Betrothed: To the People’s Prince

CHAPTER EIGHT

IT WAS impossible to downplay the seriousness of what had just happened. Or how miserably his measures to keep them safe had failed.

Men were waiting for him on the shore-grim-faced men whose instructions had been to protect this pair and they’d missed an obvious threat.

But it hadn’t been an obvious threat. This could never be traced to Demos, he thought. This boat had come from nowhere and had gone to nowhere. It could be traced to no one. Even if Thena and Nicky had died today, it would have been written off as a tragedy. A fool in a fast boat…

A fool who’d gone to lengths not to be recognised. A fool with a lethal boat and a gun…

They’d been lucky. So lucky. That these two could swim like fish and that he’d been there…

There was a jetty by the headland at the side of the cove. He took the boat in and the men were ready to catch his mooring lines, to tell him they’d seen the boat coming and tried to radio him but it had been too late, too late.

They were appalled.

He’d thought Demos was capable of anything to get the Crown. No one had really believed him.

Thena hadn’t believed him.

She believed him now. Her face said she knew exactly how close she’d come.

‘We’ll get you up to the palace,’ he said gruffly. He put out a hand to help her to her feet.

She didn’t take it.

She was trembling. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her for ever. But she was backing away.

‘We’re okay,’ she said stiffly. ‘Nicky, are you okay? Can you walk?’

‘Of course I can.’ Nicky was recovering more quickly than his mother. Maybe because he hadn’t seen the threat for what it really was. ‘They were fools,’ he said now, indignant. ‘They should know not to go so fast near a beach. Can you have them arrested?’

‘If they’re found,’ Nikos said. ‘Though I don’t have the power to arrest anyone on this island. Your mother can, though.’

She flashed him a look containing a mixture of fear and anger.

‘Don’t you dare say that. This is it, Nikos. We’re going home.’

‘The threat will follow you.’

‘It won’t. We have police in Manhattan.’

‘Demos is rich. He can pay…’

‘I don’t care. I’m not listening. I won’t listen.’

‘Thena, we’ll leave this,’ he said softly and he took her hands whether she liked it or not. ‘You can’t take this in now. Let my men take you up to the palace. I’ll meet you there.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’ll contact the authorities on Sappheiros and Khryseis, and on mainland Greece. I’ll get out a description of the boat.’

‘There are hundreds of pleasure boats like that all along the Greek coast,’ one of his men said. ‘There’s no chance it will be found.’

‘I have to try,’ he said heavily. ‘Thena, please, let my men take you.’

‘I will,’ she said and tugged Nicky to his feet. ‘And then I’m packing. We’re leaving for Manhattan tomorrow.’

He ate a cursory lunch with his mother, and checked on Christa, who was happily drawing pictures of herself and her new brother. He told his mother what he needed her to do, he rang Alexandros, and he set a small army in motion. Then he walked slowly across the headland to the palace.

She had to see sense.

She wasn’t in her bedroom. He knocked and when there was no answer he went in. No Thena. He walked across to the adjoining bedroom and twisted the handle.

Dressed simply in jeans and a crisp white blouse, her bare feet tucked up under her, she sat in a big squashy armchair, watching over her sleeping son and her sleeping dog.

She put her finger to her lips, then rose and came out to him, closing the door behind her.

‘He was more scared than he’ll admit,’ she said. ‘He heard us talking of Demos. There’s a picture of him in the downstairs entrance. Nikos asked if that was the man who was trying to kill us.’ She shivered. ‘He had a cry, but he’s had a bit of lunch and we’ve talked it out.’ She managed a smile. ‘He’s even talking about what we could do to stop him. And we took down Demos’s picture and put it in the trash. So he’s okay. But the jet lag’s catching up with him as well. I’m glad he’s sleeping.’

‘You should be sleeping as well,’ he said, more roughly than he intended, taking in the shadows under her eyes.

‘I can sleep tonight. I won’t sleep while Nicky needs me.’

‘He’s asleep now.’ He hesitated. ‘Thena, we need to talk.’

‘I’m not talking. I’m leaving.’

She was leaning on the closed door. Her hair hadn’t been brushed since the swim. She’d obviously showered, tugged on her clothes and that had been enough. There were damp tendrils wisping down her forehead. She obviously didn’t care. She was concentrating solely on her son.

