“Are you still a prince?” he asks, adding surprise to the storm of emotions on my face. “Mom said my daddy was the prince of Khione and that’s why he was far away—because he had to work. Are you done working? Are you very hungry?”
He asks question after question without waiting for answers—mercifully—because the only one I can manage is the last.
“No. I’m not very hungry.”
“Oh, good!” he says. “Grandma’s going out and only made food for two, but I’ll share with you.”
I look at Nina.
“Can he have lunch with us, Mom?”
I’m certain she’ll say no.
It would be fair. It would be understandable.
Nina’s gaze moves between our son and me a few times before she answers.
“He can.”
The smile on Kael’s face becomes my new sun.
I don’t need another. Even if the real one disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t miss it.
“Okay!” he says, reaching for his mother’s hand—and mine—pulling us inside. “You can have all the broccoli and peppers. I don’t like them at all.”
And I thank the heavens when he turns and drags us inside before we can stand, because I cry again—and this time it’s impossible to hide it.
There are many tears. Fast ones.
I hate broccoli and peppers too.
It’s stupid—but I can’t stop feeling everything.
CHAPTER 57
NINA MARCHESI
Nero is sitting at the dining table.
Nero is sitting atmydining table.
Nero is sitting at my dining table, having lunch with our son and me.
I repeat the words in my mind, hoping they’ll start to make sense—because the scene unfolding in front of my eyes doesn’t. I dreamed of this so many times over the years. So many.
Years ago, I made Nero a promise. I promised I would never forgive him for what he was doing to me and to our child. After Kael was born, I realized that the part of me that wasn’t a mother might have been able to keep that promise—but the other part? That one never could. Because there is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for my son.
I could have lived with Nero’s contempt forever if it meant Kael would have everything he deserves. If it weren’t for Lysandra’s madness, I would have done exactly that.
For Kael, I would have swallowed Nero’s unfounded accusations and found a way for us to maintain an amicable relationship despite everything he threw at me.
I did my best to erase Nero from my mind and my heart—and I even had some success. After the first few years, I stopped thinking about him every time I felt lonely, stopped torturing myself by reliving our last moments—some days the good ones, other days the bad. I even went on a few dates recently.
But I was never able to rip out the desire for my son to know his father. Even if, for five years, that was nothing more than a distant dream.
Now, though, he’s here. Nero is sitting at my dining table, having lunch with my son and me. And I still can’t believe it. I keep thinking I’ll wake up at any moment, terrified, after having the most realistic dream of my life.
And I don’t even know how to feel. Since yesterday, I’ve been trying to figure it out—and failing to identify anything beyond the hope that Nero won’t change his mind.
