Forty-Five

 

"Are you carrying his child?" the Sultan repeated.

Anahita shot a dark glance at Maram. Damn her spies. "Yes," Anahita admitted. "The midwife confirmed it this morning."

Philemon's child, not Basit's, but she could not tell her father that. Nor Philemon, while her father was listening.

"Take the girl, then," the Sultan said. "I wish you well of her."

Philemon rose and took her arm. "Thank you."

Anahita found herself in the corridor with Philemon. "What are you – " she began

"You are my wife, and I am taking you home," he interrupted, heading down the corridor as though he knew where he was going.

Anahita wrenched free. "What are you doing? The harem's that way, and even if my father has given me to you like some bauble, he will not let you have any of his own wives and concubines."

"Then how do we get out of this palace?" Philemon looked bewildered.

Anahita took pity on him. "This way," she said. Behind her, she heard the familiar footsteps of Haidar and Asad as they followed her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what her father said, she would never be some prince's plaything.

"If you know the way to a good inn, that would help, too," Philemon said softly, glancing around.

"Asad will know the best," she said. "But I have apartments here in the palace, and my sister Maram – "

"Has spies everywhere," Philemon finished.

A flash of understanding sparked between them. "Asad will lead the way, and Haidar will make sure we are not followed," Anahita said.

The two men moved into place, setting a steady pace that moved easily through the busy streets. Philemon was stiff and agitated at her side, but he didn't say another word until they were behind the closed door of the best room in what Asad insisted was the most prestigious inn in the city.

"Your father and your sister want you to kill me, so her husband can have Tasnim," Philemon said. He pulled his knife from its sheath and flipped it so it lay hilt-first in his hand. "Take it and use it now. I would rather die at this very moment than to be stabbed in the back when I believed I was happy."

Anahita stared at the knife, and then him, in horror. "I don't know of any such plan. Maram would never want Tasnim, for it is too isolated for her. She'd be bored without harem and court politics to play with."

"The Sultan made it clear he wants my city. He wanted to know all about the succession, should some misfortune befall me!"

Anahita touched her belly. "How did you know about the baby? Even I didn't know for sure until this morning."

"I guessed! I lied! I don't know!" Philemon exploded. "He wasn't going to let me marry you...and then, suddenly, he changed his mind and handed you to me. Like merchants trade their daughters for Tasnim's hospitality. I would have carried you to the city as its princess, a ruler who would sit at my side, but not like this." He thrust the knife at her, hilt-first. "Do it! If you are truly his assassin, cut out my heart. For it cannot hurt as much as it does now, knowing the woman I love will kill me." He tore open his shirt, baring his breast.

Anahita seized the knife and flung it, point down, into the floor. "I will not!" she said fiercely. "I am not my father's assassin! I killed men who deserved their fate – animals who would have killed me, given the chance. You are not like them, and I will not help anyone who tries to take Tasnim from you!"

He was the one talking of heartache, yet hers felt like it was ready to break. Her father has used her as a pawn to destroy his enemies, but she would no longer play politics. That was Maram's world, not hers. And if Maram could marry...so could she.

She stared into Philemon's eyes. "Marry me," she said. "And then take me home to Tasnim with you."

He dropped his gaze and her heart sank with it.

"Please," she begged, then kissed him.

The fire built between them, burning as bright as their first kiss. He wanted her – Anahita knew that. But then why...?

He set his hands on her shoulders and broke the kiss. "I cannot marry you, because we are already married." His eyes begged her to understand.

She shook her head. "We can't be. I'd remember."

Still he didn't smile. "By the laws of the desert people, when a couple share a tent for the night and share a morning meal afterward, they are married. The night Sheikh Basit died..." He shook his head. "In the panic of that night, I forgot what I should have known. And with you in my arms...I lost my mind entirely. You are everything I ever wished for in a wife, and more. I should have left you alone that night, but I could not resist you."

Memories of that first night brought a blush to Anahita's cheeks. She had not been able to resist him, either, nor had she wanted to. As for letting her sleep in that tent alone...Anahita had begged him to stay when he'd suggested leaving. Realisation dawned. "That's how we broke the curse." The very night she'd vowed to do anything Philemon needed to break it, she already had.

"Perhaps. It was my first curse, and, I hope, my last." Philemon drew in a deep breath. "So...you aren't angry at me for wedding you without you being aware of it? Without asking for your consent to the match?" He rushed to continue before she could respond. "If you are, say the word and I will divorce you, though it would break my heart to do so. I could not force you into a match you do not desire."

"No, you wouldn't." She remembered the passion of that first night, and every night after. Until last night's loneliness, not knowing if she would ever see him again. "I came to you willingly, Philemon. Every night since, and so I intend to continue. Together, with you. No talk of divorce or cutting out hearts. I am your wife. I am your wife." The word tasted good on her lips.

"My one and only." Now his smile appeared, and it was blindingly bright. His arms slid around her, pulling her close. His kiss held the promise of everything she'd ever wanted.

She laid her head against his bare chest, where his heartbeat thrummed under her cheek. "Take me home to Tasnim, my Frog Prince."

"Anything for the princess who saved me."