Sheikh's Stand In

by Sophia Lynn

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  When they returned to Khutal, they found that Charlotte, Aladdin, and Annika had returned. Almost as soon as they landed, Charlotte hustled Viviana to her favorite spa in the city while Aladdin made off with Mikal with startling haste.

  "It's almost as if you two planned this," Viviana said flatly, because it was too obvious that they had.

  "Are you irritated with us?" Charlotte asked, an impish look on her face.

  Viviana sighed. "Not at all. I think I could use a little bit of sisterly advice."

  "Good, all the better to get it while we're steaming."

  Charlotte's favorite spa was actually an ancient structure with some very modern amenities. The space was carved directly into the rock of the mountains, and the steam room was fed by a hot spring that came directly up from the ground. There was a ledge for them to perch on, and the two sisters found themselves quite alone.

  "So you've been busy since I've been gone," Charlotte said, eying Viviana speculatively.

  "I have been," Viviana said with a shrug. "I imagine you are talking about Mikal?"

  "Yes, imagine my surprise when I turned on my tablet that morning. Viviana, don't you think this is a little fast?"

  A part of Viviana, the part that was ruled by sense, agreed with Charlotte. It was all fast, far too fast. Things were happening so rapidly that her emotions could barely keep up with it. One moment, she was thrilled by everything that was happening between her and Mikal. The next, she was sunk into doubt and uncertainty.

  "I don't know," she hedged. "I know that I've never felt what I do for him for any other man before. Ever."

  Charlotte sighed, and Viviana remembered with a smile that her sister was still very much a woman on her honeymoon. She had a suspicion that no matter what happened or how long it had been, she always would be.

  "I'm glad you feel that way," Charlotte said. "But I just don't want you to make a bad decision. I don't want you to think that you're trapped just because you made an agreement."

  Viviana wished she could tell her sister that the agreement was only going to last until after the legislation had passed. It was very limited after all, and after that, she could go on with her life exactly as she pleased. The thought of going back to that week in Paris, however, was looking more dull by the moment, and she had no idea how to deal with that.

  "Are you worried about me?" A thought struck her. "Is Aladdin having this exact same talk with Mikal?"

  Charlotte laughed, fanning some of the steam away from her face. "Oh, maybe. When we got the news, Aladdin nearly cheered. He likes you a lot, you know, and I know that he thinks that you'll be good for Mikal."

  The thought of her actually being good for Mikal caught her attention. Viviana raised her eyebrow. "Do you know … that sounds a little unlikely to me?"

  "How do you mean?"

  Viviana shrugged helplessly. "He just looks so self-sufficient, like he doesn't need anyone at all. If I think back, he was like that at school as well. He never needed anyone, never needed any help. It was always him against the world, and he would be damned if he called for assistance, in any way, shape or form."

  But that wasn't right, was it? He had asked for her help. He had found his way to her, saw what she could do better than almost anyone else in the world and asked her to do it.

  Charlotte only looked thoughtful. "I think that we all need a lot more help than we're willing to admit to," she said slowly. "When I was working in New York, I never thought that I would want to be as committed as I am now. I never thought that I needed someone. Then I meet Aladdin, and I came here, and I have Annika, and slowly, I realize that I've needed them all along. My whole life, I've wanted this, and I just never knew. Or more appropriately, I guess that I never allowed myself to know. I have a feeling that Mikal might be the same way."

  Viviana realized with a shock that while those words might or might not be true about Mikal, they were definitely true for her. She had never thought before that she could find the peace that she felt now. She hadn't even known that it was something that she needed or wanted. Now, though, she realized that she had been craving it all her life.

  And now …

  And now she knew that it was coming to an end. When the vote went through, the point of the subterfuge would be over. She and Mikal would likely have a cheerful goodbye, she would be put back on that amazing jet, and she would be sent back to her real life.

  "Oh! Oh, Viviana, are you all right?"

  Charlotte's arm over her shoulders made her feel a little more steady, and she knuckled the tears from her eyes. She smiled a little at her sister, determined to keep up her facade of being a happy bride-to-be.

  "I think the heat is getting to me, that's all," she said with a shrug. "Maybe we should get out?"

  Walking into the antechamber was like plunging into a tub of ice cold water. It was shocking, but refreshing, and it helped her clear her head a little for what was coming next.

  You've let your control go, she thought to herself grimly. You need to make sure that you take control again, and you need to do it soon.

  As she showered under a cool spray, she started her plan for what would come next. She made herself face it, she committed herself to the next step, and she refused to look back. She knew that in the months and years to come, looking back would only be painful, and so she should learn to avoid it now.

  ***

  She and Charlotte made their way back to the palace, and later that night, all four of them got together to share dinner. Viviana put on her brightest face, teasing Aladdin and Charlotte, and flirting with Mikal. For his part, his eyes were wide and besotted. He played the part of the loving fiancé perfectly, and for some reason, that gave her a pang as well. It made her wonder how much of what he had been doing over the past few weeks had been fake.

