“Would it change your mind about me if she did?”
Shaking his head, Elliot gives me a huge grin that lights up his entire face, and then he runs his fingers through my hair.
For the second time, the big, tattoo-covered soldier weaves my blonde waves into a neat crown across my head. He settles my tiara behind the braid, pinning it in place. Then he kisses me one more time before leading me back to the terrace and ending the most magical evening I have ever experienced.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Elliot
Turnsoutthere’sagiant upside to being a personal protection agent that I didn’t consider when I first took the gig: no one questions you when you need a moment alone with your charge. With Freya stressing out about the election for the last day and a half, we have neededmanymoments alone.
I haven’t let her have access to anything or anyone outside the castle in Invem, which has benefited us both. She has no way to find out what people are saying about the election or where polls are sitting, and I have an easy way to stop her from spiraling or hunting down her phone. The best part is she can’t complain if she’s busy kissing me.
I’m quickly learning about the many secret passages and hidden alcoves around the castle. I found a few in the month before I officially became Freya’s bodyguard, but the princess knows this place inside andout and has been teaching me all sorts of things. For instance, there’s a passageway from the upstairs library to the kitchen, and Freya used to stay up reading until late in the night and sneak down to steal food while she read. And there’s a tapestry in the great hall with an empty space behind it; Freya used to hide in there during state dinners when she was a child so she could listen in on the discussions.
She has more of a rebellious streak than I ever thought possible, and I love it.
As formystress levels, when Freya showed me some of the tunnels, I couldn’t stop thinking I was living in the house where the game of Clue is set, and I’ve started stashing weapons around the palace. Just in case. But overall, I’ve been…happy. Calm.
Granted, we’ve been back in the capital since yesterday, and Gregor is so thorough in his job as head of security that I have yet to find any flaws in the security measures he’s put in place, so there aren’t a lot of reasons for me to be worried right now.
All that aside, I finally feel like I’ve found my place in this new life of mine. My job has its perks and is something I could be content doing for a long time, and I meant it when I said I would stand by Freya no matter what tonight’s election brings. At this point, I’m almost desperately in love with her, and as long as I’m with her, I don’t care about thehow. Still, we’ve talked a lot over the last couple of days—in between all of the making out—and no matter how we feel about each other, a romantic relationship is going to be complicated at best.
So much of it depends on the results of tonight’s election.
“So, what are your options?” Derek asks me. He’s spent the last two days holed up in an office doing who knows what for work, which has been good and bad. It’s given me more time alone with Freya, which in turn has kept my mind off the bombshellHot Scoopstill hasn’t dropped, but we haven’t had much of a chance to talk. Still, Derek has this way of making things seem possible, and with Freya in the other room with therest of her friends who recently arrived, I’m glad to have someone to talk through my future with her.
I run a hand through my hair, glancing at the closed door separating us from the others. Though Carissa and Cole arrived this morning, they’re currently out exploring Invem to try to beat jet-lag. I talked to Cole enough to know he still doesn’t trust me, and he offered some pretty colorful threats in case I ever let Freya down. The others got here late last night and were too tired and travel-worn to really interact with anyone, so I still haven’t met them. Eventually I’ll get to know all of them, but we—me, Freya, and even Derek—all agreed that I should keep my distance for now. Derek still needs to tell them about how he and I are related, and Freya thinks she needs to ease her friends into the idea of her dating her bodyguard.
Basically, everything is on pause until after the election results come in.
“A few things,” I say to answer Derek’s question. I want to start pacing, but I keep myself planted in the chair across from the couch where Derek is sitting.
He looks way more like the celebrity he is than he did when he first got to Candora, but I don’t think he’s handling thisHot Scoopthing as well as he wants me to think. He’s been avoiding his friends as much as I have, which doesn’t make any sense to me. Out of anyone, he should be able to trust them with the messy parts of his life, but instead, he’s out here with me.
Not that I’m complaining.
Derek sits forward, elbows on his knees and something lurking behind his eyes, like he’s desperate for a problem he can fix. “Hit me with them.”
I start with the simplest option. “I can live in Candora for the next five years and apply for a Residency Charter, and if that gets approved, then we could enter a probational marriage that would be legitimized in two years, assuming things go smoothly.”
He frowns. “Seven years is…not ideal.”
I’d wait my whole life if it meant I could support Freya in all aspects of her life. Which leads me to option two. “Alternatively, I’m not interested in power, and I don’t have to put a label on things. So, if not being a king and not being her husband in legal terms is the only way I can be with her, I have no problem with that.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but,’” Derek says, lifting an eyebrow.
I nod. “But there’s already a lot of anxiety throughout Candora when it comes to Freya being unmarried and heirless. Leaving her legally available like that could make her vulnerable to external pressure from other countries or a desperate Candoran hoping to leverage political power. Freya isn’t the sort of person to submit to anyone, but…”
“But you don’t like the idea of putting her in that position in the first place,” Derek finishes for me, rubbing the back of his neck as he ponders. “I’m guessing there’s a third option?”
Technically there are four, but as the fourth option only exists if Freya loses the election, I’m not particularly fond of it. Sure, that would simplify things, but Freya wants to be queen more than anything. She’s had her doubts about what she wants for her future, but she’ll be miserable if she loses. I know she will.
“The third option is appealing to Parliament to grant me special citizenship,” I say with a sigh. This is the option I’m gunning for, but it has its own challenges. “The House of Lords is the harder sell. Most of the nobility is mired in tradition, and I pose a huge threat to their way of life and the status quo.”
“Freya poses a threat to that too,” Derek points out.
“Yeah, but they’re either blind or not willing to admit that. Blaming any issues on the American brute is a lot more appealing than talking bad about your queen.” They’ll probably blame me anyway, but at least if they give me citizenship, I can remind them that they chose to let me in.
