Page 68 of The Reluctant Queen
“So,Ehmet,” Teymour began. “What brings you to our fine seaside city from your own?”
He exhaled miserably through his nose. “Passing through on my way to Appven.”
“What’s in Appven?” Tey inquired.
“He’s the king,honey, it’s one of his cities.”
The king shrugged a shoulder. “I’m going to visit my betrothed.”
Tey stared at him, confused.
“Do you not read the news, dear? He’s engaged to Lady Tahereh of Appven.” The look she gave Ehmet was full of questions, loaded with empathy, and somehow mildly disapproving.
Ehmet shrunk down in his seat.
“I thought you’d be betrothed to Lady Hevva Tilevir by now,” Teymour stated boldly.
“My love,no,” Shilan scolded, studying the look on Ehmet’s face. “He doesn’t want to talk about that.”
“I wouldn’t mind, actually,” he found himself admitting.
“Good,” Mrs. Gulan replied with a terse nod.
Had she done that on purpose?
Teymour waved over a barmaid and requested a full bottle of whiskey be brought out. They would be sticking around for a while.
In that moment, when the big whiskey was set upon the table, he felt like Ehmet,justEhmet, a friend of the Gulans and not the king. He was simply a young man in dire need of advice.
“Tell useverything,” Mrs. Gulan encouraged as she filled her glass to the brim.
So, he did, minus some of the more boring details about Yusuf’s scheming, and some of the more scandalous details about his time alone with Lady Hevva.
Teymour frowned empathetically when Ehmet wrapped up his sorry tale several drinks later. “Oh, my. You are in quite a pickle, aren’t you Your Majesty— I mean, Ehmet?”
With a downturned mouth, Shilan said, “You truly believe love has no place in a marriage?”
The Gulans shared a knowing glance, one that tightened the painful knot in his stomach and flooded his mouth with spit. He nodded. “I think so?”
Teymour huffed.
“You disagree?”
“Pardon my saying Ehmet, but I believe you are completely and utterly incorrect!” Shilan, now a few whiskeys in, scolded him across the table.
“But my father . . . he . . .”
“He was a piece of shit.” Mr. Gulan burped.
“Tey!” Mrs. Gulan elbowed her husband below the surface of the table, but Ehmet didn’t miss the man’s flinch.
“He changed the law!” Teymour pointed a wobbly finger at Ehmet, drink sloshing in the other hand.
“I did, and he was,” the king agreed. “But he said he loved my mother.”
“Eh. Saying and doing are two different things. I cansayI’m the Queen of Domos, doesn’t make it true.” Shilan snorted at her own joke.
“Domos has a king, honey.”
