It had been three days since the King's cup and four days since the princess had given up drugs. To say that it was not plain sailing would have been an understatement. Eleanor woke up groggily, shielding her eyes from the blinding morning sun. Had she forgotten to close the curtains? She couldn't remember, in fact she had been so drowsy and sickly the past couple of days that honestly anything could have happened.
But, no, the cause of the rude awakening was her brother.
She grimaced, throwing a pillow at him with a fair amount of force.
It hit Liam on the arm, and he gave her a pained look.
"Len, seriously?" Liam questioned, a grin spreading across his face.
Eleanor rolled her eyes, "If this was a week ago, it would have been a vodka bottle."
Liam shook his head, "Well good to see that you've stuck to your promises."
"It's all Mr. Fox's fault," Leni complained, "He just reminds me so much of-."
Liam gave his sister a sympathetic look, "I know."
It has been nearly seven months since their father's death, but it may as well of been yesterday. Eleanor had always been more emotional that she liked to admit and even the mention of her father was enough to make her start to fall apart inside. Usually she'd self-medicate to numb the feeling, but now... She didn't even have Jasper around.
If it wasn't for Charlie Jones, James, her brother and her mother she would have just given in. And well maybe Jasper too, even though she'd asked him to stay away, maybe a little bit of this was so that she could be the perfect girlfriend for him.…
Damn it! Eleanor yelled at herself, Pull yourself together!
"About Dad," Liam began.
"Which one?" Eleanor asked, "You know that we still haven't found out, not really, I don't believe it was that Henry guy."
"I know," Liam said, "But there's no question in either of our minds, is there, Len? When we mean dad, we mean-?"
"Yeah, of course!" Lennie answered with an insulted look on her face, as if it were pure treason to even suggest that she believed anyone other than the late King Simon to be her father.
"Well, Mum admitted that she doesn't know if the DNA tests were rigged," Liam continued, "And she's going to get more DNA from Dad to get the tests re-done. The only problem is his body is missing."
Eleanor sat up at that point, shocked and confused, "So you're telling me that Mum dug up Dad, what the hell?"
"But Len, it's the only way," Liam replied.
"No, there's got to be some other way," Lennie pondered, "It's wrong, Liam! It's so wrong! I mean don't Cyrus and Dad unfortunately share some DNA."
"Yes," Liam replied, "But it's not like he'd give it up willingly."
"Well I have no problem ripping that ball-less bastard's hair out," Eleanor answered, "I mean, of all the people you'd want to illegitamate, he'd have to be at the top of the list every time, and maybe he is, I mean he's nothing like Dad."
"Yeah, well genetics... Are... Odd," Liam said hesitantly.
"You've got more to add, haven't you?" Eleanor asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion, "If this is about Jasper-"
"Len, not everything is about Jasper," Liam began, grinning, "But on that topic..."
Eleanor covered her ears with her hands, "La, la, la, not listening."
Liam rolled his eyes, pulling her hands away from her ears, and holding them in his, "Well you should listen to this, Mum got the blood tests done for the other guy she suspected might be our father. He isn't our father, but Dominique called me this morning..."
Eleanor frowned, "Wait,what? One, how many guys has our mum slept with? Two, what's Dominique got to do with this?"
"You remember when we were little," Liam said, "Mum went away for a few months- some diplomatic mission in India."
"Well I don't remember it first hand," Eleanor answered, "We were what, four, five?"
"We were four," Liam answered, "Well the truth is she didn't go to India."
"No surprises there," Lennie replied, "Mum would never slum it. This the part where you tell us she had a secret baby."
Liam nodded, "Yes just that. With a guy called Alaistar Lacey."
Eleanor's expression shifted between contemplative and shocked, could this be that guy her mum mentioned, the guy from the farm? A part of her hoped so, but another part of her didn't know what to think."
"She's coming to the palace today," Liam said, "I mean, she's moving in."
Eleanor gave him an amazed look, "What? No, you didn't invite the poor girl to live in this shit-show did you? She'll be eaten alive! And are we really safe now that Pryce is out the picture, Domino is still out there? I don't want my sister- our sister- being brought into all of this?"
