Page 56 of Dirty Wild Sultan

I stopped Rahim from speaking and stood up. Khalid and Zara didn’t look too well. I glared at the man for the root cause of our pain. “Take him to the dungeons. He isn’t allowed to leave Azmia until he is ready to announce his crimes publicly.”

I left when the guards took him away, ignoring his pleading when he begged his own daughter to help him. I could hear Nasrin following me, calling me to stop and talk to her.

“I can’t talk to you. You are the daughter of the person who killed my mothers,” I said, hating the tone of my voice.

“Don’t tell me you believe that I had something to do with it,” she whispered harshly, holding my wrist and making me face her. “I am sorry for what my father did, but you have to trust me I had nothing to do with it, Zain. I… I like you, I have feelings for you, and if I had known the truth, which I didn’t, I would have told you.”

“Or you married me because you knew I wasn’t like my father. That I would share equal power and responsibilities with you so you could scheme whatever you wanted with your family to take Azmia from me.”

She took a step back, her hand pressing against her mouth. “You don’t mean any of that…”

I gritted my teeth. “I don’t and that’s the problem, because that’s what the council and the people of our countries will think when the news of your father’s deeds come out. There will be a council meeting, and they will give your father the death penalty if he accepts his crimes, Nasrin.”

Her eyes watered and I hated that I couldn’t step towards her and tell her everything would be okay and I would keep her safe. Instead, I continued, thinking like a sultan rather than the Zain she adored. “They will question your entire family. Even you.”

“I don’t care,” she cried out. “I want to hear what you will do, Zain. Please tell me you—”

“You should go back,” I said in a bitter voice. “Go to Maahnoor. Your presence here might affect the judgement of your father and your family’s questioning.”

“Zain, don’t make me go away. I am a sultana, I can help you and we can sort it—”

My heart broke when I said, “I am ordering you as the Sultan to leave Azmia and visit your home. You must miss Maahnoor. Don’t come back until they announce you not guilty, Nasrin.”

I hated myself when I walked away from her, ignoring the instinct to go back and tell her it would be okay. That I wouldn’t let anyone harm her, and I would keep her safe and make sure no harm came to her family.

But I couldn’t do that. Because even as the most powerful sultan in the Middle East, I couldn’t protect her. Those words were nothing but a lie, and I couldn’t lie to the person I loved.

25

Nasrin

“You have to eat something.”

As if prodded by my younger brother’s command, my stomach growled. “See? Starving yourself won’t bring you any joy, Nasrin. Eat,” Imran said, taking a piece of my favorite sweetkunafah, and twirling it across my face.

“Stop it,” I grumbled and shuffled on the bed. The same old white-washed, simple bed in the Maahnoor palace. “I don’t want to eat anything right now.”

Imran sighed. His warm brown eyes had lost the gleam they had since the news of my father’s crime. “You have been saying that for the past three days. Look at yourself in the mirror, you look worse than Sadiq did when he woke up after Hussain pranked him with the laxatives in his food for his thirtieth birthday.”

I cracked a small smile, remembering that day. Hussain was a year older than me and younger than Sadiq. Both of us were middle children, and we loved to spend time together.

“Where is he? He would be questioned too.”

Imran shrugged. “Last we heard, he was in one of our oases doing God knows what. The council hasn’t started interviewing us so that’s good.”

It wasn’t good. He was being optimistic. The council consisted of all the sultans and their advisors, to keep all the countries in unity and look out for each other. If Zain wanted to execute our entire family for our father’s crime, he could.

“Are the guards bothering you?” I asked.

“They are not. We can live with that for a few days. I am worried about Sadiq. He hasn’t left his room since the news… he won’t open the door to his room and there are more guards around him.”

Being the Sultan of Maahnoor, he would be guarded well. Since the day I had arrived in Maahnoor, the palace loitered with men and women in dark suits that hid their weapons, even though they treated us as royalty. I didn’t know whether they were here for our protection or something else. It bothered me.

How my life had changed in a day. From the Sultana of Azmia to a caged royal prisoner. I wished I could see Zain’s handsome face again so I could punch him. He was a jerk to cage me inside my own palace, and I wouldn’t ever forgive him for that. No matter how much I loved him.

“You should leave. They will get suspicious,” I said to Imran. Before he could say anything, I added, “Yes, I will eat everything. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Nasrin. As your brother, it is my duty to keep my sister safe and healthy.” He kissed my forehead and left the room, the female guards doing their regular checks to see if my brother had handed me any weapon or not.

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