Chapter 10

Elestra was in no mood to be humiliated, but that she was. She silently thanked the gods that nobody was around to watch her fail so miserably. Generally she wasn't a terrible swordsman, but as good as she was, Flauvic was better.

Every thrust she threw his way, he parried, every feint she tried, he dodged. It was as if he knew what she was about to do before she did it. Red in the face and out of breath, Elestra panted out, "How do you do that?"

Flauvic polished his practice blade, even though there was not a speck of dirt on it. He said casually, "Do what?" Elestra thought she heard him humming as he wiped. She studied his careless posture as he leaned against the wall in the shade, the way his face showed no exhaustion although they had been dueling nonstop for about an hour, and, most of all, his honey-colored eyes which glinted with amusement.

She scowled, jealous of how he was still breathing at a normal rate while she was still gasping for air to fill her lungs. "You know what I mean."

He smiled. "Of course I do. You're much to perceptive for me to try and hide anything from you." Elestra knew he was mocking her, but, putting on the show of the perfect hostess, chose not to say anything about it. Sensing her refrain, he continued nonchalantly, "It's all in the movement and face. I watched your eyes and your feet. Your eyes looked to where you were about to move, and your feet pointed in the same direction, which only confirmed my suspicions."

Elestra wondered how she could have been so careless. Maybe it was just a trying day. Or, maybe it was that the full situation was finally hitting her. Flauvic was back at the same time that a faceless stranger was trying to kill her. Of course they both knew it wasn't Flauvic, but nobody else seemed to realize this. Of course, that may have been due to the kidnapping incident a couple years earlier.

Setting the foils back in their original places, Elestra and Flauvic decided to try some hand to hand combat. It had been a long time since Elestra had done that with anybody other than Alec, but this would be exciting. Maybe she would learn about more of her flaws. She rolled her eyes inwardly as she thought that.

This sparring seemed like less of a challenge to Elestra. They went on steadily for half an hour until Flauvic found a way to flip her onto her back and almost put his boot on her throat, which would have been the end. However, Elestra wasn't about to let that happen, so she kicked her right leg behind his knees and watched him fall backward.

At the last second, he turned and put his hands in front of him to break his fall, at the same time rolling over to his side to lock hands with her as they continued fighting on the ground. Somehow, they made it to their feet and fought their way through another ten minutes. Then Flauvic had pinned Elestra to the wall and their faces were dangerously close. Their eyes met as their faces moved closer toward each other…

"There you are!"

Elestra heard Flauvic curse softly as he pulled away and helped her from the wall and they faced Lady Jenna, who looked absolutely livid. Her voice had snapped them out of their reverie and brought them back to the present.

"Why didn't you tell me when you were going? I would have loved to have practiced with you." The whine in her voice was tinted with unveiled jealousy and anger.

Flauvic smoothly replied, "You had wanted to eat. Princess Elestra and I decided that we were restless and decided to occupy ourselves here. Besides, it gave us a chance to talk. We have, as you know, unresolved issues. Loose ends we needed to tie, and such."

"And you couldn't even return to the dining room to tell my cousins and me about it?"

Elestra answered this time, "As a hostess, it is my job to think about the well being of my guests. You were famished, and after such a meal, I couldn't expect you to want to come and spar with us. Besides, after that long trek today, I thought that you could do with a rest. My apologies that I was so inconsiderate in not informing you of our whereabouts." She bowed her head a little.

Not to be outdone by elegant words, and polite courtesy, Lady Jenna responded in an undeniably rude and bratty tone. "You should be. You will not be forgiven so easily. I should challenge you to a duel right now."

Elestra looked at her, incredulous, but recovered soon. Not soon enough, though, to beat Flauvic. "Lady Jenna, you are clearly not dressed for the occasion, nor are you in the right frame of mind to be challenging anybody to a duel. Do you remember the last time you dueled me? Elestra is nearly as skilled with a sword as I am."

"Elestra?" Jenna echoed. Too late, Flauvic realized that he had spoken informally.

Elestra covered for him, though, by saying, "Yes. I expect not to be treated like royalty by my guests. It is my duty to treat them like royalty and therefore I have asked him to use my name, not my title. I have been meaning to ask you and your cousins to give me the honor by doing the same."

Hoping that flattery would appease Lady Jenna out of her anger, Elestra spoke those words. She pulled on her court mask and hoped that it would hide her disgust at stooping this low to please a person she despised. Lady Jenna, however, saw the hope and thought Elestra truly thought that this would be a great honor. She smiled wickedly and said, "Of course…Elestra."

Elestra's hands, thankfully, were behind her back when she dug her nails into her palm to keep from turning her face into a frown. She managed a smile and said, "I should probably leave you then. I need to go speak with my mother."

Flauvic must have seen her hands because of how he was positioned a little behind her and said, "You told me you would take me to find your father, remember?" Elestra turned toward him and smiled sweetly.

