TW: Spoilery, scroll down to the bottom
The Large Ballroom, The Palace, July 20th, 10:30pm
Yunuen Hamilton, 3, Tammins
Yunuen stood in one corner of the ballroom, watching Eli dance with everyone but her. She knew the night was still far from over, and he seemed to be making an effort to talk to all the Selected, but still it stung that she seemed to be the very last priority. She had hardly gotten a chance to dance at all. Micah had asked her once, but only after he had danced with her sister, and she had turned him down, upset to be coming after Ixchel, as usual.
She didn't even really have any friends. She had attempted to befriend Wilhelmina, Lena, Jade, and Brielle, but Wilhelmina and Brielle hadn't seemed terribly interested, Jade had quickly fallen in with Isla, and Lena saw her as competition more than anything else, even though they spent time together in the Women's Room. Ixchel was at least friendly with most of the Selected.
A man she immediately recognized as Jay, the one she had met when she had gotten lost before, approached her. He looked different, with the sleeves of his suit covering up his tattoos and his hair combed, almost like he really did belong in the palace. And if he had managed to secure an invitation to an event like this, he clearly did belong at the palace. "What's up, Yunuen?"
Okay, maybe he didn't belong after all. Even Micah hadn't greeted her by saying 'what's up'. She made a disapproving face, making it clear that she expected a more refined greeting than that in the future, and said, "A chandelier. The ceiling. The second floor. Maybe a bird."
He laughed, taking a sip of his drink. "I knew you had a sense of humor. Do you want to dance next song?"
She shrugged delicately, making a show of adjusting her hair, even though it was already near perfect. "If someone asks me, I might agree to dance."
"Oh, so you're a stickler for protocol then. Good to know." He downed the rest of his drink, and set the empty glass on a side table. "Lady Yunuen, will you do me the honor of dancing with me?"
"Of course," she said politely. As the song faded out, she let him lead her out onto the floor. He was a good dancer, she noticed. He really did belong here, she decided. Maybe he just didn't like protocol.
After the song ended and they had left the dance floor, Jay turned to her, and asked, "Do you want a drink?"
She nodded. Attention was attention, and if Jay was the only person willing to give it to her, she would take it. He could be a good prospect for after the Selection, if Eli eliminated her. There was nothing she liked more than catching the attention of a rich Two, which any friend of Eli's surely had to be.
They spent the rest of the evening together, drinking and dancing, and as the ball began winding down, Jay said, "Can I walk you back to your room, Lady Yunuen?" He offered her his arm to escort her out of the ballroom.
She smiled. She loved to be treated like she was something special. "Of course." She accepted his arm, and let him lead her up the stairs and into the hall. They headed out of the main hall into a side hall, the one the Selected had used to come down from their rooms. Yunuen knew it was the fastest way to get back, and she still didn't completely trust Jay's navigation abilities. Especially since she was pretty sure he had had more to drink than she had.
Partway through their walk back, they approached a sitting room where the lights were on. Jay released her arm for a moment. "Hang on a second, I'm going to turn off the lights if there isn't anyone in there."
She wondered why it mattered. This was the palace, surely the lights in some unused sitting room could stay on for a few hours and it wouldn't matter. Surely the palace could afford that. But she let him go anyway.
Jay stuck his head in the room, and she heard him say a string of words that were definitely one hundred percent not meant to be uttered in civilized company. He turned back to Yunuen, some strong emotion written all over his face. "Yunuen, I'm going to need you to walk yourself the rest of the way. I found something, and it needs to be dealt with. Okay?"
She nodded, disappointed and annoyed. Even the one person who had seemed to want to spend time with her had more important things to do. Of course. Yunuen was never the first priority for anyone, and it was stupid to think that could ever change.
The Large Ballroom, The Palace, July 20st, 11:55pm
Adelynn Sailor, 6, Clermont
The ball was almost over. Lydie had left an hour ago, after she had danced with the prince, and Thea and Gemma had left twenty minutes ago. Marlee had vanished somewhere, and Addie didn't know where she had gone.
