Epilogue

One Week Later

Kelsey held tight to Elias’s hand. Half because she wanted to, and half because she was able to in front of everyone, finally. It was such a relief to not hide their relationship anymore.

Although she’d very much like to be in hiding right about now…

“I still don’t understand,” she said to Genevieve, seated next to her in the row of stiff-backed antique chairs.

“Why we tricked you and claimed this was another family portrait session?” Genny held up her hands, palms out. “Don’t look at me. That was Gran’s idea.”

Odd. The grand duchess didn’t seem the sort to play games. She was more the type to give orders and expect them to be obeyed no matter what.

“Oh, dear,” murmured Duchess Mathilde. She was pacing in front of the purple floor-to-ceiling drapes of the Peacock Gallery, shut tight against the gathering throng outside. “I was concerned you wouldn’t react well to our little ruse. Honesty is always the best policy.”

“Except for when it isn’t,” snapped the grand duchess. She was seated at the end of the line of chairs. With more than a bit of exaggerated sighing and shoving, she twisted her chair sideways and forward to be able to look down the row at Kelsey. “Ten days ago, we gathered as a family to wave at our subjects. And we were attacked. Mallory was shot. It was…traumatic. For all of us.”

“Agreed,” Kelsey said fervently.

Elias brought his other hand up to sandwich hers in comfort. He did that a lot now. Offered comfort and touches and was an absolute rock when she’d collapsed in tears after loading a sedated Mallory on the royal jet to heal back home to Michigan.

He still didn’t speak up much in front of the older royals. Relaxing, dropping his guard around Mathilde and Agathe was a work in progress. Hard to kick years of habit in a matter of days. But he made his presence as her boyfriend very much known.

“I thought you might still be…a bit…ruffled from the experience. That you might spend all week in a state of anxiousness if told early about our balcony appearance today.”

Oh. Oh.

Her grandmother had lied to be kind. To try and protect her until the last possible moment. It was a very, very grandmotherly gesture. It was also very, very surprising. In the best possible way.

Kelsey almost jumped up.

At the last second, she remembered that she was all princess-ed up, with orange and beige spectator pumps to coordinate with the ornate orange floral design of her cream dress. One she’d chosen after finding out that Genevieve planned to wear a green silk blouse with a white pencil skirt. And wonder of wonders, her stylists hadn’t put up a fight at all about them not matching.

Mindful of her stilettos, she clung tightly to Elias until she’d slowly achieved verticality. Then, silently cursing the thick pile of the carpet, Kelsey kept her eyes glued to the floor as she carefully walked down to the grand duchess.

Once there, she crouched and took her hands. “Thank you for trying to protect me.”

“Nonsense,” the grand duchess blustered. But she didn’t pull her hands away. “That’s what you’ve got that strapping young man for. Sir Elias has more than proven he’s all the protection you need.”

Wow. A compliment for her boyfriend, too? If it wasn’t eleven in the morning, Kelsey would wonder if her grandmother had been nipping at the gin.

“Elias is pretty great. But so is having a family who cares about me. And you were guarding my heart. Thank you.” Kelsey leaned in to drop a kiss on her powdered cheek. “I’m fine, though.”

“Are you?” the older woman shot back.

“Elias explained that you all do this every year. Go out on the balcony, wave at the crowd, and unveil the floral wreath in honor of Queen Serena’s birthday. I’ve never gotten the chance before to do anything for my mother. I’m really excited to do this today.”

Sure, her knees would be shaking the whole time. The still-fresh memory of bullets whizzing past her from a crowd of clapping people didn’t make Kelsey super eager to put herself right back in that situation.

But she meant every word. The meaning behind today’s event was exactly the right button to push to get Kelsey to want to move past her fear.

“You’re very brave,” Duchess Mathilde said.

“Hey, we all are,” Christian replied. He was pacing at the opposite end of the room, down by the door. And he was majorly dashing in his dress blues Naval uniform. “We’re having wine with lunch to celebrate getting through this, right?”

