The flight to my homeland felt as if it took days. I wasn’t able to do much more than stare out the window at the fluffy white clouds. Father would never sit on this plane again. He wouldn’t do much more than he already had. The thought punched me in the gut. I was barely able to take a full breath until we landed.

The moment I stepped off the plane, I called Mother to make sure that Father was still alive.

“He’s resting,” she said. “We have all the best doctors helping him get comfortable. I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m not there yet,” I said, hanging up and getting into the car waiting for me. I snapped my fingers at the driver, and he took off. With just one look from me, he knew not to dilly dally. I placed my phone next to me on the seat in case Mother needed to get in touch with me. We had about a forty-minute drive until we reached the palace, but from the speed that the car was going, I had some idea we would make it there sooner.

I hated when things were out of my control. The plane ride, car ride, and Father’s illness were all out of my control. What was going to happen to my life when he passed? If I became king, I would give up control of everything in my life.

Maybe it was for the best. I owed Father my life, and the only person who was able to step up to the job was me. It was sooner than anticipated, but it was my duty. I knew that now.

I mulled over the rest of my life on the way to the palace.

When the golden gates shone brightly in the distance, I sat up in my seat and prepared myself for what was to come. Mother had said that Father was resting. I didn’t remember the last time I saw him “resting.” In all the years I knew him, he was always on his feet. Even when he sat down at his desk, he preferred to sit on the edge of his chair, ready to move at a moment’s notice.

He had been that way over the weekend. What happened to make him decline so quickly? Was that the nature of the illness, or had he been sick for much longer than Mother let on? I couldn’t imagine that Mother didn’t know, but from the conversation with her, it seemed to be a surprise to her as well. It would be like him to keep something like this from us. One last bit of control before he bit the dust.

I wiped a stray tear from my eye before it reached my cheek. I kept my eyes on the front steps of the palace, and the moment the car slowed down, I opened my door and got out. As if the driver anticipated this, he stopped the car just as my foot touched the ground.

I stood up and buttoned my jacket before striding into the palace.

Mother didn’t greet me at the steps like she usually did. The staff moved around my home without a glance in my direction, though I could feel their pity. Many of them had been with Father since he took the throne. The loss of their king would be great as well.

Arriving at Father’s chambers, the door was closed, but I heard several voices coming from inside. None of them were his.

Shoving open the doors, several sets of eyes turned in my direction.

All I could focus on was Father under the covers of his bed. He was propped up against several pillows. His skin was ashen, and his eyes were sunken in.

Mother sat by his side, her fingers twined with his.

The doctor bowed his head and moved aside as I walked over to the unoccupied side of the bed.

“Father,” I said.

“Luke?” Father asked, slowly turning his head to face me. His voice was weak, almost as if took as much effort to speak as it had to turn his head.

“Yes, I’m here,” I said.

He turned back to Mother. “Please. Leave. Us.” Each word was broken up by a deep breath.

I gritted my teeth and staved off the urge to let my real emotions show. I needed to be strong right now.

Mother accompanied the doctor out of the room and closed the chamber doors behind her.

I sat on the bed as Father tried to move. I helped him sit up straighter. He felt so light in my arms. His bones pressed against my hands.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked him. “I was just here last week.”

“I didn’t want to worry anyone,” he said.

“Well, we’re worried now. What did the doctor say?”

“It’s cancer,” Father said, wincing. He hadn’t moved, so I knew it was something internal. “I’ve been handling it so far, but it finally caught up with me.”

“I can’t believe this,” I said, hanging my head.

He reached out to me, and I took his hand. His eyes were glossy, and my vision blurred.

“Father, I…” I trailed off, unsure of what to say. I couldn’t make the situation any better for him with words. I was lost.

“I know, son,” he said. “I know.”

I shook my head, cursing as many deities as I could think of for doing this to our family. Father was supposed to retire from the throne and live his life, not die before his time.

“Adopting you was the best thing we’ve ever done,” he said. “How did we get so lucky to have such a man like you in our lives?”

“Father, I’m the one who is lucky,” I said, kissing his hand.

He pressed his lips together in what looked like a smile.

“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “But there isn’t much time left to decide. You need to choose if you’re to take over after me. I don’t want to leave it up to the council.”

