Chapter Twenty-Three

Kelsey had a hard time keeping up with Lathan as he escorted her through the Royal Treasury beneath the palace.

There was too much to look at. The walls dripped with antique tapestries. Long glass cases held crowns and scepters. The king’s full coronation robes were displayed, along with armor and Queen Serena’s wedding dress.

“There’s so much history down here. Why didn’t I get to see it before?”

“The Royal Treasury is open to tourists daily. Your family only comes down here in the evenings.” Then he slid her a knowing glance. “I believe your evenings were otherwise occupied, Your Highness.”

What…what was that? She thought Marko was the only bodyguard who knew about her romance with Elias. No way would she risk confirming, especially since it was over. “I know the grand duchess requested this to be a private meeting, but you will interrupt us if Mallory needs anything, yes?”

He tapped his earbud. “Your sister’s asleep for the night, according to her guard.”

“I’ll bet. The move and getting settled back at the palace wore her out.” She still had drains in, but her pain was managed and she’d wanted out of the hospital.

Kelsey had celebrated this step in Mallory’s recovery by taking a bubble bath to rid herself of eau de hospital. Due to the summons by her grandmother, she’d even ditched the yoga pants after three days straight and dressed in a sundress sprigged with pink flowers. Girlier than her taste, but a welcome change from the institutional-green scrubs she’d been surrounded by.

“And her nurse has instructions to let us know if she wakes and asks for you. Even the very real fear of annoying the grand duchess won’t keep me from updating you.”

“Thank you.”

Lathan opened a door that looked like all the others they’d passed. But once open, it revealed a three-inch thick steel vault door, propped open. “I’ll be out here if you need anything, Your Highness.”

No dig at Lathan’s politeness, but what she needed was her old bodyguard back.

Might as well wish to find a unicorn horn in one of the displays they’d passed, though. Kelsey plastered on a smile. Couldn’t risk having her grandmother ask what was bothering her and—out of the nonstop worry and exhaustion that had filled her week—accidentally admit that she missed her boyfriend.

Because with Mallory officially out of the woods? It left Kelsey waaaay more time to reflect on how miserable she was without Elias.

The sensor lights flicked on in a sequence with every step. And then she rounded a corner to see a room filled floor to ceiling with drawers of differing heights, a small table with a mirror, and a single velvet-cushioned chair.

Oh, and Elias.

Her heart did a triple beat. At his handsomeness in his black suit and deep purple tie. At his nearness. At simply sharing a moment with him again.

“What are you doing here? The Grand Duchess is on her way.”

“She’s not coming. She granted me a favor by requesting you join her. Of all the people in Alcarsa Palace, I was sure she was the one you wouldn’t refuse.”

“Why bother with the subterfuge?”

He held out a hand to indicate she should sit. “Our last private conversation did not end well. Entirely my fault, but I wasn’t sure you’d give me another chance.” Elias stepped forward, eyes suddenly intense and gleaming under all the pin lights. “And I want another chance, Your Highness.”

That was a painful carrot for him to dangle. “Why? Nothing’s changed. You chose the royal house and your duty over me.”

“True. That was, however, the wrong choice. And it’s important that you hear how soon I came to that realization.”

“I’ll play along. You dumped me last Thursday. When did you decide you were wrong?”

“Thursday. When you started to cry and I realized I hurt you.”

He could say that, but she’d still been alone and brokenhearted for the past six nights. “Funny how it’s Wednesday and this is the first I’m hearing of your great change of heart.”

“That’s the thing with mistakes. Realizing you made one is easier than figuring out how to fix it. I knew I missed you. I knew I’d regret ’til the end of my days breaking it off with you. I knew I’d do anything to get you back.”

“You didn’t do anything.” Yes, that was a pure snark attack on her part. But Kelsey was that worst of combinations: both mad and sad.

“I wanted to.” His hands hung at his sides, limp, just taking what she hurled at him. “I wracked my brain to come up with a solution. The only one I’d come to was leaving the Royal Protection Service. It wouldn’t solve the problem of my being a commoner, but my duty to the crown would no longer impede us.”

Oh no. Thoughtful, but impossible. “Elias, I’d never ask you to quit.”

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself, and eventually he’d end up resenting her. Kelsey knew that wasn’t the path for them.

“That’s because you’re wonderful. And there was the next problem. I knew you wouldn’t let me give up my career for you. So I was back to square one. Missing you. Unable to see a future where I could be with you.”

Great. They were both miserable, and nothing would change. Kelsey stood. “This is a really fun little recap. May I go now?”

“Please, Princess. Five more minutes.” When she gave a tight nod, he proceeded. “When I saw you on Sunday, you looked so sad.”

“Yes. That’s on you, by the way.”

Huh. The snark just kept popping out of her mouth.