Addie glanced around the ballroom. She was starting to think that she might be the last Selected present. No, Lena was still there, dancing with a government official. Addie had stuck around, hoping she'd get a chance to dance with Eli, but he seemed to have left as well. There probably wasn't a whole lot of point in sticking around then. She was kind of disappointed about it, but there were a lot of Selected to talk to, she understood that there might not be enough time to speak with everyone. It was just kind of sad. The ball had felt like a fairytale. All it really needed was a prince. And there was no prince for Addie tonight. Oh well. Hopefully she'd still have another chance. When they had met, he had said that they'd have to go to the beach together sometime, and she didn't think she would be eliminated before he had a chance to keep his word.
But she highly doubted he'd be back to the ballroom tonight, so she might as well go ahead and leave. She headed for the grand staircase she had descended when she had entered the ballroom. It had been insane to walk down a staircase like that, and hear her name be announced as she descended. It belonged in a story, like the ones her mother had read her as a child. It was insane for someone like her to be living in that kind of story.
Once she was in the hall, away from the ballroom, she kicked her heels off, and scooped them up, carrying them in one hand. She had been wearing them for more than five hours now, her feet were starting to get kind of sore.
She heard footsteps behind her, but continued, assuming it was just Lena heading to bed as well. Lena was nice enough, so Addie slowed down a little so she'd have an easier time catching up if she wanted to.
"I was looking for you. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you earlier tonight."
She smiled as he caught up with her and matched his pace with hers. She didn't mind that he hadn't had the chance, but it was nice that he had been looking for her. It was kind of sweet, actually. "It's alright. We'll have other chances to dance."
"How about right now?" He asked.
"The musicians are leaving, though." She hoped he wouldn't make them unpack everything and stay late just for her. The musicians deserved to get to go home at the end of the evening.
"No, I have music on my phone. Don't ask why." He held out a hand. "Can I have this dance, Lady Addie?"
Her smile widened. "Of course." She accepted his hand, and let him pull her into a side room. The light from the hallway illuminated the room just enough to lend it a romantic quality, and she was glad that Eli didn't turn the lights in the room on. He set his phone down on a side table, and music began to play, similar to the music that had been played in the ballroom all night. It wasn't quite the same, since it was coming from the speaker's on Eli's phone, rather than being played live, but that was alright. It was still romantic. Especially since this was just for her, just them together.
He stepped forward, reaching for one of her hands and placing a hand on her waist, and began to lead her through the steps of the dance. She felt as if she was floating on a cloud.
All too soon, the music stopped, but Eli didn't move back, and neither did Addie. This was the closest she had ever been to kissing a guy, even though she was twenty-two. She had never actively searched for the perfect guy, and she had never stumbled across him either.
Until now. Maybe the Selection was actually a fairytale. She had had her doubts going in, especially given that the winner of the last Selection had gotten divorced and the king had married his mistress, but maybe she really did have a chance at her fairytale romance here.
She looked into Eli's grey-blue eyes, and wondered if he wanted to kiss her. She hoped he did, although the idea made her kind of nervous. She wondered if she should say something, tell him that he would be her first kiss, but before he could, they were interrupted.
Jay appeared in the doorway of the room. "Eli? Can you come here for a minute?"
"Sorry. I should find out what he wants." Eli started to pull back, and Addie let him, releasing his hand, slightly disappointed. She kind of wanted to just quickly kiss him quickly, even though Jay was watching, but that wasn't how she wanted her first kiss ever to go, so she let Eli head for the door. "What's up?" She heard him ask Jay.
Jay said something she didn't catch in reply, and Eli swore. Something bad had obviously happened. Eli turned back to her, an unreadable look on his face. "Addie, you need to go."
Just a few moments ago, Addie had felt like she was flying, like this was her fairytale moment. And now it had all come crashing down. "What happened?" She asked, grabbing her shoes from where she had dropped them by the door.
