had met.
It was her favourite lie.
It made her look sweet when she wasn’t.
It made her appear a touch fragile when in fact she was very strong.
And she was strong enough to get through this.
She rubbed a little red lipstick into her nose and saw the redness of her eyes had gone down, so hopefully it looked as if she were at the end of a cold rather than in the throes of a broken heart.
Instead of arriving at work early she lingered over her breakfast, and then headed to a very exclusive department store and waited until its doors opened.
There she made a purchase, before going to his office where the doorman greeted her as she walked in.
‘Can I help with your bags?’ he offered.
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ she responded.
She would not let the bag and its contents out of her sight for even a moment.
It was far harder than facing the press—far harder than anything she had ever done—to walk out of the elevators with a smile and greet Anu, who looked as tearful and as anxious as Felicia felt on the inside.
‘Is he in?’ Felicia asked.
‘He flies in a couple of hours.’ Anu nodded. ‘I just took a call from a reporter. He was asking for confirmation that he is flying today to Zazinia. I don’t want to trouble Kedah with it, but I don’t know what to say...’
‘Just tell him that for security reasons you are not at liberty to discuss his movements,’ Felicia answered, and then she looked at Anu’s crestfallen face. ‘Have some faith—Kedah will be fine.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘Of course I do.’
‘You didn’t grow up in Zazinia,’ Anu said. ‘The people there have always feared this. You don’t know what is about to come...’
So Anu knew of the rumours, Felicia realised. Possibly the whole country did, and had been waiting for the black day when their Golden Prince was removed.
‘When does he leave?’
‘At midday.’
As Felicia headed towards Kedah’s office Anu, the gatekeeper, stopped her. ‘He said that he doesn’t want to be disturbed.’
Felicia nodded, but would not be halted. ‘I need to speak with him.’
She knocked on the door and when there was no response opened it. Kedah was on the phone, and he gestured for her to take a seat and then carried on speaking in Arabic for the best part of ten minutes before ending the call.
‘Are you feeling better?’ he checked.
‘Much.’ She nodded.
‘Good—because the press have got hold of it already and my staff are starting to become concerned. Let them know that nothing has changed and—regarding the press—clarify, please, that it was I who called for a meeting of the Accession Council...’ He stopped talking then and came around the desk. ‘I didn’t think you were coming in.’ He went to take her in his arms. ‘It’s good to see you.’
Felicia pulled back. She could not take affection and also do what was required.
‘Kedah, I’ve been thinking. Take me with you to Zazinia.’
‘Felicia, I am going to be busy, and you know as well as I do that when I am there we can’t do anything. Anyway, you said you’d never go back.’
‘I know I did, but I’m not asking you to take me there for a romantic holiday. Kedah, if you knew for certain that you were your father’s son, would it change things?’
‘Of course.’ He nodded. ‘I am fighting blind at the moment, but...’ he shook his head ‘...there is no way to find out unless I speak with my mother.’
‘And we both know that no good can come from that.’
He didn’t look convinced.
‘Kedah, I’ve worked with people who’ve been caught red-handed and they’ll all admit to once, but...’ She shook her head. ‘You need irrefutable proof—DNA testing.’
‘I’ve told you—I couldn’t get a sample without his knowing.’ Kedah pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. ‘Soon the elders will call for one.’
‘Then find out now.’
‘Ask him?’
‘No.’ Felicia shook her head. ‘I doubt your father would want to know, unless forced. What if you asked him to come to your office?’
Felicia took a large box from the bag she had carried in and opened it. Along with a stunning crystal decanter and glasses there was a pair of white cotton gloves.
‘I’ve got the buffering solution. I can prep the glass, and if he takes a drink from it I can fly straight back and have the test done. You said they already have your profile?’
Kedah nodded to that question, but then he shook his head. It could never work ‘Felicia, you’ve seen how it is there. There is no way he would come into my office for a discussion, let alone stay long enough to have a drink. No, he would ask me to meet with him in his.’
‘What if you had your office set up for a presentation?’
Kedah looked at her. ‘What sort of presentation?’
‘The one you’ve spent years working on—your hopes for Zazinia. Your vision for your country. All the plans you have made.’
All the plans that had been knocked back. ‘I told you to delete that file.’
‘Since when did I do as I was told?’ Felicia shrugged. ‘And I’m glad I watched it...’
‘You watched it?’
‘Of course I did.’
Of course she had, Kedah thought. This was the woman who had taken a screenshot of that article that had only briefly appeared online. He was a work project, a problem to solve, and for a while he had forgotten that.
‘Aside from obtaining a DNA sample, I think it’s something that your father ought to see. He needs to know what he’s taking on—or turning his back on.’
Kedah had grown too used to the other side of Felicia—the softer side he sometimes glimpsed—not the very tough businesswoman she was.
And this, although private, was business.
The business of being royal.
‘Show it to him,’ Felicia said. ‘We can set up for a presentation in your office and ask him to come and view it. It goes on for an hour...’
It