Did she have any idea how beautiful she was? Last night in her stunning ball-gown, he’d thought she looked magnificent. But magnificent was too small a word, he thought. He didn’t have words to describe how she made him feel.

She was leaning against the door as if she was protecting the child within. If anything happened to Nicky…

It didn’t bear thinking about. He’d thought if anything happened to Christa he’d be gutted. Now he had more to care about. Christa. Thena. And now his son.

There was no way he could let her go back to Manhattan. He wanted her to stay. He wanted to get to know Nicky properly, as a father should.

And…he wanted this woman. Despite their differences, he wanted her.

But there wasn’t time to voice his emotions. Wanting Thena had to wait. They had to avert this threat first.

‘I want you to go to the Eagle’s Nest,’ he told her. ‘I want us all to go there. You, Nicky, me and Christa.’

She stared at him in incomprehension. ‘The Eagle’s Nest…’

‘Someone in this castle told Demos you were down at the cove,’ he said. ‘There are people here I’d trust with my life, but the staff is too big for me to know everyone. Thena, I need time to sort things out, and I won’t have you at risk while I do.’

‘I won’t be at risk. I’ll have left.’

‘You can’t leave.’

‘I can.’

‘Then you’ll be watching over your shoulder for the rest of your life.’ He met her gaze with strength and unwavering conviction. ‘Thena, if anything happens to you and your son, Demos inherits. He and his friends. If you leave then I can’t protect you. And, Thena, I will protect you.’

‘You’re saying this because you want Nicky,’ she stammered.

‘I’m saying it because you’re in danger.’ Somehow he maintained that flat convincing tone. ‘But I won’t lie to you,’ he said softly. ‘I do want Nicky. He needs a father.’

‘He’s managed just fine without one until now.’ But her voice faltered.

How much had she wanted her own father? he wondered. Athena’s father had been a weak-willed man who Giorgos had bullied and finally bribed to leave the island almost as soon as Thena was born. As far as he knew, Thena had never seen him.

What would it be like, to be raised not knowing your father? He couldn’t imagine. His own father had died when he was twelve but he was still a huge part of who he was. And he had grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts…a huge extended family to constantly remind him he was loved.

Thena had been brought up by a single mother. Maybe she didn’t see the advantages of family.

Maybe he had to teach her.

‘So…why are you saying the Eagle’s Nest?’ She’d obviously been doing her own thinking. Asking about the Eagle’s Nest was a concession that it could happen.

The Eagle’s Nest was an exquisite castle, built for the sole use of the King. It sat perched high on cliffs overlooking the ocean. One road ran in along winding cliffs that soared as granite buttresses, and the cliffs themselves seemed to become its walls.

‘It’s safe,’ he said.

‘Have you been in it?’ she asked incredulously. As kids the place had fascinated them.

‘I have,’ he told her. ‘It’s fabulous. We should have seen it for the first time together, Thene. We tried hard enough as kids.’

They had. The Eagle’s Nest explained two matching broken bones. One sheer rock face rising from the sea. Two kids daring each other…

‘We can drive in now like normal people,’ he said.

‘Right. No one drives into the Nest like normal people.’

‘I guess they don’t.’ He smiled. ‘Thena, come on. Come to the Eagle’s Nest with me.’

She was refusing to meet his gaze. She was staring along the hall, as if looking for an escape route. ‘What…what possible purpose can we achieve by locking ourselves in the Eagle’s Nest?’

‘It’ll give us time,’ he said, softly now. ‘That’s what we need. Alexandros is flying to Athens tonight to try and find Demos. Unfortunately, we believe it’s not just Demos behind this. The money at stake…He’s weak-willed, there’ll be real power trying to get him set up as puppet ruler.’

‘I hate this,’ she whispered.

‘So do I.’ He tried to touch her hand but she snatched it away. ‘I’d like you to come home with me now and talk to my mother,’ he said.

‘Your mother?’

He smiled wryly. ‘Thena, okay, you don’t trust me and why should you? But have you ever had reason to distrust Annia?’

‘No, I…’

‘Then come. Let her talk to you. Please.’

‘She’ll talk me into staying.’

‘You’ll be fearful, whether you go or whether you stay. But if you stay, you’ll be safe. We promise you that. Myself. Alexandros. My mother. We’ll be your family, Thene.’

‘I don’t have a family,’ she whispered. ‘Except Nicky. How can I trust you?’

‘You can.’

