Time slowed as Jasmina melted in Jenson’s arms, her whole body on fire at the touch of his lips on hers. After a long moment, reality began to creep in and she realized just what she was doing. She pressed her palms against his chest and pushed him away, taking a step back as they both caught their breath.

“Never do that again!” she hissed, turning away.

“As you wish, Your Highness,” he said, though his tone belied any chance he would follow through on such a promise.

Jasmina picked up her pace in an attempt to regain control of her senses. She had been a fool to kiss him back! She could still feel the press of his lips on her own, and it took everything in her not to try and wipe it away. She wondered then if that was what she really wanted, and brushed the thought aside. There wasn’t time for this nonsense! It was time to get back to the task at hand.

As they reached a main street, she felt Jenson’s hand slide into hers.

“Just keeping up our disguise,” he whispered against her ear.

A shiver ran down Jasmina’s spine, but she simply nodded, allowing Jenson to continue holding her hand. They strolled down a few more winding streets until they reached a vast market that was teeming with people. Jasmina made her way down a row of stalls, holding Jenson’s hand all the while—the better not to lose him in the crowd.

Yes, that was her reason.

“Fresh apricots, miss? They make an excellent breakfast fruit!”

Jasmina turned to face the vendor calling out to her and smiled. For a moment his eyes narrowed, like he recognized her from somewhere. She approached quickly and turned on her accent.

“I’ve never have apricots with breakfast before. We don’t really do that in America.”

“Oh, you are American! Yes, it is quite the tradition here. You will love the apricots of El Jayiah. They are some of the best in the world!”

“These look wonderful, darling,” Jenson said, cozying up to her, wrapping his arm around her waist as he looked down at the cart of fruit. “How much did you say they were?”

“For you, just ten jaya,” the vendor said, and Jasmina nearly snorted. The man was conning them! Apricots were so bountiful she knew they could get them for a fraction of that price. She smiled once more at the man.

“Surely they can’t be that expensive. I’ve read that your country has an abundance of this fruit. As a matter of fact, I saw them for only one jaya at another stall. Perhaps we will take our business there.”

“Ah, you are right, miss! We happen to be having a sale today, as a matter of fact.”

“You are? What luck we’re in, honey,” she said, smirking up at Jenson.

He smiled at her with a warm look in his eye, and her stomach did a little flip. She forced it to relax as she turned back to the vendor.

“We’ll take a bag of those, please, for the sale price if you will.”

Their interactions at the other stalls went much the same, with vendors trying to take advantage of their foreign status and Jasmina out-negotiating them at every turn. When she looked back up at Jenson after winning an argument over the price of chicken, he looked deeply impressed, which made her heart flutter a little more.

Stop it, she thought, taking the bag of chicken from the man and walking away.

She still didn’t release Jenson’s hand. He was carrying their groceries in his other arm, his gaze dancing from cart to cart as he considered what else they could add to their meal. Jasmina realized that they were doing very little to show him just what was at stake, so she turned to a woman selling scarves.

“Oh, these are lovely,” she breathed. “Honey, look at these.”

Jenson glanced down and cast her a sideways glance. No one knew better than he that Jasmina could afford any scarf in the world—perhaps had thousands of expensive garments worth far more than what the woman could sell them. He lifted a curious eyebrow.

“They are quite nice, dear. Would you like one for when we fly back home?”

Jasmina beamed, and the woman’s eyes lit up at the hope of a sale.

“I would. Can you tell me how much this one is, please?”

She lifted a bright blue scarf, holding it up to her white blouse. It really was stunning, if not made from the finest fabric. The woman nodded with enthusiasm.

“Yes, that one is fifteen jaya.”

“So affordable,” Jasmina breathed. “Are you sure this isn’t worth more?”

The woman quirked an eyebrow at her.

“You must be new to the market—you’re supposed to haggle the other way, miss.”

Jasmina let out a nervous laugh.

“Yes, I know, and thank you for your honesty. I will take this one for fifteen. I was wondering…can you tell us, what’s it like, living in El Jayiah?”

The woman took the money from Jasmina’s hand, giving her a small bag for the scarf. Her eyes were heavy with age and decades of hard work, but there was a peacefulness about her, too.

“I am proud to be from El Jayiah. It is a good place to live, even if we haven’t always had it easy. My husband lost his job last year, and I found myself having to work several more jobs to support us. Fortunately, a company came in and brought in lots of jobs. My husband was able to get work at the lithium mine, and he is there now, making quite a generous salary.”

“That is great news,” Jasmina said, not looking at Jenson. “I’m glad you were able to find stability in these tough times.”

