‘It’s not my place.’

‘It is,’ Annia said fiercely. ‘No one else will do it.’

And hadn’t that always been the case?

As the King’s sister, Nikos’s mother had always stood up to the old King. She’d fought for the islanders’ rights and, as he’d matured, Nikos had taken her fights onto his own shoulders.

He’d built up a fishing fleet that was second to none, but the islanders knew he worked for the whole island. They looked to him now as leader. He was in an uncomfortable position but he had no choice-there was no one else willing or able to take it on.

And now…If the only way Athena would rule was for him to stand beside her and guide her every step of the way, then he’d do it. He’d been raised to love this island, and he would not see it destroyed.

So now…He shoved aside anger, loss, confusion, a host of mixed emotions he wasn’t near to understanding, and he strode up the gangplank with the determination of a man who knew where his duty lay. And, as he reached Athena, he took her in his arms and he hugged her. Whether she willed it or not. Whether he willed it or not.

‘Welcome home,’ he said and lifted her and swung her round in his arms, a precarious thing to do on a gangplank, but jubilation was called for. ‘Princess Athena, welcome,’ he said in a voice to be heard by all. ‘We all welcome you, don’t we?’ he demanded of the crowd, and the islanders roared their assent.

‘It’s our royal family,’ someone yelled. ‘Princess Athena and Prince Nikos.’

‘Nikos is only a prince if he marries Athena,’ someone else yelled and there was a huge cheer of enthusiasm.

‘Hey, Demos is already a prince. Maybe she should marry him,’ someone yelled as the applause died, and the crowd laughed. The laughter was derisive.

And Nikos glanced to the back of the crowd and saw Demos. Even from this distance his body language was unmistakable. He was rigid with mortification and with fury.