She stared at him blindly. ‘No,’ she said at last. ‘Not after…’ She faltered and then seemed to make a conscious decision to go on. ‘Do you know how terrifying it was being pregnant, alone in New York? Do you know how much I depended on you to follow me? How can I trust you, Nikos?’

He grimaced. Christa. Marika. Always the ghost of that long ago nightmare.

But now wasn’t the time to talk of the past. He wasn’t sure if there ever would be a time, but for now he had to move on.

‘What happened in the past is in the past,’ he said. ‘Maybe we need to remember the time before…before Christa and Nicky were born. We talked of this when we were kids. We wanted this island to prosper. We both wanted it.’

‘That was kids. Dreaming.’

‘It might have been, but now we can make it a reality.’ He took her hands and held them, whether she willed it or not. But she made no move to withdraw.

‘Thena, I believe if you leave the island now, then Demos will win. He’ll threaten Nicky, you’ll cave in to his demands and he’ll end up as Crown Prince. I will not stand by and let that happen.’

‘You want to be Crown Prince yourself.’

‘I want to change this island,’ he admitted. ‘I won’t lie to you. I want this island to be safe and prosperous. I ache for it. But you’ve known this. You’ve known it’s who I am.’

‘I did think I knew you,’ she whispered. ‘But Marika…she stopped me knowing you.’

‘She was my wife for less than a year.’

‘It doesn’t matter how long she was your wife. I thought you loved me.’

‘I did,’ he said softly. ‘I always have.’ He met her gaze directly, refusing to let her look away. ‘I believe I still do.’

‘No.’ She tugged her hands back. ‘Stop it, Nikos. Don’t you dare say you love me. I have to leave.’

‘You can’t leave,’ he said steadily. ‘Not yet. Okay, forget the emotion. Concentrate on necessity. Thene, this island needs you.’

Maybe he shouldn’t be throwing this at her, he thought ruefully, but if she was only part of the Athena he remembered then she’d have to share this love. This passion.

‘Look at this palace, Thene-look at it,’ he told her. ‘It’s fabulous and if it was restored…the royal family could use part of it, but what a wonderful public place it would be. Alexandros is doing it on Sappheiros. I want to do it, too.’

‘You have it all planned.’

‘Not me,’ he said. ‘Us. We dreamed it, Thene. We walked this island as kids and we wanted it.’

‘We were kids.’

‘And it was dreams,’ he said. ‘But Giorgos’s death without an heir means those dreams can be a reality. Would you willingly stop them happening by handing over to Demos? Does your career mean so much to you that you’d walk away again? That you’d put Nicky’s life at risk in doing so?’

‘That’s not fair.’

‘It’s not,’ he said steadily. ‘Life’s not. But this is your second chance. Trust me. Move into the Eagle’s Nest until we sort Demos out. Put your career on hold. This time it’s not just yourself you’re choosing for; it’s for your son and it’s for the whole island.’

‘You think I chose last time?’ she whispered.

‘When you left…’ He frowned. ‘Of course you did.’

‘I had to go.’ She bit her lip and closed her eyes. She was trying desperately to make her muddled mind think.

If he was right…if she really was in danger, and after this morning she had to believe him, then maybe she didn’t have the luxury of choice

But to trust him… There were still so many questions she needed answered.

‘So…so where does the money come from?’ she asked. ‘You came to Manhattan to find me. You obviously paid for these security guards. I know your fishing pays-but does it pay that much?’

He smiled at that. ‘It does,’ he said. ‘I’ve turned into a businessman. When you have a daughter to care for and there’s nothing else to distract you, it’s amazing how much energy you can put into a passion. I’m a rich man, Thena. But, even if I wasn’t…I’m not in this alone. Alexandros cares for these islands, and so does Stefanos. We’ll do whatever it takes to protect our own.’

‘Your own being Christa.’

‘I meant the islands,’ he said, softly now and steadily. ‘But yes, Christa, too. I know you feel betrayed by her existence and I’m sorry you feel that way. But I make no apologies for her existence. Nothing gets in the way of what I feel for my daughter. But it doesn’t make one speck of difference to what we’re planning. It’s only…You need to be secure and I need to know my son. Where I go, Christa goes. So we’ll make it a family holiday if you like. You, me, Nicky and Christa. Oh, and Oscar bringing up the rear.’

