Lediiiiii!”
Ledi knew her bad luck streak would continue as soon as she saw Brian’s head poke out of his office the next afternoon. She’d wanted to build a pillow fort and hide away from the world, but grad school didn’t allow for recovery from life’s minor tragedies. Or comedies. Perhaps she was experiencing a bit of both. So she’d operated on autopilot that morning, feeding the Grams, and then sneaking out of her apartment and pretending her heart didn’t hurt when she saw the door to 7 N. She had barely slept thinking that he might show up across the hall at any time, then reminded herself that his little game of slumming it with the commoners had been found out so he’d probably relocated to classier digs. Maybe with his new fiancée.
Deep breaths. You don’t care. He’s just another case study for Fuckboy Monthly.
The necklace he’d given her shifted under her shirt. If she was stronger, she would have thrown it at him as the elevator doors closed, a dramatic form of closure. But she couldn’t. The scent brought her comfort, and it was the most perfect gift she’d ever gotten, even if it had come from a scumbag.
She’d left her phone at home; she’d removed the battery with shaking fingers on the ride down in the elevator to avoid Portia’s impending barrage of messages. Jamal—Thabiso—had hurt her, and badly. But deception by a guy was unexceptional; from your best friend, it was unbearable.
“Good morning, Brian,” she said politely, refusing to show emotion in front of him and also really not up for his shit.
“My favorite lab assistant! I’ve told you you’re my favorite, right?” She wondered if he really thought the constipated grimace he was sporting passed as a smile. She supposed he thought if he asked nicely, it wouldn’t matter that he somehow only had eyes for her when it came to foisting his work on her. “I know you’re supposed to do the Wright-Giemsa staining today, but Kevin was on sac duty this morning and he’s out sick.”
“Again?” Ledi had been exhausted for a long time, but she was veering dangerously close to burnout. Going into the lab after the shitshow of the previous night was supposed to be a reprieve. Do some cytospins, stain some cells—try not to think about the handsome jackass who had gotten past her defenses, not once but twice.
Jamal’s reveal had also unearthed a pressing question, one she had been hiding behind her anger and disappointment all night: if the prince was real, what was she supposed to make of all the “spam” emails she’d been receiving from Thesolo?
“Naledi?” Brian’s brows lifted, crenellating his forehead like the tiny brains he wanted her to retrieve and slice up. “You can do the mouse sacrifice, right?” He held her lab coat and safety goggles out as if they were the sacred garments needed to perform such a ritual. “If you could do a transcardial perfusion on the C57BL/6-backcrossed group? That’d be super.”
He dumped the coat and goggles onto the table beside her, as if she’d already said yes. She’d barely processed her own life and now she was supposed to serve as rodent executioner? Fucking Brian. Fucking Thabiso. Fucking everything.
“No.”
Brian kept walking, so she said it again a little louder.
“No, Brian.”
He turned around, annoyance plastered over his face. “What do you mean, no?”
Ledi inhaled deeply. “I mean, I have my own stuff to do this morning and I can’t do the saccing. You asked me if I could, and the answer is no.”
Brian’s face went red. “What is it with you? Part of being a team member is helping out when you’re needed.”
“And part of being a supervisor is making sure that you delegate tasks equally,” Ledi replied. She was shocked at how calm her voice sounded even though her face felt like it was flaming and her breathing was thin. “Whenever you have some grunt work you come searching for me, even though I’m one of the most experienced people in the lab. You call me out for being late, but give Kevin a pass for magically getting sick every time he’s up for sac duty. I said ‘no.’”
They stood glaring at each other. Ledi was already formulating rebuttals, was already prepared for whatever he would say to make her the offending party in the situation. She was done putting up with people’s shit.
Apparently, oh-sure-I’ll-do-that Ledi had been incinerated by the flames of her frustration and I-wish-a-motherfucker-would Ledi had risen from the ashes.
Try me, she thought as their standoff continued, but then the door to the lab opened. Ledi turned to see a woman enter, long dark hair brushing against her fuchsia blouse.
