Page 76 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

I sat in her favourite corner and picked up a book from the shelf and waited for her.

Just in case she came and proved that my anxiety over losing her was for nothing.

She didn’t come. I understood why.

My heart broke anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Three

ESMERALDA

The next day was Cannon Day, the official day The Great Rebellion of Zorro ended. Marked and remembered by the cannons that signalled the last battle along the shores of Prio.

In Touma, the Cannon Ceremony was held in the afternoon, so the morning was left free for the annual royal scavenger hunt. All the seven families were in attendance at Chaukham Palace, with the royal children and palace staff’s children getting ready inside for their own mini hunt.

Prince Arsh had been in charge of planning the hunt and had decided to change things up. Instead of mixing everyone up into teams, he wanted to do a “royal family versus royal family” game.

To my complete, absolute delight—not—I was on a team with Kareem and Shehryar.

Awkward wasn’t even the right word to describe the atmosphere between me and Kareem. It was suffocatingly silent as I did my best to stick to Shehryar’s side and avoid all interaction with my brother.

We were trudging around the side of Chaukham Palace where rose bushes roped up the red brick between windows when Shehryar sighed. I glanced sideways to look at him, only to find myself staring into Kareem’s shuttered gaze.

My heart jumped and I immediately turned around to where Shehryar had stopped. He was scowling as he glanced between me and Kareem. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

Shehryar shook his head, his permanently shadowed jaw shifting. “I can’t do this,” he said. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, Your Highness, if this is how you intend to play the entire time, then I would like to drop out of this team now.”

Panic swooped low in my belly.

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t leave me alone with Kareem.

An apology softened his pale green gaze, but Shehryar stood tall and stubborn. “You can’t keep using me as a buffer,” he said to me before his attention flicked to Kareem. “Your Majesty too. It has to stop. Because someone will notice that something is wrong, and it’ll be too late to pretend that everything is fine.” He stepped towards Kareem, holding out the red envelope in his hand with our next riddle inside it. “So, I think it would be best if I left.”

I watched the silent exchange between their hands. Then my frantic gaze was all over Shehryar as he moved away. “Shehryar,” I croaked pleadingly.

He gave me a twisted, remorseful look. “I will be waiting at the start with Prince Arsh and the others if you need me,” he said and bowed his head in a quick greeting.

My feet jerked me towards him. “Sher, please,” I whispered with a desperate shake of my head. He winced but turned away, striding back the way we had come. All I could do was watch him go as shock and anxiety filled my lungs instead of oxygen.

How could Shehryar do this to me? How could he leave me with Kareem? Nothing good could ever come of me being alone with him. He knew that. So why?

In the dragging moments I stood with my back to him, Kareem didn’t say a single word. It made me more and more reluctant to turn around and face the reality of my situation.

I was picking at the hem of my cropped, lapel collar jacket wondering what to do when someone cleared their throat. Every muscle in my body turned to immovable ice blocks. But there was only so long I could stand there pretending he wasn’t trying to get my attention.

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to turn slightly, sneaking a quick glance in Kareem’s direction.

The stranger in my older brother’s skin was looking at me as he scratched his cleanly-shaven jaw. Forget what had happened, I couldn’t look him in the eyes because of how casually he was dressed.

I could count on one hand the number of times I’d seen Kareem wearing jeans since he’d turned twenty-one and become Prince Consort. Paired with old white trainers and a worn-leather aviator jacket, he looked like a completely different person. I was struggling to recognise him.

“We should carry on working on the riddles,” he said like this was politics and not a game.

I glanced in the direction Shehryar had gone and gave a slight shrug. “It doesn’t really matter if we solve them or not. We’re probably too far behind to catch up with the others anyway.” Twenty minutes of the hour-long scavenger hunt had passed already, and we had only solved three riddles.

He was quiet for several moments, then, “People will ask questions if we quit now.”

My shoulders sunk in disappointment and a sharp ache stung in my chest as if I couldn’t have already guessed that was what he was going to say.

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