And they were through.
She had but one more smile left in her, and she gave it to him now as she held up her bag.
‘My work here is done,’ she said.
‘No,’ Kedah said. ‘You will be back in the office tomorrow. I employed you to look out for my people. This was...’ He hesitated. ‘A personal favour. Thank you.’
He could not quite believe that she knew. That he had asked for and received her help.
‘I trust you, Felicia.’
And she waited for him to warn her, to remind her that if she let him down then she would be dealt with ‘outside the law’, but there was no postscript.
‘I hope it all goes well,’ she said.
And maybe he shouldn’t trust her, because right then she had lied—for there was a part of her that didn’t want him to be Crown Prince.
No.
She wanted what was best for him.
‘Hey, Kedah?’ Felicia said. ‘For what it’s worth...’ This was the hardest thing she had ever said, the least selfish words she had ever spoken, because she was very good at her job, and she could see another route even if the news for Kedah was not good. ‘It’s very hard to dissuade a loyal public.’
Kedah frowned.
‘Your people know the rumours and yet they still cheered you home. Whatever the result, you can still fight.’
She walked out and she saw that Mohammed was deep in conversation with Kumu at the end of the long corridor. When he saw Felicia approaching Mohammed stalked off, leaving Kumu by the large statue at the top of the stairs.
‘Are you leaving?’ Kumu asked, for she had heard that Kedah’s jet had been prepared to fly out and Mohammed had asked her to glean more information.
‘Yes...’ Felicia smiled politely, about to carry on down the stairs. But even if Kedah wouldn’t let her help, it didn’t mean she couldn’t try. And so she paused and turned around. ‘It’s a relief, actually,’ she said in a low voice, as if confiding a secret.
‘A relief?’ Kumu frowned, a little taken aback but curious.
‘I always worry that I’ll say the wrong thing,’ Felicia admitted.
‘The wrong thing?’
‘You’re very used to royalty...’ Felicia sighed. ‘It’s just all so new to me. I keep worrying that I’m going to mess things up. I mean, King Omar has been perfectly kind, and he seems lovely—you just have to see how devoted he is to his wife to know that. Even so, I would hate to be the one to offend him.’ She gave Kumu an eye roll. ‘I mean, after all, he is the King.’
* * *
Kedah walked out of his office just in time to see the very end of a conversation between Kumu and Felicia, and almost instantly he doubted his thought process. Now Felicia was smiling and walking down the stairs, as confident as ever. Kumu, on the other hand, stood looking worried and clearly more than a little perplexed.
She hurried off, but Kedah’s attention was no longer on Kumu. Instead he was looking again at Felicia.
Her slender frame packed a punch even from this distance. Confident, collected, she walked towards the grand entrance and nodded for the guards to open the doors. In her bag was the glass, the answer, but that wasn’t all that was on Kedah’s mind.
Yes, he would have to select a bride—and, given her response, that meant this was the end.
They were over—just as he had told her from the start that they would be.
* * *
‘Felicia...’
The Queen called out to her as Felicia walked to the car.
‘Your Majesty?’
‘You’re leaving already?’
‘Yes, Kedah needs me to go back to London.’
The Queen frowned, for she had rather thought Kedah might need someone on his side here, for when the Accession Council met.
* * *
Felicia was driven the short distance to the private jet, which she boarded. It felt so odd to be there without him. Over the last few months they had flown together on many occasions.
The plane felt lonely without him.
Her life would from this point on.
‘There’s a slight delay getting clearance,’ the steward informed her. ‘It shouldn’t be too long.’
But Felicia could no longer hold it in.
‘I’ll be in the bedroom. Call me when we’re ready to take off.’
Felicia headed to the bedroom suite and lay on the bed and allowed the tears to come.
Oh, and they did come.
Except the slight delay wasn’t in order to get clearance from Air Traffic Control—it was caused by a certain Crown Prince who did not like it that she had gone.
He was thinking of her on the long flight to London when, in truth, he would far rather she was here. For a moment he even considered the possibility of someone else taking the glass to have it tested.
But, no, that couldn’t work. It would mean involving another person, and Kedah wanted it kept just between them.
She was crying too hard to hear her phone, but then there was a knock at the door.
‘Kedah wishes to speak with you,’ the steward informed her, and gestured to a phone by the bed.
Felicia furiously wiped away her tears and blew her nose before picking up.
‘Hello?’
‘Hey,’ Kedah said.
‘What do you want?’
Kedah had been about to talk dirty, to tell her to get back this minute, or maybe to be honest and tell her he wasn’t ready to let her go. Then he heard her slightly thick voice and knew that unless Felicia had the most rapid-onset cold in medical history she was crying.
Which meant she’d been crying that other time. He knew that now.
It would seem that she did have a heart after all.
‘How long will the results take?’ he asked, and Felicia frowned.
Why would he ask when they’d already been through this numerous times?
‘Overnight,’ she answered. ‘The results will be couriered to your office, hopefully by lunchtime in the UK.’ Which would be late afternoon in Zazinia—just a few hours before the Accession Council met.
A few hours before he was expected to choose his bride.
‘Felicia?’
‘I think we’re about to take off,’ she lied. ‘Speak soon, Kedah.’
KEDAH WAS VERY used to women falling for him.
He wasn’t used to them proudly walking away.
He looked at the slight chaos their lovemaking had created and righted the crystal decanter that had toppled over. Then his eyes took in the files and the photos of the women his father wanted him to choose from.
Felicia had seen them, he was certain.
Their lovemaking had been fierce and angry, and now possibly he understood a little more why.
Yet