Chapter 10
Tavon walked into the gym and spotted his brother on the mat along with Prince Zahir del Sudar, Crown Prince of Ditara, a country to the west of Altair and a strong ally. Zahir was also a member of one of the wealthiest families in the world and a good friend, as well as an excellent fighter. For several moments, Tavon simply stood at the edge of the gym and watched, grunting whenever Zahir got in a good punch but remaining silent when Jaffri aimed a particularly good jab.
Zahir and Jaffri were both massive brutes, both of them tall and powerfully built. Tavon might be an inch or two taller, which gave him certain advantages when fighting, but Zahir and Jaffri had more muscle. Not that Tavon was a slouch in any way. But Tavon acknowledged that his older brother had more muscle mass. Tavon could take him though. When the two of them trained, neither of them could consistently best the other.
Right now, Tavon was more than ready to take on his older brother. But just thinking about it, he suspected it wasn’t a good idea to enter the fray right now. He might hurt Jaffri and…well, yeah. He wanted to hurt his brother.
“Don’t do it.”
Tavon looked down to find his baby sister standing next to him. Sada watched the two men battle, but he noticed that her eyes lingered on the other man more than her brother. Interesting, he thought. Zahir was a good friend who had generously visited Sada at school whenever he traveled to London. Zahir traveled just as often as Tavon, doing much the same work, but they never seemed to be in competition with each other. More often, he and Zahir found ways to collaborate and box out their competition, benefiting each of their countries even more profoundly.
So why was Sada staring so intently at the prince? For a moment, Tavon thought to ask her about her interest. But…this was Sada. She was too young to be interested in any man! Not seriously!
Pushing his suspicions about Sada and Zahir out of his mind, because the idea was ludicrous, he focused back on the two fighting men.
“Don’t do what?”
Sada leaned her head against Tavon’s arm, sighing about something Tavon didn’t want to know about. “Don’t fight Jaffri.”
Tavon glanced down at her again, shocked at her perceptiveness. She’d always been like that, he realized. She seemed to understand other people’s feelings before they understood themselves. It was a bit…startling.
“Why not?” he demanded, his mind quickly thinking of ways to take down his older brother. It wouldn’t be easy because Jaffri seemed to be in a pretty intense mood at the moment.
“Because the two of you are angry and you’ll hurt each other.” She turned and looked up at him, her blue eyes so similar to his own seemed to implore Tavon to understand her silent message.
He grunted, then shook his head slightly. “When did you get to be so pretty?” he growled.
Sada laughed and pushed lightly against his arm. “I’ve always been pretty,” she argued right back.
Tavon looked down at her and noticed that her eyes were glued to Zahir. “No, you used to be cute and bouncy. But also annoying. Now you’re…” he didn’t finish that observation since she’d just grabbed his arm. Looking over at the two men fighting, he realized that Jaffri had just given Zahir a powerful hit.
Seriously? Was his baby sister, who obviously wasn’t a baby any longer, worried about Zahir? The man could take care of himself, Tavon thought. But…sure enough, Zahir pushed up and had Jaffri on his back a second later. Glancing down again, Sada clapped her hands, then realized what she’d just done and suppressed her excitement. But Tavon glanced between the two of them, wondering if…
No! Impossible! Zahir would never be interested in Sada. She was…she was his baby sister! Surely the man wouldn’t be interested.
Once again, Tavon looked over at Zahir, then down at Sada. Maybe…?
No! Impossible!
With a sigh, he once again turned back to watch the ongoing battle. Both combatants were sweating with exertion, but neither appeared to be waning in strength or determination.
Thinking back to her original statement, he shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he countered. “Don’t you have…?”
“You’re furious with Jaffri because you think he stole Princess Mila from you.” Sada pulled her eyes away from the combat and looked up at him. “He didn’t, you know. Mila is hurting just as much as you are.”
Tavon grunted. “I’m not upset.”
Sada smiled and the change in her features was even more startling. Her eyes actually sparkled with mischief and amusement. “You’re in love with Princess Mila and I’m fairly sure that she’s in love with you.”
Tavon ignored her comment and turned away, pretending to watch the fight, but he was seething inside. After several moments, his curiosity got away from him. “What do you know of the situation?”
Once again, Sada grinned and he thought about torturing one of her toys in retribution, just as he’d done when she was younger. But Sada was in her twenties now. She didn’t have toys.
“I know that there’s more to everything than what people are saying, Tavon,” she told him gently, laying a hand on his arm. “And I know that everyone involved is hurting. There’s a story behind the recent events, something we don’t understand.” When Tavon looked down at her again, she tilted her head slightly. “Don’t give up on her, okay? I have a plan. It’s a good one and I think it will work. Just give me time to fix this.”
And then she was gone.
Tavon stared at the place where she’d been standing moments before, stunned by her confidence. Where had the little girl gone? In her place was a beautiful, confident woman. Tavon shook his head, not sure that he approved of his baby sister becoming that lovely. And smart!
A loud thud pulled his attention back to the mat and Tavon was shocked to find Zahir laying on his back with Jaffri standing over him. Both men were breathing heavily, but it was obvious that Jaffri had won this battle.