“We will have a champagne toast to Serena, as always.” Agathe let go of Kelsey. And then—shockingly—she winked at her grandson. “But I believe I accidentally requested twice as many bottles as usual.”

The door opened. Christian all but leaped over to greet his private secretary. The man merely shook his head, then retreated.

“Papa’s not coming?” Genevieve asked.

Christian tapped the hilt of his sword. “Apparently not.”

Kelsey walked back to Elias, wondering just how significant it was that King Julian would skip this annual tradition.

Probably very.

The king hadn’t left his suite of rooms in days. Ten days, to be exact. Not since the shooting.

“There’s only one thing to be done.” Christian strode the length of the room to join them. “Elias, you’ll join us on the balcony.”

He shook his head. “You know I’m not Kelsey’s guard anymore. That’s all Marko.”

“Not as her guard. As her boyfriend.”

Elias didn’t just flinch with his eyes. He flinched with his entire body. It cracked Kelsey up every time he had a visceral reaction to the reality of his new titles—both as her boyfriend and as a peer. He tended to puff out his chest at being called her boyfriend.

As for being Sir Elias, a knight of the realm and fully entitled to stand with the royal family instead of two steps ahead or behind? It generally made him twitch as if someone had dropped a spider down his shirt.

“That’s not done. That’s not my place,” he insisted.

Geez. If Kelsey could move past her fear of being, oh, shot, then Elias could certainly man up and get past his disinclination toward being lauded and applauded. “What—next to me? It most certainly is.”

“Oh yes, Elias would be a wonderful addition!” Mathilde beamed from ear to ear. Of course, she was their biggest supporter in the room, aside from Christian. Kelsey had a feeling it had more to do with her aunt’s love of love than any specific approval for Elias, but she’d take whatever they got.

“You turned down all those television interviews,” Christian reminded him. “The people want to see the hero who saved the day. Saved the princess. Giving them this glimpse today should get it done.”

The grand duchess stood. She gave two sharp waves of her hand to the footman, indicating it was time to open the drapes. “Sir Elias, you came to me a week ago and professed to be in love with Princess Kelsey. If that is still true, there is nothing more to discuss. You belong with her.” Then she motioned to Christian until he belatedly realized he should lend her his arm to lean on to cross the room.

“Are you all right with this?” Elias said softly in Kelsey’s ear. His breath stirred the fine hairs along her neck and made her shiver. Of course, just being near him almost gave her that reaction. The man was so freaking handsome and wonderful.

“You think I have the courage to contradict my grandmother? Heck, no.”

He kissed the back of her hand. “I would refuse her, if you wanted me to. In a heartbeat.”

So sweet. So supportive. No wonder she was head over heels in love with him. “I know you would. You’re my own personal hero. Fearless and tireless in protecting me. But I want you out there, holding my hand.”

“The royal family does not engage in public displays of affection,” Genevieve butted in, literally hip-bumping them apart. She used her snootiest, snittiest tone, too. But then she kept walking to get in line, and said over her shoulder, “Good thing you haven’t learned all the rules yet, isn’t it?”

Wow. Kelsey gaped at Elias as they all fell into line in front of the French doors. “Did my sister just basically tell us to hold hands? More importantly, did she more or less say ‘screw the royal protocol’?”

Elias nodded. “You’ve turned the House of Villani upside down since you got here.” As the footmen opened the doors, he dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Way to go, Your Highness.”

At that, Kelsey did shiver. Because he didn’t need to use her title anymore, so it was incredibly sexy when he did in that dark, low rumble.

A wall of cheers hit them as soon as they stepped onto the balcony. Each and every member of her family paused for a split second, probably flashing back, just as Kelsey was, to the attack. But then, with the perfect unison of a chorus line, they pressed forward to the purple fabric centered over the railing.

