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The tour led them through a bewildering array of corridors and courtyards and Akil kept her entertained with what Clem was pretty sure were completely made-up facts about every part. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed, really laughed, the last time it had been this easy to be with someone.
The last time it had been this easy to just be.
Finally they reached a dark, heavily guarded building where they followed the path around display cases filled with fur-trimmed cloaks and padded surcoats, jewelled scabbards and wicked-looking swords until they reached a big display case set into a thick wall. Sightseers were kept well back by a rope, and, more effectively, guards at either end holding serious-looking rifles, in case anyone decided to try and steal the valuable items.
Clem stared at the state jewels in a mixture of awe and a painful melancholy, a sense of loss she couldn’t quite explain. This was her family history but she had to see it as a paying tourist, always on the outside, held back by ropes and shatterproof glass and guards. She tried to hide her feelings, her voice unnaturally bright. ‘The crown is huge! It must be really heavy. Like wearing a concrete hat.’
‘It’s very bling,’ he said, blinking. ‘I’ve seen it plenty of times but I’d never really noticed how many jewels it has before. And just howgoldit is.’
‘Maybe because the chain of office is equally bling.’ Clem stared at the heavy gold chain studded with rubies. ‘The sceptre is pretty big too. The whole lot together is very dazzling. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly tasteful though. All that velvet and gold and those huge rubies. It’s a bit try hard.’
‘The King makes it look so effortless,’ Akil said. ‘He makes the crown look like it weighs nothing. Whether you agree with him or not politically, he is good at what he does. He works well with the Assembly and controls the Senate. It needs a strong person to wear that crown.’
‘Rosy is strong, one of the strongest people I know,’ Clem said, still transfixed by the crown. ‘But no one should have to bear that weight alone. If only I could be by her side, support her the way a sister should, make sure she wasn’t alone. Seeing this makes it all much more understandable.’
‘It all?’
‘What she asked you. I almost wish...’ She paused and he looked down at her, his expression inscrutable.
‘What do you almost wish?’
‘That things were different and you could have said yes...been what, who she needed.’
His expression didn’t change, his eyes dark pools she was losing herself in. ‘I could never have been who or what she needed. I knew it straight away, I think. I just had to work through it. And I am glad I realised in time.’
‘In time?’
Clem couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, all she could do was look up at him, so close she could see his dilated pupils, the rise and fall of his chest. It would be so easy to close the small distance between them and press herself against him but she was paralysed by the blood surging through her, the roaring in her ears.
‘It’s one thing to marry out of respect and friendship and support. They can be good bedrocks of a successful union, I believe that. But it would be unfair to marry one woman while attracted to her sister. Don’t you think?’
Thinking was beyond her. She was caught in his mesmerising gaze, dark and hot, stirring desire throughout her. ‘I...’ She stared at him a moment longer, trying to find something to say—Ithink you’re attractive too. What does this mean? Kiss me—when the sound of a family approaching, children arguing noisily, broke the spell and Akil stepped back, a rueful smile on his lips.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a long itinerary and I think we’re at least five minutes behind.’
Yet as they walked away she couldn’t help but look back at the case and the glittering crown that represented her sister’s future. Akil might find her attractive—and she might reciprocate his feelings—but she had no place, no future here. She couldn’t let herself forget it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
AKILCOULDN’TREMEMBERthe last time he’d enjoyed an afternoon so much nor the last time he’d had the leisure—or inclination—to dedicate a day to nothing but fun. It had been a genius plan to explore his city with fresh eyes, joining the tourists on the well-trodden trails around the sights. They’d done a mad dash around the cathedral and the city museum and made up the lost time as they did so because—as Clem said a little guiltily—there were only so many religious paintings a person could admire before they all merged into one.
‘Do you think they’d ever actually seen a baby before?’ she asked as they checked out their twentieth old master rendition of a Madonna and Child, this one with a baby Jesus almost the same size as his mother. The one before the baby had been the approximate size of an orange. ‘They remind me of my attempts of art at school and I always got aCould do better. Who knew I was actually painting in the style of the fourteenth century? My teachers should have given me more credit.’
After the museum they enjoyed the breathtaking views from the cable car that ascended up to the mountain shelf overlooking the city, a popular day-trip destination, where they stopped for a snack before taking the funicular back down and catching the small steam train to the zoo.
‘I have very conflicted feelings about zoos,’ Clem said as they wandered around the world-renowned attraction, known for its ground-breaking breeding programmes and successful conservation work. ‘I know that if this tiger wasn’t here it wouldn’t be roaming free in the jungle, it wouldn’t exist at all. And I know that if it wasn’t for places like this there might be no tigers at all in a few years’ time, but it seems wrong to see such beautiful creatures caged up, for us to be able to stand and stare while they have nowhere to hide.’
Her face softened as she watched the tiger prowl, its tail swishing irritably. ‘I wish I could set you free.’
‘Now that would make an interesting headline.Fake Princess Sets Tiger on Horrified Population.’ He gave her a keen glance. ‘Do you think you might be over identifying?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Beautiful creature locked away?’
She laughed a little nervously. ‘I’m not...’
‘Beautiful? I hope you know that’s not true.’
