Page 45 of Tall, Royal Hater
For the woman who’d done everything in her power to give me a better life, surely I could put my irritation towards Mariyah and my reserves for the upcoming nuptials aside to do something that would make her happy? It was the least I owed my mother.
Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to voice any agreement.
“I’d be happy to do it,” Mariyah declared.
My lashes lifted, and I found myself the subject of her scrutiny. Her eyes were a sharp blue coated in a dull sheen of condemnation. Accusation. Disappointment. For some absurd reason, shame wisped over the curves of my ears, and that in turn injected anger into my blood.
She had no right to judge me, no fucking idea why I was refusing, what my mother had endured, and no clue how quickly I’d rip her to shreds if she thought she could make me feel bad for trying to protect my mother. Neither would I let her make this about herself.
“Okay,” I said, holding her stare. “I’ll help.”
I only looked away when Mother rubbed my knee affectionately. “Thank you, Sher.”
I offered her a tight-lipped smile. “When were you thinking of having the wedding?”
“On the evening of the twenty-sixth,” Prince Arsh said.
Esmeralda’s shoulders fell. “That’s the day Mariyah’s leaving.”
A smirk fought to sit itself on my lips. Maybe the world had already planned to prevent the disaster of my planning a wedding with the brat.
“That won’t do,” Mum said with a frown. “Though I’m not sure there will be enough time to prepare if we do it earlier.”
This was my chance.I sat upright. “Why don’t you postpone—”
“What if Mariyah stayed another two days?” Esmeralda cut me off. “She could leave the same day Sher and I do, and we could still have the wedding with a day to relax afterwards.”
For fuck’s sake!
Mariyah put a hand on Esmeralda’s arm. “I can’t just stay, Ez.”
“Yes, you can. You were going to leave on the Friday, so there would be no difference if you now stayed until Sunday.” Esmeralda arched her brows. “I told you that when you were booking your return ticket.”
“But I’ve already booked it. I’d have to cancel it and—”
“Don’t worry about paying for the new ticket, Mariyah,” King Rami said, his straight teeth glinting through his kingly beard peppered with white. “We’ll cover the cost. It’s the least we could do.”
“Oh, no.” Mariyah shook her head. “I didn’t let Esmeralda—”
Everyone’s heads turned when the dowager queen cleared his throat. “Young lady.” Gigi arched a thin brow, giving Mariyah the pointed look of a strict teacher. “You have been told by a royal you are staying. You’d be wise not to argue.”
Mariyah clapped her lips together and sunk back into her chair, thoroughly scolded.
Well, that fucking did it. Nobody said no to the dowager queen.
Which meant Mariyah was staying an extra two days.
And we were planning a wedding together.
This entire fucking trip had turned into one big shit show.
Chapter 12
Shehryar
Ipaced the width of Mum’s room, assaulting the blood-red carpet with my vigorous steps.
Not just her room.Her and Prince Arsh’s room.