Eli shook his head. "You don't have security clearance for this one, sorry. We'll talk later, okay?"
She nodded, a little bit confused, but left the room. "Okay."
As she walked away, she heard Jay ask, "Security clearance?"
"I can't fucking tell her, can I?" He continued speaking, but she couldn't hear what he said.
Hallway, The Palace, July 21st, 12:15am
Elijah
The first thing to do was get Addie out of the way so he and Jay could talk without spilling Micah's dirty secret. He had probably been meaner than he intended to be, out of stress and worry. What if he didn't get there in time? How had he missed the signs? What the fuck was that fucking idiot thinking? What would Eli do without him?
"Security clearance?" Jay asked.
"I can't fucking tell her, can I?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Do you want to ask stupid questions or do something fucking useful? Where the fuck even is he?"
Jay gave him directions to the room he had found Micah in, and Eli headed off down the hall towards it, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Jay was following him. "My room, bottom right dresser drawer, inside the brown dress socks. Go, and hurry." It briefly occurred to him that it was really fucked up that he still felt the need to hide things in his own bedroom at the age of twenty-five, but he didn't have time to think too hard about it.
Jay hurried off, and Eli hurried down the corridor, towards the room Jay had told him he would find Micah in. Micah was there, slumped on the floor, but clearly still breathing. Eli knelt down next to him, insanely relieved. "You idiot," he murmured fondly, and reached out to shake him gently. Micah didn't respond.
Eli sighed, and gently pulled the syringe out of Micah's arm, where the needle was still in the vein. Micah's arm bled a tiny bit when he removed it. He looked around for the orange plastic cap, and found it sitting on the floor nearby. He carefully slid it onto the end of the needle, and set it aside, before going to undo the belt that Micah had wrapped around his arm in order to see the veins better.
This wasn't the first time he had found Micah on the floor. And he hoped every time that it would be the last. But it never was. A nagging voice in the back of Eli's head always told him, when he found Micah like this, that nothing he could do would save him, that it would be better for Eli in the long run to give up on him, that he was just setting himself up for trouble. Eli always shut that voice up fast. Micah was more his brother than Charles was, and Eli would not abandon him.
That would be a first in Micah's life, he knew. Micah had been abandoned too many times already, by too many people.
And if Eli hadn't been so self-absorbed lately, so wrapped up in dealing with the Selected, he would have known Micah was slipping sooner, and he would have been able to deal with it before it got to this point. He resolved to do better, to keep a closer eye on him, to not ignore it if something seemed off with him.
Jay came back, holding the small box that had been concealed in Eli's sock drawer. He handed it to Eli without saying a word. Eli opened the box, and leaned over to administer the drug that would reverse the overdose.
It only took a few minutes for Micah to start waking up. As he opened his eyes, Eli said gently, "How are you feeling, you fucking stupid idiot?"
Micah blinked, wrapping his arms around himself. "Kind of really awful." He sniffed and rubbed at his nose. "Fuck, what happened?"
"Overdose," Eli said bluntly. "Thanks for that."
"I'm sorry," Micah mumbled, burying his face in his hands.
"I'd say it's okay, but it's really not." He stood up, holding out a hand to pull Micah up from the floor. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Eli kicked the capped syringe under the couch. It'd probably get some maid in trouble when this room was eventually cleaned, but he couldn't take the risk of trying to dispose of it himself.
Micah lifted his head up, and accepted Eli's hand, climbing to his feet. He was a little bit unsteady, and leaned on Eli's shoulder for balance. Shit, he was drunk too. His next twelve hours or so were going to be kind of rough.
Eli gestured for Jay to go ahead and leave. They could talk about this later. Eli's first priority was dealing with Micah.
They headed back to Eli's room, and Eli let Micah sit down on the end of the bed. Eli sat down in his desk chair, directly facing Micah. "Answer a couple of questions for me please." Through many years of practice, mostly in situations nothing like this, Eli managed to keep his voice calm, even though he was sort of pissed off, disappointed, and very worried.
