Page 19 of Redemption of a Prince

Everything fell into place. “You can’t be king, so Gideon is taking over for your father, and you’re taking over for Gideon.”

She stumbled backwards until she ran into the wall and sunk to the floor. “You can’t be king, your daughter will never be queen, and it’s all my fault.”

5

For the first time in a very long time, Zeke felt his stoic façade begin to slip in front of someone.

Then he found himself sitting on the floor of his office, something he’dneverdone before, almost close enough to actually touch Nikki.

“It’s not your fault,” he told her softly. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s my own. I knew the consequences should I have that sort of relationship with a woman, and she ended up pregnant.” He rested his forearms on his knees. She clearly hadn’t known. “My parents told me about that part of the requirements to inherit the throne many times. I’m the crown prince. I’m supposed to have better self-control than that.”

“You’re only human,” she reminded him with a sniffle. “Even if you are the crown prince.”

“I know, but I knew the potential consequences, even if I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.”

Zeke stared at his hands. It was safer than looking at Nikki.

“Is she as amazing as she seems to be?” He could barely hear her whisper.

A half-smile crossed Zeke’s face. “She’s incredible.”

“Does she know she’s adopted?”

This was not the conversation Zeke expected to have when he found out he’d be working with Nikki. “No. I don’t think she does. Not as far as I know anyway. I don’t think anyone does.”

“Do you still think it was the right thing to do? To let someone else raise her?” Nikki finally wiped away the tears on one of her cheeks.

Zeke leaned his head back against the wall. “What would the other options have been? We weren’t ready or in a position to get married and raise her together. Neither one of us could have been a single parent either. Fifty-fifty custody? That would have been incredibly difficult for so many reasons.”

“Which means adoption was the right thing to do.” She wiped the other cheek. “You’re right. We weren’t ready for any of that.” She leaned her head back and to the side a bit, closer to him. “Is she happy?”

“Most of the time. She feels left out sometimes because she’s the youngest by a fair bit. She doesn’t always like her schoolwork. I think we were all like that, though. Overall, I think she’s pretty happy and well-adjusted.”

“That’s good. I’m really glad to hear that.”

They sat there for a couple of minutes, both absorbed in their thoughts, though Zeke found himself trying not to think much of anything.

Certainly not about how he once thought he would marry Nikki, and together they’d work to change some of the outdated laws of New Sargasso.

The audacity of youth.

Nikki sniffled again. “We should get to work. We have a lot to cover this afternoon. I’m sure you have a lot more important things to do than sit on the floor with a blubbering idiot.”

Before he could stop himself, Zeke reached over and took her hand, squeezing it lightly before letting go. “You’re not an idiot. You’re a mother who, for a multitude of very valid reasons, didn’t get to raise her daughter. You’re entitled to a breakdown every now and then.”

She let out a short bark of laughter. “I might have had one a few weeks ago, the day of my interview. I really hadn’t expected to see you, and it caught me completely off-guard.”

“I bet it took you less by surprise than it did me,” he admitted. “At least you knew I lived here, and it was a possibility, however remote. I was completely taken by surprise. Gid did ask me about hiring you, though. Said you were their first choice, but that I’d known you better.”

“Thank you for not sabotaging my chances.” She shifted and prepared to stand, but he beat her to it.

Once on his feet, he held out a hand to help her up. She smiled her thanks as she took it, her tear-stained cheeks like a thousand tiny knives ripping at him.

The pain of the adoption was different for him. Not simply because he wasn’t the baby’s mother, though that played a part, but because he had a chance to be part of his daughter’s life, albeit not as her father.

Nikki didn’t.

Rarely did a day go by that he didn’t think about Nikki at least once.

---