HARRY’S POV

"What?" She asks. I shake my head as much as I can while lying down. I also reach a hand up to trace her cheek and the side of her jaw. Now that she has let me, I can't stop touching her.

Her skin is so soft, so stunning.

We came back inside the palace, sneaking on our tiptoes to make no sound at all. If that wasn't enough, I brought her to my room so I can spend even more time with her.

I haven't taken my eyes off of her since I saw her and I can't help but admit she looks better. Healthier and happier.  Maybe I was keeping her in a hostile environment and holding her down.

For the last year that she has been gone, she seems to have thrived. "Happy anniversary." I say.  She smiles. "Happy anniversary, Harry." Fuck I love hearing that name.

The way she said Harold didn't make my skin itch either, but being just Harry to her makes it seem like I've broken down a wall between us. "How have you been, darling?" She sighs. "Sad. Knowing you're stuck in a coma was not exactly a mood booster."

Sarcasm too. That's interesting. "Well, I'm not comatose anymore. I'm here, with you." She smiles. "Yes you are." She touches my cheek with the back of her hand. I close my eyes.

This is beyond what I could've ever imagined. We are lying down on the bed, facing each other and staring into the other's eyes. It's so mundane yet exhilarating.

"What did you do the whole year without me?" She turns onto her back, facing the ceiling and my hand that was on her cheek falls back down. I miss it instantly.

I fear it's an addiction I can't get over. "I left my job." Regret lines her voice. "I came here and took over some of my father's responsibilities as his future heir." She turns her head towards me and smiles.

"I started therapy." My brows shoot up. I've asked her to join therapy multiple times over the course of our marriage. She refused every time. She believed she wasn't ready to face her issues, whatever they were.

But I'm proud of her for putting her fears aside and talking about her problems. I was worried she would've harmed herself while I was busy dying for a whole year. And while her going to therapy doesn't guarantee that she didn't cut herself, I would like to hope that while she had therapy as an outlet, she didn't rely on her blade.

"Did it help?" I ask, tiptoeing around what I truly want to ask. Will you also tell me what happened?She nods. "It did." I turn and face the ceiling too.

"Do you like it here?" My question is a knife in the quiet room, cutting through my heart sharply. If she likes it here, I wouldn't have the heart to take her away from it. But I can't stay here forever either. I can't leave mum with my abusive father whom she refuses to divorce for some fucking reason.

Her soft fingers intertwine with mine and she rests both our hands onto her chest. I can feel her heart beating against her ribcage. It's calm. "It’s fine. But I like it more when you're there with me. I don't have a perfect relationship with my parents. They care for me and I care for them but I don't feel as close with them or anyone else as I do with you."

"Do you want to come back with me?" I ask. "Yes." She says without hesitation. There seems to be something that I'm not aware of but I'm not in the loop with everything when it comes to my wife anyway. I'm scared of forcing her to answer my questions. I'm scared of triggering her.

"Your family doesn't seem to know that you're married. In fact they seem to have guy in mind for you to marry." I narrow my eyes by the end. Pissed at the prospect in itself. Her hand freezes in my hold. She goes from smiling to looking like a statue in seconds.

My jaw locks. This guy seems to be trouble. "We can tell them tomorrow." Aayat responds. "If I am to leave with you, which I am, my parents need to know the truth this time. I don't want to run away from them, I want to leave on good terms."

I take our intertwined hands and kiss the back of hers before resting it on my stomach. She freezes again but only for a second. "Sorry." I apologise. Just because she let me touch her and hold her hand, doesn't mean she is okay with everything. It will take time. Time I have.

"It's okay." She says. "My therapist says I need to keep trying new things and push my limits to see where I stand. This is..... this is good." I blink at our intertwined hands. "So can I do it again?" I ask. Her eyes widen a little before she nods.

I kiss the back of her hand again, and again and again until I can clearly see her chest rise and fall with every intake of breath. "Panic?" I ask in a whisper as I watch her pant. She shakes her head.