"She'll be safer here than out in the general public," Liam said, "Think about it Len, how long before Dethroned finds out? Someone would leak it and then the paparazzi would never let her rest. You have to trust Mum and I. We know what we're doing here."
Eleanor sighed, "Fine, but for the record, I think this a bad idea. What is her name anyway?"
"Her name is Elizabeth, but she likes to be called Lizzie," Liam began,"She's fifteen, she's...well she's...different..."
"Different, different how?" Leni asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion, "I mean a lot of people would consider me to be 'different'- God, you don't mean she's like our cousins, do you?"
Liam almost laughed at Eleanor's horrified expression, "Actually no, the complete opposite, in fact."
There was a knock at the door, and a moment later James appeared.
"I'd like to inform your Royal Highness that, Lizzie has just arrived," James began, "Along with roughly three hundred novels-mostly philosophy and ancient Greek, please don't ask. I'd also like to add that Mr Frost wanted to remind Princess Eleanor of the thirty-seven texts he's sent her that have not been yet answered."
Eleanor rolled her eyes, before burying her head in her pillow.
James smiled awkwardly.
"Thanks for the morning report, Zazu," Eleanor said with a sigh.
James smiled, "Glad to be of use." Eleanor watched in tired frustration as James left.
"Philosophy and ancient Greek," Eleanor said.
"She might be the perfect monarch," Liam answered.
"Oh, how, I just love my mum!" Eleanor yelled.
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
"There's the King's rooms," Marcus said, pointing to a corridor on the left of him, "And those are your cousin's rooms. We'll be arriving at your siblings room's shortly. Any questions."
Lizzie smiled appreciatively, "Just one, where's the library? It's just Mr Frost mentioned there was one."
"The library?" Marcus asked puzzled.
"Yes," Lizzie asked, her blonde eyebrows drawn together in suspicion, "It was one of the conditions of my moving here. I have to keep up with my studying."
Jasper gave Marcus an apologetic look.
"Yes, the library," Jasper said, "We'll visit it later. Your siblings are so excited to meet you, especially Eleanor, I mean the princess, Princess Eleanor. She's been going on about you for days."
Lizzie raised an eyebrow, giving Jasper a questioning and inquistive look, "Alright then."
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
Eleanor had quickly thrown on some clothes that she thought would be appropriate. She didn't want to scare her sister off completely. By the sounds of things she expected her sister to be naive and nerdy, not nearly as streetwise as her and she imagined the girl had never once gotten drunk.
Leni felt completely out her depth and she wanted nothing more than a bottle of strong liquor and several Es. Es made her giddy, happy, approachable...
Snap out of it! Lennie yelled at herself, First, you fixate on Japser, second, this... No, do not think about that text!
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Eleanor yelled a little too overly chirpy.
The door swung open.
The young girl looked around in amazement. She looked closer to twelve that fifteen. She was as slight as Eleanor, but nowhere near as tall. She looked more like Liam, with her golden hair hanging in loose waves past her shoulders and her large blue eyes. She even had freckles! She looks like a little fairy, Eleanor thought, feeling sorry for her half-sister, God, help the poor sod!
Eleanor looked away from the girl to the security detail behind her, and instantly regretted it. She felt as if someone had just thrown a bucket of ice cold water over her then proceeded to burn her alive. She stared awkwardly at the ground.
"Your highness, Princess Elizabeth," James announced, "Would you like me to stay?"
"No, Zazu," Eleanor began, not daring to look up, because she didn't trust herself to look at Japser without running over to him, kissing him, and breaking her promise to herself. And in the process giving her sister a very bad initiation into royal life.
"Very well," James said, "Call us if you need anything. Or text, perhaps."
Eleanor rolled her eyes, and muttered, "FML." It was bad enough that her mother was trying to force her and Japser together, but James too, seriously? I mean, maybe Jasper might just be right for her, NO, she did not just think about that. Think about your sister, she told her herself, help Lizzie.
"Erm, hi," Eleanor said, "I guess this is all a bit weird for you. I erm..."
"Nice room," Lizzie began, turning to look at the red paint splattered across the room, "Nice artwork, it's very... Unique."
