Page 72 of Expecting Royal Twins!
“Have you figured anything out?” his father asked, as if remembering what Niko had told him when he returned alone from the honeymoon.
“I don’t like fighting the way we did. I want to be with her, but she may not want what I can offer her.”
“You have a duty—”
“To Vernonia.”
“You also have a duty to your wife and your children.” Dmitar rose and walked around to the front of his desk. “I know I’ve told you to control your emotions and do what is best for Vernonia, but I’m not sure that is the advice I want you to give my grandchildren.”
“What?” Niko stared, sure he hadn’t heard his father correctly.
“A united Vernonia has been the goal of kings for centuries, but united at what cost? Stefan’s life? All the other sons and daughters and mothers and fathers who died during the conflict?” Regret filled Dmitar’s voice and darkened his eyes. “I wouldn’t allow my own feelings to influence my decision-making. I kept telling myself what my father had told me. Emotion is a weakness. So I brushed aside my concerns over you and Stefan. Your mother’s worries, too. Now every time I look at the damn map of Vernonia on the wall over there, I wonder.”
“Wonder what?” Niko asked, barely able to breathe.
“If I’d let the Separatists go, would Stefan still be alive today?”
Niko had never heard his father like this before. He stepped forward, unsure what to do. “Father—”
“That’s why I had no choice but to see this through to the end and make sure you and Izzy remained married. I have to know if a united Vernonia is worth all the sacrifices made. Especially your mother’s broken and grief-filled heart.”
“It will be, Father.”
“I regret losing Stefan, but you are a good ruler, Niko. You will be a fine king.”
He stood taller. “Thank you.”
“But I am concerned,” Dmitar admitted. “You speak of modernizing the country, yet you hold a few old-fashioned notions. Especially your ideas of what a princess should be.”
Isabel had said something similar. Uncomfortable, Niko shifted his weight between his feet.
His father continued. “Izzy might not be a clone of every other princess out there, but she can still be who she is and the love of your life. The two are not mutually exclusive even if your marriage was an arranged match.”
Niko considered his father’s words. “The people—”
“She’s more than made up for the lapse at the parade. The people have forgiven her. They love her.”
“You’ve been spying on her.”
Dmitar raised a brow. “And you haven’t?”
“I may have sent a couple royal guards north to Sachestia on a brief…scouting trip.”
“Thought so.” Dmitar laughed. “You’ve always done whatever was asked of you, but it’s time you were selfish. Forget everything else. Save your marriage and keep Izzy in Vernonia, not through manipulation as I attempted, but through love and loyalty freely given.”
“You want me to go after her.”
“That’s your decision, not mine,” Dmitar said. “But if you have any feelings for her, do not allow anything to keep you apart.”
Niko had never allowed himself to be vulnerable with anyone before Izzy. He’d opened up with her, but she wanted him to be vulnerable beyond the bedroom, to trust her in a way he’d never trusted anyone before. He didn’t know if he could do that. “What if I still don’t know how I feel?”
“Figure it out. Fast.” His father’s gaze rested on a photograph of Stefan that hung on the wall. “Life can change in an instant, Niko. You don’t want to have to live with that regret. Trust me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Figure it out. Fast.
His father’s words replayed in Niko’s mind the rest of the day and evening. He wanted to figure it out. Had to figure it out.
Later that night, he tossed and turned, drifting in and out of sleep. Images of Isabel, twins, his father and Stefan collided into a half-awake, half-dreamlike state. The bed lurched, as if someone had shaken the entire wooden frame. Or bumped into it in the dark.
