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Chapter 6
The tiles were cool under Stella’s feet as she padded barefoot to the king sized bed and flopped on it with all the grace of an injured sea lion. A groan that started in her toes soared up to the high wooden rafters, filling the air with the sound of her distress. After their disastrous meeting with the king, Aleki had hustled her back into the limo and swept her back to his residence in dreadful silence. The kind of silence that hung heavy in the air, buffeting away all pretense of lightness. Not wanting to push, Stella had remained silent too, even though her gut was screaming to reach out and touch him, to offer him solace or at least support while he struggled with the turmoil their visit inside the gates had unleashed. She hadn’t though. She’d never seen a man less likely to appreciate it. So they’d sat, side by side, in stony silence until Andreas had pulled to a halt, and then Aleki had leapt from the car as if it were on fire and retreated into the depths of the house without a backwards glance.
She rolled over onto her back, pressing her cheek against the brightly patterned quilt in traditional Avali designs. She was in the same room she’d stayed in for Mae and Luke’s wedding, and there was something soothing about a touch of familiarity right now, with everything else in her world so up in the air.
Someone rapped at the door and Stella forced herself into a sitting position for decorum’s sake.
“Come in.”
“Ms Warren?” Lani poked her head around the dark wooden door. “I have some documents from His Highness for you.”
“That sounds extremely boring, Lani. Come on in.”
“Boring gets things done, Ms Warren.”
“I hear you there. Water?” Stella gestured to the large jug and drinking glasses set up on a low table by the doors to the balcony. A vase of lavender roses sat beside the water jug, looking oddly out of place in the tropical surroundings.
“No thank you, ma’am.”
“Lani, I’m going to be here for the next two weeks at a minimum. Can you call me Stella? Please,” she added when the other woman hesitated. “It would mean a lot to me.”
“If that is what you would like, I would be happy to do so.”
Stella smiled, a little jump of success flourishing in her chest. “Not the enthusiasm I’d hoped for, but I appreciate it anyway. Now, what dull paperwork have you brought for me?”
“There are the standard non-disclosure agreements, of course. Some files with personal details to keep on record, a list of different charities His Highness supports, an upcoming itinerary of his events.”
“I see. Will any of these upcoming events have King Tama present?”
Lani’s lips pressed into a thin line as she nodded once in acknowledgement.
“That should be fun.” Stella gestured to the folders in Lani’s arms. “May I?”
She flicked through the papers requesting copies of her birth certificate and general information-gathering questions. Despite the somewhat tedious nature of the forms, Stella’s admiration grew as she took in the quality of the timelines, the colour coding, the font choices.
“Did you prepare this paperwork, Lani?”
“I prepared all the internal paperwork. Some documents have been prepared by Prince Aleki’s personal legal team. He uses a separate one to the rest of the royal family.”
“You’re a woman of many talents.” Stella smiled up at Lani, who was still standing stiffly, with her hands behind her back. “Perhaps I’ve chosen the wrong Avalian to marry.”
Lani finally looked at her, the skin around her deep brown eyes crinkling as she grinned. “While I appreciate the compliment, Stella, my girlfriend may not. She would fight you for me, and she would win. You and I will have to put our passion for each other’s organisational talents aside and simply focus on running the country for His Highness.”
“Just one country, though, Lani? We could rule the world.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“That’s my girl.” Stella chuckled, opening a white folder with the crest of Avali imprinted on it in red. The heading of the first page jumped out at her in bold black type.
Matrimonial Contract between His Highness Prince Aleki Esera of Avali and Stella Rose Warren.
Mother effer. He’d sent this to her with the other paperwork regarding her shoe size and blood type? A chill spread through her. Even friends don’t treat each other like this.
“Lani?”
“Stella?”
“Could you please locate Aleki and tell him I’d like to speak to him immediately?”
“I’m not sure he’s-”
“Immediately. Please.” Her voice was as icy as her blood.
“Certainly.” From her peripherals, she saw the other woman incline her head before departing.
