Page 16 of Tall, Royal Hater
“Are you fucking serious?” I hissed. “You’re the one causing her all the stress.”
“Really?” Sarcasm dripped from his voice. “Because I wasn’t the one who told me to jump out of the plane.”
“Well, it’s not as if she’d take your side if she found out about all the bullshit you said to me yesterday, would she?”
He tilted his head, a scowl bunching his brows together. “And she’d be thrilled to know exactly what you were trying to achieve with her brother, wouldn’t she?”
I didn’t miss it. The“trying to achieve”rather than “achieved”as if he knew I hadn’t slept with Kareem last night. Which wasn’t possible, so I wasn’t going to let him believe I hadn’t.
“Esmeralda isn’t going to care if I slept with her brother last night,” I said confidently but quietly. “She already knows how I feel about him.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when he smirked. That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected from him. I’d expected flames.Nottriumphant amusement.
“Is your wishful thinking making you delusional? Because we both know that’s a lie.”
Nails of shock and humiliation scraped across my skin, bringing a rise of blood with them.
He didn’t know. There was no way he knew. Shehryar had seen Kareem and I together after hours of sitting, chatting, and laughing on the beach. I doubted Esmeralda or Kareem would have told him nothing happened.So why did he sound so sure?
But I wasn’t about to admit he was right. Over my dead fucking body.
“Not all of us struggle to get someone into bed, Sheri.”
“Yes. Because some of us have morals.”
That didn’t sting, but it made me bitter and angry. “Are you trying to slut-shame me?Wow. What fucking morals you have. Give yourself a pat on the back, dickhead.” A muscle ticked in his jaw as I flicked a hand between us. “Do you know what? I was trying to be reasonable for Esmeralda’s sake, but screw you, Shehryar. Just stay out of my fucking way, okay?”
“Take your own advice, Mariyah. Because I’m not the one who can’t stick to myself.”
My instinctual urge was to have the last word, but at the same time, pride told me not to prove him right. And combined, the feeling made me want to scream and rip his stupid, flowy hair out.
Have it your way then, Sheri.
If he didn’t want to agree to peace, I was fine with being his biggest problem.
I’d completely forgotten the driver, Rocco, was still there, and when he cleared his throat, mortification rose over my anger in realisation that he’d heard our entire conversation.
Great. Perfect. Just what I wanted.
“Um, sorry to disturb your, uh, conversation,” he said sheepishly. “But I wanted to let you know we’re only five minutes away now.”
Like Rocco said, we arrived by the staff entrance around the side of Chaukham Palace five minutes later. There we were met by Katiya Timur—Shehryar’s mother—Kai’s two brothers—Prince Fay and the youngest, Prince Adam—and the flirtatious sous chef Esmeralda had warned me about—Pierre Farhan—before the five of them, including Prince Arsh, quite literally snuck me, Esmeralda, and Shehryar through a maze of corridors.
The palace was a stunning building, inside and out. Made of red bricks with a cream rooftop, a climbing rose bush on one side and black balcony railings in front of many of the big,Tregency-style windows, it screamed historical just like everything else in Touma. Inside, it was all red carpet, gold chandeliers, cream walls, dark wood furniture, and the kind of paintings and ornaments lining the walls that made me want to run around barefoot in a big, puffy dress.
There were also lots of people appearing from everywhere and greeting Esmeralda excitedly. More so the closer we got to the palace kitchen. And with every new person that joined us, it became increasingly obvious that the super-secret mission of sneaking Esmeralda in wasn’t actually a secret.
Apparently, two hundred plus people had managed to keep the surprise a “secret,”and the only one didn’t know was the birthday boy himself.
When Esmeralda headed inside the kitchen to find Kai first, the silent way they all waited and watched through the circular windows on the metal doors made it easier to imagine how none of them had accidentally spilled the truth. It was obvious they all adored TRG enough to try hard.
Not really knowing anyone there properly, I ended up standing slightly on my own, until someone appeared beside me, bringing an air of mischief with them.
“So, you’re the famous Mariyah, huh?”
I glanced across and up to findthePierre Farhan slowly eyeing me up and down.
It did wonders for my confidence because Pierre was hot—Esmeralda hadn’t lied about that. But he had a cute boyish vibe to him that was right up my “I can flirt with you” street. And damn was his Touman accent fucking delicious when he said my name.
