Page 37 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

Nate eased into a leather club chair, perching on the edge as he let his forehead fall into his palm. “Yeah, that’s the thing, though,” he answered, his voice breaking. “It was my mom.”

“What?” The shock in her voice was apparent. “Oh, Nathan, you cannot believe that–“

“I don’t. I mean…I don’t want to, but…she was so upset, Ellie. She was so upset that Chloe was still causing trouble. She was just…beside herself about what was going on. And I just…can’t help but wonder if…”

His voice trailed off as he sucked in a deep breath, unable to say the words out loud because they felt like a betrayal.

“Nathan, you cannot go there. Your mother would not do this.”

“What if she did, Ellie?” His voice broke again as he held in conflicting emotions.

“Then she had a reason. But I refuse to believe your mother is a cold-blooded killer. I can’t even believe things turned heated, and she lashed out. But I absolutely do not believe she went over there with the intention to harm Chloe. Have a strong word with her, yes. Harm her? No.”

He sucked in a shaky breath as he latched on to her statements, repeating them over and over in his mind. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course, I am.” Her voice, light and teasing, lifted his mood slightly.

“But even if you are, this could be…trouble we never saw coming.”

Elena clicked her tongue, her voice turning wistful. “Oh, darling, how I wish I could be there to wrap my arms around you and make you feel better.”

“I wish you could do that, too.” His mind flicked to his surprise visit to Eldoria that had now been postponed thanks to this mess. Even in death, Chloe continued to haunt them. “How are things looking there? Are you still going to be a peasant if you marry me?”

She chuckled at the words. “So far, yes. But my father is working on it full steam, so we hope to have results soon.”

His heart sank at the words. He’d asked her to walk away from her crown for him once before, and now he felt awful that she may face that exact fate if they married. “Oh, Ellie, I am so sorry. I feel…so responsible.”

“You’re not. King Ed-dumb from six hundred years ago is responsible for this. Not you. And it’s a ridiculous farce of a decree, anyway. Are royals somehow better than others? Nonsense.”

He sucked in a breath, his head shaking. “Well, they may regret your choice in commoners if this all hits the papers.”

“I am hoping for your sakes it doesn’t. Though…I promised to keep this quiet, but…I told my father.”

His heart didn’t just drop, it plummeted. Perhaps their engagement would soon be called off.

“He was incredibly supportive, so please do not worry. I hadn’t planned on it, but thought it was important that he should know in case we must postpone our announcement.”

“He didn’t ask you to rethink the marriage?”

“No, he did not ask me to rethink based on your circumstances. Did I tell you that Prince Eric is about to become just regularly old commonplace Eric?”

“Huh?” Nate screwed up his face at the words.

“Yes. Apparently, the Corinthian government is considering removing the royals. That would strip Eric of his title entirely. An interesting tidbit from my cousin, Isabelle, who has been surprisingly helpful.”

“Wow, sounds like things are really interesting over there.”

“They are. And I hope they will become uninteresting soon. I would very much like our biggest problem to be white or off-white.”

He chuckled at the words. “I’m told by my father to leave those decisions entirely to you.”

“Have you no input on white versus off-white?”

“I don’t.”

“What about ivory versus alabaster? Or porcelain versus beige.”

“Whatever color you think is best, I am one hundred percent on board with.”

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