"This is madness," Hera leaned in and whispered in Daman's ears.

"I know. But once we get this over with, a lot awaits for us back in London." He said rather tenderly and smiled at her. Daman was just as nervous but he masked it up better than Hera did. He needed his grandmother to agree to the union and then everything would fall into place. Success was literally at his fingertips. He could already feel it.

The other morning she had done the most absurd thing in entire life and agreed to Daman's request. Now here they were at mainland Doulah in the queen's home. Hera was jittery, she really did not think this through.

Her introduction was to be made to the queen as Daman's soon to be duchess in a formal meeting. How far that lie would go, she was not exactly sure although Daman didn't exactly think twice about it.

They were escorted to the lounge by the lounge help and were seated waiting for her. Daman was aware that even though the monarch was his grandmother, whatever happened now would be relayed to the head of the institution of Doulah.

The security patrolled the garden outside and Hera was a nervous wreck looking at them through the window. Her brain jumped to places where it should not have. The thought of getting imprisoned or killed for treason was playing on her mind like a broken record. Perhaps she was exaggerating but what was she to think?

Suddenly, the atmosphere tensed and the French doors to the room were opened. Immediately Hera and Daman rose to their feet and stood up straight.

In walked a poised lady who had aged well. Hera looked over at Queen Donia Al-Isa Faiyaz who donned a long straight coat dress elegantly.

She walked in fast as if she was in a rush. Her shoulder length hair was dyed a brown colour to hide the greys and her makeup was done well masking the aged skin. She was petite lady and had been reigning for over 20 years and surely the stress of that would add up.

"As-salamu alaikum," greeted Daman firstand proper as he took his grandmother's hand and kissed the back of it. She returned his greeting and nodded gently extremely happy to see her grandson.

Hera quickly followed Daman's actions absolutely horrified at how to go about this.

"Now, Daman. This is rather short notice. I need to leave for Qatar in the next ten minutes so best we speed this up." Queen Donia had taken the liberty to speak in English as to not make Hera feel left out if they were to converse in Arabic. It was a simple gesture of respect from her side. After all, one cannot be biased in her position.

"Yes, jadati." Daman said respectfully and waited for the queen to take a seat before he pulled Hera and himself to sit down.

"I'd like to introduce you to Miss Hera Uzayr," he started off watching his grandmother for an expression. "I have carefully selected her to take on the title of Duchess of Doulah. She is my choice of a bride."

The queen squinted her eyes at her grandson. "You are well aware that lying is not taken lightly in Doulah, especially when it comes to matters of the institution. Your marriage enhances your title and benefits." She had been reigning for over 20 years. Off course she knew that it was staged. Her grandson could not have been falling in love within 3 months when the altercation of his marriage took place and she granted him an ultimatum. She really didn't expect her grandson to be this determined.

The gnawing pain in Hera's stomach seemed to grow every second but she just sat quietly letting Daman take the reigns.

"I am well aware of that, but Hera and I are genuine."

The queen shook her head. "That is something I cannot wrap my head around. I do not even know anything about her. You were fine with marrying Amaani a week ago. You have never mentioned her and she appears out of the blue. You know it's best if you marry Amaani. Titles would get merged and alliances stronger. Best a duke marry a princess, Daman. No offence to you Hera," the queen ended softly and leaned over placing her hand over Hera's to ensure that their was no hostility present.

Daman needed to think before he spoke. He could not simply lash out. Treading carefully he began, "My current title allows for me to marry anyone of my choice. There is no legislation binding me to a person with a title. Hera is my choice. Besides I just said that I was fine with marrying Amaani simply because my head was in other places. Hera and I have been seeing each other for a while, but only recently have we made things official." Daman effortlessly lied.

"Tell me about yourself, Hera. What do you do? What do your parents think about this?"

Hera swallowed hard but composed herself thinking that this was the only place where she could be straight and say the truth.

"I'm from London and I'm a lawyer. Honestly my parents are not yet informed. My father, Youssef Uzayr, recently got married again so I didn't have time to get around it and as for my mother, she is not really a significant person in my life."

"Youssef Uzayr? Daman's real estate agent?" the queen perked up and looked directly at Daman wondering about this uncanny match.

Queen Donia sat for a few minutes in silence observing her grandson and his choice. She was facing inner conflict. Above all, she was the queen of Doulah before she was a grandmother. That was the cons of her heritage. It was duty over family. But as much as Donia appeared strict towards her grandson, she loved him dearly. The institution had been pressurising her to get Daman and Amaani married. The merging of the islands would prove to have immense power. The Arabian peninsula would have no chance over the 2 islands strength.

"Your majesty," in came the queen's personal assistant interrupting respectfully, "I apologise but we need to leave."

The queen dismissed her assistant and turned back to Daman. "Remember, your title also accounts for honesty. The institution would have a lot to say about this," she said in exasperation. "But very well then. You and Hera are granted permission from my side to get married if it's what you want. But I want to keep the engagement and wedding discreet for the time being. I suspect this staged, so we'd best be quiet about it. Although, Hera it was lovely meeting you."

As the queen stood up to leave she couldn't help but pause at the threshold. Squinting her eyes at her grandson, she gave him a curious look. "There's something you're not telling me, Daman."

With that, the queen left and Hera sighed in relief.

"That was daunting," she said to the duke. "She agreed quite easily. Actually very easily. I am very surprised."

Daman stood up and shoved his hands in his pocket walking to the window. He needed some air. Nobody could ever find out about this ploy otherwise his title and all of his hard work put in for the development of the islands would be in jeopardy. Daman shuddered at the thought of anyone finding out that Hera was his solution.

The duke was spiraling thinking what to say. Finally he turned around to face her and frantically said, "I know that I did not really think the marriage part through but the chances stand that we won't even get there. Perhaps we'd find who we really want to marry during our time in London. Our engagement would be prolonged for as long as possible giving us plenty of time to find other people. When it comes to that, we will end it."

He only said it for her reassurance. He didn't believe his bullshit one bit. He had a plan and he intended to follow it.

All Hera could do was nod. She didn't have any better words to say whereas Daman was left unsettled by his own words. She was a woman that grabbed his attention in the most unusual ways and he was both scared and curious to see how far it would go.

The duke took her hand in his and held it tightly. "I made a promise to you and I shall deliver on that. You have my word there. We will fly to London today and Adam will soon conduct your interview for your position at Stretson and Rothman. I have a newly acquired penthouse apartment that is comfortable enough to accommodate us for our engagement period which had started right about now."

: Arabic for grandmother

Again, let me just point out that I am not from anywhere remotely close to the middle east hence whatever translations or middle eastern cuisine/culture etc. I have used thus far and going forward is purely from google research.