“Dr. Taketami?” Ledi hadn’t seen her PI in three weeks. “I didn’t know you were back yet.”
“I got back from the immunology conference last night. Still jet-lagged,” she said with a smile. “I’m calling in a favor today, though. I have someone who’s interested in learning more about our laboratory, and I’d like you to show him around.”
“Ledi was about to perform the saccing actually,” Brian said, a smug smile on his face.
“I was actually about to do my own work. I’m pretty tired of doing yours, too.”
Dr. Taketami looked back and forth between them. “Brian, go wait for me in my office.”
He made a sound of objection, but Dr. Taketami was already focused on Ledi again. “I know you have work to do, but you’ve been specifically requested.”
“That’s a thing? Why would someone request me?”
Ledi was trying to process everything that had happened. She’d said no to Brian. And then again in front of their PI. And everything was fine. Relief coursed through her, but it was quickly replaced by apprehension. Nothing good had happened in the last few days without exacting a hefty toll. Why should that pattern suddenly deviate?
The door to the lab opened and all thoughts were blotted out by anger.
This motherfucker.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded as Thabiso strode into the lab with that damned long-legged regality of his. He wore dress pants and a finely woven shirt with some kind of hexagonal pattern in red, black, and yellow that almost distracted from the smooth dark brown skin of his forearms.
Naledi whirled toward Dr. Taketami. “No way. Sorry, you’ll have to find someone else to show him around.”
“Ms. Smith!” A firm grip landed on her bicep, even though Dr. Taketami was smiling with all of her teeth. “This man is a donor. A Very. Generous. Donor.”
“So you’re pawning me off to some strange man for money?” Ledi asked in a low voice. “There’s a term for that you know.”
Dr. Taketami leaned in close and whispered, “Is this guy a stalker or something? If so, I’ll get security. If not, the deans would really appreciate you fulfilling this request. The governmental cuts have hit the program hard. They’re unprecedented and without donations, we’re in some real trouble.”
Ledi glared at Thabiso. His chin was raised haughtily in the air, but his gaze was nervous?
Dr. Taketami continued. “And, if you take a minute to talk to him, he may have the solution to your practicum problem.”
“I’ve already found a replacement field study since the university left me in the lurch,” Ledi shot back, but then remembered the theatrics of the night before. Was Dr. Okri still interested in working with her after the scene she’d been a part of? People had undoubtedly started gossiping before she even left the room. Was that internship still even on the table?
She glared at Thabiso and Dr. Taketami stepped in front of her.
“I don’t know what you found, but the probability of it being as useful to your career as this is doubtful. And I’m not just saying that to get you to do what I want. This could be huge, for both you and the program.”
Ledi narrowed her gaze and crossed her arms over her chest. She hated that her career was being used as an enticement, but she was curious now and Dr. Taketami knew it. The woman looked back and forth between the Ledi and Thabiso. “Shall I leave you to it, then?”
“Sure,” Ledi said. “If you have Brian do my data processing, as well as the saccing.”
Dr. Taketami grinned. “He’ll do it and he’ll like it. Stop by my office when the tour is over.” With that she hustled off.
Ledi dropped her gaze to Thabiso’s shoes, then remembered that she’d done nothing wrong and met his gaze. A tremor ran through her when she did, and she desperately wished it was only disgust. She hated that she remembered how his hands felt brushing against her most sensitive skin, how lush his mouth felt against hers. She hated how he was looking at her, with that damned Disney-fied, wide-eyed innocence. Like he hadn’t somehow wiggled his way into her life and exploded it from the inside. She’d thought he might be a virus from the moment she’d seen him, and she’d been right—she just hadn’t realized how fast-acting he’d be.
“So this is the equipment for the vermin murder you mentioned the other day?” He asked the question as if he was entitled to reminisce after what he’d done. An angry flush spread over her skin.
“What are you doing here? You think throwing your money around will make things all better, Prince?” she asked. She’d said she’d do the tour, not that she’d kiss his ass.
