TWENTY-FOUR
Aladdin stood invisible by Kaveh's side, watching the Sultan and Princess Maram marvel over the palace the two djinn had built. Now, Aladdin truly believed she was as precious to her father as he'd said. The Sultan spent more time watching his daughter's reactions than looking at the place. She meant more to him than whatever diplomatic assistance she provided to the court.
For a moment, he wished he'd told the Sultan about Hasan instead of creating such an elaborate scheme. He would never give the daughter he loved to that man if he truly knew what Hasan would do to her.
"What? Did you spot a mistake in the tiles?" Kaveh demanded. "Why do you look so miserable?"
"I should have asked the Sultan to call off the engagement, not offered a new one. She will see through this for sure." He waved at his silk clothes. They felt so slippery against his skin he worried they would slip right off and leave him naked. Not that it mattered when he was unseen, but...
"Don't be daft," Kaveh snapped. "Once the Sultan's given his word to the Vizier, he can't break the engagement, unless a better offer comes along. You made him the only offer he could accept. And once he sees the audience chamber, he will."
"But the princess will hate me for trying to deceive her. I'd hate me for making a bargain with her father without knowing I had her consent first. If there was a way I could speak to her before her father..."
Kaveh nodded. "Here she comes. I'll take him up to see the audience chamber, and you take a moment with your princess." He strode across the courtyard and materialised on the steps to the upper levels. He bowed deeply. "Your Majesty, my master bade me to greet you and show you anything you wish to see. I would recommend the audience chamber..."
The Sultan cut him off. "I had begun to think the palace was empty. Let us see this chamber." He headed up with Kaveh.
"Father, whoever this man is...whoever built this...I must meet him," Maram said, stepping into the sun. She blinked, blinded.
Aladdin could not have asked for a better opportunity than this. He threw himself at Maram's feet.
At her command, he rose, taking his time to meet her eyes and the complete lack of recognition he expected to see there. A princess would not remember a poor boy she'd met in the bathhouse.
"Aladdin?" His name was music on her lips.
He wanted to sink to his knees again, and give thanks to whatever deity had helped him this time. But he forced himself to stay on his feet, for she had ordered it.
"How did you manage to build such a place? So lavish, so perfect, so fast?" she asked. "When I last saw you, you hadn't eaten for days, yet now..." She ran a hand down his tunic.
So that's why royalty wore silk. The feel of her fingers through it was pure bliss. Aladdin wanted to moan in pleasure, but he knew he only had a moment before her father returned. "I cannot tell you, for you would not believe me. I scarcely believe it myself. What I can tell you is that I ventured out into the desert and found a priceless treasure. A treasure that made all this possible, though it nearly killed me to return here. It's for you, Princess. All of it. If there is anything you wish changed, name it, and it shall be done. You don't even need to accept me – the palace is my gift to you. All I ask in return is that you don't marry that brute, Hasan."
Maram's eyes hardened. "Why would I not want the man who risked his life for me, to give me this, to save me from that brutish fool? I've been to the bathhouse every day, sent men out looking for you...by all that's holy..." She tore the veil from her head and threw it on the tiles. Maram shook her hair off her face – a night-dark river Aladdin longed to stroke – then wrapped her arms around Aladdin and kissed him.
She tasted sweeter than before, more intoxicating than the finest wines in Tasnim, and more arousing than any of the erotic murals in the prince's harem. The softness of her body in his arms made him wonder if he truly had died and gone to paradise after all.
"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.