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He craved the peace she gave him. Knew she had the potential to heal the wounds inside of him. As she had done so again and again over the past few weeks, pulling him out of the darkness, steadying his path, convincing him to follow his heart. But he needed to pull his country back from the brink first. Solve this thing with Idas. Then he would address his relationship with Sofi´a.
The question was, did he have the capacity to offer her all of him? Or would he destroy her by making her stay?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“THE FIRST CAR will be here in thirty minutes, sir.”
Nik turned to nod at Abram, who had appeared on the palace steps behind him. “Keep me posted.”
With a dip of his head, his aide disappeared inside. Nik turned back to the sun-soaked harbor, bounded by the two Venetian fortifications that had once protected Akathinia from seagoing marauders. He was hoping today the international community would join forces to repel a very real and current threat to Akathinia’s freedom in Carnelia.
Idas had, as expected, elected not to attend the peace talks, so the world would judge him in absentia.
He rubbed a hand to his pounding temple, operating on just about zero sleep after spending the past two weeks personally calling each and every one of the twenty-five world leaders in attendance today to persuade them to take the time out of their busy schedules to attend.
His gamble had paid off. A playground for the world’s rich and famous, Akathinia was too bright a jewel of the Mediterranean, with too many colonial ties for its instability to be disregarded. All he had to do now was convince these powerful men to put their support on the table.
“They will be here soon?”
He turned to find his father making his way through the open front doors, moving slowly with his walking stick.
He nodded. “The first in thirty minutes.”
His father stopped beside him, leaning heavily on the stick. “It is remarkable what you have done, Nikandros. I did not think this would happen.”
What usually would have evoked bitterness, this inability of his father to believe in him, bounced off Nik without hitting its mark. He had been through too much these past few months, had endured too many highs and lows to continue to let it hurt. He knew what he was doing today was right. He was secure in his mind as the leader of this country. He only hoped it would wipe away the mistake he had made with Idas.
His father rested his gaze on him. “You have always been able to see the bigger picture. It is why you were successful in New York. In attracting the world to Akathinia. It’s what you are building on today. Your connections, the relationships you have forged with these countries. It isn’t something I nor Athamos could have done nearly as well.”
“The world would not have abandoned Akathinia in its time of need.”
“Perhaps not.”
“It’s not done yet. We could walk away from this with nothing.”
“But you won’t. The most powerful men in the world have not traveled here today to say they will not support you.”
He surely hoped not.
His father fixed him with his steely blue gaze. “My grief has ruled me these past weeks. My anger. It is very easy to feel nothing but rage when your flesh and blood is taken from you. But I apologize if I have failed you, Nikandros. Not just now but in the past. You will learn, are already learning, that being a king is not easy. It will ask things of you you aren’t prepared to give. Demand you make choices. Sometimes you will not always make the right ones.”
How those words resonated in this moment. He fought the tightness in his chest at an apology issued decades far too late, resting his gaze on his father’s. “I think I will make different choices. But I understand the complexity now perhaps much better than I did.”
His father inclined his head. “I have always had equal respect for both my sons, but I fear I have not always shown it in the right way. Perhaps not much at all.”
The fist in his chest grew. “That is in the past.”
“Yes. Good luck today. I have every confidence you will be coming to me with good news.”
Nik blew out a breath as his father leaned heavily on his stick and shuffled inside. Even when he’d told himself his father’s opinion hadn’t mattered, it had. It always had.
* * *
Sofi´a smoothed her hands over her hips as she surveyed her appearance in the mirror, a month’s work staring her in the face.
Her dress. Her design. It was like exposing her insides to the world and hoping they loved her.
