The-Sinful-King-By-Claire-Contreras-PDF

face as I reached him and Aramis. I shook Aramis’s hand
first and as I expressed my condolences, the only thing I
heard was the snap, snap, snap of the camera. When I
reached Elias, I did the same thing, shook his hand, but my
insides became jelly and warmth spread through my entire
body. I knew it would show on my face. Snap, snap, snap
again. I ignored it though and kept my gaze on Elias as he
leaned in. He brought his mouth to my ear.
“Thank you for being here.”
“Of course.”
“My coronation is set for three days from today. Will you
be there as well?”
“If I’m invited. I wasn’t planning on it.”
He pulled back, but my hand was still in his and I didn’t
need anyone to tell me that this was definitely the longest
handshake of the night or that I’d be on the news by tonight.
My father would be livid, I wouldn’t know how to explain it,
and this would set my relationship with him back once again.
Did I care? I wasn’t sure. A part of me always would, but a
bigger part of me just wanted Elias to never let go of my
hand at all, tradition be damned.
“Have you thought about what we spoke about?” he
asked. This time, I let go of his hand and smiled sadly.
“I can’t. You know I can’t.”
I felt a hand at my back and nearly jumped before
realizing it was just Etienne. He shot me a look and then
turned to Elias and shook his hand.
“You two are taking entirely too long and there’s a line,”
Etienne said under his breath.
“There’s always a line,” Elias said. “I’m trying to catch
up with an old friend.”
“An old friend that’s going to end up in the headlines if
you two don’t stop flirting.”
“We’re not flirting,” I whisper-shouted. We weren’t.