Marko plastered on a broad, reassuring smile that was in stark contrast to the rough threat portrayed in Elias’s voice. “Well, we don’t want the royal family walking around in fear. Prepare, but don’t panic.”
Elias’s frown expanded to include deep lines bracketing his mouth. “Don’t candy coat it for them. They’re grown women. They deserve to know the facts.”
“Facts, not fear-mongering,” Marko spat back, on the verge of yelling.
Now the two of them were facing each other, not the women. Kelsey hadn’t seen this aggressive, argumentative side of Elias before.
She didn’t care for it.
Was he trying to pick a fight? Or send Genevieve, her, and Mallory into full-blown anxiety attacks? His entire attitude and demeanor were sharper. Harder.
What on earth was going on with him?
Elias thwapped the side of his palm into his other hand, repeatedly. “The irrefutable fact is that every member of the royal family is a target. Every day. There’s no letting our guard down. Not for us, but not for them, either.”
She couldn’t touch him, not without betraying the secret of their relationship. But Kelsey inched forward, mindful of his karate-chop motions. “Elias, that’s enough. You’re starting to freak me out.”
“Good.” He swung around to face her. There was no warmth in his eyes, no softening of his stance. The man was in attack mode. “Because you need to be aware. You are a target.”
She’d had enough of this silliness. Kelsey let a small smile play across her lips as she shook her head. When would this get through to any and every one in Alcarsa Palace? “I’m nobody.”
Elias loomed over her, hulking and scary. “You are third in line to the throne. A blood princess of the royal house of Villani.” His voice rumbled like thunder over mountains against the walls of the room.
But now Kelsey felt bullied by his continued scaremongering.
No way would she cower before such behavior. Especially not to her boyfriend. “Yes, I’m a princess, but in name only. Not even my name, technically. All I am is a problem. An awkward reboot of something that went down decades ago.”
Marko shook his head. “You can’t believe that, Your Highness.”
Couldn’t she? How was anything in Moncriano improved by her coming back onto the scene?
The citizens at large didn’t need another royal figure. The king was fruitlessly trying to recapture the years he lost with a baby. Christian didn’t know what to do with her. Genevieve didn’t want her back in their lives. All her reappearance did was complicate everything.
Kelsey plucked at the neck of her yellow tank top. Not one of her own, from home. Those clothes still seemed to be lost in the palace laundry. Switched out for more appropriate princess-wear. But they couldn’t so easily switch her out, or her voice, or her opinions.
“Look, I disappeared once before and life went on.”
“That’s a selfish, ill-considered thing to say,” Genevieve snapped.
Oh, wow. Her sister didn’t approve of what she’d said? Color her #notsurprised.
But she was damn well going to finish making her point. Making them all listen to her. Even Mallory, who was shaking her head and drawing her hand across her throat in the classic shut it gesture.
“I’m not saying I want to be kidnapped. I just think the risk, especially for me, is minimal, because the reward would be minimal. I’m your average American computer nerd. Nations would not rise up in outrage. Citizens would not weep. And I’m quite sure the government would not change course to give in to any demands to get me back.”
Elias cuffed her biceps with his big hands, his grip tight almost to the point of pain. His eyes blazed with indigo fire. “I would make them do so. I would do anything to get you back. I would not stop until you were safe, here, once more.”
His fervent declaration made all the hair on her arms stand up. But not entirely in a good way.
Not when he still was so scary in both his tone and touch. Not when she didn’t understand any of his reactions that he’d had in this room. And not when he risked exposing their secret relationship with a declaration that was far too sincere to be anything but deeply personal.
She did, however, believe him.
For all that Kelsey had never thought of herself as anyone special, worth saving? Elias, in this moment, made her believe.
She believed without a doubt he’d find her—again. And moreover, the depth of his sincerity made her believe that, indeed, the world would and should be turned upside down if she disappeared again.
Because if Elias thought she was worth that effort…it disrespected his fierce faith in her if she didn’t believe it, too.
Marko clapped his hands once more. “To recap, everyone is safe. Today. And if you work hard for the next hour, you’ll have a better guarantee of staying safe in the future. No more talking. Time to get to work.”
How was Kelsey supposed to concentrate on moves and grips and stances when Elias had just tilted her entire world on its axis? Could it be that she was the only one who didn’t believe in her ability to be a princess?
And what the heck was wrong with her boyfriend? How could he be so borderline mean to her before saying all that?
When they were alone, she’d get to the bottom of it.
If she had to, she’d play the princess card and order him to tell her what was up.
…
“You’re very quiet,” Kelsey remarked in a subdued tone as they jogged through the forest behind the palace.
“We’re running, Your Highness. Training.” At least, he was trying to get her to do so. The princess kept pace with a steady jog well enough. But every time he tried to push her into a sprint—like she’d need if being pursued—she lagged behind. And Elias couldn’t protect her if he stayed in front of her. “If you’re running as fast as you should be, there’s no air left to chat.”
“I’m not in the mood to run.” The powdery thud of her shoes against the dirt slowed even more. “I’d rather use all that spare air I’m hoarding to chat. I think we need to talk.”
Nope. He was barely holding it together while not talking. “You agreed to continue training for another hour once we left the self-defense course.”
“I changed my mind.” Kelsey tossed her ponytail in an unconscious mimicry of her older sister. “Isn’t that the prerogative of a princess?”
Really? After fighting the title for weeks, now was when she decided to embrace her rank? Elias was tempted to bang his head against the nearest pine tree. “Your schedule doesn’t have any other openings. If we do this, we do it now.”