Clare Connelly

When he closed his eyes he saw only his father's, so he tried not to close them much at all. Not because he didn't want to see the Exalted Sheikh Kadir Al Antarah again ; he did, more than anything. But seeing his eyes as they'd been at the end, so clouded by pain and unconscious of the world that swirled around him, so robbed of the strength and vibrancy that had been hallmarks of his life and rule, made Sariq's chest compress in a way that robbed him of breath and had him gasping for air.
The King was dead. His father was dead. He was now completely alone in this world, and the inescapable reality he had been aware of all his life was wrapping around him like a cable.
He had been crowned. The job of steering the Royal Kingdom of Haleth fell to him.