Epilogue

The days that followed the battle inside the courtyard of the royal castle were rather unusual. The local townsfolk had no idea that their kingdom was on the verge of being taken over by one of the visitors they welcomed and that their Queen had accepted another visitor as a lover.

As soon as the political neutrality declaration was signed, Elsa ordered for a search party to be sent out to look for Rider. Later during the day, it was reported that he was found clinging onto a piece of driftwood near the location where the ship had been sunk. He had planned to swim from the scene, but his legs were injured by the sheer force of the explosion.

Elsa wanted to give him a medal for his heroics, but Rainer reminded her that Count Fidenza suspected that the Kingdom of Corona was colluding with Arendelle, and awarding Rider a medal was a step towards breaking the declaration of political neutrality.

Frustrated by how her hands were tied, Elsa personally thanked Rider in private and gave him a letter of gratitude and compensation in gold for his injury. Rider rejected the gold even though the eyes of a thief came alive when he saw such a handsome sum. He took the letter and sailed back to Corona to give a full report to Rapunzel.

Count Fidenza and his men were given a ship to sail back to the Kingdom of the Southern Mediterranean. And even though there was an agreement that this ship would be returned, Elsa did not think for even a moment that she would ever see her ship again.

And when the Count left, this left only one visitor in Arendelle.

For the first time in his life, Rainer did not know what to do with himself. It felt strange really. As the Duke of Weselton, it was his duty to return to his kingdom. But as Rainer —Elsa's lover — he had a duty to stay by her side.

He could have easily made a choice as to what he wanted to do, but he knew that in the current political climate, staying in Arendelle for too long might damage Weselton's foreign relations. It was better to wait until things had calmed down somewhat before he had made any significant moves.

As a politician and representative of Weselton he could not afford to stay or marry Elsa, but as Rainer, he dearly wished to stay by her side.

Elsa could not go with him to Weselton either, as these were dire times for her kingdom. She was sure that for next year the imports and exports to and from the southern kingdoms would decrease. And if the Count had it his way, then the other kingdoms would begin to give Arendelle the cold shoulder too. The moment Count Fidenza left, she began to write letters to other kingdoms, seeking to strengthen her relationship with them and increase the amount of trade between them. She even offered a discount on Arendelle's most desired export — ice.

Elsa and Rainer made love many times once the crisis was over, but they both knew that it could not last forever. They even had discussions about marriage, but the political situation was already chaotic enough — a sudden marriage between royalty of different kingdoms would not give neither Arendelle or Weselton any flexibility.

Instead, Elsa and Rainer signed an alliance pact. Both kingdoms granted each other Favorite Kingdom status and would lift import and export taxes for goods from their respective kingdoms. The subjects of each kingdom also had Freedom of Movement between the two kingdoms and could roam as they wished.

This effectively made Weselton and Arendelle one single kingdom, yet they were separate in name.

A week after the Count left, Rainer could not wait any longer. As much as he wanted to be with Elsa, his kingdom also needed him.

Elsa personally sent him off.

"I will come back," Rainer promised.

"If you don't, I will invade Weselton just to find you," Elsa smiled.

Rainer laughed and embraced her.

"I love you," she whispered.

Rainer kissed her in front of all the townsfolk who were standing at the docks.

"I love you."

End

And this the final chapter of A Desire for More! Thank you all so much for reading until the end! I know that throughout the months, sometimes I have been very inconsistent about updating it and I know how frustrating that can be for the reader - I'm really sorry! But now after all this time, we have finally reached the end of this story.

Until next time,

Kristy