"I'll tell you when to stop." Something flickers inside of me. She will tell me when to stop but she hasn't yet. I untangle my fingers from hers and kiss her palm, keeping my eyes on hers to see how she reacts.

She stares at me in a daze but blinks in reassurance when I raise a questioning brow. I kiss the inside of her wrist, hearing her breath hitch but she doesn't tell me to stop. I raise myself up, resting my weight on my side and leaning a little towards her as I kiss the inside of her arm until I reach her shoulder.

The strap of her gown seems to obstruct my path but she reaches up with her other hand and pushes it down her shoulder. I shut my eyes. I've been celibate for over a decade. I haven't touched a woman since college and I'm not willing to take that frustration out on my wife. Especially since she isn't even ready.

This is not going to end well for me. I still open my eyes and the minute I see her uncertain yet hopeful gaze on me, I crumble. I kiss her shoulder letting my tongue to peek out and lick the skin where her shoulder meets her neck.

She breathes deeply, her breasts pushing up against my bicep with each inhale. This is going too fast but I'm addicted so she needs to tell me to stop or I'll keep falling down this road. I kiss her neck, keeping myself from sinking my teeth into it. That'll be too much.

She makes a little sound at in the back of her throat that makes me pull myself away from her jaw. My face is mere inches from hers and that's when I back away and lie down on my side. She sighs, letting her breathing calm down. "Thank you."

"For what darling?" I ask as I force myself to calm the fuck down.

"For not pushing too far."

"I would never do anything you don't want or like. You can tell me to stop any time and I'll give you the space you need." She flips over, rests her head on my chest and wraps an arm around my torso.