Micah nodded, and muttered, "Ask away."
"Alright. Are you drunk right now?"
"Kinda."
"Okay. Was this the first time in a while?"
Micah nodded, refusing to meet Eli's eyes. "Yeah… I mean, the first time I've actually used in a while."
"And how long is a while? And what do you mean by actually used?"
"Seven months. The last time I used before tonight was seven months ago, before I went to rehab. And I mean I had pills last week but got rid of them instead of using them."
Last week? Holy shit, Eli hadn't been paying nearly as much attention to Micah as he should have been. How had he not known that Micah had nearly relapsed last week? What the hell? "Why didn't you tell me then? And do you have any more stashed somewhere that I should go clear out?"
"You're too stressed out as it is, you don't need to worry about me." Micah shook his head. "No. It was only supposed to be once."
"Micah. I clearly do need to be worrying about you, and we can do this the hard way or the easy way. The hard way you try to stop me at every step and keep secrets from me and cause yourself trouble and me extra worry, or take the easy way and tell me the truth so we can work together." Eli rolled his eyes. "And it would have been once, if Jay hadn't found you."
"You're one to talk about honesty and truth."
"We aren't talking about my problems here."
Micah laughed. "Maybe we should. You make the heroin addict look like a paragon of truth and virtue."
"Do you really want to do this right now, Micah? I don't want to do this right now."
"Fine. I'll do this the easy way. But can we leave it for a few hours? I don't feel good."
"And who's fault is that?" Eli shook his head. "Alright. But you're staying here tonight."
"I mean I was planning to crash here anyway."
"No, you're staying here. Like we used to do it when we were kids. I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"I want to change, so you'd better let me out of your sight."
Eli laughed. "Don't worry, I don't want to see that either." He stood up, and headed for his closet. He found some clothes that were probably Micah's, left in his closet at one point during the last seven years, and tossed them in Micah's general direction. He hit him straight on in the head with a t-shirt, which hadn't been his intention, but he deserved it.
"Hey! What was that for?"
"Trying to die on me like an idiot." Micah mumbled something about how he hadn't intended to almost die, but Eli ignored him. Eli found clothes for himself, and stepped out of the closet. "I'm going to change in the bathroom, be fast." He vanished into the bathroom, and came back a few minutes later. Micah had changed, and was laying back on the bed. Eli sat down next to him. "Think you'll get much sleep tonight?"
Micah shook his head, yawning. "Probably not."
"Alright." That meant Eli wasn't sleeping either. He laid down next to Micah, arms behind his head. "How are you feeling?"
Micah thought about it for a moment. "Could be worse, I guess. Sweaty. Cold. Cramps. I'm sure I'll be puking tomorrow, but that'll be because I'll be hungover, not because of this."
Eli nodded, and reached out to toss the blanket that was sitting on the bed over Micah. He began to talk, telling old stories, talking about things they used to do. Micah deserved to know that Eli wasn't going anywhere, no matter how many more times Eli had to do this shit. Micah had kept him company during the worst moments of his life, when he had been too depressed to get out of bed, and through all the stupid shit Eli had done. He owed Micah the same.
Micah didn't talk much, but that was okay. Eli couldn't really blame him for not really feeling like it. Around two or three, Micah cried for a bit, but Eli didn't say anything about it, just kept talking. There was nothing Eli could do but stick around.
Around five, Micah fell asleep, but Eli didn't dare. He got up to pace around the room, to make sure he didn't fall asleep by accident. He needed to be awake, to make sure Micah didn't do anything stupid.
Micah didn't sleep long. By seven o'clock, he was puking, as he had predicted earlier that morning. Eli brought him some water and left him alone.
Eli was starting to feel the effects of pulling an all nighter. He had the beginnings of a headache, so he took some aspirin and went to lay down in bed. Laying down was probably a bad idea, because it made it very hard not to fall asleep.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, surprising him. He had been on the verge of dozing off, so he was both grateful and annoyed with whoever was texting him. He fished his phone out of his pocket, and took a look at the screen.