Kelsey didn’t even blame it on her near-death experience, or almost losing Mallory. She hurt. No matter his noble motivation, Elias was the one who caused it. So yes, a small, mean part of her wanted to hurt him back.

“I know, and I’m sorry.” Elias crossed his hands over his heart and gave a small bow. “Then I saved your life. And discovered that while I absolutely wanted to save you, I didn’t want to die. That bullet that hit your sister? It impacted me, too.”

It seemed impossible. Captain Elias Trebanti lived his life to give it. A bullet wouldn’t scare him. It wouldn’t dent his impenetrable armor of honor and duty. “How?” she challenged, arms crossed, ready to defiantly shoot down whatever he said.

“I don’t want to die, not for someone else. My life isn’t worth any less than someone with royal blood.”

Oh, he’d said exactly the right thing to melt Kelsey’s heart. How had it taken him twenty-nine years to come to this conclusion? “Of course not.”

“I gave you up, broke up with you, but I was so wrong. If I died? I’d never get to see you again, not even from afar.” He swiped his hand over the top of his head, as if trying to wipe away the image in his mind. “That’s simply not acceptable. I can’t give you up—forever—on every level. And I couldn’t cause you pain like that, either.”

“If you died, I’d be quite overwhelmingly bereft,” she confessed with a teasing curl to her lips. Wherever this revelation of his was leading, it seemed to be back to her. And that put a little pep that she’d been missing for almost a week, a little sass, back in Kelsey.

Elias thumped his chest. “I matter. To myself, and to you. And if not to a single other person in the world, that’s still more than enough. To fight for, to live for. So I asked to be taken off active protection duty.”

“What about your father? Won’t he be devastated?”

“It’s been twenty-five years. Nobody needs my father to atone—except himself. Nobody blames him—except himself. So I asked the king to give him a royal pardon. Ultimately, it’s simply a fancy piece of paper with gold lettering. But the officialness of it might appease him. Either way, it isn’t up to me any more to keep trying to atone on his behalf.”

Unable to resist, Kelsey squeezed his arm through the thick wool of his coat. “Elias, I’m so proud of you. You’ve spent all these years being brave for everyone else. You’re finally doing it for yourself.”

He slid his hand up to cover hers, and then lifted it to press a soft kiss onto her knuckles. “Well, not just for myself. I’m doing it for you, to have another chance with you, Princess. To stop living my life for everyone else. To worry about my happiness. You know what makes that possible? Your happiness. Duty, honor, scandal, my oath to the crown…none of that comes close to mattering like you do. I don’t want to give up my life. I do want to give up every and anything else that it’ll take to get you back.”

Kelsey was rocked to her core. He’d chosen her after all. “I never demanded that you jump through hoops for me.”

“I’m not. I knew that if I quit my job—or at least transitioned it, which is a story for later—you’d be okay as long as I did it for both of us.”

She believed him, truly. A brush with death was powerful enough to shift priorities around, make a person see what mattered the most in life. Nevertheless, she had to state the obvious one last time before jumping into his arms.

“It can’t be just for me, Elias. That would be a selfish, unforgiveable act on my part to let you make that sacrifice.”

“Don’t you see? Choosing to leave the RPS, to abandon my duty to the crown isn’t selfishness at all. I choose you. I choose my duty to protect your heart, to keep you whole and happy.”

“That’s…overwhelming.” And wonderful, more than she’d dreamed possible.

“But I didn’t want to influence your decision to stay in Moncriano. And then there was the attack. I heard you were going back to America, so I stayed away from you. Luckily, your brother had my back.”

The surprises kept coming. “What did Christian do?”

“Long story short? He gave me a new, non-dangerous job. Still serving the crown. Before you give him too much credit, it’s one I’d already asked for. But then he gave me a dukedom.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Because your brother loves you very much and wants to do whatever is necessary to ensure your happiness.”

“Sir Elias?” That would take some getting used it. And it was also hot. “Can we back up to where you choose me?”

“I do. I did. In my mind, at least. Which is a lousy, half-assed way to go about it.” Elias dropped to one knee. “So I apologize, Princess. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for being stubborn, for only seeing one possibility. I’m sorry for not knowing all along that being happy with you is better than being unhappy in service to the crown. I’m most of all sorry for not being available to comfort you as you struggled the past few days with Mallory.”

That was a lot of groveling. Almost too much to take. All she’d really needed was that first line—the I’m sorry.

Kelsey stepped forward and pressed his head to her stomach to keep him from continuing. And oh, the feel of the short, soft stubble of his hair weakened her knees. “You’re forgiven.”

He breathed in a long, deep sigh as he circled his arms around her legs. “Just like that?”

“It turns out I’ve had a bit of a head-clearing epiphany of my own along the same lines. Because I was mired in sticking to a single path myself, I didn’t accept this new life, and agonized about giving up my old one.”

“It’s not a simple thing to do, starting over.”

