Oxford? Her.’

There was another long silence and then Galen laughed. ‘Oh, yes, I remember. Very quiet and studious. Pretty, though, which was why you kept us away from her, I seem to recall.’

Khalil scowled as a wave of possessive annoyance filled him. ‘I fail to see what is amusing about it.’

‘Nothing is amusing,’ Galen said soothingly. ‘It’s only that you were quite certain about the fact that she was only a friend.’

‘She is only a friend. But she will also be my wife. The two are not mutually exclusive.’

‘I see.’ Galen’s tone was very neutral. ‘So you are not in love with her, then?’

Electricity prickled through him. Perhaps hehadbeen in love with her back then, not that he’d ever told his friends about it. She’d certainly loved him. But love, along with all the rest of those very human emotions, was forbidden to a king and so he’d cut it out of his life.

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