  He hadn't faked the passion he had shown her in bed, she knew that, but there were dozens of other moments, his arm around her shoulder, a gentle peck on her cheek, handing her out of the car, that was suspect. Would he do those things for her, or were those things done for his glamorous fiancée? Right now, she felt the divide very clearly.

  "You two really need to set a date," Charlotte said with a frown. "You have no idea how hard it is to plan without a date."

  "Oh, I don't know, I thought we would just run off and elope," Viviana said with a grin. "We can jet over Las Vegas, get ourselves hitched by an Elvis impersonator and be back inside of a day."

  "No, that is not something we're doing," Mikal said. "After all, how would it look on your Instagram?"

  Viviana felt a spark of temperature where she wanted to tell him exactly what he could do with her Instagram, but instead she shrugged. "It would turn the world on its head, wouldn't it?" she asked flippantly. "Video personality throws away thousand dollar ceremony, gets married in Vegas in a muumuu …"

  Charlotte and Aladdin were laughing, but Mikal never looked more serious as he took her hand.

  "No," he said firmly. "We'll get married here. You are a Princess of Khutal, and you will be given all due honors. There will be the traditional dances, there will be the guests who will be honored to be here for such a historic occasion. I insist that you will be given the respect that you are due."

  My god, he's an amazing actor, she thought numbly.

  As Charlotte nodded knowingly and Aladdin clapped his brother on the back, Viviana knew that she had to do something about all of this. If she allowed this to continue, if she continued to let even a part of her brain be swayed in this way, she was going to leave Khutal without a piece of herself. She might leave it behind or it might be destroyed outright, but it would happen.

  She sat through the rest of dinner in a haze, joking and talking, but every time she wasn't engaged in the convesation, she felt as if she were drifting in a fog. She didn't miss the significant look that Charlotte gave Mikal after dinner, the one telling him to take care of her sister. She didn't miss the calm nod he gave Charlotte in agr
eement either.

  He walked her to her room, and to her relief he was quiet. That was a rare gift in a man, she had come to understand. So many men talked to hear good about themselves. When they were quiet, that meant that they knew others would speak of their goodness for them.

  The reprieve couldn't last forever, however, and it came to a head when they got to her bedroom door. Usually, she would open it and he would follow her in, but this time, she turned around to face him instead.

  "I think I need to sleep by myself tonight," she said. She had tried to come up with other ways to say it, but in the end, she had to believe that being blunt was simply best. She tried to miss the hurt look in his eyes.

  "You were tense at dinner," he said. "I think you've been tense since Paris. Can I ask you why?"

  Viviana shook her head, because if she said what she was thinking, it would all spill out. Then her humiliation would be all over the space between them, poisoning them, creating what should have been a fun engagement into something bitter and stupid. When she had her breath back, she could speak, and more importantly, she could lie.

  "Well, honestly, I think it's best if we keep things just business for the rest of the time we're doing this," she forced herself to say. "I've looked at the calendar, and I've seen that we're drawing to the end of our little game …"

  "Our little game?" he asked, a note of amazement in his voice.

  "Yes, I still remember that it is one. The thing is, being in Paris did remind me that I have a career that I need to get back to, and going up and down like this is pretty hard. I need some space for myself, Mikal."

  He stared at her. She thought he looked like someone who had been punched, hurt, winded, and shocked. "I …"

  "Can you give me that?" she asked, an edge in her voice. "Because that's what I need now."

  He stiffened, and she braced herself for something cutting. Mikal had a wit that was as sharp as hers was, and for a moment, she was afraid that she had awakened the scorpion’s sting.

  Instead, he only nodded stiffly. "I always want to give you what you need," he said quietly, and somehow, that stung worse than any cutting remark he could have made. "Do you … that is, does anything else need to change? Do we need to call off this charade immediately?"

  Hearing him call it a charade made her flinch, but all she did was shake her head. "No, I want to see the legislation go through as much as you do," she said. "Let's keep going. It won't be long before we get to the vote. No reason not to stick with the plan."

  Mikal looked relieved and she could have slapped him.

  "Thank you," he said. "This is … you've done more than I ever could have hoped for, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

  He took her hand gently in his, and he brushed his lips over the points of her knuckles gently. There was something beautifully courtly about that gesture, something that felt as much like a goodbye as it did a romance.

  She couldn't speak, and after a moment, he walked off towards his own rooms.

  Viviana shut the door behind her quietly, and then with shaking legs, she went to sit on the bed. Everything felt unreal, as if she had become detached from reality. The place on her hand where he had kissed her burned as if he had branded her.

  What have I done? Vivian asked in agony, but the answer came back loud, clear, and truthful.

  What you had to do.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  She didn't know what to expect from the engagement that they had that morning. All she knew was that she received a note at the breakfast table requesting her presence at the car at eleven. It was their first engagement since their talk at her bedroom door, and Viviana had not seen Mikal since. He had respectfully been keeping his distance, or at least that was what she assumed. On one hand, she was grateful, because after all, it did make things much easier. On the other hand, she missed him terribly.