He laughed, a deep rich sound that insinuated itself under her clothing and pressed up against her skin. Ledi steeled herself against the sensation.
“Even I know there are some things money can’t buy,” he said, and now that she looked at him she could see the regret in his eyes. “But you have to know that I was going to tell you—”
“No. You paid for an informational session, not for the chance to worm your way back into my life.”
Thabiso leaned back as if evading a blow. “I understand that I’ve ruined everything, but do you not think you deserve an explanation?”
Ledi rolled her eyes.
“Explanations are for people who care, and I’m not in that cohort. I don’t need you,” she said. “I don’t need anyone.”
The words had always been the truth before, but they felt like a lie now, one that tripped clumsily to the ground and drew everyone’s pitying stares.
“I wish I could say the same,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“This is the lab,” Ledi said in a flat tone, spreading her hands out like a lethargic museum guide. She refused to listen to any more of his lies, especially when it was so tempting to believe them. “Science stuff happens. Kind of like magic, but with more paperwork.”
“I don’t want a tour, Naledi,” Thabiso said quietly.
“Here are the high-powered microscopes,” she said with a wave of her arm. “When you look into them you can see the tiniest details of a life-form. Nothing hides from that Zeiss lens. It’s really too bad there isn’t one for screening men like you.”
She hadn’t meant to say that, but seeing him in front of her and not hating his guts as much as she should have was upsetting.
“Naledi.” His fingertips brushed her arm and she stepped away from the sensation that webbed over her skin. She refused to look up at him, but she could smell the familiar scent of him. The scent of happiness. Her throat went rough. If he made her cry in the lab, she would at the very least pretend to infect him with anthrax.
“I’m not engaged,” he said. “If nothing else, you must know that. That was a misunderstanding—there is no one else.”
Ledi didn’t acknowledge the relief that perfused her, rushing through her veins, making visible just how foolish she was. There was no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt except for the fact that he was there in front of her instead of swimming in a pool of money or whatever it was princes did in their spare time. It didn’t change anything though.
“I believe you mean there’s no one at all,” she corrected.
He inhaled sharply.
“I’ve always believed that once something is done, there is no going back,” he said. “That people should pay for mistakes. That’s mostly because I was also taught that it wasn’t possible for me to make them.”
She glanced up at him, wanting to smack the sheepish grin off of his face.
“I’m selfish. Entitled. You witnessed that firsthand the day you met me,” he said. “But I’m a prince, Ledi. Before this week, I’d never had to think of anything beyond myself and my people. I saw getting what I wanted, when I wanted, as a fair bargain for a life of servitude.”
“Servitude? I have Google you know. I finally looked you up and it seems like a pretty sweet life to me. Servants. A palace. Beloved by your people. Forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for you.”
Thabiso frowned. “You may sneer at my riches, but that’s the life you would have had if your parents hadn’t fled. You would likely already be my wife, living in that palace, being waited on by those servants, and beloved by your people. Our people.”
Ledi took a deep breath, one that bordered much too close to a gasp. When she was a child, in those strange homes, she’d told herself the silliest stories as she lay awake at night. Stories with castles and royalty, and where foster homes only showed up in nightmares. She’d long ago buried all of those foolish dreams, but now they were being dragged back to the surface.
“Why are you doing this? If what you say is true, my parents are the only thing that tied me to Thesolo. They’re dead. Any ridiculous pact they made when I was a child has nothing to do with me.”
The words were cold, but she needed cold to fight the hot tears rising in her. He knew everything about her, and she knew nothing. This was about more than his betrayal now; living in the dark had allowed her to go through life in her self-contained way. Now he was offering to bring her into the light, and that would change everything. Fear gripped her tight with this one simple truth: if she knew who her parents were, she would know what she’d lost, what she’d been denied.
She wasn’t sure she could take that.
Jamal—Thabiso—nodded. “I shouldn’t ask anything of you, but a good prince is also a businessman. I have an offer that is mutually beneficial.”
