Betrothed: To the People's Prince

‘It’s what I do.’ She finished and set down her spoon. Who licked their fingers?

She had a sudden blast of memory. Nikos’s mother, Annia, standing at her kitchen table, endlessly baking. She remembered a plum pie that was to die for…

Before she could help herself, she let her finger drop into the bowl, ran it round the edges and licked. Not sure whether she was tasting soufflé now, or pie from the past.

‘How’s your mother?’ she asked.

‘Great,’ Nikos said. ‘She sends her love. She says come home—though if I take you home looking like this she’ll have forty fits.’

‘I loved your mother.’

It was said without thinking. She hadn’t meant it. Or…she hadn’t meant to say it.

‘She hated it when you went away, Thene.’

‘Yeah. Well.’ Suddenly she’d had enough. More than enough. Emotion was threatening to overwhelm her. She stood up, too fast. It made her feel dizzy. Disoriented. Nikos was beside her in a flash, gripping her elbow, supporting her.

She should wrench away. He made her…melt.

‘I need to go home.’

‘My car’s close.’

‘You have a car? Here? In Manhattan?’

‘Borrowed from Stefanos.’

Stefanos. Of course. The third member of the guardians.

Stefanos, Alexandros and Nikos had been friends from childhood. Three intelligent boys, bound by one common goal. To free their respective islands.

They’d run together as a pack. Only, of course, while Giorgos was alive they could do nothing. But now…

‘Stefanos is still in New York?’ she asked. She’d seen him once, when she’d walked into a city hospital to visit a friend. She’d turned and walked out before he’d seen her. She’d even thought of moving to another city because he was here. But that was ridiculous. It was a big city.

‘Stefanos is in Australia trying to find the heir to the throne of Khryseis. He’s Prince Regent of that island. Like you, he doesn’t have a choice.’

‘I do have a choice,’ she snapped. ‘And one of them is to make my own way home. To my home. To where I live now.’

‘How do you get home from here?’ he asked, as if mildly interested, not taking up her nuances. ‘A cab? I’ll drive you.’

‘I ride the subway.’

‘The subway…’

‘This is my neighbourhood, Nikos,’ she said, and made her voice sound sure and mature and…determined. ‘This is where I live. But I need to go. Oscar and Nicholas are expecting me.’

‘Who are Oscar and Nicholas?’

‘My family,’ she said, and the thought of Nicholas brought fear flooding back. ‘So…so, if you’ll excuse me…Oh, you need to pay? Sorry if I don’t wait. Goodnight.’

And she turned and walked from the restaurant.

When she reached the pavement she slipped off her shoes and she started to run.

CHAPTER TWO

CARRIE was watching TV when she let herself into her apartment. Lovely, comforting Carrie, middle-aged and buxom, knitting endless squares to turn into endless blankets for the homeless. She closed the door, leant on it as if to lock the world out and let herself be comforted by the domesticity in front of her.

Oscar was lying draped over Carrie’s feet. The big basset hound looked up at her with soulful reproach, as if to say, You expect me to get up at this time of night? You need to be kidding.

She smiled. Oscar helped as well.

‘Hey, great jacket,’ Carrie said equably from the couch. ‘You swap jackets with a boy?’

Whoops. She’d forgotten she was wearing it. Or maybe subconsciously she’d known, and she liked it. She fingered the soft, worn leather and found comfort there as well.

‘Yep,’ she said.

‘A good-looking one?’

‘Yep to that as well. Really good-looking.’

‘Excellent,’ Carrie said and dumped her knitting into her carrier bag. ‘He ask you out?’

‘We did already. We ate soufflé and crêpes.’

‘And crêpes? Wow. You going to see him again?’

‘Once is enough.’ Once in one lifetime.

Carrie’s face puckered into disappointment. ‘Why the heck?’ she demanded, seriously displeased. ‘You know I can take Nicky whenever you want. You need a love life.’

‘I’ve had one.’

‘But you’ve kept his jacket,’ Carrie said, thoughtful. ‘Smart girl. A guy’s going to miss a jacket like that. Does he know where you live?’

‘No. I’ll post it to him.’

‘Don’t post it for a couple of days,’ Carrie said. ‘Give the man a challenge.’ She pushed her more than ample self to her feet, made her way across the room and gave Athena a hug. ‘You deserve some excitement. And Nicky needs a dad.’

‘Carrie…’

‘Just saying,’ Carrie said placidly. ‘Just going.’

And she went. Leaving silence.

She sat, on cushions still warm from Carrie. She stared mindlessly at the soap Carrie had been watching. Oscar sighed, heaved himself sideways and redraped himself over her feet.