Page 54 of The Billionaire's Royal Crown

“Nonsense, you’ll soon be family,” she said with a polite but warm smile and a dismissive wave of her hand. “This palace is about to become your home, and you do not need an invitation. But I am sorry for the wasted trip.”

Nate shook his head. “Not a wasted trip at all, but I do wish I could have surprised Ellie. I guess we both had the same idea.”

“Yes, she hoped to surprise you, too. Speaking of surprises, how is your family holding up? I understand there is a bit of a…pickle.”

Nate sucked in a breath as he bobbed his head. “Quite a big pickle, yes.”

The queen shifted her gaze to Stephen. “Mr. Kingsley, I am sorry to hear about the tragedy.”

“Thank you,” he answered. “I feel responsible for it.”

“Blame is never constructive in most cases. Is there any hope on the horizon that this will be concluded soon?”

“Uh, I’m not sure. I was planning to check in with them after I’d visited with Ellie. I guess I could call her now and see if there is anything. We probably should discuss our next moves, anyway, before we both fly back across the pond and end up missing each other again.”

“Yes, you likely should square that away,” Queen Sophia said as she rose. “I will see that your rooms are prepared.”

“Thank you,” Nate said with a slight bow.

“There is no need to stand on ceremony, Mr. Kingsley. We will soon be announcing your marriage to my daughter, and we’ll be seeing each other often—you mustn’t bow every time we pass in the hall.”

“Thanks,” he said with a slight smile as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

Queen Sophia left them behind in the sitting room, pulling the doors closed behind her.

Nate blew out a long breath. “Oh, boy, can you believe this?”

“Yeah, what a gaffe. Well, if I wouldn’t have stopped you from going when you wanted to go, you wouldn’t have missed each other.”

“It’s fine,” Nate said as he scrolled through his contacts. “Actually, it’s sort of funny. I wonder if she’s already on her way back or if we should be ready to hop a plane tomorrow.”

“I hope she’s coming back. I really don’t want to go back and deal with everything.”

Nate eyed his brother, his thumb hovering over the call button. “Stephen, you can’t run away from it. No matter what happens, it’s still going to be there. You have to face it.”

Stephen heaved a sigh. “I’m not sure I can.”

“Look, I spent a while avoiding facing things. In fact, I tried so hard to avoid them, I sank to the bottom of a bottle over and over again. But the pain always came back until I faced it.”

“I guess I’m a coward. Because I ran as far as I could.”

Nate clapped his brother on the shoulder. “You’re not a coward, Stephen. You just need some time. And I’m sure you’re welcome to stay here if you don’t want to go back to Sterling City with me.”

“Thanks. I’ll think about it,” his brother answered before he collapsed into a chair again.

Nate bobbed his head and pressed the call button, pressing the phone to his ear as the line trilled.

It rang a few times before Elena’s voice finally answered. “Nathan, guess where I am?”

He grinned at the statement. “I’ll bet I can guess right on the first try, but can you guess where I am?”

“I think so. We’ve made a bit of a mess, haven’t we?”

He chuckled. “Yes, we have. I guess this is what happens when we try to surprise each other. Ironic that we’ve both crossed the world trying to support each other, only to miss like ships in the night.”

“Yes, I suppose so. I assume you’ll be staying the night there at least?”

“Yes, I guess you did the same over there?”

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