Chapter 33 · Untitled Chapter

The solid click of the outer latch echoed down the quiet hallway, sealing the noise and tension of my uncle’s majlis on the other side of the heavy timber. Inside the private wing, the air was cool, scented with the calm trace of aged oud that lingered in the tapestries and stone tiles.

Here, away from the watching eyes of the family elders and the distant cousins who had weighed my existence against their debts, the quiet was absolute. I reached up and let my shaila slip down to rest lightly around my shoulders, drawing a slow, deliberate breath. The crisp fabric of my abaya settled around my feet as I turned toward the center of the sitting room.

Saud walked to the low rosewood table beneath the arched alcove. He did not immediately speak. The crisp white lines of his hard-collared thobe remained uncreased, carrying the quiet authority he had commanded in the council only moments before.