Queen of Barrakesch

She’d never seen him so dismissive of her feelings and while sarcasm and witty remarks had been common in their relationship, he’d never behaved like this with her before.

“This is beneath you, Wasim,” Imani whispered, hoping to appeal to his softer side.

“Wanting to marry you is beneath me?” he asked sarcastically.

“Forcing my hand.”

He lowered his voice. “Everyone expects us to get married.”

She lowered her voice further. “But we agreed we wouldn’t go that far. Marriage was not the endgame.”

“The game has changed. My father is dead. On his deathbed, he asked me to marry you. All you have to do is say yes.”

“Whether I want to or not? Forced marriages are forbidden in Islam.”

“I am not forcing you to marry me. I offered you marriage, which you did not accept. According to my religion, which you love to toss in my face, we cannot be married without your consent. You do not give your consent, we cannot get married.”

“That’s twisted logic and you know it.” She stepped back and let out several angry breaths in response to his uncaring, emotionless face. “I don’t want to be stuck married to you.”

“Stuck?” Wasim repeated, anger and affront evident in his voice and rigid posture.

“Spare me your indignation. I had much greater aspirations, and wanted more out of life than being the incubator for a man’s royal seed.”

His eyes narrowed. “I think you’ve insulted me enough for one day. If you did not come to give me the answer I want, then you can leave.”

“Don’t you believe in love at all? I do. I want to love the man that I marry.”

“Then you will love me. You will give me your body and your heart.”

“That’s not how love works. But you don’t care about any of that, do you? All you care about is winning. Wasim must always win, no matter the cost to his opponent. I wish I’d never agreed to this ridiculous farce of a relationship. Ironic, isn’t it, that it was my idea?”

And now she was trapped, like a fly in a spider web, struggling and struggling to break free but not finding any way out. Because he held all the cards.

Wasim was good at reading people, finding their weakness and exploiting it. And he’d done that very thing to her. So much money was at stake. She couldn’t allow the deal to fall apart when they were so close, and she couldn’t allow it to be tabled indefinitely.

She was her father’s only daughter and felt lost in a sea of testosterone and unquenchable need to prove herself and her capabilities. While her father never belittled her, she felt his condescension. That’s why she’d worked so hard to demonstrate that she was as valuable as her brothers. All that would be taken away from her. Her biggest accomplishment.

And the women’s programs she wanted to fund with proceeds from the oil revenues would fall by the wayside. More than a year of hard work down the drain, and all he had to do was sign his name.

“You know this project is important to me. You know about the women I’ll be helping. Don’t do this.” She kept her voice strong and firm, refusing to beg though clearly at a disadvantage. She had her pride.

“I won’t, if you marry me.”

She didn’t recognize the hard glint in his eyes. He was known to be a master negotiator, capable of wringing blood out of a turnip, but she’d never expected that skill to be turned on her.

Imani glared at him, wishing she could eviscerate him with only a look. But he was unmoving. How could she have ever thought she had feelings for him?

“I will never forgive you for this. Our relationship will never be the same.” She leaned across the desk with one hand on its smooth surface. “Fine, Your Excellency, I’ll marry you. But I will never love you.”

He remained mostly unmoved, nonchalantly resting an elbow on the arm of his chair, only the narrowing of his eyes giving any indication that he heard what she’d said. “Well then, lucky for me, I don’t need your love.”

Their eyes locked in a battle of wills. Both stubborn. Both rigid.

Finally, Imani had had enough. With fire billowing through her veins, she swung around and left.

When she safely arrived downstairs, she blinked back tears of frustration as she fled the palace.