"I got really lucky with you, Harry." I wrap my arm around her, for the first fucking time sleeping with her in my arms. "I'm the lucky one." I truly am. After the kind of dead girlfriend I had, I definitely lucked out on a wife.

~~~~~~

"WHAT?!!"

Okay, I definitely miscalculated how much these people liked me. Turns out, being a duke is fine, being married to their daughter, not so much.

My mother in law falls down on the couch and clutches her head, muttering some words that I don't understand. I lean down a little to mumble in my wife's ear. "What is she saying?"

"She thinks you're evil and you've done black magic on me." I nod. Completely understandable. Once upon a time, some sixteen hundred years ago, I was a powerful spirit person who could pull tricks like this.

This woman is closer to the truth than she thinks. "Absolutely not. You are not going with him!" Why do all father figures piss me off? I'm yet to find a nice one. Mine is an arse. Joëlle's was well, a rapist and a murderer and now this one is creating problems too. I understand they are not at all on the same level but they are all hell bent on ruining my life.

"With all due respect, she is a grown woman. She can make her own decisions." He glares at me. As if that would do anything. I've killed people older than him. Also shrewder.

"We welcomed you into our home, treated you well, fed you and gave you a place to stay, and this is how you repay us?!"

"What else did you want? For me to put money into your business to save you from bankruptcy?" He looks taken aback before he gives Aayat a hurt look. "You told him?" She shakes her head.

"She didn't have to tell me anything. I can see things for myself. I didn't come to you to crack a business deal. I came here to find my wife and bring her back home."

"Where were you for the whole of last year then?!" I blink at him. The audacity. "Where were you for the whole of a year before that when she was living with me as my wife?"

"We were looking for her! We didn't know you had kidnapped her!" I flick a wrist. "Please. Look at me." I gesture at myself, top to bottom. "Do I look like someone who needs to kidnap a woman to keep her with me? She came on her own accord."

Aayat gives me the side eye before looking at her parents. "Ammi, Abbu, he didn't kidnap me, nor is he lying. When I ran away, I came across him and asked him to get me off that island. I went with him because I wanted to.

I married him because he asked but I did have a choice. I could've said no, but I didn't. I have been married to him for two years. Last year he had an accident because of me and fell into a coma. I came back because I couldn't bear looking at him in that state. I blamed myself.

He is okay now so he came to find me. I am legally married to him and he has more legal right on me than the two of you." I think she has the most right on herself and should do what she wants but if whatever she is saying helps our case then sure.

"Divorce him." Her father says. If I kill him, will my wife hate me? "No." I tell him. He glares again. "I wasn't talking to you."

"But I'm talking to you." My wife pushes at my chest and stands in front of me. Both her parents stare with shock. "You touch him." Her mother says. "You don't even hold our hand but- but you touch him."

She didn't until yesterday but well, things change.

Her father stomps away before returning with a hunting gun. I thought they stopped making this in the eighteenth century. My wife and mother in law shriek when he points it at my chest. He is so over dramatic. This isn't even that big of a deal.

"Divorce him Inayat or I can pry you off of his corpse." In your dreams. "Abbu! Stop it!" I walk further towards him until the barrel is pressed right into my chest. Surprise flickers across his gaze but he tampers it down.

"I've never been scared of dying. If you have the guts, you can pull the trigger. Let's see if you can keep your daughter after she watches you murder her husband." He hesitates. Maybe I should give him a lesson or two on how to actually kill somebody. It's an art if you ask me.

"Please." Aayat pleads to her parents. "He is the one I'm closest too. He took care of me, gave me a home, and never let me down. If not for anything else then for the sake of my happiness. Just give us your blessing and let us go." I hear the sob and I also see the tears in her eyes.

What kind of a father lets his daughter cry so much because he has ego issues. "What about Akeeb?" He asks. What the fuck is wrong with this man?

Aayat shuts down. "What about him?" She asks robotically. "He was hoping that we would find you one day so he can marry you." I can't help it. I laugh. Jesus, there are dump people then there is this guy.

"Did you ever wonder why he is so invested in marrying your daughter? Did you ever think that what would happen once you're both dead and she is left alone with a husband who has no power or background of his own but who was simply hell bent on marrying your daughter?"

His grip on the gun loosens and I clutch it in my hand to pull it away from him. He wasn't even holding it right to begin with. "Open your eyes. That man has no interest in your daughter. All he cares about is your wealth, your name and prestige.

Anyone else would've given up on wanting your daughter after she rejected him. But he didn't. Because he doesn't care for what she wants."

He turns towards his daughter. "You rejected him?"

"What else did you think happened?" She asks but only receives a worried look. "He said you were kidnapped." Boo-fucking-hoo. This man they want to tie their daughter to, is also a liar. Can't even pretend to be shocked.

"I ran away myself. The second he proposed, I turned around and ran away. I trusted Harry to take me away because that's how much I hate him. I would rather die than marry that man."

"But....why?" Her mother asks. Now that, even I wish to know. "Why didn't you ask me before ammi? Why did all of you just assume I'm crazy when I was younger than actually ask what was wrong?!"

I watch Aayat break down. I've never seen her this hysterical. She never raises her voice except that time on the stairs before my accident. "Darl-"

"No!" She yells. "I owe the two of you nothing!" She points at her parents. "If you can't give me your blessing to live the life that makes me happy then so be it. I don't need it!

I'll leave. I'll leave with my husband and I'll never show you my face again. When Harry and I have children, I'll make sure to call and inform you but I'll also make sure that you never get to see my kids. I wouldn't want their lives to be ruined the same way mine was!"

She takes my hand and drags me out with her, leaving her parents to call out behind her. She doesn't stop. She simply keeps crying. Whoever this Akeeb is, he triggers her. So does the thought of her childhood with her family.

I'll find out. I didn't want to dig into her past and I'll still wait for her to tell me the truth but I will not  sit here doing nothing while even the thought of that man breaks her apart. I have an inkling of what could've happened and for the sake of that man's bones I hope I'm wrong.

Because if I am right then I will hunt him down from whatever corner he is hiding in and I will chop him into tiny little pieces that I'll personally feed the crows.

~~~~~~