Eleanor smiled, "Thank you. I was actually thinking of redecorating it. I mean I don't know what you've heard about me, but I'm starting anew."
Lizzie smiled warmly, "I haven't heard much but good for you."
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Eleanor continued. She wished Liam was there, but he had that bloody meeting with Cyrus. Leni felt so awkward around kids. In fact her whole life had become quite awkward recently- she was in the middle of reinventing herself, just sent a man to the grave and her brother might soon be king.
Lizzie looked thoughtful, "A fair few. I don't know what will be expected of me here. I mean, my old life was simple, school, friends, homework, Krav Maga lessons..."
"Krava- ma-what?" Eleanor interrupted.
"Oh, just Israeli lethal martial arts," Lizzie replied nonchalantly, "But I'm more invested in my Greek lessons, oh and dear Arthur..."
Eleanor smiled, "Is Arthur your boyfriend? You should invite him over some time."
"Oh, I forget," Lizzie answered apologetically, "Most of my friends are used to my weird ways- Arthur Schopenhauer, he's a German philosopher, he took Immauneul Kant's transcendental idealism and developed the idea of philosophical pessimism."
Eleanor nodded, pretending to understand what her sister was saying. Idealism to pessimism, in an odd way it described her relationship with Jasper. First she'd had an idealised view of how it would go, then she fell in love, and he blackmailed her, slept with her mother, and plotted to rob her. Idealism to pessisism, yup, she could understand that.
"So what do you for fun?" Lizzie asked.
Eleanor sighed, "Not much at the moment. It's complicated. I have a horse, called Charlie Jones."
"Cool," Lizzie said, "I'dl love to meet him. I wish I could have brought my cat here."
"Why couldn't you?" Eleanor asked, she could sense she was going into over-protective mode, like with Imogen, but she wanted her sister to be happy.
"He bites," Lizzie answered, "Anyone who he hates. He hates a lot of people. He's staying at my mum's place, I mean my adoptive mum's place."
Eleanor gave her a concerned look, how much of an effect would all of this have on the poor girl? First, she'd lost her mum. Then she found out she was royalty. And she'd lost her cat too, which seemed like such a small thing, but Eleanor loved Charlie Jones and she couldn't imagine ever losing him.
"Well I'll see what I can do," Eleanor answered, "You are royalty. You can have anything you like."
"Anything?" Lizzie asked, seemed surprise and somewhat nervous at the prospect.
"Yup, anything," Eleanor answered. She waited, expecting the girl to start listing things off- ice cream, movie premiere tickets, designer clothes.
"Well," Lizzie began tentatively, "I've been saving up for a while to buy Nietszsche's Beyond Good and Evil. My old copy is falling apart, I've read it too much. I was hoping the library might have one."
"The library?" Eleanor questioned, "Oh, the library, right, it's not, well..."
"There isn't a library, is there?" Lizzie questioned.
"There was one, a while ago," Eleanor admitted. She decided to leave out the part about getting drunk out of her mind and destroying ancient saxon manuscripts with Sharpie. The books had been moved out of the palace soon after. No one had requested them since, and it was suspected no one ever would... Until...
Lizzie looked betrayed, "But Mr Frost promised me, it was in the agreement."
"What agreement?" Eleanor asked.
"If I moved here," Lizzie said, "Well I need to make sure I can keep up with my lessons. Because, well, I guess it's silly now, given everything."
"No, it's not silly," Eleanor reassured her, motioning for Lizzie to join her where she was sat on the sofa.
"It is," Lizzie answered, "No royal can be their own security detail."
"Oh!" Eleanor answered, "You wanted to work for intelligence?"
Lizzie nodded, "Crytography, actually."
"Impressive," Eleanor answered, with a warm smile.
"I was hoping I might get to talk to Mr Frost about it more," Lizzie added, "Maybe there might be something I can help with."
Eleanor smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure Jasper will help you."
"Jasper?" Lizzie answered, "He's your boyfriend, isn't he?"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Leni exploded.
