Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
“She’s my wife. She’s royal now,” Kash returned.
“And when they all find out what she does?” Hanin spewed his bile. “How she dominates men? Does she do these things to you, Your Majesty? Is that how she caught you? You’re in her web.”
Day’s stomach tightened. It was the one thing Kash couldn’t handle. Someone knowing.
Rai and Malone had heard that accusation. It could kill Kash.
“Let her go,” Hanin insisted. “No one will follow her, Your Majesty.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Kash replied. “She already has one devoted servant. She has me. I’ll see you hanged for this.”
“No need.” A hollow look hit Hanin’s face. “This isn’t my home anymore. This isn’t my world anymore.”
He brought the cup to his lips.
Day started to yell out, but Kash turned and caught her, his arms going around her. Even as he started to haul her out the door, she could see Hanin falling.
Kash rushed her out, taking her from the sight. He strode to her room, opening the doors and charging in. He turned briefly and yelled down the hall at his guard. “If that wasn’t poison he drank, Rai, let me know so I can kill him myself.”
“He’s quite dead, Kash,” Rai replied as he followed. “Malone is calling it in and staying with the body. Who could have guessed snails would be so poisonous? It’s how I figured out it was him. He has a cousin who works at a lab in Western Australia.”
Kash set her down. “And how did you know it was Day he wanted to kill and not me?”
“Because I heard him talk about how she would ruin the crown,” Rai replied. “I thought it was idle gossip until I put together he was the one who had poisoned the Scotch. He was in the booth with me that night. He watched you send her away. We all heard that conversation.”
Then the guards knew? Her hands were shaking.
Rai reached for one of them, pulling it up. “Your Majesty, you should know that the guards all take an oath of silence when it comes to the family we protect. You should also know that I’ve long believed Kashmir needed a woman who could spank his ass silly, and I’m glad to hear he found one. Not a one of my men sees you as anything less than the queen and Kashmir as anything but one incredibly lucky man. Well, they do worry that our lovely and intelligent queen has been strapped with such an ignorant ass for her husband.”
Kash was standing beside her, looking down at her hand. “Thank you, Rai. Thank you for wanting to save her.”
Rai kissed her hand and then let it go, turning back to Kash. “Of course I wanted to save her. You, on the other hand, I would have let drink all the snail venom in the world. I hate you.”
Kash was grinning. “But you’ll come back to your job.”
Rai was already moving for the door. “Yes. I’ll return to work but only because I love my wife and this pays better than anywhere else.”
“Rai, I’m glad to have you home.”
He stopped at the door, not looking back. “And I’m glad to have a friend who believed in me even when all the evidence was against me. Even when I behaved like an ass. Stay here. I’ll post a guard on the door, but I don’t think we can keep this out of the press. I’ll try, but two bodies in a week is a lot to cover up.”
The door closed behind him and Kash wrapped his arms around her. He hugged her close. “I’m so sorry.”
She held on to him and hoped this wasn’t the end.
CHAPTER 11
Hours and hours later, Day closed the door to her room with the full knowledge that none of this was over. Hanin was dead, but there was still such distance between her and Kash. Who would have guessed that the attempt on her life would have been the highlight of her day? Now she had to sit down with Kash and figure out what to do with the rest of their lives, with their marriage.
She looked back into the room. He was sitting on the couch in her sitting area, staring into space. Her bed was not more than ten feet away. How lovely would it be to sink into her comfy mattress and drift off to sleep?
Perhaps they should put this whole conversation off. The day had been tiring. “I think I should go to bed.”
He didn’t look her way. “No. We should talk. We can talk here. There are no cameras. We can’t go back to my room. They’re still working in there. In the morning the press will be swarming and we’ll have to admit to everything. We’ll also have to announce that Mother is ill. Tomorrow will be a long day.”