Lindsey: Everything is ready for your date with Gemma this morning.
He groaned, loudly. He had forgotten about his date with Gemma. Asking her felt like it had been a week ago, rather than just a little more than eight hours.
He immediately started trying to think of ways to get out of it without telling her what was going on. He could tell her he was hungover, but she would know he was lying because he had told her the night before that he had only had two drinks. So that was out. He really couldn't cancel.
He sighed, and forced himself to get out of bed and head for the doorway to the bathroom. "I just remembered, I have a date this morning, and I can't think of any way to get out of it."
Micah glanced up at him from where he was sitting on the bathroom floor. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, I'll manage. Really, I'm sorry. I don't want to leave right now."
"You should be getting some sleep."
Eli shrugged. "We both know it would take me like three hours to fall asleep anyway."
"Way to make me feel guilty."
"Wasn't meant to be a guilt trip." Eli started to get ready for breakfast, and realized that Jay still had the pair of cufflinks he had loaned him. Damn, that was annoying. He'd have to ask Jay to give them back when he saw him.
Thinking about Jay, they needed to have a conversation, and Eli still had nearly an hour before Gemma was supposed to show up for breakfast. He sent Jay a text asking him to meet him in the hallway outside of the room he and Gemma were supposed to be having breakfast in, and after give Matthias directions to not let Micah out of that room, he headed out.
Jay was outside the room waiting for him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Eli held up a hand to silence him, with a firm glance at the guard down the hall. Jay got the message, and closed his mouth. Eli stepped into the room, and gestured for Jay to follow him. He spoke in a low voice, to ensure that it didn't carry out into the hallway. "Nothing I say now leaves this room, you understand?"
Jay nodded. "Yunuen was with me when I found him, is that going to be a problem?"
"What—?" Eli cut himself off rather than finish the question. "You know what, nevermind. What I don't know won't hurt me. Depends on what she saw and what you told her."
"She didn't see anything, and I didn't tell her anything other than there's a situation I need to deal with."
"Good. That'll be alright then."
"Is someone watching Micah right now?"
Eli nodded. "Yeah. Well, sort of. Matthias has instructions not to let him out of my room unless there's a fire or a direct attack on the palace or some shit like that."
Jay nodded, and paused for a moment, before asking, "What… I mean… I don't know… Where the hell did that shit come from? I mean… I knew he liked drugs probably a little bit too much, but I didn't know it was like that. I mean what the hell?"
"It's not my place to air Micah's dirty laundry. But I can tell you that this isn't the first time and it's not a new issue. And I will not have anyone telling me to just give up on him. I'm not going to give up on my brother." He was aware he was a bit of a hypocrite, since he had given up on Charles, but Charles had had chance after chance after chance to turn things around, and he had kept on believing Dad's lies. Micah had been given plenty of second chances too, but at least he was trying. Charles wasn't trying, by any definition of the word.
Jay nodded. "I understand." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "If you need someone else to take over date planning, I can. I can't promise I'll be any good at it, but I can give it a shot. And let's be honest, I have more dating experience than Micah."
Eli laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." He glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Gemma will be here in like ten minutes. So I guess you'd probably better go soon."
Jay nodded. "Yeah." He turned towards the door, but immediately stopped short, and Eli turned as well to see Gemma standing in the doorway.
Well, fuck.
"How much did you hear?" He asked immediately. Micah's secret had to be protected. If word reached his father's ears, punishment for him would be severe. Micah would be facing more than another trip to rehab, that was for sure.
"Basically all of it," she said, fiddling with one of her bracelets. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt. And…" She sighed. "And I already knew. About Micah. That he…" She glanced at the guard down the hall, and stepped completely inside the room, moving so she was standing close enough to Eli and Jay that they would hear her when she spoke again, in a low voice. "That he's an addict. He told me."
"He told you?" Eli asked incredulously. "There are like five people I can think of that know."
