by Amy Ruttan
“I’m glad,” she replied saucily. “Was that all you wanted to discuss?”
“Actually, there’s a medical emergency on a small island north of Agung and I could use your help. We can take the royal yacht, which is loaded with supplies, and go and treat the village that has been cut off since Blandine hit.”
Even though she knew it wasn’t a good idea to be alone with Maazin and on his yacht, no less, she couldn’t turn her back on patients who needed her.
“Okay.” She nodded and set down the chart she was working on. “When do you want to leave?”
“Within the hour. Gather what gear you need, in case we have to stay overnight. I’ll make the other arrangements and have a car come and get you to bring you down to the harbor.” He turned and left before she had a chance to protest, before she had a chance to change her mind.
This is not a smart idea.
But, really, this was part of her mission to Kalyana.
She really didn’t have a choice. This was what she was here for.
* * *
Maazin did the final checks on the yacht. Soon Jeena would arrive and he would set out on the hour-long sail to the island north of Agung. He would rather take the helicopter, but there was nowhere to land safely on the small island of Petrie because Blandine had damaged it so badly.
“Sara mentioned that you were getting your yacht ready to head out to Petrie.”
Maazin glanced down onto the dock and saw that Farhan was standing there. Off in the distance were the security guards, ever-present when the Crown Prince was around.
“I am.” Maazin walked onto the dock. “Is there an issue with that?”
Farhan shrugged. “Mother isn’t happy about it. She thinks that you should send one of our doctors who is not royal blood, or the relief workers. You know Mother and how she worries.”
Do I?
It didn’t seem to him his mother cared much for him. Not since Ali had died. He knew his mother blamed him. She barely acknowledged him. It cut him to the quick. He’d managed to make his peace with his father. If only he could make things right with his mother, but he doubted that would ever happen. She was too hurt, too distant, and he felt responsible.
Actually, he was responsible.
He was certain she viewed him as a disappointment.
“You quite all right?” Farhan asked, cocking his head to one side. “You look out of sorts.”
“I’m fine. A bit tired. I’m sure you heard about my little exposure to dysentery the other day.”
“Yes. I did and don’t worry, all that is being taken care of. The farmers in that area have been supplied with clean water and proper sanitation is in place.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“I know it’s been a bit of an effort and difficult, but with the help of our allies we’re getting the help that we need.”
Farhan was ever the diplomat and Maazin had no doubt that he would be a great king one day. Even though it was Maazin’s fault that Farhan had been put in that position in the first place.
“Did you want something else?” Maazin asked. “The other doctor will be here soon and we’ll need to get going if we’re to make Petrie Island before nightfall.”
Maazin didn’t mean to be so curt with Farhan, but he didn’t want his brother around when Jeena arrived. Not that Farhan even knew who Jeena was. He hadn’t told anyone about Jeena. The only ones who knew about her and the history he had with her were his mother and Lady Meleena apparently. No one else knew.
And no one needed to know about it.
Still, he didn’t want Farhan meeting her and saying something to their father. And given the nature and turmoil that Kalyana was currently in, he wasn’t sure how he was going to start that conversation.
“What, who, me?” Farhan asked.
“You didn’t come here to see me off,” Maazin said plainly.
“Fine. Mother wants you to return to the palace and Father is giving in to her.” Farhan rubbed the back of his neck. “He says you don’t need to be here.”
Maazin could tell that Farhan felt uncomfortable telling him this.
Maybe go with Farhan and appease your mother?
Only he didn’t want to. He’d promised to take Jeena to Petrie Island and this was part of his duty to his people. There were Kalyanese on Petrie Island who had lost everything and were in dire need. They needed him.
And that trumped his need to please his father.
“I can’t,” Maazin said quickly. “I promised those displaced people that I would take help and I will be there. Do you not think that’s the right thing to do?”
Farhan sighed and nodded, rolling his shoulders. “I do.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, at least I tried, but...” Farhan trailed off and looked uncomfortable. “When you return I strongly urge you to return to the palace. Father is not well at the moment and it would be good if you returned. He’s been asking you to come back to the palace since Blandine hit and you’ve been avoiding him. You need to go and see him.”
“I know.” Maazin knew that his father was feeling poorly. With his condition and the cyclone devastating Kalyana, it hadn’t been good for their father, but he had a hard time being around his family. It was better to keep them at a distance.
It was easier that way.
“Good luck on your trip. If you need anything, please call and I will send for assistance.”
Maazin shook his brother’s hand. “Thank you.”
Farhan turned and walked over to the dark SUV with tinted windows and Kalyana flags. A security guard held open the door for Farhan as he slipped into the back.
Maazin waved as the SUV drove away from the harbor.
Maazin knew there was security watching him, and he knew there would be an attaché of security following the yacht to Petrie, but Maazin didn’t need as much of a detail as the Crown Prince did.
