‘Goodnight.’
There it was again—that stupid yearning to ask him to stay.
Not happening.
The door clicked behind him as her phone buzzed. Her agent.
‘Hi, Harvey.’
‘Hey, sweetheart. We need to talk.’
* * *
Frederick checked the weather forecast as he approached Sunita’s apartments. A sunny and cloud-free day—a typical late-summer day in Lycander, perfect for a ‘family day out’. The words had an alien twist to them—family days out had been few and far between in his childhood. And now both anticipation and an irrational fear tightened his gut.
Fear at the level of anticipation, and the knowledge that too much of it was tied up in Sunita, was mixed with the fear of messing it up with Amil. Somehow he had to get these fledgling emotions under control—work out which were acceptable, which he needed to nourish to be a good father and which he needed to stifle before they got out of hand.
He could do this—he was a past master at emotional lockdown and he would work it out. He would achieve the balanced, calm marriage alliance he wanted.
Pushing open the door, he entered. Sunita smiled at him and his breath caught. Beautiful—there was no other word to describe her. She was dressed in flared, delicately embroidered jeans and a simple dark blue sleeveless top, sunglasses perched atop her head and her hair tumbling loose in a riot of waves. Her vibrancy lit the room—a room that she’d made home.
Clutter without untidiness gave it a feeling of relaxed warmth, as did the overstuffed armchairs and sofas that she had commandeered from somewhere in the palace to replace the antique showcase furniture.
‘You ready?’ he asked.
‘We’re ready—aren’t we, Amil? Look, it’s Daddy.’
Frederick turned his head to look at Amil, who waved his favourite toy cat at him in greeting. And then he twisted, placed his hands on the sofa cushion and hauled himself up so he was standing. He turned and—almost by mistake—let go, tottered for a moment, found his balance, and then took a step...and another step...and another until he reached Frederick and clutched at his legs for balance.
He looked down at his son—his son who had just taken his first steps. Amil had a look of utter awe on his face, as the life-changing knowledge had dawned on him—he could walk! Frederick’s chest contracted with pride and wonderment as Amil turned and tottered back, with each step gaining confidence, until he reached the sofa and looked to Sunita for confirmation of his cleverness.
Sunita let out a laugh of sheer delight and flew across the room, scooped Amil up and spun him round. ‘What a clever boy!’ she said as she smothered him in kisses, before spinning to a halt right in front of Frederick.
Something twisted in his chest as he looked at them—a strand of emotion almost painful in its intensity. Sunita’s face was slightly flushed, her tawny eyes were bright with happiness and pride, and it filled him with yearning. Like a boy locked out of the sweetshop for ever—doomed always to gaze at the sweets he could never, ever taste.
He forced a smile to his lips and hoped it didn’t look as corpse-like as it felt. ‘He is a very, very clever boy.’
Amil beamed at him and that strand tightened.
Frederick cleared his throat, turned slightly away. ‘So, what’s the plan?’ he asked.
‘First up we’ll do a little press conference.’
‘How can I do a press conference if I don’t know where I’m going?’
‘You’ll have to let me do the talking.’ She grinned at him. ‘Don’t look so worried. There are a million royal duties I am not equipped for, but I am good with the press.’
The words, though casually stated, held a shade of bitterness, but before he could do more than frown she had headed for the door.
Once in the palace grounds, with a knot of reporters, Amil proudly demonstrated his new ability and she seemed totally at ease.
‘Hi, all. I’ve decided the Prince needs a day off—because even a ruler needs some down-time. So we are off on a family day out—I promise I’ll take some pics, which I’ll pass on to you. As I’m sure you all appreciate we are still a new family, so we’d appreciate some privacy.’
‘And what about you, Sunita? Do you deserve a day off? Isn’t it true you’re headed back to the catwalk?’
‘That’s the plan—but I’ll let you know more about that when I know the details.’
‘Don’t you feel you should focus on your role as Princess, like Lady Kaitlin would have?’