Lizzie grinned and laugh in spite of herself, "Sorry, it's just, crytographers, they have to have sharp mind, be aware of the small details. Like how he spent way too much time looking at that picture of you in the Telegraph this morning on the drive here, or how long it took for him to type out a text message to a girl with your name, how you stared at the floor when you saw him. I know he likes you."
"It's complicated," Eleanor answered, "Look, I should be more honest with you. But I didn't know how to mention this. I thought you'd know more, but..."
"Oh, I do actually know a fair bit," Lizzie interrupted, "I just didn't want to embarrass you."
"I've embarrassed myself a good number of times," Eleanor admitted, "I'm used to it."
"You mean the alcohol, the drugs, the guys," Lizzie replied, before grinning and looking away shyly, "The public nudity."
"Yeah," Eleanor said, "That."
"And the social media posts," Lizzie answered, "Well, before someone started to censor them."
"How do you-?" Eleanor asked.
"It's easy to tell," Lizzie answered, "Last year you tweeted about how you expect your cousins to die of HIV and posted photos of yourself doing, well I don't know, I didn't want to look too closely..."
Eleanor smiled, "You don't need to worry about that anymore, I'm a changed woman." Dating someone like Jasper has that effect on you, Eleanor admitted to herself.
Lizzie smiled, "Good to hear. So, what is expected of me, now that I'm well sort-of a royal?"
"Hey!" Eleanor said, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder, "You are a royal. Just because you're not King Simon's daughter doesn't change anything. I mean Liam and I are allegedly illegitamate too, we just have a different father."
Lizzie winced, "How many potential fathers are there?"
"I dunno," Eleanor admitted, "Probably enough to make me look like a nun. Don't worry, Mum and I have an awkward relationship, up until two days ago I hated her, and then she took me horse riding for my birthday and told me that she wanted me and Jasper to date."
"Well," Lizzie began, "He seems like a nice guy. Why don't you give it a go?"
Eleanor stared at floor, "We did, once, a while ago. It didn't work out."
Lizzie looked puzzled, "That's a shame. I just want you to be happy. It must be so hard, what with our brother and the King...I mean the late King..."
Eleanor grimaced, she hated when people brought up her Dad and Robert.
"I'm sorry," Lizzie said, noticing her sister's reaction.
"No, it's ok," Leni answered, "If they were still here, you'd be their family too."
Lizzie smiled, "What were they like?"
Eleanor smiled as the memories appeared in her mind, she blinked ferociously trying to not let herself cry, it was all so hard, "Robert, he was, amazingly kind, so caring, he always looked out for me, told me that I was amazing and beautiful. He was the perfect prince, and he would have been the perfect king too. He was a great big brother. As for Dad, I still call him that, even though he might not be my Dad, well I never listened to him as much as I should. I never told him that I loved him enough. Dad was always there for me, always supported me in everything I did, well except all the self-destructive stuff. I let them both down so badly, the day Robert died, I was supposed to call him, and the paint job- well I was mad at my parents, so yeah, that happened- and I never got to make things better."
Lizzie hugged her sister, "Don't blame yourself. You did what you could."
Eleanor smiled, "I know. It's just not easy. To forgive myself."
"You need to," Lizzie replied passionately, "Otherwise you won't be able to really move on from everything- the alcohol, the drugs, the bad relationships. You'll become self-destructive again, you'll end up think you deserve it, and I don't want that to happen to you."
Eleanor smiled, "You're right, it's just in theory it's simple, in practice it's difficult."
"Especially when you don't know if someone is poison or the cure," Lizzie answered.
Eleanor nodded, "Maybe if I could see things as clearly as you do, I wouldn't have gotten into such a mess."
"I can teach you," Lizzie offered.
"Thanks," Eleanor said, "And don't worry about expectations. Apart from royal events, there isn't much we're expected to. Except staying out of trouble. In the past I used to waste time getting high and partying, I spent most of the day sleeping off hangovers and lows. Sad but true."
"Well," Lizzie said, "Maybe we could meet up with Liam and do something cool."
"It's a great idea," Leni said, "But Liam's got meetings until five."
Lizzie looked upset, but then thought of something which made her seem more excited, "Well, I guess I could show you my favourite place in London."
Eleanor smiled, "Yeah, that sounds awesome."