Of course, Ali had had just as much security and that hadn’t helped him.
“You shouldn’t have gone to that party. What were you thinking?” Ali lambasted him, yelling above the rain that was pouring down and the constant swish of the wiper blades. “You left your security team behind. Do you know how foolish that was?”
“So?” Maazin asked, but he could barely keep his head up. He didn’t care much about anything. Jeena was gone and his pain wouldn’t end.
“Don’t be so hard on him, Ali,” Chandni whispered gently. “His heart is broken.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s a prince. He should behave better.”
Maazin snorted. “I’m third in line to the throne and, unlike you, Ali, I can do whatever I want.”
“Or whoever,” Ali snapped back. “Honestly, Maazin, when will you grow up?”
Maazin was going to answer, but before he could there was a large bang and the world turned upside down and went black...
“Hey, you okay?”
Maazin jumped and realized that Jeena was standing beside him. He hadn’t even seen her arrive. She carried a duffel bag and his security team was unloading medical supplies, as well as food and water from the back of the van that had replaced Farhan’s SUV.
“Fine.” Maazin scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m okay. Sorry, I just zoned out.”
“If you’re sure...”
“I’m fine.” Maazin turned away from her. “We’d better get loaded up and get on our way to Petrie before it gets too late.”
He just had to put it all behind him.
He had to put the memory of Ali behind him, just like he had to put the memory of Jeena and how broken he’d been when she’d left behind him as well.
It was all in the past and, wish it as he might, he couldn’t go back and change anything.
The past was the past and his future was tied to serving his country and that
was it. Maybe, just maybe then he could forgive himself for the damage he’d done.
Maybe.
CHAPTER SIX
THE WATER MADE Jeena a little nervous, but she felt safer being on Maazin’s yacht and today was a beautiful, perfect day to be on the water.
Jeena raised her head to the sky and drank in the warmth of the late afternoon sun. Back in Calgary it was a bitter minus forty degrees Celsius and nothing like the beautiful eighty-degree weather that was here.
Just another thing she’d missed about Kalyana. She’d missed the warmth and sunshine. She was not a fan of winter or darkness. The only thing she liked about winter and darkness was the northern lights. That was something she was not sure she’d ever get tired of seeing.
She gazed out over the waters of the Indian Ocean, where all the islands that made up Kalyana lay. Beyond Kalyana lay the continent of Africa, Madagascar and then there was India, Yemen, Oman and the Maldives.
She’d forgotten what it was like to take a boat out to one of the far-flung islands of Kalyana. Looking east, she could make out the pearl-pink crescent of Patang Island.
On Patang Island had been the first time she had been with Maazin. She’d given her heart and soul to him that night, with no thought to the future and what it might hold for them.
Her cheeks heated as she thought of that night.
They had been on this yacht then too.
Their first time had been on the island, but then he’d carried her back to the yacht and made love to her again in his cabin. His arms around her, his hands in her hair and his mouth on hers. She’d been completely lost.
He’d been the only one to ever make her feel that way.
She’d been a fool.
And she had been such a fool to fall for a prince. What had she been thinking? She’d been so naive. So innocent. Well, she’d learned the hard way about trusting her heart to someone. The only one she could depend on was herself.
Jeena snuck a peak at Maazin at the helm, his white linen shirt billowing, his eyes focused on the horizon, and her pulse began to beat just a bit faster.
Damn him.
She hated that he still had an effect on her. Try as she might, she was still pulled toward him like a moth to a flame and she knew, just knew that if she allowed herself to get sucked in, she would get burned again.
This time she wouldn’t let her heart lead her to disaster. When her work here was done she’d just leave and head back to Canada. There would be no struggle for her family. She wouldn’t be as afraid. There was a life waiting for her in Canada. A damn good one.
Syman was her world and she was going to make sure that he was protected. She didn’t want him sucked into this kind of life.
But Syman needs to know his father.
And it was that little voice she couldn’t quell. Maazin deserved to know Syman and Syman deserved to know his father. She was just still afraid that Maazin would take Syman from her as Syman had royal blood. It’s what her parents feared. She couldn’t lose Syman, but she couldn’t deny a father and son.
Maazin looked at her. “You seem lost in thought.”
“Not really lost in thought.” It was a lie. She didn’t want to tell him what she was really feeling. “Just enjoying the warmth and the sun.”
“It’s not really that warm.”
“For me it is. It’s bitterly cold in Canada. I’d forgotten how hot and wonderful the weather is here when the dark of winter hits.”
“Dark of winter?” Maazin asked, raising an eyebrow. “Surely it’s not that bad.”
“Yes. It’s that bad.” Jeena pulled out her phone and scrolled through the photos to find the picture she’d taken when her father had had the laneway to the greenhouse plowed out a month ago during a bad blast of snow.
“Look at this.” She got up and walked over to him, holding up her phone to show him the picture. He looked at it, raising his eyebrows.
