Hi everyone!

I'm sorry this one is so late! I hope it is still worth it!

Enjoy!

:)

The Crown - Chapter 13 - Re-Written

KILE SPENDS THE FIRST HALF of our dinner date helping me to prepare some ideas for how I can bring gifts to the areas I visit during the next Selection event. He immediately rejects any of the idea that he thinks would be offensive or too over the top and helps me bring them down to the appropriate level.

At some point, I lose focus on the task we are attempting together and just stare up at him as if he were mine to devour with my eyes.

He scribbles out one of my written ideas and writes over it. He looks up and notices my gaze. "What?" he asks innocently.

I shake my head and give him a soft smile. "Nothing."

He lowers his eyebrows at me. "Nothing?"

I look at him from beneath my eyelashes. "I was just thinking that you are fairly good at this."

He lets out a soft laugh. "Are you telling me you expected anything less?"

I shake my head at him. "I'm still trying to determine how we got here."

He slides the paper back to me and hands me the pen. "Where?"

I resist the urge to bite my lower lip. "Us. Like this. I just… never imagined it."

He grins at me and there is an excitement in his eyes. "Me either," he says as he caresses my cheek with his fingers and cups my chin in his hand, bringing me closer as he leans in to place a soft kiss on my lips.

My heart quickens. I want to be closer to him. I want his arms around me. I want to feel his warmth.

He comes out of the kiss and looks at me, playing with a curl behind my ear with his fingers. "It's better than I could have imagined though."

I can't withhold the smile or the heat in my cheeks.

:)

Lady Brice goes through the plans for the gifts and the list of areas we will be visiting. She nods as she reads things, once in a while making little checks or marking in the margins. I am so grateful to have her helping me.

"I had to turn away another set of flowers from Marid today," Neena tells me as she hands me a few Reports that I'm sure she has already scanned in hopes of hiding more bad news from me.

I sigh as I take the Reports. I look through the covers and the last one has a picture of me and a picture of Marid across the front with the headline "Forbidden Love?" in the corner it reads, "Exclusive interview with Marid reveals his deepest affections for Princess Eadlyn."

"I'll get these prepared," Lady Brice told me.

"Thank you," I tell her. It suddenly occurs to me that she has been around the longest. My father favors her. She is involved with everything to do with the royal family. I wonder how she came into the palace. How she obtained such a position and has managed to hold onto it. Not that she isn't amazing, I am just unsure with someone around my father's age in such a high status.

I look back to the Reports and read some of them. Some are still releasing pictures of Ahren's wedding and the family spending time together. I wish I could have stayed longer. My jaw tightens when I come across a picture of Gunner and I at the wedding, I have my chin in my hand and am looking off longing across the table while Gunner is staring down at his plate. "It appears our Princess Eadlyn is quite in love with someone, just not the suiter she claims to be an Elite sitting beside her at Prince Ahren's wedding," the article reads. I slam the Report shut and rub my temples. I was looking at my parents and thinking how sweet they were together, not daydreaming about some other guy!

I grab a stack of budgets and begin running through them.

"Hale asked if he could make you an outfit for your trip to his hometown," Neena informs me.

I look up to her. "Of course. Tell him he can start working on it right away."

Neena smirked at me. "I'm sure he already has."

I smile and turn back to the stack of papers on my desk.

:)

I return to my room at past ten in the evening. I wanted to soak in a bath, but I also wanted to fall into the bed and let exhaustion take over. I am unable to do that, because there is a blonde boy in my bed when I open the door.

"Do the other Elite ever ask where you go when you are in my room?" I ask him.

Kile smiles at me. "They assume I'm in my room working on my sketches."

I come over to the bed and lie down beside him, never breaking eye contact as he gazed over at her. "Don't you feel like it's unfair that you get to sneak in here whenever you want?"

Kile runs the back of his fingers across my chin. "I missed you."

I feel my heartbeat quicken. How am I always so entranced by that dreamy look in his eyes?

Kile cups my chin in his hand and leans in for a kiss. He guides me into a slow open mouth kiss as he runs his fingers down my neck and over my collarbone.

I take a deep breath in, his scent filling my entire lungs and making me fall into a frenzy of excitement. I want to feel his hands all over me. I want his lips on my skin.

Kile leans into me and deepens the kiss. I wrap my arms around him and pull him tight against me. His body stiffens a little before pressing into me and kissing me like he may never have another chance.

I run my hands down his back and feel his heart beating against mine.

Kile breaks the kiss and is breathing heavy. "Eady…"

I look up into his half-open eyes. "I love you," I whisper, surprised by my own words.

Kile's eyes widen and he smiles at me widely. "I love you too," he says before kissing me again with a restored passion.