“I need to think things through.” Maybe I would forgive her one day, but her betrayal was still fresh and nothing she said right now would penetrate the hurt. “I don’t know how long that’s going to take, but I need time.”
“Fair enough.” Her chin wobbled. “I really was trying to help. Elin was so convincing. I didn’t believe her at first when she said you and Rhys had something going on. But then I thought about the way you looked at each other, and that time you took so long to answer the door at your office…it all made sense. She said you would get in huge trouble if—”
“Mikaela, please.” I pressed my fingers to my forehead. It hurt almost as much as my heart. If I were old Bridget, perhaps I would’ve let what she did slide, but I couldn’t afford to let things slide anymore. I needed people I could trust around me. “Not right now.”
Mikaela swallowed hard, her freckles stark against her pale skin, but she left without trying to make excuses again.
I expelled a sharp breath. The conversation had been shorter but harder than I’d expected, even after weeks of mental preparation.
I supposed nothing could fully prepare someone for firing one of their longest-serving employees and saying goodbye to one of their oldest friends in the span of half an hour.
I heard Rhys come up behind me. He didn’t speak. He just swept his palms over my shoulders and massaged the muscles with his thumbs.
“I’d hoped you were wrong.” I stared at where Mikaela had sat, the sting of betrayal lingering on my skin.
“Princess, I’m never wrong.”
I released a half laugh, breaking some of the tension. “I can think of a few instances when you were.”
“Yeah? Like when?” Rhys challenged, a hint of amusement shining through.
I deepened my voice to mimic him. “One, I do not become personally involved in my clients’ lives. I am here to safeguard you from physical harm. That is all. I am not here to be your friend, confidant, or anything else. This ensures my judgment remains uncompromised.” I reverted to my regular voice. “How’d that work out for you, Mr. Larsen?”
He stopped massaging my shoulders and curled one hand around my throat. My pulse jumped as he lowered his head until his lips grazed my ear. “Mocking me? Do you need a refresher lesson already, Your Highness?”
Another piece of tension cracked.
“Maybe. You might want to brush up on your teaching skills, Mr. Larsen,” I said, playing along. “The lessons should last longer than a couple hours.”
Another laugh escaped when Rhys picked me up and swung me around until we faced each other, and my limbs wrapped around his neck and waist.
“I knew you were trouble the moment I saw you.” He squeezed my ass, hard, but those steel-gray eyes were soft as he examined me. “You did what you had to do, princess.”
Despite the gruff delivery, his single short sentence comforted me more an entire speech from someone else could.
“I know.” I rested my forehead against his, tightness ballooning in my chest. “But there are so few people I can turn to here, and I just lost two of them in one day.”
Too much was changing too fast. Some of it was good, some of it was nerve-wracking. Either way, I could barely keep up.
“You have me.”
“I know,” I repeated, softer this time.
“Good. And for the record…” Rhys’s lips tilted up into a small smile. “I’ve never been happier to be wrong. Fuck personally involved. That’s not good enough. I want to be in your mind, in your heart, and in your fucking soul the way you are in mine. You and me, princess…”
“…Against the world,” I finished. The tightness in my chest no longer had anything to do with Elin and Mikaela.
“That’s right. You’re never alone, princess,” he whispered against my mouth. “Remember that.”
Rhys and I hadn’t officially celebrated yesterday’s victory yet, but as he kissed me, I realized we didn’t need champagne and fireworks. We’d always been best when it was just us, no pomp and circumstance required, and the best celebration was being together without having to hide.
No shame, no guilt, no impending vote or tough conversations with soon-to-be ex-friends and ex-employees hanging over our heads.
Just us.
That was all we needed.
Rhys
“You can’t sitby a queen’s side if you don’t know which fork to use. You’ll embarrass yourself at state functions.” Andreas crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you not look at the diagram I sent you?”
“They’re. All. Forks,” I bit out. “They serve the same function.”
“I’d like to see you try to use an oyster fork to eat steak.”
A dull ache throbbed at my temple. We’d been reviewing dinner etiquette for the past hour, and I was one second away from stabbing Andreas with one of his beloved forks.