  This engagement looked no different from the ones that they had attended before. She dressed carefully, and when she smiled in the mirror, she looked as stunning as ever. Her heart leaped up to her throat when she saw him in his dark blue western suit, but he looked preoccupied and they rode to the event in silence.

  "Only a few more of these," he mentioned as he handed her out of the car. She wondered if it was her imagination that he lingered a little, but she dismissed it as they made their way into the event.

  Viviana reminded herself that this was her element. This was where she belonged, and that was enough to spur her to work. There were still plenty of people on the fence about Mikal's legislation, still plenty of people who were simply not sure what women could offer if they were simply granted the rights that their male counterparts had.

  She and Mikal mingled together and apart, chatting about this and that, and ultimately bringing their views to the forefront. Viviana was approached by a stern looking woman who intimidated her at first, but soon she was intrigued to find that the woman ran a service for placing young girls into the workplace.

  "There are many risks for them," she said. "Some of the recruiters are less than scrupulous, and the work that the girls do is not what they wanted …"

  Viviana frowned, nodding in agreement. She had spent some time as a model, and even now she could see some of the terrible practices that would be horrible surprises to young girls freshly away from their family.

  "I'll definitely bring your organization to Mikal's attention …"

  "Actually, I was wondering if you would care to help us yourself," the woman said with a wry smile. "No offense to your husband-to-be, but one of the ways that the girls truly trust us to do right by them is to show them that the leadership is by women who have their best interest at heart."

  Her hesitation must have looked like disapproval, because the woman hastened to smooth it over. "Perhaps in the future, it might be different, but right now, this is what we are doing. This is what we know has worked. Please, will you consider it?"

  Viviana couldn't tell this hopeful woman who was doing so much good that there was no way she would be able to help them as Mikal's wife. She did take the card, but it gave her a sick feeling to her stomach. She resolved to bring it up with Mikal and also with Charlotte, who she could see doing a great amount of good for the organization.

  She had barely turned away from the woman with the job service when she was cornered by a man who wanted to tell her exactly what was wrong with Mikal's legislation. She was so stunned by his vitriol that she simply stared at him in confusion for a moment, but finally, when she realized what he was saying, she straightened her spine and glared at him. It was a source of grim satisfaction to her that he fell back. She wondered if he had ever met a woman who wouldn't accommodate him before, and she pressed her advantage.

  "Excuse me," she said icily. "But do you know who I am?"

  He stuttered something, but she steamrolled right over him. This was familiar territory as well. There were always a few men who had loose ideas of what her job really was, and more often than not, she had to bring them back into line.

  "I am the wife-to-be of Mikal ben-Arie," she said, her voice gaining volume. "I am not some whipping girl that you should feel free to spew at, and on top of that, you have decided to waste my time with something that is patently untrue. This is the behavior of a man who has nothing to offer, and who I will not listen to. And, sir, let me tell you, I am a woman with a very long memory."

  She turned on her heel and stalked away, not caring what he was doing behind her.

  There was a split second when she realized that someone was coming up behind her. It was a feeling of prickles running up her spine, and she spun, fearing the worst. Before Viviana had even turned around all the way, however, she realized that Mikal was standing with his back to her, and the man who had wanted to harangue her was falling back, holding his wrist tightly with a look of fear on his face.

  "I think Mr. Abbad looks ill," Mikal said, and though his words were solicitous, there was something deadly and cold in his eyes. "Will
someone please call him a cab?"

  While the people around them moved to look after the matter, Mikal turned to Viviana. His eyes were still bright from whatever it was he had done to the man, but his expression quickly became one of concern as he came to stand close to her. He offered her his arm, and automatically she took it. He guided her to one of the private sitting rooms that ringed the public area, closing the door behind them.

  "Are you all right?" he asked intently. "Did that bastard manage to lay a finger on you?"

  Viviana was still stunned at the speed with which everything had happened. She shook her head, but she realized that her heart was beating faster and that everything looked too shiny and too bright.

  "Are you all right, beloved?"

  That endearment was a sword that cut. It was so sharp that she barely knew how hurt she was until she was on her feet and glaring.

  "Don't call me that," she hissed. "Don't. Don't you dare. You don't mean it, and it's bad enough to hear it out there for your constituents, but hearing it in here is a goddamn insult!"

  He fell back, shocked. Viviana could feel herself breathing hard. She forced herself to remain calm, but it was difficult with adrenaline shooting through her system.

  "Viviana, I truly meant no harm …"

  "Of course you didn't," she said bitterly. "You're the man with the plan, the one who knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. You just meant nothing at all."

  "Not nothing."

  In that moment, she could have slapped him. He stared at her, watching her with those calm eyes, and she could have screamed. "Yes, nothing," she repeated. "Because this is what we have, isn't it? It doesn't matter what I want, what I feel, all we have is an agreement, and if I bit off more than I could chew, then so be it."

  "I had no idea you felt like this," he said softly. "I had no idea that this … that this was hurting you. Viviana, I swear, it was never my intent."

  She didn't have to look at him to know that he was telling her the truth. He would never do anything besides that. "I know," she said more softly. "I know. It's no one's fault but mine that I am here now."