Felicia chose a boxy little grey suit. She usually saved it for court appearances, but she could use a little power dressing today.
Felicia came out of the underground and walked towards the office, but instead of seeing the doorman smiling at her, she saw he was obscured by the gathered press.
Felicia watched as poor Anu got out of her husband’s car and shielded her face.
Finally, after three months, Felicia was being put to work. This was the reason she was here and the reason she had been hired, she realised as she stepped in and faced the cameras.
‘The proposed hotel in Dubai—will it still go ahead?’
‘How will this affect the European branch?’
‘Is the Crown Prince stepping aside willingly or is he being forced to stand down?’
Questions were coming from every angle, and Felicia stood there as the microphones and cameras clamoured for a response and did what she did best.
She smiled.
Widely.
‘Of course I’ll take your questions,’ she said, and proceeded to answer them in turn. ‘I’m actually just about to speak with the surveyor. Absolutely the sister hotel will be going ahead.’
‘Sister?’
‘Yes, I believe the new complex is going to focus more on holidaymakers than the business traveller. Next?’
* * *
Kedah watched the live stream and knew he had been so right to hire her.
His employees could not be in better hands. She was taking the edge off the fear that would be sweeping through his empire today.
One by one she answered the questions and then, for Felicia, came the hardest of them all.
‘Is it correct that his marriage will be announced later today?’
Kedah watched her closely for her response.
It was flawless.
‘I’m more than happy to answer, where I can, your questions about the business side of things, but I would never comment on the Sheikh’s personal life without his authority.’
‘You must know...’
‘I’m his PA.’ Felicia smiled. ‘Certainly he doesn’t report to me.’
With question time over, she smiled at the relieved doorman, who held the door open for her, and took the elevator to the offices on the top floor.
Anu was crying as she walked in, and Felicia knew exactly why she had been hired.
Not for the press but for his staff.
Kedah had made provisions for them even on his darkest day.
‘He’ll be fine,’ she assured Anu.
‘You say that for the cameras,’ Anu wept. ‘But what if they choose Mohammed? Zazinia needs Kedah. We all want him to one day be King. Even when he was a little boy everyone adored him so much, but never more than now.’
And Felicia adored him too.
Which was why, when her heart was breaking, she kept on working. She fired back responses to emails from worried managers and investors the world over, she took phone calls and video calls, and she even managed to hold her composure when Vadia stuck a virtual knife through her heart.
‘Whatever the outcome of the Accession Council meeting, there will be an announcement from the palace later tonight as to his chosen bride.’
It was a hellish Friday, made harder when a courier arrived and she had to sign for a plain package. She opened it, and inside there was a thick cream envelope. And, for all that today had been hard, now it tipped into agony.
She blew her nose and put on lip gloss before calling him. She forced her mouth into a smile as she waited for him to answer, because one of the assertiveness courses she had been to had told her it forced a happier and more confident tone.
No matter how fake.
‘Hey,’ Felicia said at the delicious sound of his voice. ‘Your results just arrived.’
‘What are you doing?’ Kedah asked. ‘How has it been?’
‘Not too bad. A lot of press and a little bit of panic from some quarters, but it’s dying down now.’
‘Good.’
‘When do the Accession Council meet?’ Felicia asked, wondering why he didn’t have her tearing the envelope open now.
‘An hour or so,’ he said, as if it hardly mattered. ‘I want to ask you something. What did you say to Kumu on the stairs? She hasn’t been quite the same since!’
Felicia let out a low chuckle. ‘I just pointed out that, as nice as your father is, he’s still King and he clearly loves his wife. I said that I’d hate to offend him.’
He laughed, and then he was serious. ‘Are you going to open it?’
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘I’m just going to put you down.’
She placed the phone on the desk and put him on speaker, and then she took out a letter opener and sliced open the envelope.
Kedah listened carefully. There were no sniffles or heavy breathing. Felicia was indeed tough.
‘Congratulations, Your Royal Highness.’
She smiled, and it was a genuine one.
No, she didn’t want him to be King—but that was a selfish wish. She was also terribly pleased for him.
‘Go get ’em,’ she said.
‘Hey, Felicia...?’
‘I have to go, Kedah,’ she said.
‘You can talk for a moment.’
‘No.’ She smiled again. ‘I really do have to go. Good luck!’
Absolutely she had to go. Because she was starting to break down.
He didn’t need to know as he went into a fight for the throne that she loved him and would do so for ever. And neither did he need to be sideswiped by the news that she was pregnant.
In time she would tell him—somehow.
Yet she knew she was tough and could raise their child alone.
She thought of all the people who loved their Prince and needed change.
She just needed a moment to cry. And she put her head in her hands and sat at her desk to weep in a way she never had.
Oh, Felicia had cried before—of course she had—but she sobbed now.
There was no need to worry about Anu hearing, for Felicia’s sobs were deep and quiet and racked her body. She wrapped her arms around herself, scared that if she let go she might fall apart.
She was so deep in grief that she didn’t hear the door open.
‘Felicia...’
His voice stilled her.
Kedah had been sure of her love, but as he’d watched her on the live stream and heard her speak on the phone moments before she had sounded so composed that for a moment his certainty had wavered.
She looked up, stood up, and there were so many questions.
‘You should be there...’ she said, and there was no way to hide her tears so she ran to him.
He held her tight in his arms and Kedah knew he had been right to return when he had. Sometimes you had to look after those you loved first.
‘I’m not needed there. My father will go in and tell them who is the rightful Crown Prince...’ He held her