The Sheik stopped going to dinner with her and Prince Ahmad on the awful night his first wife, Shayah, died while assisting the foreign woman, Laura Garcia, in getting away.
The Sheik stopped attending social events and became deeply involved in national concerns. He kept himself to himself in the palace and did not allow anyone to bother him. He refused to allow her to see him and stayed sequestered in his palace.
But suddenly, there were whispers. At first, they approached her silently via the royal attendants and the murmurs that danced in the hallways after midnight.
A foreign woman had also been taken to the palace. The Sheik had locked away a strange visitor, a woman, and the staff whispered about her captivity in one of the palace wings.
Alieah wondered about the woman's background, the cause for her confinement, and the consequences of her being in the palace as she envisioned her predicament, and her heart ached with fear.
