“Do you want to wait in the law library?” It was a dull, quiet three-storied room. It did have couches comfortable enough to nap on, though, and clerks who’d bring you individual teapots.
“I’d rather walk. Find a new room to poke my head into.”
Uh-oh. That meant the prince was in a mood. Not just from setting the PM straight, either. He roamed the halls incessantly whenever he was deeply, truly troubled. Like an unsettled spirit, but with louder footsteps.
Better to get it over with quickly. “Is something bothering you, Your Highness?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps it’s nothing. But until I know for sure, I won’t settle.”
For Christ’s sake, spit it out, already. Then Elias could sympathize, swear with him, and they could move on. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes.” Christian stopped walking, looked just over his shoulder at Elias, and asked, “Are you dating my sister?”
Holy fuck.
The moment he’d been dreading had come. The one he’d worked so hard to avoid. Because Elias had become quite adept at dodging the truth, evading it.
But he would not, could not, lie to Christian.
Not as his friend. And especially not as his prince.
“Your Highness—”
Christian cut him off by pounding his fist against the doorjamb. “Don’t try to pretty it up. Don’t you dare talk circles around me. Yes or no, Trebanti. It’s a simple choice.”
It was anything but simple. The question—and the entire situation. “Yes.”
“What the hell are you thinking?” Christian’s voice rose on each word, until he finished at a near roar.
Elias checked the nameplate on the office. No good. Some secretary of something. But across the hall was the members’ cloakroom. It wouldn’t be in use on this hot, mid-June day. He opened the door and waited for Christian to enter.
Then he made sure to close it firmly, although he wasn’t sure if the soundproofing of a recording studio could contain the prince’s bellows as this conversation evolved.
“What made you ask?”
Halfway to the other end of the narrow room, Christian whipped around and narrowed his eyes. “Are you kidding? How I found out doesn’t matter.”
“It does.” His duties as a bodyguard, his duty to protect the Villani royal family took first priority. After Elias finished his threat assessment, then Christian could kick his ass. “However this affects us personally, as friends, the bigger issue is whether or not this is now public knowledge. That would make it an exponentially larger problem.”
“It’s a damn big problem already.”
“Your Highness, I’m not casting blame, or looking for retribution. I’m trying to do the right thing.”
“Should’ve thought of that before,” Christian grumbled, because his friend was nothing if not stubborn as hell. But then, it was almost possible see him piece it together in his head. “No, I don’t think anyone else knows. Aside from Kai, I mean.”
The prince’s private secretary. The one person with as much access—officially—to the prince as himself. The one person who would’ve risked the royal wrath to share this story. Standing on the opposite side of the low counter from the prince, Elias asked, “What did he tell you?”
“Kai saw you last night, coming out of the elevator at the restaurant. You two were holding hands and looking very much…enamored, was the word he used. As soon as you were out of the elevator, you went back into official bodyguard mode. He’d been about to come out of the bathroom. But he let the door close, shocked. So I’m guessing you didn’t see him.”
“No. I did not.”
One moment. One unguarded moment was all it took for his undoing, which was probably the same thought his father had upon discovering the baby princess was stolen.
It was entirely his fault. He’d been sloppy. Distracted. Qualities that should never be ascribed to a member of the Royal Protection Service. Qualities Elias wouldn’t forgive in anyone else.
“Well?”
“I can assure you no other inappropriate behavior was witnessed by anyone. This secret is contained to you and Kai.”
“Damn it, Elias, that’s not what I was asking. What do you have to say for yourself?”
He should apologize. Elias knew that being with the princess was wrong.
However, he did not regret it. Not any of their time together. Not any of the deep connection they’d forged. So he could not, in good conscience, apologize. It’d be the same as lying to the prince.
With a bowed head, Elias said, “I beg your forgiveness, Your Highness, for overstepping my bounds.”
“As a bodyguard?”
“Yes.” Admitting to doing wrong was easy. He’d been crystal clear on that concept.
A hard thwap by the prince sent at least a dozen hangers spinning on the rack, some flying off to hit the wall. “What about as my friend? My closest friend? You think it’s acceptable to take advantage of my baby sister?”
“No. I’ve been quite sure of that from the start.”
“When did it start?”
Elias swallowed. “The details are immaterial.”
“The hell they are. You do not get to decide what I desire to know.” Fully regal fury pumped off the prince in nearly visible waves. Christian might’ve mentioned their friendship, but right now? He was in full “Prince of the Realm” mode.
As was his right.
But Kelsey had rights, too, which he would protect. “Any measure of forwardness on my part with the princess is too much. I acknowledge that. Out of respect for her privacy, however, I won’t go over specifics with you.”
“Why not? What are you hiding?” Faster than he’d ever seen him move outside of combat exercises, Christian came at him. Both hands braced on the counter, he leaned forward until his face was mere inches from Elias’s. “Did you sleep with my baby sister?”
No evading that.
Even knowing what was coming, Elias forced his hands to stay loose, arms down at his sides. “Yes.”
The punch came fast and hard. As expected.
Elias had braced his weight for it, so it didn’t send him to the ground. Rocked him back, though. Left his jawbone feeling like it’d been hammered by a police baton.
Christian shook out his hand, grimacing. “That’s a fucking low-down thing to do, my friend.”
Agreed. Christian wasn’t saying anything that hadn’t been eating Elias up for weeks now. “Would you like to take another shot at me? I won’t fight back.”