He’d officially moved out of the palace and back into his townhouse last week, after the parliamentary vote, and we were reviewing place settings in his kitchen.
I’d asked him to help me acclimate to the whole royal lifestyle thing. Diplomatic protocol, who’s who in Eldorran society, and so on.
I already regretted it, and we hadn’t even finished our first lesson.
Before I could respond, the doorbell rang, saving Andreas from death by utensil.
“Study the diagram,” he said before answering the door.
My temple throbbed harder. I should’ve asked the palace’s protocol office for help instead. They were humorless automatons, but at least I didn’t want to murder them every five minutes.
I heard faint voices, followed by the sound of footsteps.
“Rhys?”
I looked up and saw Bridget standing in the doorway with Booth. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised, her or me.
“What are you doing here?” we asked at the same time.
“It seems I’m now the most popular person in the family.” Andreas stepped around Bridget. “Ironic.”
She walked to me and gave me a quick kiss before sliding a cool glance in Andreas’s direction. “You’re not the most popular person anywhere except in your head.”
I didn’t bother hiding my smile. Snarky Bridget was one of my favorite Bridgets.
Andreas arched an eyebrow. “Care to explain why you’re here then, Your Highness? I assumed you’d be too busy to visit little ol’ me.”
Good question. Bridget was supposed to be at a coronation planning meeting.
“My meeting ended early, so I thought I’d come by to say thank you. I didn’t get a chance to say it before, but I appreciate you helping Rhys with Erhall.” It came out grudgingly. Bridget’s relationship with Andreas had warmed a few degrees since she found out he’d been trying to help her in his own fucked-up way, but they would never be best friends. They were too different and had too much history.
Andreas’s face broke out into a devious grin.
“Don’t be a dick,” I warned.
“Me? Never.” he drawled before turning to Bridget. “I appreciate the gratitude, cousin dearest. Does this mean you owe me a favor in the future?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t push it.”
Andreas shrugged. “It was worth a shot. While you’re here, maybe you can explain place settings to your boyfriend. I drew a perfect diagram, but alas, it’s not enough.”
Bridget’s confusion morphed into amusement when I explained the situation, glaring at Andreas the whole time.
“He doesn’t know his forks,” Andreas said after I finished. “I’m trying to civilize him. Imagine using a salad fork to eat pasta.” He sniffed with disdain.
“I know them enough to stab you with one of them,” I said.
Booth snorted from the doorway.
“The violence is another thing we have to work on.” Andreas finished his whiskey and set it on the counter. “You’re dating a princess now. You can’t go around stabbing people.”
“Oh, I think people will understand once they find out who I’m stabbing.”
Bridget laughed. “Forget about him,” she told me. “I’ll help you.” She turned to Booth. “I’m fine here. Rhys is with me. I believe there’s a football match you want to watch?”
Football as in soccer, not American football. It was one of the thousand small things I had to get used to.
Booth’s face lit up. “If you wouldn’t mind, Your Highness.”
Since it was getting late and Andreas had no groceries except for milk and eggs, we ordered takeout while Booth watched his game in the den and Bridget and Andreas fought to teach me about place settings. Eventually I got the hang of it, and we moved on to nobility ranks. It wasn’t hard to remember. After the royal family, dukes and duchesses ranked highest, followed by marquesses, counts, earls, and barons. Eldorra had a similar hierarchy to Britain.
“You might make a good Prince Consort after all.” Andreas wiped his mouth with a napkin and checked the clock. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a call with an old friend from Oxford. Don’t destroy the kitchen while I’m gone.”
“Good to hear. You know how I live for your approval,” I deadpanned.
“I do.” He clapped me on the shoulder on his way out, and my annoyance ratcheted up another notch.
I couldn’t believe I shared DNA with that guy.
When I turned back to Bridget, she was trying, and failing, to suppress a smile.
“What’s so funny?”
“You and Andreas. You bicker like Nik and I do.” Her smile widened at the incomprehension on my face. “You bicker like siblings.”
Siblings.