Even though he generally didn’t use it, Kedah was tempted to summon the royal jet, so he could be in London, or nearly there, when she landed. He needed to speak with her—he wanted to know what her tears meant exactly.
He needed space, and so he walked along the pristine white beach. Suddenly everything had changed.
Always he had wanted to be King; he had spent his life knowing it could be taken away and protecting himself from that possibility. Now, when the coming days should have his full attention, when he should be devoting every thought to the potential battle ahead, he was staring up at the sky that carried her.
He had chosen wisely.
Kedah had protected all the people he loved and cared for in this. Tomorrow, when the press were crawling and the staff were afraid, he would ensure that the best of the best knew his business inside out.
He knew Felicia could face this crisis.
In these past months she had crept into his heart, and now she belonged there so absolutely that it had taken her leaving to expose the fact.
And her tears made him believe that she loved him too.
What to do?
* * *
Omar stood in his own office, looking out on Zazinia and thinking of the presentation his eldest son had just shown him. He saw Kedah walking along the beach alone. As always, he cut an impressive figure, but for once his son’s stride was not purposeful, and instead of looking out to the land he so loved Omar saw Kedah pause and gaze out to the ocean and the sky.
The King did not turn his head when the door opened and Rina stepped into his office. Instead he focused on his eldest son. There was a pensive air to him, and the set of his shoulders showed he carried a weight that was a heavy one.
Kedah was the rightful Crown Prince. Omar knew that.
Yes, the road ahead might be easier if he followed the elders’ wishes and stood behind his younger son, but it would be the wrong decision.
He turned his head a little as Rina came in and walked over to stand by his side. She stood quietly beside him, watching their son, who cut a proud and lonely figure as he walked.
‘Felicia just left,’ Rina said.
‘Felicia?’ Omar frowned, for he had no idea who his wife was referring to.
‘Kedah says she is his PA, but I am certain there is more to it.’
‘Nothing can come of it. There are many brides that would be far more suitable.’
Omar’s response was instant, but then he felt his wife’s hand on his shoulder.
‘I am sure plenty say the same about me,’ Rina said. ‘There are many who don’t consider me suitable.’
So rarely did they touch on that long-ago painful time.
‘You are a wonderful queen.’
‘Now I am,’ Rina agreed.
Omar turned and looked again to his son, and he recalled himself striding into the office brandishing files on potential brides. He hoped Felicia had been unable to understand what he had said.
‘Kedah showed me a presentation that he has been working on,’ Omar said. ‘It was very beautiful. In fact, it reminded me of my dreams for Zazinia.’ He looked out to the city. ‘He has a gift.’
‘So do you.’
‘Perhaps, but I could not express it properly to my father. Of course back then we did not have the technology to make such a presentation...’
‘Nothing would have swayed your father,’ Rina said. ‘Remember how you tried?’
Omar nodded.
‘And then you stopped trying.’
‘I chose to focus on the things I could change,’ Omar said. ‘I wanted my bride to be happy. And you weren’t.’
‘But I am now,’ she said. ‘And I am much stronger for your love. I shall always have that.’
And then Rina was the bravest she had ever been.
‘Come what may.’
Still, even now, they could not properly discuss her infidelity—and not just because of pride or shame, but also because walls might have ears and whispers might multiply.
‘Speak to your eldest son, Omar. Now. Before it is too late. Offer him your full support.’
Rina stood after Omar had left and tears were streaming down her face. Oh, she knew how her husband and eldest son protected her, but she was a good queen and it was time for the people to come first.
And Rina had not lied.
She was stronger for her King’s love.
Nothing could take that from her. Even if the law dictated that Omar must shame and divorce her, still she would have his love.
* * *
‘Kedah?’ Omar caught up with son. ‘Can I walk with you?’
‘Of course,’ Kedah answered.
‘Your presentation left me speechless. I had never considered using murals on the east-facing walls. It would be an incredible sight.’
‘They could tell the tale of our history,’ Kedah said. ‘Of course scaffolding would be required to shield the beach during construction...’
‘We are not at war now,’ Omar said. ‘Those rules were put in place at a time when the palace risked invasion. I pointed that out to my father many years ago...’ He gave a low laugh. ‘You are like a mirror image of me. When I see your visions it is like looking at my own designs...’
Kedah turned in brief surprise. ‘We are nothing alike.’
‘Not in looks,’ Omar said. ‘But we think the same.’
Kedah did not believe it. His father was staid and old-fashioned in his ways.
But Omar pressed on.
‘You were right to challenge me in the office. When I studied architecture with Hussain we had such grand plans. My father said that once I had married he would listen to my thoughts. I returned from my honeymoon with so many plans and dreams. Your mother was already pregnant with you, and I can remember us walking along this very beach, talking of the schools and the hospitals that would soon be built. Your mother, being your mother, looked forward to the hotels and the shops. They were such exciting times. There was such an air of hope amongst the people. But even by the time you were born those dreams had died.’
‘How?’
‘My father preferred his own rules.’
For a moment they stopped walking.
Even though the old King was dead it was almost a forbidden conversation.
‘He had always said that when I was married—when I was officially Crown Prince—then I could have input. And so I married. I chose a bride from a progressive country.’
‘For that reason only?’ Kedah checked.
‘He was just delaying things, though. By the time you were born I knew he would never listen to what I had to say. It was a very difficult time...’ Omar admitted. ‘I was young and proud and I had promised your mother so many things—she had come from a modern country and I wanted the same. I wanted our people to prosper from our wealth too, but my hands were tied. I became very angry and bitter. I spent all my time trying to convince my father to listen to my ideas—travelling with him, pointing out how progressive other countries were. Your mother was in a foreign country with a new baby, but I had no time for either of you...’
They walked in silence as Omar remembered that difficult trip away, and coming home to a grim palace and a