She stared up at him. She should pull her hands away, she thought. She should…she should…

‘Nothing gets in the way of what I feel for my daughter.’

That was exactly what she felt for Nicky. No apologies. Nothing. Nicky just…was.

She gazed at Nikos and he gazed straight back, unflinching. Strong, direct, secure. Demanding she do what was best for the island. Demanding he get to know Nicky.

Declaring his love for his daughter.

‘You should be Crown Prince,’ she whispered. ‘I’ve never really belonged here anyway. You’ve always been the people’s prince.’

‘You don’t give yourself credit,’ he said. ‘You’re the true princess.’

‘By an accident of birth. Your mother was a princess. If things had been different, you could have inherited the title.’

‘I didn’t,’ he said flatly. ‘I don’t want it. Why the hell would I?’

Because it’d keep me safe, she thought. Because it would let me get on with my life.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, suddenly weary. ‘Okay. I’ll stay. I’ll stay until Demos is…I don’t know…How can you defuse a threat like that? It might take years. It’ll ruin my career.’

‘You wanted to write a book.’

‘Don’t even go there,’ she whispered. ‘You’ve just told me I have to sacrifice my job because of this island. Don’t trivialise it.’

‘I wouldn’t, Thene.’

‘And don’t call me Thene.’

‘How can I not?’ he said. His hold on her hands tightened. ‘Athena, then,’ he said softly and smiled. ‘I know this isn’t what you want but we’ll make it work, somehow.’

‘You did already,’ she said steadily. ‘More than you can imagine. But in not telling you about Nicky then I hurt you, too. So let’s stick to practicalities. Like drying my hair. And agreeing that we sleep in bedrooms separated by at least two kids. Last night you kissed me…we kissed…and it scared me witless. I lost control and I will not go there again. So I control the locks. If I wish to leave I can at any time. I agree to stay at the Nest for a week and then we’ll reconsider. That or nothing.’

‘Fine,’ he said, and rose. ‘I’ll go home and tell Annia.’

Her eyes flared in sudden panic.

‘Nikos…’

‘You’re safe,’ he told her and, before she knew what he was about, he’d placed his fingers under her chin and kissed her lips. It was a feather kiss, over before it was begun. ‘Two of my cousins are at the head of the stairs and they’ll stay on guard until we move. I promise you’re safe.’

‘For how long?’

‘If I have my way you’ll be safe for ever,’ he said, and he said it as a vow. ‘What’s mine I keep.’

Mine? Was he talking about Nicky? But, before she could respond, he’d kissed her again, harder this time, a kiss to seal a vow.

‘I’ll be back in a couple of hours to collect you,’ he said. ‘Me and Christa. But now I need to organise a supply of dog food and a surfboard. How safe does that sound?’

He smiled, then he turned and strode down the hallway, with Athena staring blindly after him.

He’d agreed she could be in control.

She wasn’t even close to being in control.

She went back into the bedroom, and she started to shake.

She’d just agreed to move into the royal retreat with Nikos.

Nikos, the sexiest man in the known universe. The people’s prince. A fisherman, a businessman. A man who ordered security, who’d saved her life this morning, a man who knew how to protect his own.

She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to steady herself.

Was she overreacting? Maybe she should stop being a drama queen, she told herself. She’d be moving under the umbrella of his protection, for as long as it took to defuse the threat. That was all. Then she’d go back to Manhattan and start her life again.

She looked over to the bed. Her small version of Nikos was still fast asleep.

She wasn’t overreacting. The threat this morning had been real and dreadful.

Nikos had saved their son as well.

She closed her eyes-and then suddenly she opened the door again. She flew down the corridor. Down the great marble staircase. Past the two burly fishermen on the stairs. Nikos was already at the grand entrance, striding down to the forecourt.

‘Nikos?’

He paused and turned. ‘Thene?’

She stopped. He was maybe twelve stairs down from her. She wasn’t going any closer.

But she’d run after him for a reason and that reason still held.

‘I didn’t say thank you,’ she said. ‘You saved our lives.’

‘You saved your own lives by diving.’

‘If you and your men hadn’t been there…we couldn’t have stayed under for ever.’

‘Don’t think about it,’ he said gently. ‘Put it behind you.’

‘I will,’ she said. ‘But that doesn’t mean…it doesn’t mean I don’t feel…’

‘I don’t think we’re supposed to feel,’ he said dryly. He raised his hand in a mock salute and turned again, striding down the remaining steps two at a time.

