* * *
There was no question of them whiling away the flight in the bedroom.
Kedah had not only his presentation to his father to edit, but also his speech for the Accession Council to prepare.
Aside from that, Felicia didn’t know if she could risk being close to him right now without confessing her own truths.
Not just the baby, but the fact that she loved him.
So she put herself firmly into Felicia mode.
Or rather the Felicia he had first met.
She only had one robe that complied with the dress code in Zazinia, so an hour from landing she went and changed into the dusky pink one.
Her hands were shaking as she did up the row of buttons and her breath was tight in her lungs. She feared that he might come in, for she was not sure she possessed the strength not to fold to his touch.
He did not come in.
Oh, he thought about it, but he didn’t dare seek oblivion now. He knew he had to keep his mind on the game.
God, but he wanted her.
‘Still working that worry bead?’ she teased when she came out from getting changed and saw him tapping away.
‘I told you—I never worry.’
‘Liar.’
‘I don’t worry, Felicia. I come up with solutions. I’ve known for a long time that one day this would happen. While the outcome might not be favourable, I’ve prepared for every eventuality. I’m a self-made billionaire. I’ll always get by.’
He flicked the diamond across the table to her and Felicia picked it up.
‘It’s exquisite.’
‘When my designs for Zazinia were first knocked back I spoke with Hussain. He had studied architecture with my father, and when I told him the trouble I was having he said his struggles for change had been thwarted too, and he would not let history be repeated. He invited me to come in on a design with him in Dubai. It was my first hotel, and a stunning success. Back then I sold it. I had never had my own money. I cannot explain that... I was royal and rich, but to receive my first commission brought a freedom I had never imagined, and with the money I bought this. I know each time I look at it that, if need be, I can more than make my own way.’
‘People will be hurt, Kedah, even if the result is what you want. If Mohammed discredits your mother...’ Felicia had thought about that too. ‘She will be okay. It would be awful for a while, but—’
‘No,’ Kedah interrupted. ‘She would not be okay. She isn’t strong in the way your mother is.’
Felicia looked up from the diamond she was examining. She had never heard her mother described as strong; in fact she had heard people suggest she was weak and a fool for standing by her father all those years.
‘It must have taken strength of character to go through all she did,’ Kedah said, and after a moment’s thought Felicia nodded. ‘My mother doesn’t have that strength.’
It wasn’t something that had ever been said outright, yet he had grown up knowing it to be true.
‘I remember when my father went on that trip. His last words were, “Look after your mother.”’ Kedah hadn’t even been three. ‘My father always said it, and I always took it seriously. She is a wonderful woman, but she is emotionally fragile. All the arguments, all the politics—we do our best to keep them from her. She does so many good things for our country. She worries for the homeless and cries for them, pleads with my father to make better provision for them. She takes their hurts so personally...’
There was no easy answer.
‘She’ll be okay,’ Felicia said again, and watched as Kedah gave a tense shrug.
Had she even listened to what he had just said? he wondered.
She had.
‘Your mother shall be okay, Kedah, whatever happens. It sounds to me as if she has the King’s love.’
Kedah nodded. ‘She does.’
Rina, Felicia thought, was a lucky woman indeed.
* * *
Kedah went back and forth to his country often. Usually they were short visits, so that he didn’t get embroiled in a row, but he was a regular visitor and so as he stepped out of the plane he knew what to expect.
Or he thought he did.
But this time, as Kedah stepped from the plane it was to the sound of cheering. From beyond the palace walls the people of Zazinia had gathered to cheer their Prince home.
They wanted Kedah to rule one day, and it was their way of letting the Accession Council know that he was the people’s choice.
Kedah would make the better King.
‘Kedah!’ Rina embraced him, but she had a question to ask. ‘Why now?’
‘Because the elders have long wanted Mohammed and it is time to put this to rest once and for all.’ He stepped back. ‘I have some work to do. I shall be in my wing.’