Chapter 16
The early dawn light spilled through Aleki’s study window as he put the finishing touches on the presentation for the Alternative Pathways Initiative before the Parliamentary session that began at nine. Despite his satisfaction with the programme and the opportunities it would offer Avali’s young people, he still found himself fidgeting as he doctored the final format several times, trying to ensure it looked its best. He wouldn’t be the one presenting it, but he desperately wanted it to impress. In the back of his mind, an eighteen-year-old Stella laughed as he fiddled with font choices.
Not Arial, Aleki! It’s a default font! It makes it look like you don’t care.
A restless few hours sleep had done nothing to soothe his whirring brain or fill the emptiness that echoed within him. Logically, he could acknowledge that the discomfort stemmed from Stella’s departure, but logic did nothing to ease the resentment that pulsed in her wake. The last fortnight of daily therapy sessions had helped him come to terms with learning to feel the full force of his emotions instead of avoiding them. It didn’t mean he had to like it though.
A sudden pounding at the front door startled him, and he moved to answer it, dragging a hand across his face in a futile attempt to wipe away his fatigue.
He opened the door to find Manu’s hulking frame darkening his entranceway, clad in sweaty workout gear.
“There’s a doorbell. You don’t need to try and beat my door down with your ham-fists.”
“Fuck off.” Manu strode past him purposefully, heading towards the living quarters. “Have you been watching TV this morning?”
“Of course not. Some of us have jobs you know.”
“I ran here.” Manu’s words floated back to him. “It’s twenty kilometers. I’d like to see you work that hard.”
Aleki followed Manu’s voice and sank onto one of the low beige couches as his brother fiddled with the television remote.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll see.”
Manu flicked through the local channels until Tala Tuila’s face filled the huge screen.
“God, why that woman?” Aleki groaned, hugging a throw cushion to his chest. “You know how I feel about her.”
“I know how you feel about all women,” Manu replied evenly. “Coffee?”
“Yeah.”
As his brother bustled into the kitchen, the whirr of the espresso machine and clink of cups drifting out, Aleki tried to focus on what Tala was saying rather
“And we have been lucky enough to obtain an interview with Prince Aleki’s betrothed, Ms Stella Warren.”
Aleki shot up, adrenaline gunning through him, his focus entirely on the screen.
Stella would never betray me like that! Not after he’d made his feelings about journalists perfectly clear. Yet there she was, calm and collected in white silk, her chestnut hair pulled back in a simple knot and pearls at her ears. He recognised the background as her office, where he’d spent half a day waiting while she worked to prepare for her hasty departure to Avali after his amateurish proposal. He soaked in the sight of her, a consummate professional in her element. Hunger and pain warred in his system without either gaining an advantage as his eyes took in the smooth tan of her skin, the perfect bow of her top lip, the dark smudges under her eyes that were the only hint of the pregnancy exhaustion he’d seen her battling day in and day out.
She was discussing the symbiotic tourism potential of wedding and honeymoon packages between New Zealand and the Pacific, and his chest wrenched with the reminder that he could already be on his honeymoon with this woman if he’d only made sure she knew how he felt before it was too late.
“Ms Warren.” Tala’s voice came from off camera, but the microphone positioned in front of Stella indicated the footage was not live. She’d been there. Stella had granted Tala an interview even knowing how he felt about her. Anger welled inside him, clashing with his other emotions.
“Your absence in Avali has caused some questions. Do you plan to return soon?”
“The intention was always for me to visit Avali for a short time while Prince Aleki and I worked out the details of our arrangement. I’m sure the Avali populace can understand that, as a small-business owner it would be remiss of me not to return to my staff and clients and honour my commitments to them.”
“But you will be coming back?”
“I look forward to visiting Avali again soon.”
Her answers were honest but non-committal and he felt a surge of pride at how well she was playing the game. She would have been an incredible princess.
“Are you and Prince Aleki still engaged?”
Stella gave the off-camera Tala a reproachful look. “I will not comment on my relationship status with Prince Aleki. It would be disrespectful to do so without his consent. I will say one thing though.” She turned her attention towards the camera once more, and Aleki’s breath caught in his chest as her arresting green eyes seemed to pin him in place through the screen. “Prince Aleki Esera is one of the best men I have ever met. He cares about his country and its people more than anything. I cannot think of anyone who would be more committed to their work and to the success of their nation than your prince. You are lucky to have him. Anyone would be lucky to have him.”
The screen switched back to Tala but Aleki stayed hunched forward on the couch, the pillow clutched to his chest, Tala’s speculation about the status of their relationship washing over him as his thoughts remained clinging to the image of Stella looking through to him and claiming that he cared more about Avali than anything.
Anything.
The thought rang in his head. Is that what she thinks? That I hold my work in higher regard than her? Than the baby?
The idea startled him into motion. He swung up from the couch and turned to see Manu leaning against the arch between the kitchen and living areas, regarding him over the rim of a white coffee cup.
“Hell of a woman, that.”
“To talk to the press? I’ve had that kind of woman before. I don’t need another one.” The words came automatically but the anger he’d felt earlier had dissipated, leaving only the swirling maelstrom that had plagued him since the morning after the ball.
“Yeah? You don’t need a woman who defends you? Talks you up? Tells the world you’re worth a damn?”
Aleki didn’t answer, his mind replaying the footage of Stella, beautiful, generous Stella, telling his people how lucky they were to have him. How lucky anyone would be to have him.
Anyone.
Like her.
Suddenly the emptiness that had dogged him for weeks made sense. It wasn’t that Stella was missing from his home. It was that she was missing from his life. The niggle of uncertainty that had dogged him for weeks was the knowledge that he had failed her. Not the way he worried about failing his people, but as a friend. Certainly as a lover. When she had left, he’d been angry. Rather than stopping to consider the validity of her claims, he’d lashed out and run away. Just like last time he’d let someone down. And now? He’d spent a month sitting on his arse sulking because he was too scared to follow his heart and ask for her forgiveness. Too cowardly to put himself in a position to be told he wasn't good enough again. But there she was, on television, telling the whole world that he was. He was enough.
He could no longer let his cowardice stop him from the life he wanted to live. If that meant Tama gave the crown to Manu, so be it. He would still be a prince. He would still be able to serve his people. But maybe he would be able to do it with Stella by his side.
Still ignoring his brother, Aleki dug his cellphone out of his pocket and thumbed through to Andreas’s number.
“Andreas? I need the car out front immediately. We’re leaving early.”
From the doorway Manu lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll put this in a travel cup.”
Minutes later, both armed with steaming travel cups, they piled into the back of Andreas’s car. Aleki’s leg knee shook up and down as they drove, nervous energy ricocheting through his system as the Parliamentary building grew closer.
Once seated, he stroked his fingers over the glossy wood of the head table positioned on the dais of the Avalian Parliment. Around him, the premier politicians who guided his country buzzed. Papers shuffled, allegiances shifted and the flag of Avali marched in rows along the rafters, reminding them all what they stood for.
King Tama sat beside sandwiched between his sons at the centre of the raised table, surveying everything as the local members took their seats.
As the gavel banged and the session began. Having made his own deals as the cabinet members drifted in, Aleki let his mind wander back to Stella and the mess he had made of things. He’d taken her interview as a sign and sent a dozen long stemmed lavender roses from the car but was well aware that they wouldn’t even come close to making amends, if she accepted them at all.
Good luck to that poor delivery person.