Page 93 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

My attention shifted to what they were looking at as Kai came up behind me and Shehryar gently pushed his way to my side. It took a moment to register what I was seeing, but I did a doubletake, my eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Oh…woah…what?

Standing by the back of the dark blue sofa that faced the eighty-inch TV screen was Prince Arsh.

With Mama Katiya. In his arms. Half turned towards us.

Their eyes were bright and glazed, their cheeks flushed, lips red and swollen. Prince Arsh’s suit shirt was rumpled, and Mama Katiya’s twisted bun was coming loose low on her nape. As if…

As if they’d been kissing. Or making out. Intensely.

“Get. Your. Fucking hands. Off my mother.”

A cold static crept through the hairs on the back of my neck as Shehryar’s low voice draped over the silent room like a dangerous cloud.

It was the exact same tone he’d used when he’d caught the man who had been stalking me in my second year of university. A voice that came from somewhere deep and protective within his chest, promising murder without hesitation. A dark, incensed side of him he didn’t show very often, but once he did, it could never be forgotten. Especially the wild rage in his pale green eyes.

He still wouldn’t tell me what he’d done to my stalker. But I never saw that man again.

And if he was protective of me then he was ten times as much with his own mother.

“Shehryar,” Mama Katiya warned as she swivelled away from Prince Arsh to face us. One of Prince Arsh’s hands lingered around her lush hips as he stood tall and calm by her side, not bothering to straighten his shirt.

“I said get your hands off her. Now,” Shehryar growled. “Or I’ll rip them off your arms.”

“Sher,” I whispered in panic.

“Shehryar,” his mother snapped at the same time, her curved brows dipping into an outraged scowl. “Don’t you dare threaten Arsh.”

She used his name. Fuck, she used his name. Just his name.

“Arsh?” Shehryar echoed, and Mama Katiya’s stern expression wavered. But she tipped her chin up, confirming exactly that. It was Arsh.

Someone on my side swore quietly.

Prince Arsh stepped forward without dropping his hand from Mama Katiya’s hip. “Shehryar—”

“I wasn’t fucking talking to you,” he snapped, jerking towards them.

The ferocity of his movement made me flinch, but a strong barrier curled around my waist and dragged me swiftly back. I looked back up over my shoulder and Kai’s eyes flickered all over my face, a worried furrow sinking between his brows. I shook my head, so he understood I was okay.

“You’re being rude, Shehryar,” Mama Katiya said, “and that is not how I raised you.”

“Well, how did you expect me to react, Mum?” Shehryar threw a hand in Prince Arsh’s direction. “He’s a prince!”

Her spine straightened. “I’m aware of that.”

“Then what are you doing with him?” He stalked towards Prince Arsh. “Is he threatening you? Is that it?” He went nose to nose with the older man. “Because he thinks he can get away with it because he’s a prince.”

Despite Shehryar having five inches on Prince Arsh’s six-feet and at least an extra fifty pounds of muscle, Prince Arsh didn’t shrink away. He stayed calm and quiet as he met Shehryar’s gaze head-on.

“Shehryar, stop this right now.” Mama Katiya tried to move between them but neither man moved.

“I understand you’re angry finding out like this,” Prince Arsh said, his deep voice feeling almost like a salve on the tension straining the atmosphere. “But I do not think less of your mother for being a member of staff. I care for her, Shehryar. A lot.”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that bullshit?”

“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not, because we’re getting married!”

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