At times, she searched her mind for something to ask for, simply because he expected it. All she had to do was mention that it might be pleasant to have a glass of juice, a piece of melon, or a sugar cookie, and someone ran to fetch it. In spite of modern medicine, it was still believed that if a pregnant woman craved something and did not have it at once, her child would be marked.

Noting Ali’s overprotectiveness, the queen remarked acidly that he was turning into a woman himself. Ali seemed not to care.

Yet in spite of the excellent care she received, Amira couldn’t help but fear the moment when her child would arrive. How could she not, when the memory of Laila’s delivery was still etched in her mind?

She knew there were drugs to ease the pain, but comparing the luxury with which she was surrounded to the filth and squalor of Laila’s prison cell, she was too ashamed to mention them to her doctor. When he asked whether she preferred “natural childbirth,” she answered simply, “Whatever God wills.”

O

“Wake up, Ali, please wake up,” Amira pleaded. She had been wakened moments ago by a mild cramping sensation—and a rush of warm fluid that soaked her nightgown and sheets. It had begun.

Quickly, she went to Ali’s bed and shook his shoulders. “It’s time?” he asked as his eyes flew open.

“Yes.”

Moving with a speed she had never seen, he bundled Amira into a palace limousine and summoned the midwife. Soon, they were speeding towards the new al-Remal hospital. As Ali had previously ordered, a suite of rooms had been set aside for Amira. A staff obstetrician was in attendance, and the Lon- don specialist—who’d been lodged at the Intercontinental Hotel for the past few weeks—was on his way.

Yet in the end, it was far less difficult than she’d imagined. A few hours of discomfort, an hour or so of real pain. A final push, and she heard his cry. Her son had been born.

Cafe-au-lait skin, a shock of black hair, enormous liquid eyes of deepest lapis. “Beautiful,” she whispered when the nurse placed him in her arms. “I love you, my son, more than my own life.” And when he gave her another lusty cry, she was sure he had heard and understood.

O