“Just think, Genny, your prince could be down there right now, staring up at you,” Christian teased as they waved and smiled at the thousands of people packed in across the garden and down the street.

“That’s creepy. I don’t want a staring pervert. Maybe I don’t even want a prince,” she replied with a sniff.

Kelsey snorted out a laugh. “I didn’t want a bodyguard following me around. Look how well that turned out for me.”

“Genevieve, don’t be ridiculous,” Mathilde scolded. “Kelsey is not starting a trend with her…ah…unconventional choice of the handsome Elias.”

Kelsey’s giggles turned into a hoot of laughter. “It’d be impossible to start trend. He’s an only child.” Okay, maybe their teasing was verging on silly now. It gave them all an outlet for their nerves, though. Which was helpful.

“Genevieve, you will marry at least a duke, if not a prince,” the grand duchess commanded, turning to stare down her granddaughter under the guise of smoothing out the fabric covering the wreath. “And Christian, you will choose from the highest female nobility in all of Europe.”

Christian untied the ropes holding the fabric. “Why limit myself to Europe? Why not get the RPS to chase down an elusive Russian grand duchess, living in hiding and poverty as the great-great-granddaughter of the most reputable Anastasia pretender?”

“I’m not going on that wild goose chase,” Elias chimed in.

Kelsey wished she had her phone to take a picture to send Mallory. Although a balcony crowd selfie would probably be considered bad taste. “Also, you shouldn’t hold up me and Elias as examples of couples on track to marry.” She didn’t want to scare him off with this sort of talk. He’d barely gotten over the problem of her being a princess. It was too soon to wave a ring in his face. “We just started dating. One step at a time.”

“Will those steps lead to an altar?” her grandmother shot back as Christian uncovered the white and purple wreath. He and Elias both saluted it. The crowd grew almost silent for a full minute.

And when that minute had passed, Elias snapped his arm down from the salute. “That, Your Grace, is up to my brave, beautiful princess.” He smiled down at her with so much love shining from those bright blue eyes that Kelsey thought she might just go up in flames.

After one last wave, Christian led everyone back inside. But Kelsey paused on the threshold.

Screw it.

Kelsey threw her arms around Elias and jumped. Of course he caught her, holding her up high against his chest. And they kissed and kissed as the crowd went absolutely bonkers below them.

“Want to be a few minutes late to lunch?” she asked as they finally made it inside, hand in hand.

“Are you suggesting we make your royal family wait while we have a quickie?”

Kelsey pressed on the chair rail, ridiculously proud of herself for having scoped out the hidden entrance to a royals-only bathroom. She pulled him through the door and locked it behind them. “You betcha.”

Because it turned out that some princess perks were pretty great. Secret palace sex was way up there on the top of the list. Just because their relationship was no longer a secret? Didn’t mean they had to give up on the illicit thrill.

As Elias set her on the marble countertop, his mouth plunging down along her neckline, he said in a voice turned gravelly with lust, “I think we should have sex in all the secret rooms in Alcarsa Palace. This month, in fact.”

There were only four days left in June. “How many secret rooms are there?” Kelsey asked, unzipping his pants.

Elias ripped open the condom with his teeth. “Twelve.”

“Oh yes. Definitely.” Kelsey rolled it onto him while he battled to get off her stupid pantyhose.

“And after we knock that off our to-do list? How about we aim for sex in every room of the palace? By year-end?”

Kelsey locked her ankles behind his back. “How many are there, exactly?”

“Six-hundred and thirty-four,” Elias said as he plunged into her.

“Ohhhh yes.”

“I love you, my princess.”

Kelsey closed her eyes, gripping the broad shoulders of the man she adored. “I love you, too.” And in that moment, she couldn’t be happier than to be a princess. His princess.

And maybe, just maybe, someday Elias would be her prince…

Want more?! Turn the page to read a sneak peek of Ruling the Princess, the next book in the Unexpectedly Royal series.

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