LITMIR.BIZ

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changes too quickly, and that these could stir up unrest…’

      Whilst the commentator talked over the last notes of the Nirolian national anthem, Emily focused feverishly on Marco’s face. This could be the last time she would ever see him.

      ‘People of Niroli…’ he said in Italian. Tears stung Emily’s eyes as she read the English subtitles at the bottom of the screen. She could hear the strength of purpose in Marco’s voice as he went on, ‘What I have to tell you today causes me great joy and also great sadness. Great joy, because when I leave you I shall be making the most important commitment a man ever can make, a commitment to the future through the next generation. Great sadness, because, in order to do that, I must abdicate my responsibility to you, the people of Niroli—’

      Emily could almost feel the ripple of shock surging through the listening crowd. Her own thoughts were in turmoil. What was Marco doing? What was he saying? He was Niroli’s future king and nothing could or should change that. She had listened to his passionate diatribes against his grandfather and she had known his fierce longing to do something to help his people. And yet now he was saying…

      Marco was still speaking, so she moved closer to the screen.

      ‘It is my belief that Niroli and its people need a ruler with a different mindset from my own, a ruler who can combine the best of the old ways with a new path into the twenty-first century. I am not that man, as both my grandfather and I have agreed. King Giorgio needs an heir to step into his shoes whom he can trust to preserve all that is good in our traditions. Niroli also needs a new king who can take it forward into the future. With the best will in the world, I cannot be that king.’

      A low murmur of objection filled the air accompanied by younger male voices shouting angrily and declaring, according to the TV commentator, that Marco was the king they wanted. Tomasso and his friends, Emily guessed.

      ‘Do not think, though, my people, that I am deserting you, for I am not. I am soon to be the father of a child, and that knowledge has taught me how important the bond is between parent and child, between generation and generation, between a ruler and his people. My love for my child fills me and humbles me, and reinforces in me my love for the people of Niroli. It is out of this love—both for my child and for you, my people—that I am stepping down from the succession line to the throne, but never think that I am deserting you. I intend to set up a charity which will make available funds to help those citizens of Niroli who are most in need. It will provide the opportunity for our young people to be educated and to travel abroad, to broaden their horizons and then bring back to Niroli the gift of what they have learned so that they may share it. It is my passionate belief that this island needs a better system for encouraging its young to reach their full potential. I can do this best from outside the hierarchy of kingship and all that goes with it. At the same time, I shall remain at all times supportive of my grandfather and whoever he chooses to take the throne after him.

      ‘I ask for your blessing, people of Niroli, and your understanding that sometimes it is more important for a man to be just that, than for him to be a king…’

      ‘Excuse me, love, only we’re about to close the store.’ Her gaze blurred with her tears, Emily looked at the young man who was addressing her. Marco had left the balcony. The young man was looking impatient. Reluctantly, she nodded her head and headed for the exit.

      It wasn’t a long walk from the shops back to her house, but it was long enough for Emily to mentally question what Marco had done. He had told his people that he was giving up the throne because of his child—her child. Why? Marco was arrogant and proud, a perfectionist; did he—or his grandfather—fear the existence of a child who was not perfect might somehow damage the power of the Nirolian royal family? Had his grandfather pressured Marco into stepping down, or had his own resolve spurred his abdication? Either way, she had no wish to be a party to depriving Niroli of its future king, and nor did she want her son growing up carrying the burden and the blame for his father’s decision to deny himself a role Emily knew he had been eager to take on.

      She turned the corner into her street and then stopped, her heart hammering against her ribs as she saw Marco standing outside the front door of her house. Ridiculously, her first impulse was to turn and walk away, but he had already seen her and he was walking towards her.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded when he reached her. ‘I’ve only just seen you on television! Marco, you can’t give up the Crown. Why have you? It isn’t—’

      ‘It isn’t your decision,’ Marco told her calmly. ‘It was mine, and as for you seeing me on TV, well, it must have been on a rolling news programme rounding up the day’s events. I made my resignation speech at eleven a.m. this morning, Nirolian time. I had a private jet standing by, another personal decision, before you ask,’ he added dryly.

      ‘It isn’t fair of you to do this and to say publicly that it’s because of my baby,’ she told him passionately. ‘Isn’t he going to have enough to cope with, without the added blame of being responsible for—’

      ‘We can’t discuss this out here,’ Marco interrupted her. ‘Where are your keys?’

      Helplessly, Emily handed them over and let him open the door for her.

      The small house smelled of Emily’s delicate scent, Marco recognised, also realising how much he had missed her. Soon, no doubt, the air around her would be filled with the scent of baby powder. With every mile that had brought him closer to her, his conviction that he had made the right decision had grown and, now, recognising how much he was looking forward to being part of the family unit they would form with their child was like one door closing behind him on an old habitat that no longer had any relevance to his life and another opening that had everything to do with it.

      ‘There was no need for you to abdicate, Marco,’ Emily burst out as soon as they were inside. ‘I know how much you wanted to be King, so why?’

      ‘If you had heard my speech in its entirety, then you would have known why I decided to step down, and why it was necessary for me to abdicate.’

      ‘Because of our baby? Because he might not be perfect? Because you’re ashamed of him, and you and your grandfather don’t want him associated with Niroli?’

      ‘What? Ashamed of him? You wouldn’t be more wrong. If there’s anyone I’m ashamed of, it’s myself for taking so long to recognise what really matters to me. Or perhaps I did recognise it, but tried to pretend that I didn’t. Emily, when you were having your scan and I saw our baby, I knew beyond any kind of doubt that you and he are the most important things in the world to me, and that nothing could ever or would ever matter more. Actually, I think I knew a little of that when I first came to Niroli and I missed you so much I had to come back for you. I certainly knew it when you told me you were pregnant and all I could think of was finding a way to keep you with me. I couldn’t and wouldn’t accept that it wasn’t possible for me to be King and to have you and our child. And then you told me why you were pleased that our child would never be King, and it was as though you had unlocked a door inside me. Behind it lay the memories of my own childhood, my parents’ constant battles with my grandfather to provide me with a normal childhood, my own sense of aloneness because of what I was, and I knew unequivocally that you were right not to want that for our child.’

      ‘But you wanted to be King! You had so many plans, there was so much you wanted to do—you can’t give that up.’

      ‘I don’t intend to. I can still do all those things without being King. In fact I can do them more easily. My grandfather would never really release the reins of government to me, and the hostility between us and the constant fight for supremacy would not aid our people. I can do far more outside the constraints of kingship, and I can do those things with you at my side. I love you, Emily.’

      There was so much she wanted to say, so many questions, so many reminders to him of times when he had not seemed to love her at all. But, somehow, she was in his arms and he was kissing her with a fierce, demanding passion that said more clearly than any amount of words what he truly felt.

      ‘I still can’t believe

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