What was happening?
Strong arms lifted her as though she weighed nothing and deep in her heart she longed for Khalifa and his arms, knowing that safety lay within his strength.
Khalifa was far away.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KHALIFA SURVEYED THE PALACE in the distance as his plane approached it. The natural beauty of Argenon sat sweetly in his soul. Satisfaction settled upon him, but it had more to do with the expanse of sand beneath him and the sun that glistened on the horizon. He was going home. To his palace, and his wife.
His body stirred as he thought of Kylie and a smile twitched at the corners of his lips. Had she enjoyed her day? He knew she’d been looking forward to touring the ancient library – he wondered if it lived up to her expectations, knowing that it must have. It had always been one of his favourite places and he couldn’t have explained why but he wanted her to share that sentiment.
The plane pitched a little as it moved determinedly lower and Khalifa’s anticipation increased hungrily. A week away had been too long. He’d needed time and space to think; but not this long.
“Sir,” he looked up as Thaida approached, his expression somber. Khalifa nodded, silently imploring his Principal to continue.
“There’s been an incident.”
Khalifa couldn’t stand statements like this. He had no patience for the vagary of a suggestion that hinted at a groundswell of news. He wanted the bulletin, rather than the hints.
“Yes?” His mind naturally turned to the fourteenth precinct and the arrangements he’d made there. The idea of a return trip being necessary so soon after leaving frustrated him. He wouldn’t leave Kylie this time. He’d bring her with him and show her the caves of Adroïni. She’d love them for their beauty, but also their secrets. The tunnels that smugglers had used to hide their loot. As a child he’d run their lengths and found ancient coins squirreled beneath the sand.
“Your Highness, it is...” Thaida paused, an unusual act for a man as him.
“Yes,” Khalifa prompted with obvious impatience.
“Her Royal Highness,” Thaida said on an exhalation.
“What is it?” Khalifa was instantly tense and alert, every cell in his body vibrating in expectation. “Spit it out, damn it.”
“She was attacked.”
“Attacked?” He stood, simply because he couldn’t sit still. He looked towards the window – the palace was still in the distance. “Attacked? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I have only the briefest security wire, I’m sorry.”
“At the library?” He shook his head. It wasn’t possible, surely? “The library was closed to the public. And her security team… she had …” He closed his eyes, outrage warring with concern. “Is she … how is she?”
“Your Highness, I’m sorry. She’s been taken.”
“What the hell do you mean, ‘taken’?”
“She and Aïna Mistress were moving towards the foyer of the library. The staff of the library were gathered for a morning tea. Her Highness’s security detail had secured the building and were at the main exit, but…”
“No one was with her when it happened?”
“The building was secure,” Thaida pointed out, earning a look of angry rebuke from The Sheikh Sultan.
“You are telling me someone has kidnapped my wife?”
“Yes, sir.”
Khalifa’s blood went from boiling to frozen in the space of a second. He jackknifed away from the seats, moving into the aisle of the plane, his bearing one of fearsome fury.
He is dangerous, Khal. He will not let this go.
Selena’s wise words of counsel flashed into his brain. Though there were many possibilities in play, he knew on some cellular level who was responsible for this. Who would have the gall, the motivation, the rage and stupidity to do something so preposterous.
He told himself she would be fine; that she was far too valuable to be in harm’s way. And with most people, this would be true. But Fayez Haddad was as wild as he was violent and he feared for his wife’s life. He feared for her body. For the first time in his adult life he was terrified and admitting that to himself scared him even more.
His mouth was a grim line in his handsome face. “I want Police Chief Mahmood waiting for me when we land.”
“Yes, sir.” Thaida spun, to make his way to the room of the jet he used as an office.
Though they were only ten minutes from the runway reserved for his private use, it felt like hours. Impatience simmered inside of him. Khalifa strode the length of the plane as it moved lower and lower over Argenon and no one would have dared ask him to be seated for landing. Khalifa, always a brooding force, was downright terrifying in this frame of mind. He radiated a cold, boundless anger and it was so strong that it could have crippled anyone who accidentally threw themselves into its path.
The moment the wheels had touched down he moved to the front exit and stood, his arms crossed over his broad chest, his eyes resolutely focused ahead. His servants formed a team at his back, a swarm of support, but Khalifa didn’t register them. His entire focus was on his wife.
And as he stood there, he made a vow – he would find her. Wherever she was, he would find her… and never leave her again.
*
Sandpaper had been dragged through her veins, over her tongue and behind her eyes. Or perhaps it was sand, just so much of it that it had the same effect. Kylie coughed, and even the simple involuntary gesture hurt. She blinked her eyes, but it didn’t help. The room was dim, and though the metallic smell from the library had abated, there was another odour – one that was equally unpleasant.
She wrinkled her nose as she discerned body odour and old spices.
It took several moments to piece together the hours she’d just spent. Several of them in a state of near unconsciousness, her mind heavy and her body limp, which left her in little doubt of the fact she’d been drugged. What was that chemical that rendered people inert? Perhaps her attackers had used that?
The bag they’d thrown over her head?
