I resist the urge to mention that he’s on his third loaf and it isn’t even eleven yet. “Hungry?”
He lets out a sharp exhale that’s nearly a laugh. “Not even a little. This is pure spite baking.”
He looks up then, blue eyes wild under a fringe of sweaty blond hair. He looks fresh off a knife fight with his own public image—which he pretty much has. There’s a raw, untamed energy in his hands. The dough doesn’t stand a chance.
I step further in. The prince’s kitchen is never off-limits to his bodyguard.
“It’s going to be a disaster,” he says, low. “You know that, right?”
“The bread?”
He glares like I’ve insulted his non-existent firstborn. “The announcement.”
I plant myself against the marble counter. “It doesn’t have to be. Just tell them.”
He snorts. “Simple like that, huh?”
“Maybe start with your mother.”
“That’s not how things work here, Elliot.” He slaps the dough, then immediately hisses and flexes his right wrist. “If I’m going to blow up my life, I want it to be on my terms, not some palace spin.” There’s a long pause while he stares at the half-formed loaf like it’s the embodiment of every generational expectation that’s ever haunted his family line. “We should have stayed on the island.”
I flash him a grin. “And do what, exactly? Be a ‘mysterious baker’ with a suspiciously good security detail and an omega pop star wife hiding in the back room?”
He gives me a feeble smile. “Yes, something like that.” Kellen goes back to kneading, but the dough is now fighting back. It’s sticky and clinging to his hands the same way the royal world refuses to let him go.
I steel myself for the suggestion I need to make. “I think you have to be the one to fix this. I’d do it for you in a heartbeat if I could, Kellen, but?—”
“I know.” He looks up at me. “I’ve just been enjoying the last few moments of peace in this kitchen before doing that.”
My brow creases together. “You already have a plan?”
He pauses mid-knead and lets go of the dough. “Yes, and I’ll do it today. Help me finish this first?”
“Of course.”
I wash my hands and jump in to assist. By the time we’re done, a few hours have flown by and we have a cooling set of pastries and cookies for the closest senior center. We clean up the kitchen for another half hour before Kellen brings out the camera he’s been using to film his baking channel content. Only then does his plan click into place in my head.
Kellen will out himself as the viral baker, and then use that live stream as the only open channel uncontrolled by the palace to speak the truth. But is he going to reveal more?
“Yes,” Kellen says as if he can hear my thoughts. “Can you check with Piper?”
I’m already writing the message. I haven’t reached out to her or Nolan since my previous text days ago, but this requires consent for sure.
Within a minute Nolan replies:Go for it.
I nod to Kellen. “All clear.”
Kellen grins. “Let’s do this, then.”
I smile with pride as he finishes setting up the scene: him on the other side of the island sitting on a barstool that leaves his face in full view for the first time. He gives me a nod and I start the live stream for him.
He just smiles warmly—true Prince Kellen form—as instantly hundreds and then tens of thousands of people join thelivestream. And then hundreds of thousands more when people seewhois at the center of the screen.
The chat flies by in a flood of surprised-face emojis and hearts, and a lot of OMG OMG OMG. I scan them as Kellen waves to his views just to see if I can catch any actual threats scrolling by in the flood.
Kellen clears his throat and waves again. “Hi. It’s Kellen. Or, I guess, Prince Kellen, if we’re being formal.” He glances at me, and I nod back to him for reassurance. “I’m supposed to shortly be at an event, but I wanted to jump on here with you all first and reveal myself before more information about me and those I love gets leaked online by people we once trusted.”
I try not to cringe as he softly accuses the royal house. His parents said they didn’t leak Piper’s information, but who else would’ve had so much to gain from it? Forcing Kellen’s pack away, ending the PR relationship, and setting Kellen up for more matches. It just makes sense.