“Keep your eyes off my sister!” Jaffri growled, but he extended his hand to help the other man up.
Zahir stood and stared at the empty doorway, hands on his hips with a confused look in his eyes. “What the hell is she wearing?” Zahir demanded.
Both Tavon and Jaffri looked at the empty doorway, then at their friend. “I have no idea,” Tavon snapped. “Why?”
Zahir was still glaring at the door and Tavon suspected that steam was going to start shooting from his ears.
“Because it was too…” he paused, visibly groping for words. “You didn’t see it? You don’t think that it was a bit too…?”
Tavon and Jaffri both continued to stare at the other prince, not sure where he was going with the question.
Jaffri turned to Tavon. “Wasn’t she wearing a dress?” he asked.
Tavon shrugged. “I didn’t notice.” Both brothers turned to face Zahir. “What the hell are you doing noticing what my sister is wearing?” Jaffri demanded.
“Are you kidding me?” Zahir growled right back. His stunned eyes moved from Jaffri to Tavon, then back again.
Tavon wasn’t sure if he wanted to punch Jaffri or Zahir at the moment. But then he remembered why Jaffri deserved a beating and faced his brother, ignoring Zahir. For the moment.
“So, you’re marrying Princess Mila.”
“You are?” Zahir asked, chuckling and slapping Jaffri on the back. “Congratulations. I’d heard about a big announcement that came out yesterday, but I was in London in meetings and didn’t hear all the details.”
Jaffri growled in frustration. “I’m not marrying that woman. I’d never met her until yesterday and…” he shook his head. “Hell, I still haven’t really met her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tavon demanded, moving closer.
Jaffri’s hands fisted on his hips, mimicking his younger brother’s belligerent stance. “It means that I still haven’t spoken to Princess…whatever her name is. I’d never met her until yesterday’s press conference, I haven’t spoken to her yet, and there’s no way in hell I’m marrying a woman I don’t know! I have another woman that I plan to marry!”
Tavon moved closer. So close, there was barely an inch of space between their overly muscular chests. “Don’t you dare humiliate Mila!” he ordered his older brother in a furious tone. “She’s good, kind, and…” he started to say something, but realized where he’d gone and froze.
Jaffri continued to stare at his brother, his equally blue eyes narrowing as his agile mind figured out what hadn’t been said. “What? Are you and…what’s her name…involved?”
There was a chuckle nearby and both men turned to glare at Zahir. “Don’t let me interrupt,” the younger man said and stepped backwards, lifting his hands into the air, palms up. “I have no idea who Mila is. Not to mention, I suspect that there’s a hell of a lot more going on here than either of you know about.” He moved away. “You two do whatever it is that you need to do. I have a flight to Seattle leaving as soon as I’m showered.” And then he was gone. Both Tavon and Jaffri turned back to each other, the tension seeming to leave both of them.
“Are you in love with this Princess Mila woman?” Jaffri asked.
Tavon puffed up slightly. “When you talk about Princess Mila, you’ll show respect!” he snapped.
Jaffri once again lifted his hands. “Hey, I’m not the bad guy here. I don’t want to marry the woman. I’m going to marry Giselle.”
That was news! “Who the hell is Giselle?” Tavon demanded. Then shook his head, turning away and pacing for a moment before confronting his brother once again. “I’m not sure if I should be relieved that you’re not interested in Mila, or furious that you’re cheating on her with this Giselle person!”
Jaffri stared at Tavon for a long moment, looking at Tavon carefully. “You’re in love with Mila, aren’t you?”
Tavon didn’t say anything. But Jaffri understood and started laughing. Throwing a sweaty arm over Tavon’s shoulders, Jaffri shook his head. “Brother, we need to regain control of this situation. In a nutshell, my woman, Giselle, is hurt because she thinks I’m engaged to Mila. And let me warn you now, I don’t intend to spend even one night without her. So, if you’re in love with Princess Mila, you need to act fast. I don’t want to embarrass her, but nor am I going to let Giselle feel hurt either.”
Tavon nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. And knowing that his brother was in love with another woman eased a huge amount of the jealously that had been eating away at him ever since that horrible press conference yesterday. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
Jaffri laughed. “I know that Giselle is working with Mom and Sada, I suspect that they’ve developed a plan to fix this.”
Tavon’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not comfortable releasing control of this situation. I need to do something more active.”
Jaffri agreed. “I’m actively keeping Giselle happy and fully aware that she’s going to marry me. I told her that last night, so if you’d like to take that path, feel free. But act quickly because I’m not waiting around and I don’t want to embarrass Mila. I want Giselle as my wife fast.”
With that, Jaffri left, heading towards the showers.
Tavon stared after him for a moment, but then shook his head. Jaffri was right. Tavon wanted to marry Mila. Why the hell was he stepping back and letting things happen? He’d never allowed anyone to control his destiny before. Was he going to let the antiquated thinking of an aging leader do that now?
“Hell no!” he growled and turned on his heel. He walked out of the gym with more purpose than he’d ever had in his life. He knew what he wanted. Mila. And now, he was going to get her.