Desert Heat

Chapter Eight: You

Two days later,

Prince Aziz sat in the back of the car seat, his mind still going back to the gruesome information that his stepmother had told him.

For the past two days, the council elders had brought beautiful women to the palace for him to choose from, and although they were beautiful, none of them moved his heart.

Now he had only today to pick a wife because tomorrow was his coronation and he had to have his wife beside him; otherwise, he would let down his late mother.

"My prince, you seem as though you are deep in your thoughts; would you mind sharing with me what it is that is bothering you?" Fahd asked Prince Aziz, who turned his attention to Fahd, and concern clouded his face.

"I only have today to find a wife; why would I not be concerned?" he asked Fahd, his personal guard, who simply smiled.

"My Prince, I still do not understand why you have said no to all those beautiful young women that were more than willing to be your wives," Fahd asked the prince, who simply waved Fahd.

"That is the problem, Fahd; those women were willing, and I might even go as far as to say that they were desperate to marry me. Think about it; this has nothing to do with me; they want the title."

"I understand what it is that you are saying, my prince, but we have bigger issues to deal with." Fahd reminded the prince, and his mood changed from good to bad. He had been dreading this day since his mother had informed him about it.

As part of his royal duties, he had to visit one of the kingdom's biggest prisons and release some of the prisoners who had served their time. The thought of visiting a prison has never crossed his mind because he has always been a law-abiding citizen.

"Relax, my prince; by releasing prisoners who have served their time, you would be showing your people how much of a good prince you are." Fahd informed him, but none of his words could soften the prince.

The car drove all the way to the prison building and then came to a halt. Prince Aziz shut his eyes, inwardly, hoping that this nightmare would end.

After only being in the prison for thirty minutes, Prince Aziz wanted to leave. The conditions of the prison were awful, and this was all due to his late father's negligence. The prison consisted of two sectors, one for men and the other for women who had been involved in feeble matters and other hideous crimes.

The walk through the male side of the prison revealed his late father's negligence, and deep down, Prince Aziz vowed to make a difference. Due to the lack of funding, most of the prisoners were underfed, and the prison cells were far from hygienic. Prince Aziz turned to face the prison warden, a man whose facial expression was hard as though carved out of stone.

"My coronation is tomorrow, and when I become king, I will make sure that you have all you need. I want you to write a list of everything you need here, and I promise I will make sure that it will be handled," Prince Aziz told the warden, who finally cracked a smile.

"Thank you, my prince," the warden said, thanking the prince, and they continued walking through the prison grounds until they reached the women's side of the prison.

The prince, even though armed with Fahd, his personal bodyguard, three more added guards, and the warden, still had to be careful. The warden retrieved a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the cell, leading to the female prison block.

"My prince, I suggest that you are careful; some of these females are likely to do more harm than the men." The warden warned the prince, who took the warning seriously as they walked further into the prison.

"Let me out; I did not do anything!" Someone kept yelling out from his or her prison cell, and Prince Aziz could not help but stop. He knew that voice from somewhere, but he could not remember where.

He turned to face the warden, confusion still clouding his mind as to what was going on in the prison.

"I hope you do not torture the prisoners." Prince Aziz asked the warden.

"No, my prince, that is the sound of the crazy American woman that was brought in here two days ago," the warden answered.

"What did she do?" Prince Aziz asked the warden.

"She was caught in illegal possession of drugs, and she is also the woman who snuck into your palace," the warden answered. This came as a surprise to the prince because he was unaware of this information. The prince turned to face Fahd, his personal bodyguard.

"I am sorry, my prince; your mother warned us not to say a word to you," Fahd confessed to Prince Aziz.

"Officer, would you please accompany me to the cell of the person who snuck into my palace?"

"Yes, my prince, follow me," the warden replied, and he walked the rest of them to a hallway where the sounds got louder.

"Let me out; I am innocent of the crime you accuse me of!" The woman yelled out. All of them came to a stop, and the prince turned to face them.

"Thank you, but I would like to be left alone now," Prince Aziz told them, and the looks on their faces were as though this action were taboo.

"My prince, I am afraid that I cannot allow that; if you do not want to take everyone with you to the cell, then take me," Fahd told the prince, and that again was a reaction that Prince Aziz did not expect from him.

"Thank you, Fahd, but I will be fine. I just want to see the intruder face-to-face and ask what it is that she wants from me."

"My prince, she was obviously sent to kill you." Fahd jumped in to give his take on the suspect.

"We do not know that, Fahd," the prince insisted.

