Page 48 of Impossible Heir for the King

‘She’s distraught. I’ve asked that she gets professional support. They’re revising their storage processes of course and upgrading the technology. It was an appalling chain of events unlikely ever to be repeated.’

‘So it wasn’t some kind of threat, no sick sort of succession plot to create an heir?’ Niko double-checked.

Pax shook his head. ‘I shook the tree hard, but there’s nothing.’

‘Which means there’s no threat to Maia from this?’

‘Not from this, now.’

‘Any other threats to her?’

‘Nothing aside from the interest generated from her appearance with you last night. That’s only going to heighten over the coming months.’

Niko gritted his teeth. ‘Thanks, you can go.’

Pax said nothing more and walked down the corridor. But Niko didn’t go back into the room where Maia was waiting. He paused just outside the door, trying to wrap his head around the confusion of the last twenty-four hours. None of this was as simple as he’d thought it could be.

Last night he’d felt contrarian. Wanting to show her off and hide her away at the same time. It was the zillionth time he’d seen such a performance but the first for her, and seeing her so sweetly transfixed by the show had brought him immense pleasure. Frankly he’d forgotten Athena was going to be there last night. He’d forgotten most of the women he’d been with. He hadn’t thought about another woman in days. He’d had his hands too full coping with Maia.

The contradictory feelings were so freaking complicated and he couldn’t straighten them out. And the anxiety underlying it all was rising. Niko didn’t do anxiety. He did certainty. He was good at it. So this was very weird and very uncomfortable.

But the fact was any danger Maia now might face was purely because of him. She was losing her freedom because of him. Her life would be irrevocably changed because of him.

None of this was what she would have chosen for herself. Ever. And she didn’t want it. She was pushing to put herself in the position of his lover. To reduce herself—shrink inwards and accept less than she ought to ever have. Because that was what she was used to.

Meeting her father had sickened him. Worse was the realisation that he wanted the same outcome as that man. To be aligned in any way with that the guy seemed wrong. But they wanted the same thing for vastly different reasons, right?

Her father was a man in power telling her what to do. Telling her he knew best. That he wanted only to ‘help’ her. Not listening to her at all. Hearing that cruel tone, the coercion, the manipulation had made him realise that he was doing the exact same thing.

He really wasn’t as different to Brant Flynn as he’d liked to think. They were both men taking advantage of what authority they had to get what they wanted. All but haggling over her. Not letting her choose.

The levels of control she’d been subjected to her whole life were exhausting. Everyone had things theyhadto do, that was part of life but Maia hadn’t had the most basic of freedoms nor the chance to discover things for herself. She’d never had normaloptions. So how could she know what she really wanted when she’d never had the time or space to figure it out for herself?

But one thing she’d made clear was that she didn’t want to marry him. He’d been trying to convince her from the start and she wouldn’t budge—today she was more vehement, more calm about it, than ever.

And now he felt unsure that the intimacy they’d shared had only happened because she’d felt some innate need to protect herself. That she’d wanted to please him and thus keep herself safe somehow.

She’d said she would still sleep with him but she wouldn’t marry him. She didn’t want to live in the palace as his wife forever. That was a hard no from her. And if he insisted? She would become disenchanted. She would become resentful. She would try to run away again. And he didn’t think he could stand that.

He’d wanted to do right for the child but also do right for her. To give her as much freedom as he could allow. But there was no real compromise in this situation as it currently stood. There couldn’t be. And now he liked her. He even cared about her. Which made it all the more imperative to stop this in its tracks now. He shouldn’t have brought her back to the city. He shouldn’t have shown her off in public. In doing so he’d put her more at risk than she’d already been. Now there was such speculation and a lot of it was accurate. But if he moved swiftly, decisively, then he could fix this.

He was the king. He could make a proclamation. He could recognise his child. Nikoneedednot just to listen to her buthearher.

He leaned against the wall. He really didn’t feel good. A selfish part of him didn’t want to relinquish his hold on her. But the lust still consuming him would surely fade.

She’d said all along that she wanted her freedom. He’d never realised or understood how and why she so deeply needed it. But she’d had virtually none. She’d had to work almost all of her life—without the recompense anyone should ordinarily get for it. She’d had no chance to explore and find out what she really wanted to do. She hadn’t ever had her own choices.

She’d wanted to go shopping on her own and he’d been too selfish to even understand that. He’d wanted to see her joy—as if, what, he could feelsmugabout being the one to provide her with that experience? He’d made it all about him and never really considered her true wishes. He’d never really understood her—or what her motivations were. And she was still trying to accommodate him.

Of course he’d wanted her to have everything. He’d wanted to spoil her. He’d genuinely thought he’d tried. He thought he’d been understanding, patient and generous. He winced at his self-delusion. As if he could save her somehow?

But he knew better than most how one could live in the most beautiful place in the world, and have all the riches in the world. But those things didn’t meanhappiness.

And Maia had also had very little love. She’d had little time for fun and friendships and play. His head ached as he worked through the most unpalatable prospect that perhaps she’d only stepped into his bedbecauseof that lack of affection. Perhaps it was exactly as those jerks had tried to do on her boat that time. She liked him purely because he was one of the few people in her life who’d actually been nice to her. He’d made herfeelgood and she’d mistaken that for thinking thathewas good. And he realised now he wasnotgood enough for her. Because he’d wanted to put power and duty first—not aperson. Which meant he was just like his grandfather after all. Overlooking someone’s very existence in order to not disrupt the lineage. Niko had been prepared to overlook her unhappiness. He’d been so arrogant he’d assumed he could make her happyenough. Butthatwasn’t good enough. And none of this was good for the stability of Piri-nu. He’d been making rash decisions that had only worsened the situation.

But now he knew exactly what he had to do.

‘What’s happened now?’ Maia stared as Niko walked into the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

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