She stood and made to step across the room, but her leg pulled awkwardly and she realized she was tethered to the table. It had curly wrought iron legs and a marble table top. It must have weighed a tonne.
With a groan of frustration, she crouched down and began to work at the tether, but it was no good. A padlock had been looped through the chain.
She was a prisoner.
A shiver of fear danced down her spine. She refused to let it spread through her body. Fear would be her undoing. If she was afraid then she would not be able to think clearly and whatever situation she had found her way into would be so much worse.
A groan from the corner of the room called her attention lower. She blinked into the darkness and made a noise of surprise.
“Aïna!” She took a step towards her and swore when the restraint squeezed her ankle once more. “Aïna! Are you okay?” She asked from where she stood.
When her mistress didn’t respond, Kylie crouched down on the floor then lay on her stomach, snake slithering over the dirty concrete until she was close enough to Aïna to see her face. At full extension her fingertips could reach the other woman’s. She held her hand and squeezed it, saying Aïna’s name over and over and over as though it were an incantation.
Which, she supposed, it was. She needed her mistress to wake up. To be there with her.
“Please, Aïna, wake up. I need you.” The words were thick with the emotions Kylie was desperately trying not to feel.
A groan again and Kylie squeezed her fingertips. This time, Aïna squeezed back and made to move, to sit up straighter. It was then that Kylie saw her friend had a bleeding scratch down the side of her face. How had it happened? Had someone done that to her? Or was it when they were being transported?
More memories, this time of being in the back of a car, driving at speed, bumping roads, and then the heat of the sun.
“I’m here, your highness,” Aïna
’s voice was as croaky as Kylie’s own, but Kylie sobbed with relief. “Please, do not lie on the floor for me.”
Kylie wrinkled her nose. “You think my lying on the floor is our biggest problem right now?” The joke made them both smile. “Are you tied up?”
“No,” Aïna shook her head and then frowned. “Yes.” Her ankle was bound in a similar fashion to Kylie’s, but she was tied to a support beam in the back of the room. Neither of them could easily reach the other. It was an effective way to stop them from joining together to affect an escape.
Bastards.
Kylie returned to her own chained ankle and wobbled it between her fingers. Curse words spluttered through her brain.
“It’s okay,” she said, reassuring them both. “Someone will come for us.”
Aïna nodded at the same moment the door opened and, instinctively feeling at a disadvantage, Kylie jumped to standing, her expression mutinous.
Shock tore through her at the sight of Fayez Haddad, looking as handsome as he’d been on their wedding day, and a thousand times more terrifying.
“You remember me,” he said in halting English that made her hate him all the more. His voice was slimy and evil. She shuddered.
“Of course I do.”
“You know, then, that I am the man you should have married.”
Every bone in Kylie’s body was revolted by the idea but she knew to keep calm. To avoid inflaming an already perilous situation. “I know you and my husband have history. And I’m sorry. But it has very little to do with me.”
“Do you not think? He used you to get back at me. You are in the very centre of our … dispute.”
Kylie shook her head. “He couldn’t risk our alliance,” she murmured softly. “Our marriage would have been too powerful. It’s his job, his birthright, to defend his Kingdom…”
Fayez’s laugh was horrible. “Is this what you think?” He moved closer to Kylie, and when he lifted a hand to cup her cheek she automatically shirked away from the touch. He noticed, and didn’t like it. He pulled her back to him, more roughly, holding her body against his.
“Do not touch her,” Aïna’s command came from the back of the room but Fayez ignored her.
“Poor, innocent, naïve Kylie. So beautiful and so stupid.” He shook his head. “All these people telling you lies, all your life. Did you never question anything?”
His breath smelled of fish. Nausea rose inside of her. She pulled back from him but he seemed to take that as a challenge. No, he seemed to enjoy it. He grinned, a smile that was wolfish, and he brought his mouth close to her ear.
She felt Aïna tense in the corner – strange that even in that moment, thrumming with emotions, she should be so aware of her servant. “Did you never question why a man like Al Asouri would marry you?”
She didn’t pull away again, though she desperately wanted him not to be touching her. “I know why he married me,” she said softly. “My family.”
“No, Kylie Maha Ishan. Your family is the reason I wanted to marry you. He married you for other reasons.”
“Like what?” She murmured, her eyes skimming the room for something, anything, that could help her. Escape? Incapacitate him? Anything that might prove helpful.
“He does not like me,” he said simply. “In fact, he hates me. For a long time he has looked for a way to hurt me. And he found it. You were the key. In front of all of my family, my family’s friends, you were stolen.” He brought his mouth closer, so that his warm, fishy breath rushed across her flesh. “And I have stolen you back.”
“No,” she shook her head, lifting a knee towards his groin on autopilot. But he was too quick. He gripped her limb and yanked it, off-balancing her so that she fell onto the tabletop. She pushed up but his hand stayed on her leg and her heart pounded with horrible, aching fear.
“Don’t you care that you are nothing more than a pawn to him?”
“That isn’t true,” she said with a quiet stoicism. Wasn’t it? A voice in her head shouted back.
“You see, he once loved a woman, and she loved me. He took her away from me too. That is what he does. But she never loved him again after me, and he’s never recovered.”
