And now…If the only way Athena would rule was for him to stand beside her and guide her every step of the way, then he’d do it. He’d been raised to love this island, and he would not see it destroyed.
So now…He shoved aside anger, loss, confusion, a host of mixed emotions he wasn’t near to understanding, and he strode up the gangplank with the determination of a man who knew where his duty lay. And, as he reached Athena, he took her in his arms and he hugged her. Whether she willed it or not. Whether he willed it or not.
‘Welcome home,’ he said and lifted her and swung her round in his arms, a precarious thing to do on a gangplank, but jubilation was called for. ‘Princess Athena, welcome,’ he said in a voice to be heard by all. ‘We all welcome you, don’t we?’ he demanded of the crowd, and the islanders roared their assent.
‘It’s our royal family,’ someone yelled. ‘Princess Athena and Prince Nikos.’
‘Nikos is only a prince if he marries Athena,’ someone else yelled and there was a huge cheer of enthusiasm.
‘Hey, Demos is already a prince. Maybe she should marry him,’ someone yelled as the applause died, and the crowd laughed. The laughter was derisive.
And Nikos glanced to the back of the crowd and saw Demos. Even from this distance his body language was unmistakable. He was rigid with mortification and with fury.
Athena had a real enemy there, he thought. In the mood he was in, Demos could do harm.
Not if he stayed close.
He had no choice. In order to protect this island then he needed to protect this woman. He intended to stay very close indeed.
Athena’s smile looked pinned in place. She was terrified, he thought.
‘It’s okay,’ he murmured.
‘No,’ she murmured back. ‘It’s not okay at all. I’m doing this because I have no choice. If you think I like being hugged by you…’
The crowd’s cheers were building. Athena waved and so did Nicky.
And Nikos had no choice either. He waved.
They stood together.
‘There’s a reception tonight at the palace,’ he told her.
‘There’s a what?’
They were all in the royal limousine, heading for the palace. Nikos hadn’t wanted to come with her, but once again there’d been no choice. Someone had to introduce her to the palace staff.
He’d brought Christa along, to lighten the atmosphere a bit. To stop things getting too personal. Oscar lay on the floor looking exhausted. It had been a very long waddle down the gangplank.
Giorgos would have had a fit if he could have seen this dog in his limo, Nikos thought and suppressed a grin.
The limousine, the palace, these trappings of royalty, had been kept so Giorgos could come in state whenever he wished. They could get rid of it all now, Nikos thought, but then he considered the crowd who’d turned up to see Athena arrive. They’d cheered her with joy. She was giving the island its identity back. Did she even realise it?
‘A reception,’ he repeated, trying to get his head round practicalities. ‘Everyone who’s anyone on the island and a few more. Three hundred people.’
‘You need to make a statement.’
‘I don’t.’
‘Of course you do,’ he said flatly. ‘That’s what you’ve come for.’
‘But I’m not staying,’ she said, sounding desperate. ‘Nikos, I can’t do this. A reception. People cheering. It’s not who I am.’
‘It’s what you were born to.’
‘I was born to be nothing.’
‘That’s a dumb statement.’
‘Do you need to sound angry?’
‘I’m not…’
‘What have I done to make you angry, Nikos?’ she demanded, suddenly as angry as he was.
‘I could tell you.’ He glanced across at Nicky. ‘But not here.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s hardly…appropriate.’
‘How about if I decide that?’ she snapped.
They were being chauffeured along the magnificent coastal road that wound round headland after headland, stretching on until it reached the Royal Palace of Argyros. But Athena wasn’t looking at scenery. She was focused on him.
‘I don’t think…’
‘How about we stop thinking?’ she snapped. She closed her eyes for a long moment. Then she opened them and she reached for her son’s hand.
Nicky had been alternately looking out of the window and looking at his mother. He was a smart kid, Nikos thought. He could hear the undercurrents of her anger. There were things going on that he didn’t understand and he obviously didn’t like it.
‘Nicky, I want you to listen for a bit,’ Athena said. ‘Full attention.’
He gave it.
Athena glanced at Nikos. Glanced away. Took a deep breath.
‘Nicky, when I saw the people at the boat,’ she said, faltering for a start and then making her voice firmer. ‘I realised there was something that Nikos and I need to tell you. That maybe we should have told you before this. Do you remember asking about who your father is? I told you your father was someone I met when I was very young. I told you that he was my best friend, but then he married someone else. That man is Nikos, Nicky. Nikos is your papa.’
What the…? What had she just said?
She’d taken all the wind out of his sails and then some.
It had clearly astounded Nicholas as well. ‘Nikos is…Nikos is…’ Nicky said and faltered to a stop, staring at him as if he had two heads.
‘Do you see his hair?’ All at once Athena sounded weary-strained to breaking point. ‘It’s the same colour as yours. It curls the same. You see how that little bit sticks up right at the top of Nikos’s head? Yours does, too.’
Nicky stuck his hand on top of his head and felt the offending tuft. His eyes grew enormous.
It was all Nikos could do not to do the same.
‘I told you that your papa was a fisherman,’ Athena said. ‘That’s what Nikos is. Isn’t that right, Nikos?’
She’d given him a son. Just like that. Like it or not.
Where to go from here?
She should have done this nine years ago, he thought, dazed, fighting anger, but knowing instinctively that his anger was no reason to mess with things now. To say no, let’s talk about this at a more sensible time. Maybe we need DNA tests. Maybe we need…counselling. Or something?
Nicky was looking at him with eyes that were blank with shock. What happened in the next few moments would affect him for ever. He didn’t need a counsellor to tell him that.
He had the power to mess this for life.
So where to go? What to say when you’ve just been given the gift of a son?
‘I should have been there for your mother,’ he said softly. ‘I should have been around for you. I’m very, very sorry that I wasn’t.’
‘Why weren’t you?’ Nicky said.
And there was only one answer. Only the truth would serve.
‘I didn’t know,’ he said heavily. ‘Your mother left the island a long time ago, when she was expecting you. And she didn’t tell me you were born. Maybe because we were both very young she thought it was the right thing to do. Maybe she thought it would be easier to bring you up on her own when I lived so far away. I wish I’d known, Nicky, but that’s in the past. What’s important now is that you’re my son. I’m so proud that your mother’s finally told me