"Of course. Would you like to speak to him now?" She assessed the way he looked. He still looked as unruffled as before. Elestra thought of herself in comparison, red faced, sweaty, and tired. His face broke into a smile and said, "Yes, if you wouldn't mind."

Lady Jenna intervened by saying, "I'm sure Elestra wants to get changed and washed up a little bit before she goes anywhere. Why don't we go find Brenna and Galen? I'm sure they want to talk to you right now."

Flauvic frowned when he said, "About what? There's nothing important going on right now." Jenna looked upset at her lost chance of alone time with Flauvic and stared at Elestra, willing her to bend and tell Flauvic to go with her.

Elestra said, "I'm only going to go find my parents, Lady Jenna. They have seen me clean and dirty all through my life. I'm sure they won't object to me visiting them the way I am. Besides, if Flauvic says he must speak to my father, it must be important. Why else would somebody want to speak with the king?"

At the mention of the king, Lady Jenna gave in and said, "All right, then. I will see you later then." She walked out the door.

Flauvic turned to Elestra and asked, "Do you really need to talk to your mother?"

Elestra looked at him and said, "Do you really need to talk to my father?"

He smiled and said, "Yes. I need to talk to him about the simple matter of your escort to your Name Day party."

Elestra groaned and said, "I can't believe I forgot about that."

Flauvic laughed quietly and said, "I didn't. I have a special gift for you. It should be here by tomorrow afternoon, at the latest."

Elestra looked at him and said, "If you're going to talk about my party with someone, it should be with my mother, not my father."

Flauvic sighed and said, "I should have known it would be her. Nothing is ever so easy, especially not when it comes to you."

They were both silent for a few moments. Both were thinking about what could have happened if Lady Jenna didn't walk in when she did. Elestra realized how silent it was around her, and that Flauvic was moving a little closer. Maybe Lady Jenna hadn't really interrupted anything, just delayed it.

Their eyes locked and within three seconds Elestra was in Flauvic's arms and their mouths were pressed together. Elestra realized what would happen if somebody just happened to walk in and she pulled away, breaking free of Flauvic's arms, but at the same time falling back onto the ground.

Flauvic met her eyes with his own and he understood, no questions asked. He helped her to her feet and escorted her away from the gym.

"Flauvic," said Elestra, "I think I should go to my room to wash up. Just so Mother and Father don't think anything happened."

He looked down at her, amused. "I would think it would be thrilling to see how your parents react to me escorting you in, you looking red and lively. I think I'll look smug." He walked with her, relating to her the many ways in which they could make their entrance. All of them sent the same message to her parents.

She made a face and slapped his arm. She knew she wouldn't hurt him, but it still made her feel a little better. "Let me rephrase that. We are going to my room so I can get cleaned up. And you aren't going to breathe a word to them about what happened back there." She thought for a second. "Well, we won't tell them anything until they can handle it. With an assassin running around, I don't think they'd take well to…us… doing what we did. Besides, it would raise rumors and gossip in the court." She groaned inwardly. "I can hear it now…"

Flauvic laughed and said to her, "Don't worry about the court. They're still too preoccupied with my friends." His laughter died. "Besides, what would be so bad if people knew about us?"

"Well," Elestra began, "First of all, there is no official 'us' right now. Secondly, it would be a scandal. They would think that you came back to seduce me and get the crown. Third, I'm a Princess. What do you think they would think if they heard you and I, well, kissed? A Princess is supposed to be the epitome of etiquette. It wouldn't be proper."

He mused over this silently. "So that's what it comes down to… what is proper."

Horrified, Elestra responded quickly, "No! That's not what I meant. I just thought that…well… I mean… Now is just not the time! How can I be running around with a man who kidnapped me two years ago at the same time an assassin is trying to kill me? It'll look like you have an accomplice working with you to try to get me in the right spot to kill me." Elestra made this up as she went, trying to hide how flustered she was.

Flauvic stopped and tilted her chin up so that she would look at him. "Is that what you think? That I couldn't kill you myself, so I brought in an accomplice?"

"No!" Elestra couldn't take it. "I don't think so. For some weird reason, I trust you. At this moment, I trust you above everybody, except for my family. I trust you and my family equally. But now is not the right time to get into a deep relationship."

Flauvic paused and then said, shortly, "Very well." They did not speak another word up to Elestra's room. She took her clothes into the bathroom with her while she washed and changed. She emerged, clean, to find Flauvic sitting at the table in her room, playing with the green glass orb centerpiece. Except, it wasn't an orb anymore. It was a glass vase, with a single glass rose coming from it.

"The orb didn't really suit your room," he said quietly, replacing the new sculpture in the exact center of the table. Elestra somehow knew that he wasn't angry with her. She had been forgiven for anything she had said earlier.

They walked out, in silent companionship, to find her mother.

Hey, anybody who may be out there reading this. I realize that it took a long time to get this chapter out. What has it been, six, seven months? I'm sorry it took so long. I honestly don't know when I'm going to sit down and write another chapter. Hopefully soon. I hope you enjoyed it. Any constructive criticism is welcome.