“What has happened?” Zahir demanded urgently, straightening to his full six feet three inches of height, his lean, powerful body tensing like the army officer he had been into immediate battle readiness.

His face unusually flushed, his aide Akram came to an abrupt halt as he belatedly recalled the niceties of court etiquette. “My apologies for the interruption, your Majesty—”

“Akram…?” Zahir prompted impatiently. “I have a meeting in thirty minutes—”

“It’s…her! That woman you married!” Akram recovered his tongue abruptly. “She’s out there in the streets of our capital city shaming you even as we speak!”

Sapphire—the one mistake he had ever made and the payback had been unforgettably brutal. He had endured indescribable punishment to keep her as his wife for even a year. She owed him—she definitely owed him. She had used and abused him before walking away unharmed and incalculably richer. Maybe it was finally payback time, Zahir reflected grimly. And the very thought of Sapphire being in his power was the most seductive image that Zahir had indulged in for years.