Page 42 of Tall, Royal Hater
A wary stillness fell over me. “What does that mean?”
The girl opened her mouth, stopped, and pressed it closed. Like some cartoon character, her lips spread and spread, up and up, until a creepy grin took over her features.
“I think I’ll let you figure that out on your own,” she chimed.
“No, no. Tell me. I insist.”
“Now who’s being dense on purpose? Or is this the side effect of misplaced hatred?” she parroted with a teasing tilt of her head.
My face fell. “Don’t be a bitch.”
She patted my knee. “Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.”
I shook my head. “Esmeralda, don’t bloody piss me off.”
She fucking giggled, and it snapped loose a wild need to know what she meant.
Did Shehryar look at me in a certain way?
Did I look at him in some way too? Seriously? How? In what way?
I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Bitch, fucking tell me.”
Esmeralda threw her head back and cackled loudly, but she didn’t break no matter what I tried.
Chapter 11
Shehryar
Fucking Neves. Prince Kai proposed.
And Esmeralda said yes.
It didn’t come as a surprise, but it shocked me nonetheless when he told me in the gym.
They were madly in love with each other, that was insanely obvious. I knew they had talked about a future together, and Esmeralda had told me she wanted to spend her whole life with him. She didn’t know, but I’d even interrogated Prince Kai about it the last time he’d come to Jahandar after he told King Kareem and I about his intentions of marrying her in the future.
I just hadn’t expectedfutureto mean theimmediate future. It seemed too soon—they’d only been dating nine months, the majority of which they’d spent apart. That was…was that really enough time for them to get to know each other? Enough to know they wanted to get married?
I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t concerned for Esmeralda. That I didn’t feel as if they were rushing and hadn’t thought it through entirely. Especially not the dilemma of them both being crown prince and crown princess. But in all the excited commotion of their announcement over breakfast, it was impossible to miss how happy the two of them appeared.
Prince Kai looked at Esmeralda like she was his entire universe, and she looked at him like he was the sun her universe revolved around. And fuck it, despite my brotherly concerns, my heart was at peace knowing her care and happiness were in the right man’s hands.
But as happy as I was for her, there was also a sense of loss. Like she didn’t need me anymore. Not in terms of duty—I planned to remain as her bodyguard and private secretary for as long as possible—but in terms of relying on me as a brother. We weren’t blood, but I’d been there for her all the same, and she’d been there for me too. To talk to, to have fun with, to pester and annoy. Everything.
It felt like a fraction of that part of us was being handed over to Prince Kai, which sent a pang of loneliness through my midsection and shook an unbalanced tremor under my feet. I wasn’t losing Esmeralda, but fuck, things were going to be different.
Prince Kai’s family had been aware of his plans to propose, but there were still tears shed, especially between Mum and Queen Leila, and congratulations were sung loud and proud around the dining table. Even the dowager queen, who usually didn’t show much emotion, grinned from ear to ear. Though everyoneknew news of the engagement would have to be kept a secret until after we’d returned to Jahandar for the sake of privacy and security on our trip. And nothing could be confirmed until Prince Kai and Esmeralda had spoken to King Kareem once he arrived the next day.
Nevertheless, the surprise engagement changed all plans for the day. Rather than the four of us going out together, everyone, especially Mariyah, insisted that Kai and Esmeralda go out alone in the afternoon. And who the fuck was I to disagree?Why the fuck would I disagree?
It was the biggest relief not having to spend another day in close proximity to Mariyah in public where I had to pretend to be civil with her. Not that the previous day had exactly been a success in that sense, which was why I needed the break from her even more. Within the four walls of the palace, there were hundreds of rooms to spend my time in where her infuriating arse wouldn’t be.
Literally.
Her arse was infuriating.
I reacted in a way I shouldn’t have after the fucking brat pinched my backside. In the moments that followed, her red-faced ire had pumped my blood full of smug gratification, and pissing Mariyah off felt dangerously addictive. It was something I could’ve made a habit of doing.