“It’s an unstable world, miss. The rug could be pulled out from under us at any moment, and that mine will empty out someday. When that day comes, we’ll have to find another solution.”

“That sounds terribly stressful,” Jasmina said. “It’s so important to remember that human life has so much more value than the bottom line.”

The woman nodded.

“Fortunately, whoever owns that mine must know that. He’s keeping us quite alive at the moment, and fed, too. We’re very grateful.”

“Thank you again for this beautiful scarf,” Jasmina said, nodding politely to the woman.

“You’re most welcome. Feel free to come back and buy some more for your friends. I work at this market every morning!”

“I will try and make it back before our trip ends. Have a wonderful day!”

They walked on, their arms laden with groceries.

“What do you say we get ourselves some breakfast, then do some more exploring?”

“Do we have any other choice?” Jenson asked, walking beside her as they made their way back to the safe house.

“Nope,” she said, grinning.

When they reached the house Jasmina opened the front door, the two of them slipping quietly inside. Together they prepared and ate a traditional El Jayiahn breakfast of boiled eggs, apricots, and toasted coconut before heading right back out the door. Jasmina took Jenson on a whirlwind tour of the city of Tyra, showing him ancient landmarks and making sure to stop and talk with anyone she could about their life and what it was like to live in El Jayiah.

“So you’re saying that it was almost impossible to find work before the mining company came into town?” she asked a man selling ice cream cones just outside one of the city parks.

The man nodded, scooping vanilla ice cream into two cones and handing them to her.

“It was. Our old Sheikh was a good ruler, but something happened and everything tanked so fast before suddenly going back to normal. We’re all still trying to wrap our heads around it.”

Jasmina swallowed. She could tell him exactly what had happened.

“And the Sheikha, what do you think about her?” Jenson asked.

Jasmina fought a blush as she waited to hear the man’s honest opinion. He would never tell her what he really thought if he knew just who she was!

“Our Sheikha is a kind and beautiful woman who loves her country and her people. I don’t really understand why she feels the need to lower her standards, though.”

Jasmina nearly choked on a laugh, masking it as a cough.

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean,” she said, needing the man to go on.

Jenson had stiffened behind her, his plan clearly backfiring.

“The American she’s engaged to seems friendly enough, but Jasmina is a priceless jewel. She deserves better than some money-grubbing businessman.”

“How do you know he’s money-grubbing? I read that he’s quite wealthy on his own.”

Jenson’s tone was defensive, and the man gave him a curious stare.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have offended you both as Americans. I was just giving my opinion.”

Jasmina placed a gentle hand on the man’s cart.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. My husband is a little sensitive sometimes when it comes to matters of money. I’m sure whatever your Sheikha is up to, it’s for the good of her people.”

“Of course. The royal family has always put their country first.”

The ice cream was beginning to melt in Jasmina’s hand, and so she bid the man a warm farewell before walking away, leaving Jenson to catch up from behind her. They had spent so much of the day walking around that Jasmina had barely noticed the passing of time. Somehow, the sun was beginning to set already.

“We should get back. It’s not a good idea for us to be out after dark.”

“You mean when no one can see us, as opposed to during the day, when everyone can?”

“You’re just miffed because that man doesn’t think you’re good enough for me.”

“I am not miffed, I simply felt the need to correct him.”

“Why? He wasn’t wrong.”

“Jasmina, we have been enjoying our first day without a fight. Let’s not ruin it, okay?”

Jasmina smiled to herself, walking the rest of the way back to the safe house in comfortable silence. She was proud of her people that day. They had shown Jenson just what the population of El Jayiah was really made of, and hopefully showed him what would be at stake were they to get married. Wrapping her new blue scarf around her shoulders, she led the way inside as they prepared to spend a peaceful night indoors.

“Good thing we thought to get a couple bottles of this at the market, eh? I could go for a very large glass of wine right about now,” Jenson said, reaching for a bottle and searching for a corkscrew to open it with.

Jasmina opened a drawer on instinct and handed it to him, giving him pause.

“How did you know where that was?”

“I’ve been here a few times in my life. I know where things are,” she hedged, hoping she hadn’t just given herself away.

He stared at her again before twisting the screw into the cork, the bottle making a pop sound as he opened it and poured out two healthy glasses. Taking his own glass, he walked over to the counter where Jasmina was busy prepping the chicken for their meal.

“You didn’t mention that you could cook,” he said quietly.

She shrugged.

“All members of the royal family are taught basic survival skills. That also happens to include gourmet cooking.”

Her joke landed on silence, and after a heavy pause, Jenson spoke.

“You really don’t think I know what you’re up to?”