Chapter 36 · Untitled Chapter

The smooth leather of the passport felt light in my palm, devoid of the crushing weight it had carried when my uncle had treated it as leverage. I walked past Bandar toward the wide threshold leading into the gallery. Outside, the black Lexus that had idled in the courtyard for three nights turned in a slow, wide arc, its exhaust catching the pale gold of the sunrise before passing through the open gates alone. The car left empty.

No guards stood at the perimeter. The accusation had been consumed by the very halls that sought to weaponize it, extinguished the moment Bandar laid his word across the carpets of the majlis and absorbed the threat into his own estate. My family name was unmarred, free of the whisper that had nearly driven me beyond the northern walls.

I stepped back from the glass. The air of Riyadh carried the dry scent of morning dust and cooling stone, but inside this wing, the atmosphere remained measured, grounded by the lingering warmth of Taif rose and aged agarwood.

Bandar had not moved from the center of the room.