Page 58 of Theseus Discovers His Heir

‘I’ll buy you a house,’ he continued. ‘Choose whatever you like, wherever you like. There will be further maintenance too, and I’ll make investments and open accounts in Toby’s name...’

On and on he went, but his words were just noise.

Panic, the like of which she’d never known—not even during the night when he’d learned about Toby—clawed at her with talons so deep they cut through to the bone.

‘But you wanted Toby to be your heir...’ She was clutching at straws, her pride very much smothered in her stark shock. ‘If you want to get rid of me we can marry and then Toby and I can move back to England. We don’t have to live under the same roof unless your constitution demands it.’

He shook his head. ‘What if you meet another man and want to marry him?’

‘Meet another man?’ Now her voice rose to a high pitch. ‘How can I ever do that? You’re the only man—don’t you see that? It’s only ever been you. I love you.’

His face paled and a pulse throbbed at his temple. ‘I never asked for your love. I told you to keep your heart closed.’

‘Do you think I had a choice?’ Her whole body shook, fury and anguish and terror all circling inside her, smashing her heart. She wanted to lash out at him so badly, to inflict on him the pain he was wreaking on her.

Theseus jumped to his feet, gripping on to the edge of the table as he leaned over. ‘Love does not equate to happiness. My mother loved my father and all he gave her was misery. I can’t make you happy. Maybe for a few weeks or a few months—but what then? What happens when you wake one day with a hole of discontent in your stomach so wide that nothing can ever fill it? When the reality of your life hits you and you understand that this is all there is and all there will ever be?’

‘But why is that all there will be?’

And as she shouted the words understanding hit her.

‘Haven’t you punished yourself enough?’ she demanded, lowering her voice. ‘You’ve spent years making amends for the times when you were less than dutiful—do you really have to sacrifice the rest of your life too?’

With lightning-quick reflexes Theseus grabbed the jug of juice and hurled it. It flew through the air and landed with an enormous splash in the middle of the swimming pool.

She had never seen him so full of fury, not even when he’d learned about Toby.

‘Do not speak as if you know anything. My grandparents made more sacrifices than I could make if I lived to be a thousand years old. My grandmother loved me, but I was such a selfish bastard I wasn’t even there to say goodbye.’

‘What...?’

‘I was too late. By the time I got home she’d already died.’

Her hands flew to her cheeks, wretchedness for him—for her—raging through her. He’d been so desperate to get back to her. ‘Please...you can’t blame yourself for that. You tried...’

‘Yes, I can—and I do. If I’d taken my phone with me when I went climbing, Helios would have reached me sooner and I would have had three extra days to get home. Dammit, she was asking for me.’

‘It wasn’t your fault.’

‘Wherever the fault lies, the result is the same—I failed her when she needed me. I made a vow that as I failed to honour her in life I would honour her in death, and honour my grandfather in the manner I should have done from when I was old enough to know better. This is who I am. It’s who I was born to be and who I will be for the rest of my life. I am a prince of Agon, and if we marry you’ll be my wife—a princess. All the freedoms you take for granted will be gone. I will not do that to you. I know the cost, and I will not allow you to pay it.’

Loud silence rang out. Even the birds had stopped chirping.

On jelly-like legs, Jo rose. ‘There’s nothing wrong with wanting your freedom. You can have it still. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The happiness you had when you travelled the world and the happiness we’ve shared here, in this villa—’

He cut her off. ‘Your time here hasn’t been real, you know that. I saw your reaction to the number of staff you’d need to employ, the schedule you’d have to follow. And that’s only the beginning. It will swallow you up and spit you out.’

Despite the harshness of his tone, there was something in his eyes that gave her the courage to fight on.

‘My feelings for you are real. I’m not a precious flower, ready to wilt at the first sign of pressure. Don’t you see? You’ve made me strong enough to bloom. Meeting you all those years ago... Theo, you made me feel as if I was actually worth something. Even here, even during the days when you hated me, you still made me feel like a woman deserving of desire and affection in her own right.’

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