He was always on her side. Kelsey loved that. “It’s not impossible, either. Not half as hard as I made it out to be.” She slid down to kneel with him. She couldn’t say who moved first—just that together, they interlaced both hands. And it slid the cracked pieces of her heart back into place. “Want to know what I figured out? Because, in a funny twist of synchronicity, it fits both of us now.”

His blue eyes twinkled and his entire demeanor relaxed. “Enlighten me.”

“Who you think you are isn’t always who you are meant to be.”

Elias threw back his head and laughed. “That’s…brilliant.”

“Isn’t it? I can’t take all the credit. Genevieve helped.”

“Princess Genevieve? Your sister?”

“Strange, but true. Yes, I panicked about living up to the expectations of an entire country. But I can handle this change, and whatever else life throws at me, with the right support, and as long as I believe in myself.”

Solemnly, Elias said, “I believe you can do anything.”

“I know. I’m so grateful for your belief in me. It’s as if you lent me your strength, your bravery, until I found my own.”

“Does that mean you’re staying?”

Kelsey nodded. “The only thing holding me back was the thought of being here every day, with you, and not being with you. Having to miss you in plain sight. But I decided to be scared, accept it, and keep going anyway. That’s my new life plan.”

Elias shifted to lift her hands to his mouth. He softly kissed the back of each one. “Will you? Be with me? Give me another chance to stand by you and work to make you smile as much and as often as possible?”

Eyes filling with tears, Kelsey nodded again. “Yes.” She leaned in for a kiss. Started to throw her arms around his neck, but Elias leaned back, out of her reach.

“I suppose that means you don’t need your present.”

She made a time-out sign with her hands. Did they use those in European soccer? Well, she’d teach him what it meant. Because they had their whole future in front of them. “Whoa. I’m going to chalk that up to English being your second language, because this girl never turns down presents.”

He swiveled to grab a white bakery box, tied with a red ribbon, from underneath the chair. “Open it.”

Kelsey tucked her legs to the side and lifted the cardboard top. Inside was an enormously tall cheesecake. The puffy edges were golden brown. It was…it couldn’t be… “Is this a Junior’s cheesecake?”

“Yes, overnighted just for you. I thought perhaps I could bribe you into staying in Moncriano by proving that whatever you miss from America can be brought over.”

“Omigosh. This is amazing. Thank you.” Kelsey lifted it to her face and sniffed. Glorious. “I don’t know if I can make it last until Mallory’s allowed to eat more than broth, but she’ll kill me if she doesn’t get a slice.”

“Not a problem.” Elias tapped a paper sealed in tape on the lid of the box. “That’s their recipe, because it’s bloody expensive to overnight a cheesecake. I hoped the palace chefs could try their hand at recreating it for you.”

“They can try as often as they like. I’ll be a willing victim.” Carefully, she set it back down. No point risking a single crumb of deliciousness, no matter how giddy with happiness she was right now. “Will you share it with me? Tonight?”

His voice dropped to a sexy growl. “I hope to share many things with you tonight.” Elias stroked a hand up her leg, to make sure she got all the innuendos he’d delivered on a silver platter. “But there’s one more thing. The reason we’re down here. With your grandmother’s permission, by the way.”

“You asked the grand duchess for help?”

Grimacing, he said, “I told you I’d do anything to get you back.” Elias pulled her to her feet. Then he opened a drawer on the back wall. “I’m so sorry that I made the automatic choice before. That I chose duty over you, over my heart. But it wasn’t what I truly wanted. What I truly want is the woman I’m falling in love with, and I vow to put you first henceforth.”

Who knew henceforth could be so romantic? “I feel the same way. Like everything is better and brighter when shared with you. I’m so head over heels for you, Elias.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You’ve finally offered me a princess perk I actually want—yourself.”

“I’m not ignoring that you’re a princess anymore. Whether you stayed or left, I thought you might need a reminder of who you truly are.” He rummaged in the drawer, his back to her.

“I can’t, I won’t deny the fact that I’m a princess. It isn’t a problem to be solved. It is literally in my blood.”

“Good.” Turning around, he handed her an exquisite, delicate tiara. The pearl-topped loops on each side rose to a fleur-de-lis in the center, the whole thing encrusted with diamonds. “I want to be next to you as you walk down this new path. To encourage you to embrace everything about being a Villani, to make up for how hard we both fought against it.”

“This is beautiful.”

“I thought you could keep it in your bedroom. According to the grand duchess, it was your mother’s favorite.”

The man’s thoughtfulness knew no bounds. That’s what made her feel like a princess—the way Elias treated her. “The bedroom can wait. I want to wear it now. For you.” Kelsey set it on her head, pushing the combs into her hair. It fit perfectly. Like it belonged there. “Kiss me.”

“It would be my great pleasure, Princess.”

Elias’s mouth took hers. Another perfect fit.