The Things I Lost In The Desert

Chapter 8 - Third Times A Charm

My heart leapt when three tuxedoed men stood at the foot of my bed, watching me.

I screamed, reaching for the buzzer but a man I recognised covered it, making it impossible for me to alert any hospital staff. "Gary? What's going on?"

"You have nothing to fear Miss Bailey," He tried to soothe me but the presence of three large men was too unsettling.

"Who the hell are they?" Gary's mouth formed a thin line as he nodded to one of the men who left the room.

I was being hospitalised for arsenic poisoning. According to my doctor, I was slowly being administered the poison for days. I do recall feeling some abdominal pain and mild nausea but I mistakenly chalked it down to having my appendix recently removed and the scary activity happening in my womb.

We tried to trace where the source was from but besides taking prenatal medication upon finding out about my pregnancy, I hadn't ingested anything I didn't make myself.

I knew I was lucky Gary found me when he did, not only could I have lost my life but I could've lost my baby too. The door opened and the man who left returned with someone else.

"You!" I sat up. This had to be a dream. "Raheem?"

"We understand you are not familiar with our customs Miss Bailey, but you will refer to His Royal Highness by his title." One of the guards said. He lowered his head when Raheem turned to glare at him.

"His royal what?" I gave out a humourless laugh while trying to keep calm, "You've got to be joking!"

"Rome." He said my name in the greeting. His voice travelled down my spine in a way that let me know, the body never forgets. "How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling? How am I feeling?" I parroted the ridiculous of his statement given our brief history. "You left me alone in a desert and now you show up five months later casually asking how I'm feeling?" The pitch of my voice increased with every word.

"I do not think it is wise for you to work yourself up."

"I don't give a shit what you think, get out!" The other men all glanced at each not knowing what to do. It was probably their first time hearing someone speak to their boss or royal prince like that but I didn't care. He and his troop of stoic suits could take a hike.

Nobody moved and I wasn't in any physical condition to force anyone out. "What are you doing here, how did you even find me?" As soon as I voiced the question, the answer shuffled next to me, bringing my attention to him.

"You..." To his credit, Gary looked ashamed.  I turned back to Raheem and several emotions hit me like a flood. The hurt I felt when I woke up alone. The embarrassment that consumed me when he'd sent a 'post one night stand damage control' team. The fear that paralyzed me when I found out I was pregnant. It all boiled together and formed absolute rage!

"How long have you been watching me?" And how much did he know? Raheem responded with 'enough' but that wasn't going to cut it. "This isn't the time to be elusive with your fucking answers Raheem! I'm in pain, apparently, someone is trying to poison me and I've just found out my one-night stand is fucking prince, the least you could do is be honest with me!"

One of the guards seemed to choke after I mentioned that Raheem and I had spent a night together but he quickly recovered. I was too angry to care. Raheem said something in Arabic that had everyone vacate the room. When it was just him and I he calm round to the side of my bed, gently taking my hand in his.

"I understand that you are angry-"

"Do you?" I fired back and he took a deep breath. A smile tugged at his lips.

"I must admit, I missed your fire jamila fatir," When I didn't respond he continued.  "I hope you know, I did it for you." 

I scoffed, was there anything more annoying than his condescending 'royal saviour' talk?

"I am a royal prince Rome, my whereabouts are accounted for every two hours. Do you not think a search party was sent out for me? Do you know what would have happened if the press found out you spent the night with me? You do not want my life habibti, I did it to spare you the scrutiny. Do you have any idea the things they would call you? How they would harass you?"

He brought my hand to his lips placing a soft kiss on my knuckles. He was so close that I could see the glitter of sincerity in his silver eye. "There is nothing I wanted more than to fly after you and tell you how sorry I was but I did not want to turn your world on its head."

But he was doing that anyway. "Then why now? Why are you here?"

"Because I suspect you may be the target of the Taj Mayt."

I was trying to keep up but the combination of shock, pain medication and the dizzying scent of a royal prince made it hard to make sense of anything he was saying. "What's the Taj Mayt?" 

"They are an anti-royalist group, who have been responsible for many assassination attempts on my family..." A chill went down my spine, what had I gotten myself into?

"I don't understand, what does that have to do with me?"

"The last thing I wanted to do was burden you with the responsibility of the crown but it appears we were not careful enough." He was waiting for me to confirm his suspicions but what was the point? He knew already, otherwise he wouldn't be here. "If that baby you are carrying, is mine, he or she is third in line."

I ignored that 'if' because the baby was definitely his.

"Third in line for what?" He cooked his head to the side, scrunching his eyes at me as if he was dealing with an imbecile. I knew it was a stupid question but I needed him to say it. Maybe, just maybe-

"The throne habibti."

I shook my head trying to understand what he was telling me, "No that can't be, don't they pick boys for that? Doesn't she have to be male to be an heir?"

Raheem smirked, "We are in the twenty-first century. Keep up." Where was the patriarchy when you needed it? His smile softened and he look unsure of himself for the first time since I'd met him. "It is a girl?"

His question made me I realised this was as new to him as it was for me. If I could put my anger aside, surely I could empathise with how shocking it must be to find out the girl you hooked up with once is pregnant. And not just with any pregnancy, a royal heir?

I nodded. 

"I found out yesterday actually and unless there's any other way of falling pregnant that I don't know about," I felt my face heat up at the brief flash in my memory of how she was conceived. "She's yours."

I wasn't too sure, but I think I saw relief flicker across his face but I didn't want to ponder on it. "Third in line is so..so close. Don't you have siblings?"

"An older brother." He tucked a loose tendril of my hair behind my ear. "He and his wife have not conceived yet."

He was so close, I could smell him. The scent of sandalwood refreshed my memory and I didn't like it. I looked up at him, trying to battle the onslaught of emotions. This was all insane, too much to take in. The little I did know about Raheem was that he was attentive and could almost read my mind.

"I know this is a lot to digest and that is why I did not want to contact you unless I was sure. But clearly, someone from the Taj Mayt knows about this pregnancy and both of your lives are in danger. I have to legitimise her."

"What do you mean legitimise her?" I ripped my hand from him as if he had burnt me. He took a deep breath, the kind that told me he was going to say something I didn't like.

"The crown will never recognise this child if she is born out of wedlock," His silver eyes shifted down the length of my form to my stomach. "You will have to marry me."