A small smile dawned on her face. She remembered that too. But just recently.
“Then, you were home for a while, and the queen reached out to me. She explained your panic attacks and your virtual withdrawal from everything. She asked me to come, to take over your detail. I couldn’t refuse. And not just because our father had asked me to look out for you. The girl I remembered, the fearless badass, had retreated, and I was determined to find her. But I think I ended up enabling you.”
“No, you didn’t. I just wasn’t ready. Trust me; it wasn’t you. It was me.”
They looked at each other and snickered.
“But you’re ready now?” His look was hopeful.
“I think so. Maybe.” This time, Ele glanced away. She wanted to think she was ready, better equipped to deal with all she’d gone through. She was quietly proud of herself. But she wondered and worried about what would happen when confronted with her real life.
“You look good.”
“Does Jamie know all of this?”
“Most.” Robert gave a rueful smile.
“I guess you won’t be returning to my detail?”
There was a touch of sadness in his face. “The only bad part of all of this is that I won’t see you every day.”
“But you get your life back.”
Robert stood and walked toward her. He reached down with his hand. She placed hers in his, and he pulled her up. When he took her into his arms, engulfing her in a deep hug, it seemed the most natural thing in the world. As he held on to her, she realized how much she liked affection. She’d noticed that with Tristan—the random touches, the hugs, the spontaneous embraces.
“I won’t be far.”
They stood like that for a while, holding each other. Brother and sister.
“Robert?”
“Yes?”
“What if I had become one of those clichéd women who fell in love with her bodyguard?”
He pulled away from her and stared down. “Well, that would have been bloody awkward!”
They cracked up.
36
8 December
Shuffington Palace
Beatrix had chosen an ice-blue sheath gown for Ele. It brought out the blue of her eyes, enhanced the glow of her skin, and contrasted with the dark strands of her hair. One thin strap held the dress up on her left side as it draped lovingly across her chest. It fell straight with an almost-too-high slit. The one-shoulder precluded her from wearing anything around her neck. Her hair was twisted into a stunning chignon, leaving her ears and new piercing on display. Minimal makeup and the most diaphanous tiara she owned made her appear like the Ice Princess the press described her as. She took a moment to study herself in the mirror.
Back only a week before the gala, most of her days were spent being reintroduced to her duties. With a new perspective, she found an appreciation for what she did. More vocal than before, she started charting her course. She knew the things she loved to do, and she was determined to make those her focus in the future. Meeting with her newly constructed team and taking control of them and the protocols was a strangely empowering feeling. Michael used to defer to Robert, and now, everyone deferred to her.
Dressed in what felt like glamorous armor, she was ready to meet the queen. The atmosphere at the palace was decidedly harassed. The push for independence for Nava still loomed. The euphoria of the World Championship Cup, which had managed to unite the kingdom for a while, had dissipated. Ele knew her battle paled in comparison to what Queen Lilian was dealing with, but Ele was determined to see it through.
Off the throne room was an office the queen used for events. Although she often met with dignitaries and presidents here, the space was decidedly less formal than her personal office. It had confounded Ele as a teenager, but she knew now that Lilian used it to put people at ease. Ele knocked on the door and stepped through when it was opened. Ele was somewhat surprised to see both Jamie and Robert in the room. Both offered her encouraging smiles that she resented. She didn’t need them to bolster her for this conversation.
“I didn’t invite, nor did I expect, to see either of you here,” she heard herself say.
Funny how they both wore identical expressions of pride at her words. That she never noticed similarities between them seemed oddly shortsighted.
“You didn’t. But I did,” the queen informed her.
Then, because she was the queen, she held out her ring. Ele moved forward, her face a mask of placidity. She hated this part of it and had already made her twin promise in blood he would never make her kiss his ring. He winked at her from his space across the room, and she knew he was remembering. Ele performed her duty and then sat as straight as she could in the chair across from her grandmother.
“Robert has informed me that he shared his story with you.”
Ele hadn’t expected to start there, but she supposed it was as good a place as any. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
The queen winked at her, and then all at once, she morphed into her grandmother. “How about Grandmama for this conversation?”
Some of Ele’s tension drained away. “Of course.”
“You look lovely.”
Not ready for a compliment, Ele smiled tentatively. “Thank you. Beatrix is a master.”
“Well, one can be when one has a beautiful canvas with which to work.”
Ele’s hands rubbed once across her thighs. It was hard to resist Lilian when she was being charming. Ele merely bowed her head in acknowledgment.
“You have questions, I’m sure.”
The thing was, she didn’t really have any. Robert’s story had rung true for her. The father he’d described was the one she had grown up with. Indulgent but firm, committed to his duty as both a father and a crown prince, loving. She remembered the shift in her family around the time of Jamie’s diagnosis. She’d refused to leave Jamie’s side through his leukemia treatments, so they’d turned one of the palace rooms into a hospital room, and the two of them had weathered his illness together. Even though her father had had another son, Ele never doubted his love for his family.
“No.”
Her grandmother speculatively eyed her. “Hmm,” she hummed. “But you have things to say.”
Until then, she hadn’t really known what she was going to say. She glanced at Jamie, and he nodded his head, her adoring brother who always had her back. Then, to Robert. It had been easy to forgive Jamie for sending Robert away after learning the truth. What had there been for her to be mad about? Robert watched her though, like he was expecting her to put something together.
Lilian and Jamie, they’d needed a catalyst. It hadn’t occurred to her to question how things had gone so horribly astray the night of the gala, how easy it had been for the paps to surround her. The palace was a fortress, her security team a well-oiled machine. There was no chance of failure because they covered every angle. The only way for the press to crawl out of the woodwork like a swarm of rats was if the cheese had been planted for them. A breach of security was the only way they could send Robert away.
“You set me up,” she said suddenly.
Robert looked proud, Jamie slightly horrified, and the queen triumphant.
Lilian was still a gorgeous woman, and when she rose to her feet, with her crown planted perfectly into her coifed hair, Ele got chills. She was that magnificent. The queen sauntered around her desk toward Ele. The queen’s gaze turned inward, and Ele knew she was remembering the terrible day she’d lost her son.