her parents’ eyes. By the time dinner was served, her mother and father finally agreed with her. The next step was trying to figure out how to cancel the contract between the two countries without insulting Prince Tasir.
Chapter 8
Ciara paced back and forth across the marble floor in front of her father’s office. She didn’t even realize how she was twisting her hands together, rubbing the skin almost raw. This was her life, this was all of her hopes and dreams that had been suppressed since childhood and had sprung back into her heart when Zoran had snuck into her world. She had to win at this. Never before had the stakes been so high. Every night, for the past three days she had been calling Zoran on her cell phone in secret. With their combined efforts, they had slowly pushed both of their families towards the agreement that they should cancel the negotiations and contracts with the other countries. The complexity of these negotiations was mind-boggling, but neither one of them was willing to back down.
Every night, Zoran told her how much he loved her. And she promised that she would not let the situation get out of hand. For three days there was turmoil within all four countries. In the end, the four rulers decided to meet at the Fortress of the Guards, a secret fortress that had stood for centuries and was now nestled in the place where the four corners of their countries met. Their goal was to all come to terms with what had happened over the summer and calm angry tempers.
It was quite shocking to find out that Prince Tasir and Princess Jalayla were in complete agreement with canceling the contracts as well. Both of them had been working on their families separately to try and stop the marriage announcements. When all of the parties were finally together in the enormous conference room at the secret fortress, it was discovered that the marriage negotiations between each of the parties, which had been finalized over the past several months, all needed to be canceled.
With a sigh of relief, all four rulers agreed to cancel the contracts and start new negotiations with the correct couples.
When Zoran heard that everyone was in agreement, he walked out of the conference room and found Ciara in the kitchen sitting with Jalayla. Both women were laughing and sipping white wine while they chuckled over the insanity of how these marriage negotiations had turned out.
As soon as he saw her, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her out of the kitchen, barely taking the time to excuse the two of them from Princess Jalayla. But he wasn’t concerned with insulting the beautiful woman. As soon as he carried his own woman out of the kitchen, he saw Prince Tasir walking into the kitchen. The intense look in his eyes told Zoran that the other man was about to do exactly what Zoran was currently doing.
“We’re getting married,” he said as he carried Ciara down the hallway to his bedroom. Ciara laughed as her arms went around his neck.
“That sounds like a lovely plan, my love.”
When the door closed behind him, he looked down into her eyes. “Do you really?”
She knew exactly what he was asking. “Yes. I love you very much. I think you’re an extraordinary man and I would be honored to be your wife.” She smiled when he bent his head and sealed her promise with a kiss.
“I love you too, my forest nymph. And I won’t ever let you go,” he promised.
News Flash – October
In an unprecedented month, Crown Prince Zoran del Hassar Alzar of Larcatia has married Princess Ciara bin Sarook of Altair in a fabulous wedding ceremony. And just last week, we saw pictures of the wedding ceremony of Crown Prince Tasir al Sharhi of Lurasa to Princess Jalayla bin Faisal of Tularia. There is a strong hope that the marriages of these four will calm the rising tensions between the various factions that have been arguing for more separation on border operations.
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Dawn Pendleton
Tom Piccirilli
Mark G Brewer
Iris Murdoch
Heather Blake
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