Ledi wanted to turn and walk off, but she couldn’t even if she tried. If those emails were true . . .
“Spit it out,” she said.
“My country is in the midst of a medical crisis,” he said. “My people are falling ill with a sickness that seemingly has no source and our best doctors have been unable to resolve it. This has caused several problems, including people turning to witchcraft and superstition for explanations.”
He sighed and scrubbed his hand through his beard.
“There is a small but important sect of religious leaders who believe that this sickness has befallen my people because the goddess is unhappy with me.”
Ledi tilted her head, as if that would help her to understand better. “For being a lying jerk?” she asked.
His gaze flicked to hers, then away. “For remaining unmarried.”
“Are you fucking—”
“Hear me out, Naledi.” He held out his hand to stay her, but his fingers curled away from her skin and into his own palm at the last second. Ledi wished she didn’t feel a pang of regret at the near miss with his fingertips. “This is my proposal. Come to Thesolo. I will give you unfettered access to my team of epidemiologists and doctors as they track this situation. Novel, is what the scientists are calling it. Novelties are quite important in your field, if I’m not mistaken.”
Dammit, he was right. Working at the NYC Health Department would give her something to write about, but it would be a bottom of the barrel thesis unless something remarkable happened. She was fairly certain no other grad students in her contingent, and perhaps the whole of the US, would have access to a small-scale outbreak in a homogenous African kingdom. She hated that people were suffering, but if she went, she’d get to help stop that and to make a name for herself all in one shot. And . . .
“You can also learn about your history. Your people. The country you never knew.”
“I told you that I don’t care about that,” Ledi said, even though her heart squeezed at his words.
“You can meet your family,” he said quietly, as if he were ashamed to pull that card.
“I . . . I have family?” She felt a brief, unexpected burst of joy, followed by a chaser of rage. “I have family and you waited to tell me?”
The words came out louder than she had controlled for. Thabiso flinched and Ledi pressed her lips together, mentally slicing away at the anger and hope and betrayal that were coagulating around her. She couldn’t be overwhelmed. She refused.
“I asked you directly and you said you didn’t want to know,” he said. “Was I supposed to force the information on you against your will?”
“Yes!” A fierce whisper, then she remembered how adamant she’d been at Fort Tryon Park. “No. Well, just tell me now.”
“You have an uncle and a cousin. Your grandparents, your mother’s parents, are among those who have fallen ill. We’re trying to save them.”
Ledi stared at him; she was shit at telling if he was lying, but she couldn’t believe he’d sink so low as to lie about that.
“What do I have to do? And what’s in this for you?”
Thabiso sighed, but this time he didn’t look away.
“You don’t have to do anything more than you’ve ever done, really,” he said. “You just have to be my betrothed.”
Ledi held one hand to her forehead and another up in front of Thabiso. “Wait. Wait. You came here to apologize for lying about your identity, and now you’re asking me to lie about mine? You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m not asking you to lie,” he said. “You are my betrothed, by royal and religious decree. I’m not asking you to pretend that you love me—”
“Good. I’m a scientist, not an actress, Bones.”
“Bones?”
She stared at him, and he dropped the query.
“Never mind. Right.” Thabiso shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. “Rumors are already spreading after the event last night, but we can spin this. We can go with the story that you were unaware of who I was, who you were, and you can return a prodigal daughter. That should placate people who were angry about your parents fleeing. Then, once the outbreak is handled and things go back to normal, you can say that you miss the US and go back home.”
Ledi was trying so hard not to care, but his last words shanked her right in a vulnerable spot. Some stupid romantic part of her had hoped he might beg her to stay, even if that was the last thing she wanted. Didn’t she deserve that lie, too? Then she remembered that no one ever wanted her around for long.
Defective Velcro.
She almost told him no.
This is for work. This could make your career.
“Fine. I’ll pretend to be your betrothed,” she said holding out her hand. She squeezed his hand hard, and then dropped it. “And then I’ll leave.”