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“But you live here, don’t you?” Laine asked

“Sometimes I do Like our eldest brother Aed and touched Laine’s shoulder “We are quite out of the way here in our family home”

Hadiya lifted her other hand to signal the servant They had a series of light dips with vegetables and pita bread to start, and a cool, refreshing drink froentle questions about her work and her plans for her tis about Aziz

Laine had to wonder if Hadiya had been put up to this task more than once

“Maybe you can give o” Laine licked a bit of some kind of spread that had been ers “Aziz said that he wants so modern, but it feels like it would be a sin to just tear down all of this history and start fresh with—” Laine shrugged, “so post-modern or entirely Western”

Hadiya tapped her index finger on the table “You have to keep him balanced It is a point of stubbornness with Aziz He thinks he knows best; he thinks he knohat he wants…but he is not always right, and he changes his mind”

Laine sed Of course Aziz was fickle A man that powerful could afford to be

“Does he really want me to redecorate this whole palace?” Laine asked bluntly “I’ht here on a whim, am I?”

“Hardly” Hadiya giggled “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t really want you to do this He wouldn’t waste your ti for a designer who he liked enough to bother with”

“But heelse better,” Laine surmised

Hadiya placed her hand over Laine’s “If so, I will tell hi else, the Amirmoez family values art”

Laine blushed and laughed softly “You and Aziz are a lot alike”