And then he stopped. He swung round to face her.

‘Hey,’ he said suddenly. ‘Come with me and see my mother. We need to tell her what we’re planning, and you haven’t seen her since we got back.’

‘I don’t think…’

‘Don’t think,’ he said. ‘She’s not so scary.’

‘I know. I…’

‘Nicky’s asleep. He’s likely to stay that way. My cousins are here watching over him. If you like, you can ask Mrs Lavros to sit with him and phone you the moment he wakes up.’ He held out his hand and smiled. ‘So Nicky’s safe. I promise. And you know my mother would love to see you.’

She looked at his outstretched hand. The urge to take it was almost irresistible.

The urge to trust him was irresistible.

‘Why wasn’t your mother here last night?’ she asked.

‘She stayed home and cared for Christa. And she was putting baklava into the oven when I left her this morning.’

Baklava. Nikos’s mother’s baklava.

‘I shouldn’t,’ she whispered.

‘Got you.’ He was grinning. ‘No one can resist my mother’s baklava.’

‘For an hour, no more.’

‘Excellent,’ he said and his hand stayed outstretched.

She walked slowly down the steps towards him. She spent most of the time on the way down staring at that hand.

She shouldn’t. She should not.

This was Nikos, taking her to his mother’s to eat baklava as he’d done a thousand times before. The temptation to slip back into that time-that life-was irresistible.

‘I’ll…I’ll talk to Mrs Lavros.’

‘Already done,’ he said, and called to one of his relatives, who was watching from the top step. ‘Joe, can you ask Mrs Lavros to watch over Nicky-ring me the moment he wakes?’

‘Consider it done,’ the man said and disappeared.

‘Are you sure you can you trust Joe?’

‘He’s my cousin,’ he said and grinned. ‘My father had eight siblings. Half the islanders are my blood relatives.’

‘You should so be the prince here.’

‘I don’t need to be. Not if you stay.’

And his hand was still outstretched. He was still waiting.

Trust wasn’t black and white, she thought. Christa’s birth meant that on a personal level she couldn’t trust this man. But as guardian of this island…as someone she’d hand over the mantle of rule…Yes, she did trust him.

His hand was still outstretched.

Trust…It was a relative thing. She could trust a little. Just a little. Starting now.

Okay. She would.

She stepped down towards him and put her hand in his and he led the way out of the palace grounds.

He hadn’t brought a car so they walked as they’d walked so many times before, along the cliff path leading from the palace to the tiny hamlet where Nikos had lived all his life.

Apart from their disastrous attempt to swim, this was the first time she’d been out of the palace grounds since her arrival. She’d forgotten how beautiful the island was. Or maybe she’d blocked it out, too painful to remember.

It was picture-postcard perfect. Houses clung precariously to the cliff face. The cliffs seemed to be almost stepped down to the sea, with tiny jetties jutting out into the water at their base. Boats swung at anchor; there were a couple tied up at the jetties. Fishermen were tossing their catch to brawny helpers, loading it into trucks for the local market.

‘We should be exporting,’ Nikos said conversationally as they reached the cliff path. She was so aware of his hand holding hers that she could think of nothing else, but he seemed perfectly at ease. ‘This place is alive with fish-we could make a great case for a cannery. As it is, most of the fishermen only catch what the local market can absorb.’

‘So what about you?’ she managed. She should tug her hand away. But it felt too right. It felt too…good.

‘My boats are bigger. We can take our catch directly to the mainland.’

‘Which made you independent of Giorgos?’ His hold was doing strange things to her. She was slipping into the skin of the girl she had once been-the girl she thought she’d left behind for ever.

‘Almost,’ he said. ‘Though he was always a threat.’

That shook her out of her preoccupation. She knew Giorgos’s threats only too well. Should she tell him why she’d left the island all those years ago? Should she share the terror that had made her run?

Why?

If she told him…maybe it would make him feel better about her, but it could never alter what she felt in return.

He was silent beside her. They’d always been able to do this, she thought. Talk when there was a need to talk but otherwise relax with each other so words weren’t necessary.

Comfortable in each other’s company.

‘I do need to get to know Nicky,’ he said finally into the silence, as if this was simply an extension of his thoughts. ‘You realise he’s heir to the throne.’

