Aliya

chapter eleven

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, he was different?" Maryam asked, frowning.

"I don't really know how to explain it," I mumbled, my eyes trained at the ceiling. Maryam's room was all the way on the other side of the palace, and though I resented Ismal for putting me so far away from everyone else, I could see what he meant when he said that he thought Prince Cairo favored me.

Compared to Maryam's room, mine seemed so much more elaborate, so much larger.

But at the same time, it seemed so much more haunted and closed off, and since last night, all I could see in the angel paintings in my room were faces of jailers holding me hostage, silhouettes of Prince Cairo's smiles in theirs.

"Then just elaborate. Why do you think that way?"

"I mean, compared to our last date, he was so much more... Aggressive? I suppose that's the word I'm looking for."

"How so?"

"Again, I don't really know. He just... Was so much more hostile? I mean, he grabbed my chin."

Maryam gasped, sitting up, the brush she held in her hand clattering to the floor. "Khuda, did you guys kiss?"

I blinked. "Did we what?"

"Did you, you know..." Maryam leaned in close to me, eyebrows furrowing together. "Did you guys kiss?"

"Did we — No! Of course not! How did you even get to that?" I barked, scooting away from her.

"Because! It's so romantic, don't you think? For a tall, dark, handsome man that handsome to just reach over and take your chin in your hands, and look at you in the eyes, and lean in close... And kiss you!"

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that slipped on my mouth.

She's so naive, but she'll learn. Everyone does.

"You're romanticizing it," I said, shaking my head. "That wasn't how it happened at all."

"But if it was! Don't you think that's romantic?"

"I mean, if a man just grabs your chin, it seems more sadistic than it does romantic, Mar," I said, frowning. "And if you'd been there, you definitely wouldn't be talking about it like this. I thought that night was the night I would die."

Maryam pouted, and this time, it was her turn to shake her head. "You're so negative, Aliya. You have to admit that he's handsome. Even you can't deny that."

"I never said he wasn't," I said. "It's just that he's too terrifying for me to be attracted to him."

"And you've never been attracted to him? Ever? Even last night, when it was just you two in a dark room?"

My mind flashed back to the image of Prince Cairo's eyes, his mouth, his lips and— that one unbuttoned top button of his shirt.

Oh Khuda.