Page 12 of Redemption of a Prince

With his hands clasped in front of him, Zeke’s father sighed. “I need a kidney.”

Almost everyone gasped. Zeke didn’t. He was too well practiced at hiding his reactions.

“What does that mean, Papa?”

Zeke’s heart broke at the sound of Lydia’s voice.

“It means that I’m sick. I need to have dialysis sometimes, and I need someone to give me a kidney.” He shook his head. “I refuse to take one from a deceased donor. Not unless there is no one else who could use it.”

Lydia stood and bolted across the room, launching herself into the arms of her parents. “You can have mine, Papa.”

Zeke wasn’t surprised when his father gave him a look.

“I appreciate that, little one, but hopefully we can find another donor. We’ll be asking palace staff first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll go public. Either way, we’ll tie it to an organ donor campaign. Thousands of people die each year waiting for a kidney, and thousands more who become too sick for one.”

“What do the doctor’s say?” Kari asked.

“That I need dialysis regularly. If we can find a donor, I have an excellent chance at a relatively normal life. Whatever that is.”

The king wrapped his arms around the only girl in the family and kissed the top of her head. “I’m going to be fine, little one. I promise.”

For an hour, they talked about when he learned he was sick, what life would look like until the transplant - and after.

He’d looked at Zeke and Gid and told them they’d both need to step up and cover more areas for him.

The Auverignonian treaty was one of the things that would need more oversight from the actual monarch, but many other things could be handed off more than they had been.

And Gideon would be the one their father would look to.

Ezekiel knew, even understood, the decisions that led to Gideon being the heir - and not knowing why.

The few conversations they’d had, like the one recently, indicated Gid didn’t know, but could that have been a cover-up in hopes that Zeke would confide in him?

The unspoken elephant in the room created a gulf between them. They’d been close once.

Until Zeke screwed up.

Then he’d closed himself off from pretty much everyone.

Eventually, the meeting broke up. Zeke went to his quarters, slept restlessly, then dressed for work.

After a morning of looking over contracts with Athmetis, all he wanted was lunch.

A glance at his watch told him it was too late to have it delivered.

With a sigh, he walked over to the dining room.

Zeke took a seat at one of the tables off to the side. No one, except maybe a member of his family or immediate staff would bother him.

That’s why he barely noticed when someone stopped at the table, but after a moment, he realized the person hadn’t moved on.

He looked up and realized Nikki stood there.

She cleared her throat. “I’ll only bother you for a minute, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m praying for your family, and that I’ll be getting tested. I’d imagine everyone eligible will be.”

Zeke blinked. “Word is already out?”

Nikki nodded.

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