The Princess and the Player (Royally Pitched 1)

His simple question propelled them into a conversation about the best places she’d discovered in Chicago. From there, they discussed Ele’s favorite places in the world. As a child and adolescent, she had traveled extensively with her parents and Jamie. At the time, she explained, she hadn’t realized she wasn’t actually seeing the grit and glamour of all of the places she visited. Palaces, governing houses, and security-approved areas left much unexplored. But there was a sense of each country she could articulate. Her best memories of foreign places though had come from her experiences of working with the crown’s foundation for clean drinking water. Ele spoke with enthusiasm and intelligence about the well-digging expeditions of which she’d been a part.

“The counselor asked me if I could explain my fearlessness of traveling in third-world countries, and I couldn’t at first. But after a few days of sitting with the question, I was able to figure out that I wasn’t Princess Eleanor at that time. I was just another cog in the wheel of progress. And what does it say about my life that I am happiest when I am not the role that defines me?”

Tristan didn’t have any answers for her. But as the conversation continued on, he found himself even more enamored. Her astuteness was stunning, sometimes making him regret his lack of higher education. But even with it, he wasn’t sure he could match her natural smarts. And as sophisticated as she was, she held this simplistic view of the world. He thought it stemmed from growing up, knowing she would hold a place in history even if she wouldn’t directly make the decisions to shape it. If she saw a problem, her brain automatically reached for a solution because solutions to problems always existed for people with unlimited resources. Her inability to solve her own problem had been a constant source of stress.

“I should have been able to stop the panic attacks. Or, well, that’s what I thought. Admitting that I couldn’t made it worse somehow. Because, in all other aspects of my life, I’m strong, and to not have any control was almost worse than experiencing them.”

By the time Caleb rapped on his door, Tristan was jammed up against the wall, knees bent, his phone linked to a charger.

“T-Dav. Mate, you coming to dinner?”

He quickly muted the phone and yelled, “Be there in a minute.”

“Whatcha doing in there? Boys said you’ve been holed up in here all day. Find a good porn site, did you?”

Despite his annoyance at the interruption, he found himself snickering. “No, you dickhead. Go away.”

Tristan heard some yammering, guys shuffling through the hallway. But he listened for a moment, assuring himself Caleb had gone.

He unmuted the phone. “Sorry, E. I’ve got dinner.”

There was rustling and then a muttered, “Holy hell.” She remarked with awe, “We’ve been talking for almost four hours.”

“I had to charge my phone about an hour ago.” Tristan laughed.

He knew he needed to go, but he was reluctant to get off the phone. Even with all the confidences she’d shared today, he couldn’t be sure she would reach out to him again. He wanted to hold on for as long as he could.

Ele cleared her throat. “It was really good to talk to you.”

/> Tristan sobered instantly. “Talk tomorrow?”

“Really?” she asked excitedly.

“Really. I’m not sure I’ll have this long tomorrow. We have a training session after lunch.”

“Of course. I’m not sure I have four more hours of things to talk about. But, um … I do need to ask you something. I wasn’t going to ask because it really doesn’t matter all that much anymore.”

“Ele, you can ask me anything.”

“Did you send me a message through your social media account? Millie is convinced you did. She had this preposterous idea that—”

“Yes,” he interrupted. “I had no idea if it would work. After the cock-up at the palace, I was so worried about you, but I thought it was probably better if I didn’t try to contact you. Plus, how does one go about getting in touch with a princess? I was a bit twisted up about it all. Then, I saw Jamie, and I got the impression he was challenging me to go after you.”

“But that can’t be true. He told me I had to stay away from you. ‘No more Tristan Davenport,’ ” she imitated in a spot-on crown prince voice.

“That’s a bit scary, love.”

“Right, well, he is my twin brother.”

“I was still going to leave you alone. But then I received a picture at my flat.”

“A picture. What kind of picture?”

Tristan had an internal debate about revealing everything to her, but ultimately, he wanted her to trust him, so he blurted it out, “A picture of you. You were in a bar of some sort, and there were a few Hartesfield United flags hanging from the rafters. You were watching a game on a big screen. Your back was to the camera, and you were wearing a hat and a Davenport kit—fucking sexy as hell, by the way. It threw me at first. In fact, I was really angry, and I was determined to figure out how to get in touch with your brother to let him know someone was watching you.”

She didn’t make a sound on the other end of the line.

“You okay?”