I have known love…
Kylie ignored the pain in her heart. Khalifa’s love life was not her issue in that moment, though she knew she would need to process those thoughts later.
“The only reason he married you was to hurt me. That is all he wanted you for.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, not sure what she felt but knowing she needed to get control of the situation. Or try to. But she was terrified. The reality of what she’d walked into was swirling around her. “But I am married to him,” she whispered. “It’s done.”
“Ah, but do you think he’ll still want you after I have done what I want with you?” The hand on her leg crept higher, and she kicked her foot.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Oh, I’m going to touch,” he said thickly.
Kylie trembled with fear and he laughed, a horrible sound that turned her blood cold. “I am going to make you scream my name. You were mine. Mine.” He reached to his hip and Kylie froze, half-terrified he might find a weapon there. Instead, he lifted a flagon. He kept a hand on her as he used his teeth to open the lid, and then he brought it to her mouth.
She kept her lips sealed, and turned her head away but he brought his body weight down on top of her. “Drink it,” he said through gritted teeth. “You are too uptight. I don’t want to screw a block of ice.”
Kylie’s eyes locked to Aïna’s, the fear she felt mirrored back to her.
“Get off her!” Aïna said with all the strength she could muster.
“Shut up, bitch!”
And he took advantage of Kylie’s shock to pour the liquid into her mouth. She might have spat it out except he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her until she swallowed the alcohol, needing air and breath.
The taste of fish and scotch swirled in her gut and she almost wretched from the combination. She could feel his arousal pressing into her stomach and she hated him. Hated him with a strength she hadn’t known possible.
“Fayez.” The voice at the door was instant relief. Another man stood, his expression holding a clear warning. “Not now.”
“Yes,” Fayez straightened and his eyes took on a cold hardness. “You are right. There is time for that. You will sit here and think. Think about the situation you find yourself in. And then,” he leaned closer once more, “we will talk.” But before he pulled off her, he poured more of the liquid into her mouth and then, in one last moment of horrible madness, he brought his hand under her skirt, finding the naked flesh at the top of her thighs. “He will no longer want you, Kylie Maha Ishan, after I have had you in my bed.”
He left the room, slamming the door behind him so that Kylie jumped. She turned to Aïna, whose face was pale. Silence sat around them, shock heavy within it.
“Your highness,” Aïna spoke eventually, the words quiet, shaking with outrage and apology. “Are you okay?”
Kylie blinked away tears and nodded, pushing off the table and looking back down at her chain. She chased the loop mentally and then made a small noise of rejoice. “Aïna, look.” Her words were shivering but she didn’t care. She was in shock, that was all. “If I can just lift the table a little, I might be able to unloop the chain. What do you think?”
Aïna shook her head. “It’s too heavy.”
“I’m strong.” Kylie gripped her hands around the marble and pushed at it, groaning as the crippling weight of the thing left it resolutely on the floor.
“Please, madam…”
“No!” Kylie spoke more harshly than she’d intended. “I am not going to sit here and wait to damn well be rescued. Someone might come, Aïna, but they might not. We could be anywhere. I’m going to at least try to do something. Before that bastard comes back.”
Aïna stared at the princess as her hands once more pushed at the table and this time succeed
ed in lifting it an inch or so off the ground. Aïna stood, excitement giving her enthusiasm now. “Yes, yes, you’re almost there. Just a little higher.”
Kylie bit down on her lip, bracing her body as she pushed at the table top once more and it lifted. At the same time, she pulled her ankle and the chain came with her.
She sobbed with relief, dropping the table back to the ground. It was noisy though and she heard footsteps then voices outside. Fear galvanized her. She ran to Aïna, standing beside her, the chain making a dragging metallic noise against the concrete. “Don’t worry,” she said quietly. “We’re going to get out of here.”
The door clunked as it opened and Kylie stood there, defiance on her features, strength in her body.
“Khalifa!” She tore his name through the air, relief almost making her sag. She reached down for Aïna’s hand and squeezed it.
Khalifa cut the distance easily, and he stood in front of Kylie without touching her. His face was taut, his eyes tormented. “Are you …” he flicked a glance to Aïna. “Are you hurt?”
Kylie’s heart was hurting. Her stomach was churning. Her brain was remonstrating with her. But she shook her head. “I… no.”
“There was a chemical, your highness, that rendered us both unconscious.” Aïna offered.
Nonetheless, he reached for his wife and scooped her up, holding her against his chest and staring down at her face until colour bloomed back into her cheeks. “I can walk,” she said softly.
“I know that.” He took a step and the chain dragged along the ground. He paused, as if seeing it for the first time, and a muscle jerked in his cheek. He reached down and caught it in his hands, holding it beside her. “Come, my lanaria.”
The hallway of the building they had been brought to was deserted and they emerged into the full sunshine of the afternoon. They were somewhere in the desert, though she couldn’t see the palace. Kylie had no concept of where they’d been brought.
Several black cars were there, police cars, and a helicopter hovered in the distance. Kylie had the satisfaction of seeing her captors in one of the police cars, but she didn’t hold Fayez’s gaze for long. The menacing look and the threat he’d made sat around her like a straightjacket.
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