The Sinful King (Naughty Royals 1)

“Probably so. I’ll keep you posted when I know more.”

We hung up the phone and I turned up the volume. My father was still being interviewed and I was curious as to what he was saying. Was he paying his respects or was he berating the Crown as he normally did?

“It’s too soon to tell, of course,” my father said in response to whatever they’d asked him. “But we expect to meet with the king soon and see what he has in store for us.”

“Do you think he’ll want to involve the cabinet more than his father did?”

“I can’t speak for the Crown. I have no idea what he has in mind, but I look forward to working with them to better the country.” He waved at the camera. “Thank you. We’ll talk soon.”

The camera stuck with him for a second before turning back to the main reporter. They continued talking about what this all meant for France. I wondered what it meant for Elias. He seemed so unsettled last night, so sad. I wished there was something I could do to help, but I knew I couldn’t. Tomorrow I’d go back to London and leave everything that happened here behind. He wouldn’t come back here. Not tomorrow, not next summer, or the one after that. His years of relaxing were over at least for the time being. It hit me that it was all he’d done since he’d arrived. He had one party and then barely left his villa. I’d called him lazy, boring, but in retrospect, that was exactly what he wanted to be.

Chapter 24

The funeral was unlike anything I’d seen before and we weren’t even inside the Basilica of Saint-Denis yet. It made me wonder why the queen had asked me to plan the wedding at all when they obviously had a prepared in-house system. I turned to Etienne, beside me, and asked him that very thing. He shrugged as he looked at me.

“My guess is she wants the wedding to be more like the soirée you put on for the engagement and less like this.” He nodded up at the church we were walking toward. “Less stuffy.”

“Well, this is a funeral. It’s supposed to be stuffy.”

“Depends whose funeral it is.”

“The same can be said for weddings.”

“Exactly.” Etienne smiled. “God forbid the planning was left to Elias. It would be as stuffy as you can get.”

“He’s not stuffy.” I frowned. “Their parties are insane.”

“Aramis’s parties are insane. Elias is bored by them, remember?” He smirked.

I glanced back up as we reached the church doors and let go of Etienne’s arm as he opened the door for us. No one looked back at the sound of our entrance, which was good since the priest had already started talking. We took the first empty seats we could find, right in the back, near the door, and listened as the priest spoke about life and death. I stared at the larger than life coffin. It had a red cape draped over it with a red and gold crown up top. It matched the outrageous flower arrangements that lined the long entrance to the chapel. I leaned out in hopes of catching a glimpse of Elias, but there was a sea of suits and dresses in front of us and I couldn’t see him. Knowing I was in the same room as him would have to be enough for now. My heart sank. Was that how things would be from now on? I’d have to be glad to just be breathing the same air as him without being anywhere near him? It shouldn’t matter. I didn’t even live in this country. But it did. It did matter. My mother received a call from the queen’s secretaries to tell her the wedding had been postponed, but they hadn’t given an indication of a date and we didn’t want to pry under the circumstances. Even Joss hadn’t dared to ask Pilar, so we simply assumed they’d let us know when they were ready. Personally, I hoped it would be canceled altogether. And for what? So he could find another princess to marry in a couple of years? I needed to stop thinking about him as if he was just someone who was hard to get and come to terms with the fact that he was impossible to get.

The service seemed to go on forever. When it ended, everyone stood and watched as the casket was rolled forward, everyone turning toward it and bowing to pay their respects as it passed. I finally caught sight of Elias. My pulse instantly quickened. I hadn’t seen him in a week and even though I did miss him, I hadn’t realized how much until this very moment. All I wanted to do was break protocol and run up to him and hug him. He was walking on one side of the casket while Aramis walked on the other. They both looked stoic. A far cry from the Elias that showed up at my villa a week ago. As he walked by, his gaze cut to mine and held for a long moment. I could’ve sworn I saw relief or maybe gratitude in there somewhere, despite his expression merely changing. Maybe it was what I wanted to see. Nevertheless, I felt seen and that was enough.