Stella read through the contract as dispassionately as she could, fighting down the voices of the demons that slid through her mind. Whispers that she wasn’t good enough, that she wasn’t worth talking to. That her desires were irrelevant because a man had already decided what she was worth.
To-Do List. Set clear expectations. Retain own lawyer. Question clause 6.
“Stella?”
She looked up. Aleki leaned against the open door frame of her bedroom, his arms folded across his chest. Gone was the suit and tie, the coiffed hair. He wore a plain grey tee that hugged the olive skin of his biceps. Black workout shorts were slung low on his hips and his hair fell forward against his forehead, curling slightly from sweat.
Fire licked through the ice, and Stella struggled to hold onto the chill, any semblance of coolness in the way she spoke.
“You were busy?”
“I was boxing. It helps.” He looked away, gesturing vaguely. “You know, with my father. Most of our discussions end with me taking my frustrations out on the bag.”
“Are you frustrated with him or me?”
Dark eyes shot up to meet hers. “Him, fafine aulelei. Only him. And perhaps myself a little.”
She chose her words carefully. “I’m also a little frustrated with you.”
“Because?”
Stella narrowed her eyes at him and let the silence swell.
Aleki closed his eyes and ran one big hand over his jaw. “Because I’m a dick.” It wasn’t a question.
“And why are you a dick, Aleki?”
“Because I didn’t stand up for you in front of my dad. I let him speak Avalian. I didn’t answer in English so you could follow along. And I ignored you on the way home.”
“A decent deduction. You also let him call me a whore.”
Aleki winced. “I was kind of hoping you’d forgotten what talitane meant.”
“And then there’s this.” Stella indicated the contract spread over the bedspread.
Aleki levered himself off the doorframe and approached the bed. Stella held her breath as he flopped next to her on the bed, lest the smell of clean, male sweat combined with the visuals of his long brown limbs cause her ovaries to spontaneously combust. Despite the topic of their conversation, this was the most relaxed she’d seen Aleki since she’d first turned up on his doorstep two months ago. It was evident in his clothes, but also in the way he spoke - less formal, more contractions. The Aleki from university was still hidden under the suits and ceremony, and these small glimpses of him were doing nothing to dull her attraction. If she’d caught him fresh from boxing training the day she’d arrived in Avali she’d probably have jumped him in the foyer.
“Our contract? That’s what you’re upset about, little star?”
“This is a contract for our marriage, Aleki. An agreement between two people.”
“Mmm. So it is.” His voice was lower, gravelly. She glanced up from the paperwork to find his dark eyes locked on hers.
“So,” she responded, stumbling over a small hitch in her breath. “We’re supposed to be a team now. It would be appropriate for you to present it to me for consideration. Not have it delivered with a pile of other meaningless correspondence. It feels,” she hesitated slightly, “impersonal.”
“And you would like our marriage to be personal?”
“I would like our marriage to be respectful. We haven’t discussed the details yet, whether it will be a union in name only, or certain requirements either of us may have, but I would like to think that we respect each other enough to decide these between us. Not have them discussed around a conference table by a bunch of lawyers.”
“Look at the back page.”
“The back page?” Stella reclined next to Aleki and flipped through the drab pages of legalese until a bright yellow handwritten Post-It caught her eye by the witness section.
You’ll be lucky if she even agrees to marry your dumb arse. -L.
“Luke had something to do with this?”
“His brother drafted it. He’s a solicitor. It’s a boilerplate prenup, with a few additions thrown in for the baby and royalty factors. But yes. I asked him to draft something after I booked my flight to see you in Wellington. I had no idea what you would say, if you’d agree to see me, let alone marry me. I wanted you to know you had options to ensure the best life possible for you and the baby. And I wanted you to be protected even if you didn’t want me involved. But you’re right. These factors are in cases of a marriage in name only.” Quicker than she would have expected, Aleki claimed the contract from her hands and repositioned himself with his head on her lap, looking up at the papers in his hands.
“So we should negotiate?”
“There will be no negotiation, little star. Not through lawyers at least.” He ripped the contract in half.
Confusion muddied Stella’s thoughts.
“What?”
