Royal Elite Epilogue (Royal Elite 7)

There isn’t any better place for our eternal union.

My story with Kim might not have been the best. It could’ve gone differently, yes, but if it had, we wouldn’t have met halfway as if it was meant to be.

She wouldn’t have overcome her demons, the mental abuse by her mother, and the depression that ate away at her soul.

Likewise, I wouldn’t have been able to leave the shadow my mother left on my life or overcome my alcoholism issues. Today, I’m three years sober. Now and again, I drink diluted beverages and only when Kim is there, because she’s the compass that sets me straight every time. Just like she did when we were eighteen.

Kim used to tell me that souls are attracted to each other and that my soul completes hers.

She’s wrong. My soul doesn’t complete hers. If it weren’t for her, my soul would’ve been non-existent.

That’s how deeply she impacts my life. That’s how far gone I am for this woman.

Every day, I wake up and worship her body as a small show of how much she occupies my every waking and sleeping moment. She’s grown more confident in herself and her body over the years. She once told me that I’m the best thing that could’ve happened to her.

It’s the other way around.

Kimberly is the green of my life. The reason I’m standing right here without a fuckload of addictions hanging off my shoulders. If I hadn’t found her again, I would’ve ended up just like my mother, roaming somewhere on earth, scamming people and begging for a drop of alcohol.

Kim saved me, and now I’ll become her shield for the rest of our lives.

Still holding her hand in mine, I get on my knees. Murmurs break out amongst the crowd, but I ignore them. My sole attention is on the woman who’s watching me with tears in her eyes.

“When we were six, you named me your knight, and I’d be honoured if you’d repeat that again, Green.”

She grins, her eyes closing a little with her happiness as she releases one of my hands and taps me once on each shoulder. “You never stopped being my knight, Xan.”

“And you never stopped being my Green, Kim.”

9

Ronan

Age Twenty

There goes my plan to get married when I’m thirty-five — or forty. Seriously, I was even planning on staying a bachelor for life, like Lars.

But, hey, things don’t always work as planned, do they?

One day, I was sitting in peace, smoking my weed, and then a wrecking ball in the form of a tiny woman barged into my life. And now I couldn’t let her go, even if I wanted to.

See, Teal isn’t just my fiancée — correction, my wife in a few minutes — she’s also the one person I never knew I needed until I had her.

The one person who seeped through my flesh and caught me by the throat. Well, I’m the one who grabs her by the throat sometimes, but figuratively speaking, she’s the one who does.

Xander keeps poking my side and waggling his brows at me, and I’m about ready to throw him in the pool. The only reason I don’t is because no one but my Teal is allowed to be the main event today.

We opted for a wedding in my parents’ mansion. I could tell you that Lars had a field day with all the preparations. He refused any wedding planners, saying they were amateurs and had no idea how things are actually done.

He turned the garden into a sitting area with lace ribbons decorating the trees and lights shining all over the pathways. Then he transformed the pool into a reception area. When Teal told him it was beautiful, he was like, “Of course it is. I made it happen.”

She laughed and thanked him, and he grumbled as a form of reply before he disappeared inside — probably to write in his black book about how Teal lacks noble manners.

Mum helped with the entire process, not leaving Teal’s side for even a second. Ever since she gained her health back and could move freely, she has made it her mission to be in on every moment of my life.

Dad, too, even though he’s not forthcoming about it. We agreed that Mum would never know about Eduard the fucker, and I guess, ever since that scum’s death, Dad and I have grown closer than before. It’s like we’re back to those times when I was a kid and I ran to him whenever I accomplished something exciting — or when Lars made me drink fucking milk.

Are we a perfect family? Far from it. But both my parents and Lars are the best family I could’ve asked for.