Zayn joined her on the beach not long after, his chiseled body dripping with seawater. As suspected, the reality of it was a thousand times more seductive than the vision her imagination had conjured in the bath the night before.
Staring up at him boldly as he dried fanned the seemingly ever-present flame that existed for him at her core. He watched her just as boldly, noting her every reaction with his amethyst gaze, unhurried by her regard, and when he was satisfied he sat beside her on the blanket, looking out to sea.
“Good swim?” she asked.
“Wonderful. I had forgotten how well the water clears the mind. It’s been too long since I’ve come here.”
“When was the last time?”
“Just after graduation. I spent an entire week here with my father and mother. We jet-skied, hiked, spent a night at the cabin, played charades...”
He reminisced quietly as they watched the pink beginnings of the sunset.
She laughed. “It’s hard to imagine you playing charades. Or your mother, for that matter.”
“But you can picture my father?” he asked, with mock outrage.
Mina nodded. “He had that certain something.”
Flat-voiced, Zayn said, “Don’t say he was approachable.”
“Well, he was...” she hedged.
Zayn growled, and she held up her hands in surrender, giggling.
“He was! But it was more than that. There was something about King Alden that made him seem like he was just like the rest of us. A regular person.”
Zayn snorted. “That was just the image he wanted to project. He was a king, through and through.”
“You miss him,” she said.
He looked away from her then, his eyes going again to the sea. “Every day.”
“You were close?”
“Very. We discussed everything—philosophy, economics, justice, rule. He shaped me, even when we didn’t agree.”
She smiled. “My father was the same. Though he and I were always in agreement. Or at least I always agreed with him,” she amended.
“My father sometimes encouraged disagreement, though it was rare.”
Intrigued, she asked, “What did you disagree about?”
He looked at her then, considering her before he said, “Love.”
“Oh, really? What thoughts did the man who betrothed his son before his birth have on love?” she asked archly.
A lopsided smile tilted Zayn’s face. “Believe me, I’ve asked myself that question a number of times over the past months,” he said.
The light chuckle he added took the sting out of the statement. They were no longer adversaries, Mina thought, but in this together. Somewhere in the past two days they’d gone from being two strangers to a team.
“No. Ironically, he insisted that my top priority be falling in love—the very health of the nation depended on it, he said.”
Mina frowned. “And you don’t agree?” she asked.
He shook his head, not catching her shadowed expression. “I think the nation benefits most from a skilled monarch who brings something of value to the crown.”
Keeping her voice light, Mina asked, “And what do I bring to the crown?”