“You are related to Derek on your father’s side?”
It’s strange to me that she doesn’t already know this, considering how close she is to Derek. Hex and Sander have talked about how much time their sister spends in Los Angeles or on video calls with her friends. I can see Derek being a private kind of guy, with how famous he’s become, but why wouldn’t he trust Freya with his family dynamics?
“Yeah,” I say, furrowing my brow as I study her. “His dad and mine are brothers.”
She tilts her head. “But you have different surnames.”
“He’s not the first actor to use a stage name.”
“Are you close with your father?”
Closeis a relative term, but I’m guessing she’s curious about my relationship compared to hers. The Alverra family are tight-knit for being royals, and I envy that. Particularly her closeness with her brothers. For all their teasing, the twins adore her, and it’s clear to see how much she likes them in return. I was on my own as a kid, which is why I bonded so tightly with my detachment unit when I joined the Special Forces. They were my brothers, for all intents and purposes. It’s been nice to have Hex and Sander to fill that gap left behind when I resigned, but it isn’t quite the same.
My eyes drop to my exposed forearm again, scanning the dark lines that represent the soldiers I served with. It’s been almost a year since I left my unit, and I still feel like I betrayed them by leaving. It doesn’t help that they keep messaging me, begging me to come back.
“I guess you could say my dad and I were close,” I say, keeping my voice even while my chest grows tight at the thought of my brothers-in-arms. “He and my uncle didn’t get along, so it really was just the two of us.”
“Was?”
I nod and hold out my right arm, where a date sits etched into the side of a mountain tattooed on my inner wrist. The day my father died. “He got sick. Passed last year, which is how I met Derek.”
Her eyebrows rise. “At the funeral?” she guesses. When I nod, she pulls her eyebrows together. “He never said…”
“I’m getting the feeling there are a lot of things Derek’s never said.”
The car turns quiet, and I can’t tell if Freya is hurt by the things I’m telling her or if she’s just processing what she’s learning about her friend. If any of this is stuff Derek doesn’t want me to share, he probably should have said so, but I don’t think he expected me to talk with Freya like this. I didn’t expect it either, but this is the first time the princess and I have actually been alone. She’s somehow figured out how to get under my skin, which I don’t love.
“Tell me, Elliot Reid,” Freya says after a long while. She meets my eyes again, and there’s a new sort of determination in her gaze. Something tells me this isn’t the last time she’ll get me to talk, which is not good for my sanity when it comes to this job. “Are you alone in the world?”
For some reason, that question makes me smile. “Yeah, but it’s not so bad.” Technically, I chose a solitary life. I could stay in better touch with my old team, but it’s easier to keep my distance after everything that went down. The less I interact with them, the less tempted I’ll be to reenlist and hope they can pull enough strings to get me back on the team. Everyone’s better off if I don’t do that.
Her expression turns sad. “Elliot.”
Clearing my throat, I sit up straight and tug my sleeves back down, as if hiding my tattoos will keep her from getting through my shields again. “You should be glad. It’s the only reason I can be here to keep you safe.”
She accepts my deflection with a soft smile. “Hex and Sander seem grateful for your friendship. One can only hope your example will teach them to be serious now and then.”
The twins are plenty serious. When they need to be. It’s obvious that she loves her brothers, but when she says things like that, I wonder if she really knows them and their struggles. She clearly doesn’t know much about Derek either despite him being one of her closest friends. She asked if I’m alone, but I’m starting to think I’m not the lonely one in this car.
“I do not think the twins have had many people match their skills,” Freya continues, “and as they refuse to fight each other, they have had no one to properly spar with.”
I chuckle. “It’s not like they need the practice.” I’m not one to talk myself up, but it takes all my concentration to keep up with those two, and that’s saying something. “Not like you,” I add, narrowing my eyes at her. “I thought that conversation was supposed to be a way for you to practice sounding like the rest of us.”
Her smile turns almost devious, which is a look I haven’t seen on her before. I like it. “Ah, I see you have caught me.”
“You’ve.”
“What?”
I shake my head as I shift in my seat. “It’s those contractions that will help you sound more relatable. ‘I seeyou’vecaught me’ is what you should have said.”
Sighing, she rolls her eyes and returns her gaze to the window. “I seeyou’regoing to be a most irritating companion.”
Companion. It’s an interesting word choice, though she doesn’t seem to notice what she said. I’m here to protect her. To make sure she lives the life she wants to live and let no one get in her way. I didn’t come here to be her friend.
But as I sit across from her while we trundle through the countryside, I can’t help but wonder if a friend is exactly what she needs.
Chapter Eight
