Page 53 of Out of Office Nights
‘About time you showed up. He’s been asking for you.’
It took a moment to realise Azar meanthim. Teo’s heart flipped at the news then common sense reasserted itself. ‘Nice try, brother.’
Azar frowned before his eyes flicked to Valenti. Teo ignored them both. ‘Let’s get this over with, shall we?’
His muscles clenched tight as the valets opened the suite doors.
Old King Alfonse was laid up in bed, exactly where he’d been the last time Teo had visited several weeks ago. Since then, though, his father’s health had declined. It dawned on him then that with the old man’s health having bounced back so often from death’s door, their father’s sheer willpower always defying the odds, he’d believed it would repeat that pattern this time too.
He took solace in seeing that illness hadn’t diminished the former king’s formidable character. Or changed him, apparently.
He fought his emotions when predictably his father’s gaze slid past him to Valenti. To Azar. Lingered there for a moment. Then…returned to Teo.
‘You took your time,’ his father rasped, an infinitesimal tremor in his voice that in no way belied its power.
Teo stiffened. Then forced himself to relax. ‘I was giving you time to rebound so we could go another round.’
Both his brothers inhaled sharply, spiking him with shocked glares. But something unstoppable pushed him farther into theroom to his father’s bedside whereas normally he would’ve stayed near the door, ready to end another discordant visit. Something very similar to the bold vein of strength he’d seen in Sabeen.
Despite all the baggage weighing her down, she’d striven to rise above the challenges facing her. Her unquenchable courage was to be admired. Even emulated.
Her renaissance by fire had changed him too.
He would seek the truth here and now. But whatever the outcome, his self-worth was no longer in question. That admission punched relief through him, but decades-old anguish wasn’t as easy to vanquish.
He knew it on closer inspection of his father’s features, his heart lurching when he realised he didn’t want to be running out of time.
A new, unfamiliar reason niggled at him, taunting him with its elusiveness. ‘But it looks like you’re letting this round kick your ass, Papá.’
‘Teo…’
His father’s hand rose, waving Azar’s warning away. ‘It’s fine,mijo. Your brother has something to say. Maybe it’s time to hear it.’
It was his turn to be shocked. To stare askance at his father. Dazedly he heard him ask after Eden, Max and his unborn second grandchild.
Unborn grandchild…why did that—?
He refocused in shock as the doors shut behind his brothers. It was the first time they’d been alone in…for ever. ‘What’s this about?’ he barked with more bravado than he felt.
His father’s piercing stare rested on him in silence. For half a minute. Then longer still. And for the first time, Teo felt the naked blaze of being seen. Felt his heart constrict at the emotionflitting through his father’s eyes. None of which was censorious. Or disappointed. He looked almost…remorseful.
‘You’re angry with me,’ his father finally said.
A bark of bewildered laughter seared Teo’s throat. ‘What gave me away?’
He was being impertinent. While he wasn’t entirely proud of it, it was either this, rant and rave like his overdramatic mother, or fall to his knees in despair. And Teo didn’t do crawling. Well…maybe he did that for only one person. Sabeen. The woman he was accepting held more power in her soft, super-talented hands than she probably knew.
His father’s droll smile added to his confusion. Then the whole thing intensified when he patted his space next to him. Teo approached warily, hands deep in his pockets. A stance his father didn’t miss.
‘This is decades overdue, but… I was wrong about you,mijo.’
Shock and anguish flayed him, certain his ears were playing tricks on him. ‘What did you say?’
The old king smiled wryly. ‘It sounds improbable after all this time, I know. And if you’re suspicious it’s a desperate attempt by an old man to come to grips with his mortality…well,’ his withered hands weaved through the air for a moment, ‘you wouldn’t be entirely wrong.’
‘Wouldn’t I? Because I had the great fortune at Azar’s wedding of hearing you say it was perhaps a good thing you wouldn’t be around much longer to see your son disgrace you any further. A fine tune to add to the soundtrack of my life,sí?’
‘Dios mio,’ his father muttered, his face turning ashen.
