"Maram!"
At the Sultan's exclamation, Aladdin reluctantly released his angel and held his arms out wide in surrender.
Maram waited to finish one last kiss before she unwound her arms from Aladdin. "What, Father? I'm going to marry this man. He'll see more than my face and hair, soon enough." She bent to retrieve her veil, trailing her fingers across Aladdin's groin. "Soon enough," she repeated softly.
Aladdin's cheeks grew as heated as...he could hardly face the Sultan while he had a tent in his accursed silk pants. A normal tunic would have hidden everything, but in this finery...he forced himself to retrieve his turban and hold it before his groin to hide the effect Princess Maram had on him.
She winked as she wound her veil around her hair, leaving her face uncovered. "Prince Aladdin wishes to know if any improvements should be made to his palace. It appears perfect to me, but you have seen more of it than I have."
The Sultan stared from Aladdin to Maram. "What about Hasan?"
She frowned. "What about him, Father? I doubt he has laid so much as a single stone on the palace he promised to build, but if I'm wrong, I will happily compare the two. We already know who will be the victor in any competition."
"What will I tell his father?"
Maram shrugged. "Tell him you received a better offer from a prince. He's your adviser. If he advised you to accept a vizier's son over a prince, he'd be a fool, and out of a job. You needn't tell him right away. I will need at least four weeks before my wedding. You'll have some time."
"Four weeks?" Aladdin blurted out.
Maram smiled mischievously. "Four weeks until the wedding, yes. It will take that long for my dress. A royal wedding is worth celebrating." She winked. "Don't worry, my prince. I shall have my things moved to your palace tonight. From this moment, I am yours."
Oh, how he longed for that to be true. But it was not. "No, you and this palace will not be mine until we are married. Until then, this palace belongs to you alone, Princess. I will stay with my mother but, with your permission, I shall visit you, if you wish."
Maram's shock brightened into a smile. "Oh, I do wish."
The Sultan coughed. "It seems my daughter has made her decision, and what father would argue with a woman in love? Shall we meet on the morrow, Prince Aladdin, or will you accept my answer now?"
Aladdin bowed. "I will accept whatever Your Majesty is gracious enough to grant me."
The Sultan laughed. "My favourite daughter, it would seem. Just like her mother, I can refuse her nothing. But I will add one thing." His expression darkened. "If you hurt her, if my daughter sheds a single tear because of you, I will have your head severed from your body so fast, you will not have time to blink in surprise before your heart stops beating."
Aladdin met the Sultan's eye now, not a subject to his sovereign, but a future son-in-law to a protective father. "If I ever cause harm to come to Princess Maram, I will offer my head to you myself, for I will deserve such a fate."
He opened his mouth to ask what the Sultan would do to Hasan, but he'd taken his daughter's arm and already started walking away.
Hasan no longer mattered. Maram would marry him, and make Aladdin the happiest of men.
"I'd have risked killing myself, crossing the desert for her, too," Kaveh said fervently. "You are one lucky man."
Yes. Yes, he was.
TWENTY-FIVE
When they returned to the Sultan's palace, Maram knew she would have a lot of questions to answer. But for the first time in longer than she could remember, she did not care. She'd seen him, she'd kissed him and by some incredible change of heart from fate, she'd get to keep him. Aladdin. The only man who'd ever touched her heart.
The only man who kissed her like he cared how he touched her, not wanting to consume her in his own blazing passion. Oh, Aladdin had passion enough, she was certain of it, for she'd seen it in his eyes as he kissed her.
But he didn't want to marry her for himself. Oh, no. He wanted to save her from Hasan. One day she would tell him how she'd planned to save herself, but not until after they were married. She didn't want to frighten him. Then again, Aladdin was not some soft courtier, to be frightened by a woman who took her fate into her own hands. No, he was a man who would risk everything – even his own life – for the woman he loved.
Her mouth became dry. Did he love her? He had not said so, but then he'd hardly had the chance to do so. Yet why else would he risk so much for her, if not for love?
"How do you know this man, and why have I never heard of him?" Father demanded.
Maram blinked. She'd been so lost in thought she hadn't realised they'd arrived in her private apartments, and they were alone. She pulled off her veil and shook out her hair. She would have to be careful, for her father thought Aladdin was a prince, and she had no desire to tell him otherwise.
"I met him once, briefly. I liked him very much then and I believe he liked me, too, but as neither of us were in a position to marry at the time, I thought such a thing would never happen. Evidently I underestimated both his affection and his wealth." She blew out a breath. She would not make that mistake again. Aladdin was not a man to be underestimated at all.
"What about Hasan? Why would you agree to marry Hasan if you loved this man so much?" Father persisted.
Ah, here was the crux of the matter. She was her mother's daughter, after all.
"I never intended to marry Hasan. He is a vicious brute who beats his servants and has wanted to do the same to me since the moment we met. I had hoped to bankrupt him by forcing him to build a palace that I would never be satisfied with. Then, when he was so deeply in debt he could no longer continue, perhaps he would give up his suit, and he'd be forced to release the servants he has abused for so long."
Father's eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his jewelled turban. "How did I not know this about him?"
Maram lifted her shoulders in a delicate shrug. "Perhaps only women gossip about such things, or perhaps he hides it well from anyone outside his household. But you sent him with me on a trading expedition, where he tried to turn me into his whore. He did not succeed, and has hated me ever since. I had no idea you were unaware of his true nature, Father." Though it didn't surprise her. Vizier Ali must have known, and worked hard to conceal it from the Sultan.
He frowned, evidently deep in thought.
Maram let the silence build. Her father would fill it when he chose to.
Finally, he said, "So you don't wish to marry Hasan, but you do want this other man? This prince? He will make you happy?"
"Yes, Father. Aladdin will make me happy." He already had.