As much as I knew what I had to do, I couldn’t find the words. Not even now, when Father was on his deathbed.

Instead, I kicked off my shoes and laid on the bed next to him, like I used to when I was first adopted. I used to have nightmares that someone was going to pull the rug out from under me and send me back to the orphanage. Father used to bring me into his bed after I had another nightmare and hold me until I fell asleep. Even though I wasn’t conscious for half of it, the memories came back full force, and this time, I couldn’t contain myself.

Father and I sat there until his breathing became steady and he was the one comforted by me instead of the other way around.

---

I made sure that Father was fast asleep before I went out into the hallway. Mother sat in the chair across the hall, staring at her hands in her lap.

“Where is the doctor?” I asked.

She glanced up at me as if she hadn’t heard me come out. “I made him go eat something. He’s been with your father all day.”

“How are you holding up?” I asked.

She pushed herself out of her seat, her age starting to show. When had that happened to my parents? I’d been so wrapped up in my own life that I hadn’t noticed the passage of time and its effects on my parents.

“As well as I can be,” Mother said. “I wished he would have prepared us better. Though this is his way.”

“It is,” I said. “How long did the doctor say?”

She shrugged and then her lips started to tremble. “Until he stops fighting, I suppose. But he’s suffering so much.” She let out a sob, and I wrapped her in an embrace.

“We’ll get through this,” I said. “I’m not leaving anytime soon.”

She tilted her head upward. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course,” I said, knowing where that question would lead.

“You’re going to take the throne?” Mother asked.

And there it was. It was all my parents talked about—other than Mother trying to set me up with a suitable bride.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said. “It’s not the future I ever saw for myself. I always thought that Abir would want it, as it is his right.”

“It’s just as much your right as his,” Mother said.

“Where is Abir?” I asked, trying to veer off topic. There was so much going on that I could use a distraction, even for a moment.

She shook her head. “He hasn’t come out of his room since your father told him.”

“He hasn’t gone into Father’s chambers?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “You know he’s a sensitive boy.”

“He is that,” I said. Sure, Abir liked to keep to his books and daydreams, but he lived in the palace. The least he could do was sit with his dying father. Though I couldn’t blame him. If I could, I’d hide in my room all day, but I didn’t have that luxury. I had to step up and become the man that everyone, except me, wanted me to be.

“This isn’t the time to press the subject,” Mother said, getting back to the bigger topic. “But I’m sure you will make the right decision.”

Mother walked back into Father’s chambers, leaving me in the hallway with my thoughts and the heavy burden on my shoulders.

I considered going to Abir’s room and tell him to be a man, but anger wasn’t going to get anyone anywhere.

I needed to cool off somewhere. Now that Father was sleeping, I had a little time to myself to collect my thoughts before going back inside.

---

When I was younger and faced with a challenge in school or with my parents, I always walked the grounds to clear my head. There were acres of palace grounds, enough to walk for hours to work through whatever school assignment or argument I’d found myself dealing with. But there was no solution for Father’s problem.

I started at the back of the palace. I didn’t want to stay away long in case something happened with Father, but I hoped a short distance would bring me back to square one before dealing with the tragic situation happening inside of my home.

I wasn’t sure if it was the heat or the weight of the entire situation, but I found it hard to take a full breath as I walked. As it always did, my body adjusted itself as I moved across the grounds. My spine stiffened, and my chin lifted higher. Deep down, I was the king that Father and Mother wanted, but rebelling was always in my nature.

I couldn’t send Father off into the next life thinking that I was going to let all of his hard work fall to another.

I wasn’t sure what the council had in mind, but the fear in his eyes at the possibility broke my heart.

Raised voices outside of the palace gates broke me away from my thoughts. I almost welcomed the interruption.

Striding over to the tall gates, several of the guards huddled around one area.

People were always trying to get a glimpse of the palace, but never had one caused such a ruckus, at least as far as I knew.

A familiar female voice struck me to my core, and I froze where I stood. That voice had haunted my dreams for almost a week.

No, it couldn’t be.

I was far enough away not to be noticed but close enough to hear the conversation.

“Please, I need to see Lu—Prince Luke,” she said.

The guards muttered to each other in my native tongue. They didn’t have very nice things to say about her.

One of them moved aside, and my heart skipped a beat as Sophia’s gaze shifted from the guards to me.