"But my prince—" Fahd tried to argue, but he stopped as the prince lifted his hand.

"That is enough; now, as the Prince of Hamidin, I order you to allow me to go alone." Without another protest, all of the men bowed their heads and moved back. Prince Aziz straightened his gray suit and walked towards the cell. He was nervous, but he could not understand why he felt like that; it was just a prison, and the imposter was merely a woman.

"Get me out of here!" The woman called out; her voice hoarse from all the yelling that she was doing. Prince Aziz walked closer to the cell, now only two meters away from the screaming woman. From where he was, he could see her hand reaching out through her cell, and even the prince had to admit that she had the most beautiful brown skin that he had set his eyes on.

He walked over to the cell, and his eyes met the female prisoner; both their eyes widened.

"You?" both of them said in unison.

**

Lily could not believe her eyes when she saw that the man standing in front of her was none other than the man with whom she had had an argument at the airport.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked him, even though the man himself looked shocked too.

"I think I should be the one to ask you that question," Prince Aziz told Lily. His shock had disappeared and a smile appeared on his face, only making Lily angry.

"I bet you are the one that placed those drugs into my handbag; you are so despicable!" Lily yelled at him and slammed her hand against the cell doors.

"I cannot believe that you have no shame; you brought drugs into my home country, and now you blame me for that?"

"I know you did it; who else could it be?" She yelled at him, but not even that could phase Prince Aziz.

"Look over here, my princess. I am a lot of things, but an obsessive stalker is not one of them. I may not like you or the way you treated me at the airport or that you did not apologize to me, but—"

"Apologize to you? You must be joking because that will never happen in your lifetime, do you hear me?" She yelled at him, and this made Prince Aziz smile. He could not understand what it was about this woman that amazed him; she was like no other woman that he had set eyes on.

She was fierce, determined, and not a pushover like some women that he had come across in his social circle. Then the thought hit him: had she broken into his palace to try to kill him, or was it a mistake?

"Hello, am I talking to a wall?" Lily yelled at him, forcing Prince Aziz to snap out of his mental state.

"Yes, I heard you," he replied to her, studying her patiently.

"Well, you do not look as though you were listening to me," Lily told him. Prince Aziz, still studying her, had so many questions to ask her, but only one stuck out more than all his other questions.

"Who sent you to kill me?" He asked Lily, who then paused and stared at Prince Aziz. He was no expert in psychology, but she seemed confused.

"Kill you? I am afraid I do not know what it is that you are talking about," Lily responded.

"Let me rephrase this: why did you break into my home and try to kill me?" Prince Aziz's voice was harsher than before, and the smile on his face had disappeared. Lily was afraid. For the past two days, she had been locked up, and not once was she allowed to call her mother or inform her office of what had happened.

"I did not break into your house; what are you even talking about?" Lily asked him, and Prince Aziz could not believe that she had the nerve to lie to his face.

"You have the nerve to lie! I am a very powerful man, and I can make sure that you stay here for a very long time," Prince Aziz threatened her, but that did not seem to faze her.

"I am not afraid of you," Lily responded, her eyes bloodshot red as tears filled her eyes. Prince Aziz looked into her eyes, and there seemed to be some truth in them.

"So, you mean to tell me that you did not sneak into my palace to assassinate me?" Prince Aziz asked her, hoping that she would finally tell the truth. Lily tried to speak, then she paused, and Prince Aziz saw a sign of recognition in her eyes.

"Wait, you work at the palace that I snuck into?" She asked him.

"No, I live at the palace where you snuck in, and I am the heir apparent to the throne of Hamidin," Prince Aziz confessed to Lily, who froze on the spot as her grip around the cell bars tightened.

"You are going to be the king?" She asked him, with a smile on his face. He could taste the sweet revenge on his lips, and he liked the feeling. Prince Aziz placed his hands in his pocket and inched his way closer to Lily's cell.

"Now that we have established that I am next in line to the throne, I need to know what you were doing at my palace." The prince questioned Lily, who looked around her cell in disbelief as though she were looking for something.

"I was only taking pictures of the palace because it looked so beautiful from the outside, that is all," she confessed.

"If that is true, then what were you even doing in my kingdom in the first place?"

"Like I told the police before, I am a reporter, and I came here with my team to document my country's evolution."

"So, you are confessing to being a spy?" Prince Aziz asked Lily, and this only made her mad. For the past two days, she had repeated the same thing to them, and no one seemed to believe a single word that she said.

"I am not a spy!" Lily yelled at Prince Aziz; she refused to accept blame for something she knew nothing about.