A hissing noise broke through his thoughts and drew his attention to Manu, who gestured with his head towards the large oval gathering of tables before them.
“Any new business?” The Speaker enquired, peering around the room.
“Yes!” Aleki shot to his feet. “Yes, I have new business!”
Startled glances floated up from the floor. Royal family members rarely presented items themselves, but that was the least of Aleki’s concerns today.
“Boy.” Tama’s voice was low enough to go undetected anywhere but the dais. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Aleki ignored his father. “I would like to move that we use the recent publicity around my engagement to strengthen our ties with New Zealand. Now seems like an ideal time to start addressing some of the issues we have had between our countries and develop the Pacific Partnership scheme further to include them, perhaps extending towards Australia.”
“That is what our ambassador does.” One cabinet member offered drily, earning himself a glare.
“And our ambassador will continue to do so. However, I am thinking of a more intimate, informal delegation. One that can help usher in the Alternatives Pathways Initiative by helping us source teachers and tradespeople from Avali who have left the island, and recruiting them back to help develop skills in our young people here.”
Some murmuring followed.
“I don’t think it's necessary.” King Tama’s voice was firm with authority. “Let’s move on.”
Shrugging, the Speaker banged the gavel, but Aleki’s voice rose above the thwack of wood-on-wood.
“I disagree.”
A hush ballooned through the hall. All attention was on him. “I would like to discuss the possibility of filling the position myself.”
His father snorted. “You?”
“Yes. I have more than proven myself in the last four years. I have been an excellent representative for our country.”
“You have been a drunken moron!”
Aleki steeled himself. “I was. Once. I have not been that man for a long time now and anyone who still thinks that underestimates me. My recent work in securing the Samoan trade agreement should stand as evidence that I am capable of producing the results we need.
“Politics has a long memory, boy.” The other cabinet members were openly watching the power struggle before them now.
“And I am prepared to make sure they remember me for all the right reasons.”
“Not just for knocking up some palagi girl out of wedlock?”
All the air was sucked out of the room as the Avalian parliament collectively gasped.
Rage filled Aleki as he glared down at his father. “Hallway. Now.” His voice was barely recognisable through gritted teeth.
“I don’t think—”
“Now.”
The two of them stormed into the hallway, Manu following laconically. As soon as the assembly hall door shut behind them, Tama rounded on Aleki.
“How dare you undermine me in front of our people?”
“Me? How dare you talk down about the woman I love?”
“Love?” Tama scoffed. “What do you know of love?”
“I know enough to recognise it when it comes my way. I know enough to realise when I’ve messed it up.” Aleki paused, levelling a hard look at his father. “I know that I didn’t feel it enough growing up.”
“Of course I love you,” the king thundered. “Everything I do is for you!”
“Then why won’t you let me do this?”
“Because she will ruin you!”
The words echoed through the high-ceilinged hallway, fading under the harsh saw of breath as father and son faced each other down.
Confusion sliced through Aleki’s anger. “What?”
“That girl. Stella. She will ruin you.” Tama’s voice was quieter now. “I saw it when you came home from university. I saw it when you brought her to my home. You love her more than she loves you. It is a weakness.”
“Father,” Aleki placed a hand on his father’s shoulder, noting the slight rounding, the hint of a slope that revealed the man’s age. “Being in love is not a weakness. It is a gift.”
“Pah,” his father spat. “You sound like one of those head-shrinkers on television.”
Aleki shrugged. “I have been talking to someone.”
Tama’s eyes narrowed. “Telling someone our family secrets? That is not the Avali way, boy. If you have a problem, you sort it out yourself. To ask for help is weakness. That is the white girl’s influence on you.”
“It is my choice.” Aleki stood firm. “I do not feel weak for trying to understand myself better. Stella did not ask me to do this. Stella is still unlikely to speak to me ever again.” Pain lanced his chest at the thought. “But I will be the best man I can be in case she does. And for our baby. Even if that means you no longer consider me an appropriate heir.”
Tama nodded slowly. “And your decision is final? It is the woman or the title?”
“No. I want both. But if I must choose, it will be Stella and our child. I can cope with not being a king. I cannot cope with not being a good man.”
His father faltered and Aleki saw his chance. “I know how much you suffered when Mother died. The love you had for her, it shines out of the pictures. But I cannot stop loving Stella in case I lose her one day. Closing myself off from love does not make me strong. My strength comes from having her by my side. The way you had our mother.”
Tama’s eyes slid to Manu, who was lounging against a carved wooden fertility statue watching their exchange closely. “Are you happy to take his place?”
“Nope,” Manu replied cheerfully. “I don’t want to lead. I like to follow. I would make a poor ruler and we all know it. It’s Aleki or nobody.”
Another slow nod. “Then let us discuss how we shall proceed.”
* * *
Stella suckeddown the last of her chocolate milk, hoping the benefits of the calcium for the baby would be enough to cancel out the sugar. It was her second of the morning - the stress of knowing her interview had aired in Avali several hours before she rose from her bed had led to a mass consumption of flavoured dairy goods. She’d drunk the first one while watching the interview itself on the Avali television network’s app. She’d cracked the lid on the second as the office phone started ringing off the hook with requests from New Zealand magazines to cover her assumed heartbreak in full scorned-woman glory. Jessie had been forced to transfer calls to their out-of-office answering service. Still she’d heard nothing from the man she’d hoped would call. In a shocking moment of weakness, she’d even had Mae message him. No reply.
What did you expect? You left the damn country after a single fight. He probably feels relieved not to have to deal with your lunacy.
“Hey there, girlie.”
Jesus Christ, cut me some slack.
She twisted in her chair just enough to send a withering look at the man standing in her doorway.
“Been awhile.”
“Because you only show up when you run out of money.” Stella turned back to her run sheet for the Chamber of Commerce awards dinner.