Cornered (erotic) (#7, 101 Nights)

Chapter Two: Elijah

I watch the sunset from the pristine, white sand beach behind my palace. The tide lulls me into a near trance, while the movement of waves gives my tired eyes something to focus on. It’s the private beach behind the palace, and I ordered my entourage and bodyguards not to disturb me.

Nijala is ten hours ahead of New York. Right about now, Natalie is waking up. I haven’t responded to her message. I decided long ago the block where she grew up was coming down one way or another, though what replaced it was open for debate until we’d been together for a few weeks and I began to suspect there was something more than I wanted there to be between us. She’s smart enough to figure out what I decided to do. Her parents will tell her, if nothing else.

I haven’t slept in three nights. It’s not possible, not with the weight of Nijala on my shoulders. For all her conniving, my aunt Malika is approaching the transition with shrewdness that shows me how long she’s been planning this. I’m not exactly a patsy, but I’m not fully in charge of much of anything in my life anymore either.

I fucking hate the feeling of being out of control.

My father was deposed pretty quickly when he realized she had the military on her side. Since then, it’s been meetings, negotiations, signing reforms into law, paperwork … enough to keep me from thinking about Natalie.

Except at night, when there’s nothing to occupy me and my mind wanders. The transition from absolute monarchy into a constitutional one is being done gradually over the course of five years. Malika’s theory is that stability and gradual transition will prevent any sort of anarchy or uprooting of the society that’s been seen in other modern countries in similar situations.

It means, for now, I’m the supreme Sultan until the new parliament and governmental functions are in place. My power will be whittled down over the course of the next few years. In the meantime, she’s keeping an eye on me, and we attend all the major meetings together so we can then make joint decisions.

It’s been more like running a business empire than I expected. Lots of moving parts, lots of people, lots of financial crises over random little things. I can handle those kinds of issues. I can handle the awkward meetings with the leaders of neighboring nations, the press conferences and I even surprise Malika by aiding in the drafting of legislation meant to help smooth out the transition.

I’m no idiot, and I know how to write a contract like no other. I’m trying to be good. To do what’s right even if it means doing shit stupidly.

I hate that, too, the sudden restrictions on what a sovereign is permitted to do that a private citizen can do without a second thought. Responsibility is the cost of absolute power, and there’s a steep learning curve.

All my power, all my influence, all my money … It’s everything I’ve wanted in life.

But it’s not enough. I’m empty.

In the end, none of it mattered when Natalie told me she was leaving. Nothing I could say or do would convince her to stay. Her torture at the hands of my chief enemy is my fault. She wouldn’t be in this situation if not for me in the first place, and there seemed to be no other way of making it up to her except for respecting her desire to be as far from Nijala – and me – as possible.

It’s probably the first time in my life I did the right thing, for a purely selfless reason. Why, then, does it feel so fucking awful?

I bombed the hideout of one of my father’s closest allies in the government and told the others to turn themselves in or face similar consequences. Against Malika’s wishes, I ordered them imprisoned indefinitely without trial, right next to my father. This isn’t an American White Collar prison but an environment little better than a hole in the ground. I rounded up several of the higher ups from the shipping company and port who helped keep Natalie prisoner and tossed them in prison, too, then seized the assets of any family member who didn’t try to stop my father from abusing his children and others over the years. I gave Hasan – the man behind Natalie’s abduction – to George and asked no questions about what was going to happen to him.