Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
He took a deep breath, the sweetness of his childhood washing over him. Had he forgotten? He’d run through the palace like a little monster, and eventually he would be scooped up in strong arms and tossed into the air, giggling and begging for more.
He could feel it, feel how he’d flown up, the thrill rushing through him. He’d put his arms out and tried to fly, and never once had he thought about falling because his father was there to catch him.
His father. He would scoop him up and take him to the kitchens for coconut ice cream.
“Why did he stop coming to the beach with us? Why did he take Shray and forget about me?” Though it was easy to see he hadn’t really. While the pictures seemed to stop around the time he was thirteen or fourteen, they were replaced with newspaper articles and report cards. There was a birthday card Kash had made tucked inside.
His mother’s hand came out, so frail and delicate on his own. “When you were almost fourteen, your father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was taking some medication that made it unwise for him to spend too much time in the sun.”
Kash felt like the world had shifted. “What? Father had Parkinson’s?”
His mother nodded. “Yes. In the beginning he worried he would die very soon or be incapacitated. He needed to get Shray ready. He didn’t want you to worry. He wanted you to enjoy your childhood. He always told me that he was lucky you were his second son and not his first.”
“Because he thought I would be a terrible king.”
“No, because you were so smart, so brilliant when it came to science. He was so proud of you. He said a mind like yours shouldn’t be wasted on politics. He said a mind like yours could change the world, and that was so much more important than being a king.” Her hand gripped his, holding him. “He was worried during those years. He thought if the parliament found out about his diagnosis, they might seek to abolish the monarchy on the grounds that his heirs were too young. I remember he would remind himself that a king must be strong.”
He couldn’t help it a moment longer. The world was a blurry place and yet he finally understood. His father hadn’t been talking about him. Or perhaps at times he had been. Perhaps it didn’t matter that his father had been a king. All that had mattered was he’d been an obnoxious teen, and they would have clashed no matter what.
What mattered was that his father had loved him, that his father had believed in him, that his father had been more than a king. He’d been a man.
A man with flaws and fears.
A man with love and regrets.
A man who could love his wife and children and make mistakes. He could follow in his father’s footsteps and have a life filled with loved ones, with a woman who knew him as more than a king. A woman who loved him because he was her husband.
And maybe, just maybe, if Kash was brave enough, he could be a man who changed the world.
He leaned into his mother, holding her gently. “I’m sorry for staying away for so long. I’m sorry I didn’t remember.”
“He wouldn’t let you see. I argued that he should tell you,” she whispered. “But he wanted you to have as normal a life as you could. He saw how it aged your brother. He couldn’t do it to you. And I was so lost after he died that I kept his secrets. You should know that I left you a letter detailing all of this in case I died. You have to know that the illness might be hereditary, though the likelihood is still low. You’ll have to watch your health carefully as you get older. Your father was significantly older than me. He was sixty when he was diagnosed.”
“Hush, we don’t have to talk about that now.” He wasn’t going to worry about something that might or might not happen. He needed to focus on the now. Every family had something in their medical histories to worry about.
His mother looked up at him. “I don’t want us to end the same way, with you angry with me. I made these mistakes, but I love you. I love you and I ask you to forgive me.”
He shook his head. “There is nothing to forgive. Nothing, Mother. I love you. And things will be different now because I love my wife. I think I’ve always loved her but I was afraid to show it. I’m not going to be afraid anymore.”
He made the choices. And if anyone found out that he liked to submit to his gorgeous, dominant wife, well, they could go to hell because they didn’t understand what a woman like Day could do to a man.