Page 54

Eden’s panic surged again when her gaze snagged on the window, latched but slightly ajar. They were on the second floor… Was the space wide enough for a child to slip through? God…he wouldn’t…
‘No.’
Azar said the word through clenched teeth, but he still strode to the window, tugged on it. When it didn’t give immediately, he pushed it open and looked out. She saw his shoulders sag as he exhaled.
‘No,’ he murmured again, softer this time. With an unmissable tremor.
Relief and gratitude flooding her, she whirled about. ‘He wouldn’t have made it to the maze all by himself. Not without the guards seeing him.’
Please, God, let him not have attempted it.
‘Never,’ Azar agreed. ‘Our suite?’ he suggested tightly.
Every inch of their bedroom and their living and dressing rooms had been searched ten minutes later.
Eden felt fresh darts of pain lancing through her temple.
‘Your Majesty?’
She turned at Nadia’s hesitant voice. ‘Yes?’
‘Maybe the aquarium?’
‘But the aquarium’s on the other side of the palace. Surely he wouldn’t have made it there on his—?’
‘Your Majesty.’
Eden turned, her teeth gritted at the relentless formal title. Ramon, Azar’s head of security, stood behind them, a tablet in his hand.
‘Yes?’ Azar bit out.
‘We may know where he is—’
‘Then spit it out, Ramon. Where’s my son?’ Azar grated, his composure fraying just that little bit more.
The King who craved control was seeing it decimated before his very eyes.
Eden wrapped her fingers around his, pressing into him the same strength he’d infused her with. She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he stared his security chief down.
Ramon held out the tablet. And there on the screen was their son, hurrying as far as his little legs could carry him, dragging his tattered giraffe behind him towards…
‘The cinema room?’ Azar barked.
Nadia grimaced. ‘Dios!I promised him a movie and a lollipop tomorrow if he ate his vegetables—’
‘Show me…please,’ Eden interjected.
Azar grabbed Eden’s hand tighter, and she almost had to run to keep up with him as they tore down far too many corridors to a door at the far end of their wing. She flew past him the moment he opened the door to the cinema, her feet muffled by the thick carpeting in the windowless, sound-proofed room.
There, on a plush velvet lounger set before the giant silent screen, was her son, curled up with his giraffe tucked under his chin, one fist clutching a large strawberry lollipop. A whole plastic tub of confectionery had been spilled on the floor in his search for his favourite.
‘Dios mio…’Azar muttered, shaken.
Relief electrified Eden, freezing her for a moment before, muffling yet another sob, she stumbled towards Max. She wanted to snatch him up, examine every inch of him to make sure he was okay. But he was sleeping so peacefully all she could do was lower her face to his cheek, run her fingers gently through his springy hair and just…breathe him in.
Beside her, Azar did the same, their faces almost touching as they kissed their son.
After an age, she managed to pull back when her tears threatened to spill onto him. Sitting back on her heels, she swiped at her face, but a handkerchief arrived in front of her. She looked up. Azar was staring at her with a fierce look in his eyes. She accepted the handkerchief, then watched him lithely rise to his feet, his shoulders lowering in another deep exhalation as the security team arrived in the room.