“I know that, which means it’s only fair to give you the one.” The prince licked at a trickle of blood over one knuckle. “No matter how badly I’d like to give you a pounding for touching Kelsey.”
“I’m sorry for…”
Shit.
Here he’d pledged his life to protect the prince, and instead, he’d made the man bleed. All his fault. Sure, it wouldn’t even need a bandage, but it was the principle. Those few drops of blood were a tangible symbol of how completely he’d let Christian down.
“Sorry for what?” He picked up the basket full of plastic hanger numbers and chucked it at the wall like it was a cricket ball. “Why don’t you delineate exactly how many ways you fucked up, Trebanti?”
Elias shifted his jaw gingerly side to side. And then he met the furious violet eyes of the prince. “Only two ways matter. That I put the princess, the royal family, in jeopardy with my lack of focus. And that I let you down.”
“Damn right you did.” Christian paced the length of the four empty racks. “There’s a code, Elias. Among fellow soldiers—which we are. Among friends—which we are. And among brothers—which I count you as. This crosses a damn line.”
“Right. Yes. True.” He wouldn’t make excuses. There weren’t any. He’d gone into this with his eyes wide open. Knowing full well the risks and the lack of a good outcome.
Elias had hoped to get away with it, given the forced and irrefutable end date. Once Kelsey was revealed to the world, whether she stayed in Moncriano or went back to America, they were over. He’d thought they could fly under the radar for two damned weeks.
He’d been naïve. A fool. An idiot.
“Did you think because I’d imagined her dead for two decades that I wouldn’t have the same devotion once she returned?” Christian twisted his neck left and right, as though trying to wring out the right words. “We may not have the whole conversation thing worked into a rhythm yet, but Kelsey is wholly my sister. I love her, I respect her, and I shall defend her with my last breath.”
“I never doubted that for a moment, Your Highness.”
With nothing left to throw in the mostly bare room, Christian struck the wall with the side of his fist. “Stop with the title bullshit. I’m your best friend, Elias. How the hell could you do this?”
That was a weighty question, and almost impossible to answer. It was like trying to quantify the wetness of the ocean. How did you sum up an attraction? An indefinable need to be with a person? The pull at every fiber of your being that said she fits you?
Elias locked his hands behind his back. Took a deep breath. “Kelsey’s…special.”
“Don’t use her being a blood princess as an excuse. You’ve never chased nobility before.”
Elias couldn’t help it. Despite the tension in the room, the fury emanating from Christian, the surety that this was not the moment, he laughed out loud. “That’s not it. Her royal standing isn’t an asset, believe me. All it does is complicate things.”
“Is it the American accent? She comes off as foreign and exotic?”
“No.”
Confusion and curiosity seemed to be calming Christian. He stopped pacing and leaned on the wall across from Elias, arms and ankles crossed. “Then what?”
Part of him wished he’d said what was to come to Kelsey herself first, rather than her brother. But Christian did deserve to know that Elias wasn’t using her, wasn’t toying with her. That he cared—far too deeply, far too fast—for Kelsey. That she mattered for her spirit, not her royal DNA.
“The princess is different from other women. Fun, lighthearted without being ditzy. Happy without being juvenile. Tenderhearted. Loyal. Stronger than she even realizes.” Elias kept “beautiful” to himself. In his current mood, Christian didn’t need a reminder of Elias appreciating his sister’s body.
Shock erased the last vestiges of anger from Christian’s muscles. His whole body went limp. Sort of collapsed in on itself. “You like her.”
“I generally don’t risk my career and friendships for women I dislike.”
“You truly care for her?”
More so than was good for him. More so than it was worth admitting to Kelsey.
More than he’d ever imagined possible.
Elias squeezed his eyes shut. “Yes.”
“I don’t regret hitting you, but I’m glad I didn’t take any other extra whacks. This is a shithole of a situation. I’m sorry.”
Ah. Christian had put the pieces together without any more prompting. Saw that there was no happy ending. No future. “As you can imagine, if I could have resisted the princess, I would have. I take full responsibility.”
“As a friend, I can tell you’re…conflicted, but that’s not the only angle here.” Christian came around the counter to stand toe to toe with Elias. “You have a duty. You’ve betrayed it.”
The accusation jabbed at him sharper than their uniform swords. “I swear to you, on my honor, I didn’t think I was putting the princess at risk. I put my duty, her safety, first.”
“You’ve dishonored your office. Your pledge, your loyalty to the crown.”
No. That was unthinkable. “I have pledged my life to keep her, to keep all of you, safe. That hasn’t changed. It will not ever change.”
“The words aren’t enough, Elias. Quite simply, you’ve betrayed that pledge. You chose to follow your heart instead.”
His heart raced as he scrambled to convince the prince otherwise. “It was a mistake in judgment, admittedly, but I swear to you, Christian, there was no choice to be made. My feelings for Kelsey simply grew.”
“Don’t you see that makes it worse? That means you can’t turn them off, that you’ll be pining after her. Distracted. Nowhere close to being at the top of your game.”
Every word Christian spoke twisted Elias’s gut more. “No. I’ve accepted our time will come to an end. That it must. I won’t be distracted. I would not dishonor you, the privilege of guarding you, like that.”
“What happened to not having a choice?” Sighing, Christian cocked his head to the side and continued. “I hear what you want me to believe. I also hear you trying your damndest to convince yourself every bit as much as you’re trying to convince me.”
What if the prince was right?
Elias shook his head. “All I can do is apologize. Work to regain your trust.”
Christian pushed off the wall. “There’s no room for love in the Royal Protection Service. It messes with you. Worse than drugs or alcohol, because it sneaks up on you. It doesn’t wear off, either.”