“Wow,” he said. “That’s a lot of snow.”
“Right. It gets so cold and dark.” She exited the photo app. “There was so much snow and Syman was so mad that hockey had to be canceled for the night.”
She closed her eyes and groaned inwardly. She hadn’t meant to mention Syman again, but then again Maazin hadn’t really asked much about him either.
“You’ve mentioned that he likes hockey,” Maazin said. “Does he like other sports?”
“Baseball in the summer. Soccer as well.”
“Football, you mean,” Maazin said with a smile.
“Yes, I suppose European football is known as soccer there. He doesn’t play American football. Though he is a fan of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which is CFL over NFL.”
“What’s the difference?” Maazin asked. “Or is there one?”
“Oh, there’s a difference, and people get really tetchy about it if you don’t know.”
He smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Do you know the difference?”
“Of course.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“What’s the difference?”
“Does it matter?” she asked.
“Yes.” He smiled at her, a lazy half-smile.
“Why?”
“Because,” he teased. “You don’t really know.”
She chuckled. “Fine. I don’t really know.”
“So there’s no difference, then?”
“Not really. I think it has something to do with field size. CFL is a bigger field size than NFL.”
“Is there no cricket or polo in Canada?”
Jeena shrugged slightly. “They aren’t really big in Canada.”
“That’s a shame. Perhaps...” He pursed his lips, as if he was going to offer to teach Syman cricket, but then thought better about it. It made her feel sad on one hand, but relieved as well. If he didn’t want to be part of Syman’s life or if he wasn’t going to be around, she didn’t want Syman to get hurt.
If he wanted out then he needed to say something.
She wasn’t going to let Maazin hurt their son like he’d hurt her all those years ago.
Still, there was a part of her that wanted him to ask and know their son.
“You can ask me anything about him, you know. Anything you want,” she said gently.
“I appreciate that.”
She wanted to tell him that what she’d said the other day about not needing him didn’t mean that she didn’t want him to care about Syman. She just didn’t want him to feel obligated to care for them, when he couldn’t.
There was an almost palpable tension and she hated that it was so awkward around him. She remembered a time when it had been so easy between them. When they would talk for hours, laugh and make love.
Heat bloomed in her cheeks and she wandered to the starboard side of the ship to look out over the water. She leaned on the railing and sighed, trying not to think about the past, but everywhere she looked there it was. The past, calling to her.
Like a siren calling a doomed sailor to his death.
“You seem lost in thought again,” Maazin said gently.
“Just...memories.” She looked back at him. His expression was soft and he smiled at her, sending a thrill through her.
“I know. I was thinking the same thing. We took many a ride on this yacht.”
“You liked the sea,” she said.
“Don’t you?” he asked.
“Yes... No. Water does frighten me. It’s beautiful, but it’s slightly terrifying.”
“Then why did you come on yacht trips with me?” he asked.
“You liked it and I wanted to be with you.”
He smiled gently at her, those gray-green eyes twinkling at her. “I thought you liked it and I wanted to please you.”
“So you don’t like it, then?�
��
“Yes and no. I like my yacht, but it wasn’t because I liked cruising around on my own. I liked the privacy that it offered. Out here I can just be me. I’m not a prince. I’m no one.”
She nodded. “I can understand that.”
“I haven’t asked much about Syman yet. I’m sorry. I’m processing it, but I want to know. I truly do.”
“Look, I know I dropped this bombshell on you, but you had the right to know. I thought you did know.”
“I understand. We were fooled.”
She could hear the frustration in his voice.
“I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. And if I see her again...well, let’s hope I don’t.”
“It’s in the past,” Jeena offered. Although she wouldn’t mind taking a swift shot at Meleena.
“I am curious about one thing, though,” Maazin said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you go to the press?” Maazin asked. “If you felt I hurt you, betrayed you, why didn’t you tell the world what a vile, vicious man I was?”
“I’d never have done that. We were starting a new life away from Kalyana and didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves. And I didn’t want my child dragged into all of this. I didn’t want him photographed or have the media follow us. There was so much going on when he was born. Your older brother Ali and his wife had died and—”
“I’m aware,” Maazin said quickly, and a strange expression passed over his face. She had obviously touched a sore spot about Ali and she wondered what had happened. All she knew was that he and his wife had died in a car crash.
That was all anyone had ever been told.
“I’m sorry for your loss. I know how close you were to Ali.”
Maazin nodded, but he wouldn’t looked at her and she knew that whatever conversation they were having was over.
“For what it’s worth, I’m not the kind of person who would ever go to the press, Maazin. I would never hurt you like that.”
He nodded, but didn’t look at her. “Thank you.”
She sat back down and focused on the ocean. Off in the distance she could see dark clouds rolling in. It was fitting for how she felt. For how Maazin obviously felt, given the tension between them.