She hadn’t thought this through. ‘I guess he is,’ she whispered, and the thought of a grown-up Nicky taking control of these islands was almost overwhelming.

Maybe she did need to accept the throne. Maybe she had a duty to make these islands safe-for Nicky.

He should inherit from his father, she thought. And then, she thought, maybe he will. He loves boats. Maybe he’ll own a fishing fleet like his father.

Maybe he should grow up here. Maybe it was her duty to keep him here.

There were too many maybes to take in.

They rounded the bend on the headland and Nikos’s home was in view. And here was another gut wrench.

Nikos’s family home was a cottage, tucked into the cliff tops, surrounded by scores of craypots in various stages of building or repair. Two wooden boats, both decrepit, lay upside down. Tomatoes were growing between the boats and runner beans were climbing over them. A big wooden table lay under straggly olive trees and a couple of faded beach umbrellas were giving shade to hens. It should be a mess-but Athena drew breath with delight.

Home.

And when Nikos opened the back door and ushered her in, the feeling of home became almost overwhelming. The door opened straight into the kitchen. Annia was at the table, her hands covered with flour. She glanced up as Athena entered and gave a cry of delight. Athena was promptly enveloped in a floury hug, as wide as it was sincere.

How long since she’d been hugged like this? She hugged Annia back and felt tears sting behind her eyes.

These were her people. This was her island. How could she have walked away ten years ago and not look back?

She hadn’t had a choice. She’s known it then and she knew it now. But it felt so good to be here.

‘She needs feeding, Mama,’ Nikos said. ‘Look how skinny she is. How goes it, sweetheart?’

For Christa was at the table. She had a pile of dough and was shaping it into balls.

‘I’m cooking,’ she told her father proudly. ‘You will like my cooking.’

‘I will.’ He swung her out of her chair, hugged her and set her down again, then straddled a kitchen chair and snagged a taste of whatever was in his mother’s mixing bowl.

Athena looked blindly down at him, still fighting tears. Everyone trusted this man. He loved his family. He could never betray them.

How could he have betrayed her so badly?

Something of her emotions must be showing, for Annia was suddenly pulling out a chair and pushing her down.

‘You’ve had a terrifying morning,’ she said, peering into her face. ‘Word’s gone right round the island. That Demos…’ She shook her head but she was still looking at Athena. Searching for trouble-and obviously finding it. ‘You’ve had a hard time, my Athena. Ten years of hard time?’

And then she moved straight to the big question. The one Athena had known would be asked. ‘And…I have a grandson?’ she said tentatively. ‘That’s what they’re saying here. Everyone’s saying it. That your son is also Nikos’s son. I’ve asked Nikos and he says I need to ask you. So I’m asking you. Is your Nicky my grandson?’

There was no way she could answer this except with the truth. ‘He is,’ she said and she didn’t look at Nikos. She couldn’t.

‘Well,’ Annia said, and put her floury hands on her hips. Her bosom swelled with indignation. ‘You bore my grandson and didn’t let us near? You were alone and you didn’t tell us? I would have come. In a heartbeat I would have come.’

No, you wouldn’t, she thought. You would have been helping Marika with Christa. Two grandchildren within three months. She wanted to yell it at Nikos. Scream it at him.

But Christa was there, happily moulding dough, and neither she or Annia deserved to be hurt.

Annia held a special role on the island-royal but not royal. She was Giorgos’s sister. There’d been twenty years’ age difference and mutual dislike between brother and sister, she’d married a fisherman and she’d stepped out of the royal limelight, but she still knew more than most what royalty meant to the islanders.

She’d have made a good Crown Princess herself, Athena thought as she sat at the kitchen table she’d sat at so many times before. With her earthy good sense-and with her fabulous son who could have stepped into the role as his right.

‘Leave her be, Mama,’ Nikos said shortly. ‘It’s past history. I’m taking Thene and Nicky and Christa…to the Eagle’s Nest.’

Annia’s face stilled. She looked from Athena to Nikos and back again. And then she smiled.

‘To the King’s love nest?’

‘Mama…’

Her smile was broadening. ‘Okay, okay, I’ll forget it’s other name. So…You’re going to the Eagle’s Nest-why?’

‘To keep Thena safe until we find a way to control Demos.’

