Page 55 of Out of Office Nights
‘Would you?’ he scoffed lightly, but his insides were slowly unknotting, the waves of emotion drowning him as he looked at his father telling him he was halfway to doing the very thing he’d wanted for as long as he could remember. Seeking—and finding—acceptance.
‘Your Highness, your father needs to rest now.’
Teo’s head snapped towards the doctor who’d just entered. He’d walked in here expecting another round of his expectations being disregarded, his emotions being turned to mincemeat with indifference. Now he’d survived the fire. The core of his very being sizzled with…rejuvenation. A rebirth that felt too big, too unwieldy to contain.
On stiff legs he went to the door and pulled it open. His brothers waited outside, concerned looks on their faces.
‘Teo?’
He turned back to his father, aware of his brothers listening in.
‘Whatever the reason is for you not being more…disillusioned with me than you are right now, you need to hang on to it.’
He frowned. Shook his head. ‘I don’t…’
‘Sí, you do. It’s important. Perhaps the most important thing of all.’
He suspected his father knew every detail of what was going on in his sons’ lives, even from his sickbed. Without answering, because he didn’t know how without shattering that ball of paradoxical dread and hope lodged in his middle, he shut thedoor behind him. And turned to find his brothers eyeing him with varying degrees of censure.
‘He’s trying to make amends,’ Azar said. ‘You must hear him out.’
‘Is that a royal directive?’ he growled without heat. A great chunk of the answers he’d sought had just been provided. He didn’t know yet whether he was ready to forgive and forget. But a new, deeper urgency was rising. Demanding attention. Something to do with Sabeen.
Azar stiffened then exhaled. ‘Of course not. But as much as we want to deny it, our father’s time is running out. Don’t waste time you’ll regret.’
The ominous words ringing in his ears, he started to turn away.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
Teo stopped, realising he was already halfway to the main entrance. ‘Did we have plans?’Dios, he hoped not.
Valenti, eyes narrowed, accurately read his thoughts.
Azar beckoned to Teo. ‘If you’re hurrying back to your residence because of your…guest, I’m afraid I have been ordered to let you know that she’s busy right now.’
His chest cracked open with fury. And fear. And unfathomable oceans of jealousy. ‘What the hell did you just say?’
Azar’s hands shot up in mock surrender, even as a wicked glint lit his eyes. ‘Easy,hermano. My very pregnant wife, who’s carrying twins by the way and is therefore not to be denied anything her heart desires, insisted on having lunch with Sabeen. Sabeen agreed. Eden told me not to expect her back until at least mid-afternoon. I’m just saving you the trouble of incurring the queen’s wrath by interrupting her girls’ date.’ His keen gaze sharpened. ‘But now I’m interested in what you thinkI meant because I could’ve sworn you were ready to rip chunks out of your king,’ he teased.
Frustration unleashed an unfettered growl before he could stop it, casting a fond eye at the exit as it ate him alive. A quick glance at his Vacheron Constantin watch showed it was just past lunchtime. Stewing in this urgency and dread building in his chest was hell.
He exhaled and turned from the door. ‘Two hours, then their date is over. Not a word out of you,’ he warned his faintly amused twin then stalked past them both as Valenti’s sombre demeanour reasserted itself.
‘Where are you going? Or is it a secret?’ Azar drawled.
‘To drink your most expensive cognac. I believe you’ve taken possession of a Henri IV Dudognon?’
Azar inhaled sharply, hurrying after him. ‘I dare you to touch that.’
Teo smiled without humour, the wild notion that he’d been rushing back to tell Sabeen about the conversation with his father, to seek her counsel about allaying the dregs of anguish and bewilderment within him because she alone could, escalating the churning consuming him.
Because he was beginning to learn what that truly meant.
And if that belief was valid, then he was in peril yet again. One that might utterly consume his heart and soul this time.
He was still stewing in that unsettling notion, sipping the finest cognac ever made when the niggle, powered by his father’s last words, finally solidified in his reeling brain, sending him jerking to his feet. ‘Dios mio!’
Sabeen pushed her food around her plate, hoping Eden wouldn’t notice she had zero appetite. That not even the presence of the pregnant Queen of Cartana beside her, the Michelin-starred chefAzar had sent along to cook their surprise girls’ lunch—one of a million ways he spoiled the love of his life—could make Sabeen not wish for a simpler meal back at her grandmother’s house.With Teo.
