Chapter 29 · Chapter 29

The low, insistent chime of the internal telephone console broke the stillness of the room. It sat on the dark console near the archway, an unyielding brass receiver wired directly to the security station by the outer gates.

Majed did not move to silence it. His dark gaze remained steady on mine, his thumb tracing the curve of my wrist where his pulse met mine. "Answer it, Dalal," he said softly, his voice devoid of anger, carrying only that quiet, immovable weight. "Let him say what he has gathered from the hall. It is the last time he will have a line into this wing."

I stepped to the desk, the hem of my abaya sweeping against the edge of the low table. When I lifted the receiver to my ear, the crackle of the circuit brought the strained, sharp voice of my uncle into the private quiet.

"Dalal? Are you listening to me?" His voice was pitched low, trembling with an urgency that sounded hollow against the silence of Majed’s sanctuary. "Do not let him blind you with ledgers and closed doors. You are an Al-Anazi; you do not understand the pride of the Al-Rashid.