Her smile faded for a moment. ‘A good idea,’ she whispered. ‘You’ll be safe there.’ And then her eyes twinkled into another smile. ‘And maybe while you’re there you can enjoy it. I was there as a child, with my father, the old King. My Mama showed me their bedroom. It was the closest place to heaven a woman could get, she told me, and it’s one of the only regrets I had in marrying your father-that I never got to sleep in that bedroom.’

Then, as Nikos looked bemused, she took Athena’s face in her floury hands and kissed her. ‘You make sure you enjoy it,’ she said. ‘And enjoy my oh-so-serious son and make him less serious.’

‘I…I’m only staying…’

‘Until the island is safe,’ Annia finished for her. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ She smiled. ‘You and Nikos…You and Nikos. I suppose the answer to your problems hasn’t occurred to you?’

‘Mama…’ Nikos said again, and his mother kissed him.

‘Enough. It’s occurred to me-ever since I heard Athena was coming home it’s occurred to me. And I’m sure it’s occurred to you too, for I’m sure neither of you is stupid. But I will say nothing. So Athena…you want some baklava? It’s almost cooked.’

‘I…no.’

For she was starting to feel overwhelmed. The domesticity. The gentle, loving teasing. The innuendoes of a relationship with Nikos.

The feeling of being on the outside looking in. She’d hated it all her life and she hated it now.

Once upon a time she’d thought she could find her own place within this circle. It wasn’t possible, and Annia’s tentative suggestion that she might still was threatening to break her heart.

Annia and Christa-and Nikos-were gazing at her now with various levels of interest and of concern. She didn’t want their concern.

She didn’t know what she wanted.

Or she did but there was no way in the wide world she’d admit it.

‘I need to go back to Nicky,’ she said, standing so fast she almost tipped her chair.

Nikos stood and caught it as it fell. ‘Problem?’

‘I…no. I shouldn’t have left him.’

‘You know he’s not awake yet.’ He gestured to the phone on his belt. ‘They’d have contacted me.’

‘I still need to go.’

‘Without baklava?’

‘Without anything,’ she said and she sounded desperate, she knew, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. It was like claustrophobia, only worse. This kitchen table, this man, this family…They were a dream she’d had since she was eight years old, and twenty years on she wasn’t one step closer to achieving it. And now she’d be trapped on this island for heaven knew how long, still on the outside looking in.

She felt sick and sad and empty.

‘Thena, don’t look like that,’ Nikos said, and her eyes flew to his and held. He looked…He looked as if he really cared.

He looked as he’d looked when she’d loved him.

She had to get out of here. Now.

‘I’ll walk you home,’ he said as she backed to the door. Annia and Christa were looking at her with concern and confusion. They might well be confused, she thought. She was so confused she might as well share.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered to Annia. ‘We messed it, Nikos and I. But please…don’t hope. Don’t tease. It’s too late to heal it. You know I should have no right to the throne. My rights are an accident of birth. It’s you and Nikos…It should be you and Nikos. I’ve just got to figure a way around it. Thank you, Annia. Thank you for everything. And I’m so sorry.’

And she walked out of the cottage before they could say a word. She closed the door and she started to run.

‘You should go after her.’

Nikos stared at the closed door and his mother’s voice came as if from a long way off. ‘She doesn’t want me.’

‘I think she does.’

He shook his head. ‘She left, Mama. Ten years ago she left, and she had my son and didn’t tell me. She’s strong and independent and willful. And she wants to pursue her career.’

‘She doesn’t look like a woman whose career is everything.’ She hesitated. ‘Nikos, can I ask…? Maybe I should have asked this ten years ago. I did think of asking…but I knew it was none of my business. But now…When I see Athena so distressed…You and Marika…’ She paused. ‘Why did you and Marika marry before a Justice of the Peace and not a priest?’

He frowned. ‘Marika was pregnant.’

‘Father Antonio would still have married you.’

‘Neither of us wanted to be married in the church.’

‘I know that,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘We were upset about it-Marika’s mother and I. But you were both adamant. Why were you so adamant?’

‘Mama, enough. There are so many arrangements to make…’

‘Of course there are,’ she said softly. And then she smiled. ‘Christa, what is it that you’re making?’

‘A lady,’ Christa said. The dough now had a small blob, a bigger blob underneath, two arms, two legs and what might have been a skirt.

‘That’s lovely,’ Annia said and beamed. ‘You make yourself a lady. Nikos, you go and make one safe. And if you can make both of you happy in the process…It’s time Father Antonio was put to work.’