RAFE’S HELICOPTER TOOK him to Palermo, and from there it was a private jet to Tulano.
Rafael did not reside at the main palace. He had his own court. As the gates opened it was already dark. But there was no question of sleep. He sat with a pen and tried to work on the most important speech of his life.
It took all night, and, when he finally stood before his father, to his disquiet his mother was there, and her cool gaze was less than encouraging.
At least she was listening. His father didn’t even let him past the second line.
‘She’s a commoner?’ the King interjected. ‘Non.’
‘Will you at least hear what I have to say?’ Rafe bit down on his frustration, for he knew it was imperative that he stay polite.
‘There’s no point,’ the King said. ‘So I don’t need to hear it. I have been giving your marriage a lot of thought, and we need someone who is well-versed in royal tradition—someone who understands that the crown comes before everything...’
‘So a loveless marriage?’ Rafe checked.
‘Rafe, you have had your freedom, and you have abused that freedom to the nth degree. You are thirty years old and the only heir to the throne—’
‘Whose fault is that?’ his mother interrupted.
Rafe closed his eyes in frustration. Here we go, he thought.
Except his mother truly was the Ice Queen, and Rafe watched as she spoke of the most painful part of her life without a shred of emotion.
‘You married me because your father instructed you to. You have stayed married to me purely to avoid a royal scandal, and yet you have created many a royal scandal of your own.’
‘And whose fault is that?’ the King retorted, and he shot a reproving look at the wife who for so long had refused to share his bed.
‘Don’t speak to her like that,’ Rafe warned his father.
‘May I remind you to whom you—?’
‘I don’t need to be reminded,’ Rafe retorted. ‘I have lived it, and so has your Queen.’
His mother was on his side, Rafe realised. And suddenly he understood her cold nature better and looked back on his childhood with adult eyes. No wonder she had never set foot on Capri, for Rafe could not even fathom taking his future wife there after what he and Antonietta had shared.
He did have his mother’s heart after all. She was not cold. She was just bruised by an unfaithful husband, and yet she spoke out for her son now.
‘I shall never recommend that you force our son to do the same,’ she said.
‘I tell you this much,’ Rafe said, for though he was grateful to his mother for speaking out he knew his own mind. ‘I will never conform to the same.’ He faced his father. ‘As I have stated, I refuse to take marital advice from you, but I venture to give you some in return: sort out your own marriage before you meddle in mine.’
‘How dare you?’ the King roared. ‘Have you forgotten I am your King?’
‘Never,’ Rafe responded. ‘And for that reason, and that reason only, I stand before you and petition for your permission to propose to the woman I love.’
‘She is a commoner,’ the King dismissed.
‘I have made my choice,’ Rafe said.
‘A poor one! I will never approve this marriage.’
Rafe knew his father well enough to know that he would not back down.
‘Will you abide by my decision?’ the King demanded.
Would he?
Rafe knew that although his father was King in truth it was Rafe who held the power, for he could simply say no, he would not abide by his father’s decision. And he would get his own way for his father would loathe the thought of the succession continuing with Rafe’s cousins rather than following his own line.
But marrying without the King’s permission, even if he remained Crown Prince, would prove a living hell for Antonietta. She would be frozen out by the courtiers and treated with derision by the aides. There would be division in the palace and ramifications that he would not wish on the girl with the saddest eyes, who had only ever wanted to belong.
‘Rafe?’ the King pushed. ‘Will you abide by my decision?’
‘Yes,’ Rafe said finally. ‘I will abide by your decision but I will never forgive you for it.’
‘Don’t threaten me, Rafe.’
‘It is not a threat—it is a fact. And one you should consider. Unlike you, I will do everything in my power to make my marriage work. My wife will never know that I did not wish to marry her. When she asks why I am cold with my father the King I will never tell her the true reason. And when she asks why I don’t stand by your side on the balcony I will tell her that it is to do with ancient history and not something she should trouble herself with. And when the heirs you seek are born, and they ask why they only see their grandparents on formal occasions, I will tell them to ask their grandfather to explain why relationships are strained.’
‘How dare you threaten me?’
The King stood, but Rafe did not flinch.
‘It is a mere glimpse into the future,’ Rafe said. ‘So think long and hard, Your Majesty, as to how you wish to proceed.’