Gemma fiddled with the bracelet again. "I promised him I wouldn't tell you, but since from the sound of things he has relapsed, I think you ought to know. I caught him. With pills. Last Monday. And I sat him down and made him talk about it a little. I told him if he needed to talk he could come to me."
Eli nodded, and said, "He overdosed. Last night." Since she already knew, and Micah might very well try to talk to her, there was no reason not to tell her.
"Why didn't you cancel breakfast then?"
"You said you heard most of what I said to Jay, right?" She nodded, and Eli continued. "Did you catch the part about this being a secret? About there being consequences if the wrong people find out about this?"
She nodded. "Reputation, right? Always got to preserve it?"
Eli nodded. "Like it or not." He glanced at the clock again. "Go, Jay, the photographer will be here any minute."
Jay left the room, and Gemma and Eli both took seats at the breakfast table. There wasn't any food on it yet, but that would be coming in just a few minutes. As soon as Eli had that thought, a servant came in with a pot of coffee. Eli had never been so grateful for coffee in his life. He felt like an exhausted zombie, and didn't have a clue how he was going to make it through this date.
The servant poured a cup for him, and he immediately took a sip, even though it was still way too hot. Caffeine was worth killing taste buds for. It was painful, but so so worth it. He must have made some sort of happy face when he took his first sip, because Gemma laughed and asked, "Late night?"
Eli set the cup down. "Try didn't sleep at all."
"'How are you still functioning? I went to bed at twelve thirty last night and woke up at six thirty, and I definitely feel the missing hours."
Eli shrugged. "I'm used to it, unfortunately. I get six or seven on a good night."
She shook her head. "That can't be healthy. Trouble sleeping, or too busy?"
"Little bit of both," he admitted. He was vaguely aware that he was giving away too much too easily, that he was letting his mask slip, but he was too tired and keeping it up was too much effort. And anyway she was probably alright, since she had kept Micah's secret.
"Mmm. Do you take anything to help you sleep?"
He shook his head. "I have sleeping pills, but I never take them because they knock me out for like ten hours and I don't have that much time."
The photographer walked into the room, effectively ending their conversation. Eli wasn't about to talk about his personal problems in front of the press, even after twenty-five straight hours of no sleep.
She had them pose for a few pictures, and Eli desperately hoped that he didn't look like a total zombie in all of them. He supposed it didn't really matter if he did, it could be chalked up to a hangover.
As soon as she left two plates of waffles soaked in syrup and topped with cooked apples were brought in. Eli wasn't particularly hungry, and really eating sounded like way too much effort, but he gave it his best shot anyway. He nearly dropped his fork once, and hoped Gemma didn't notice.
But of course, she did. "What are you going to be doing this afternoon?" She asked.
Eli shrugged. "Probably keeping Micah company. He's going to be having a pretty rough time for a couple of days, most likely."
She looked as if she was about to say something, but then didn't, and took another bite of her waffles instead, before saying, "Don't you want to get some rest?"
He took another sip of coffee. "I mean, yeah, but not if it means Micah is on his own this afternoon. I can sleep next week."
She hesitated, cutting her waffles into neat bites as she thought, but eventually said, "I could keep him company, if you're okay with that. Like I said, Micah and I have already met, and we've talked a little bit about things. So if you want someone to keep an eye on him for a bit, I could do it."
Eli wasn't sure if he wanted to take her up on that or not. He desperately wanted to sleep, but he wasn't sure about this. Maybe he could ask Micah if it was alright with him. Yeah. That sounded good. There was no reason that Eli shouldn't take her up on her offer, if Micah was cool with it. "I'll ask Micah what he thinks after this."
She nodded, taking another bite of her waffles. "Alright."
"Let's talk about something else," he suggested. "This is a date, let's talk about something people who are on dates talk about."
"And what exactly would 'something people who are on dates talk about' be?"
Eli shrugged. "I don't know. What do you do? Your form didn't say."
She hesitated for a moment before saying, "I've never needed to work, so I don't. I spend most of my time with my plants."
"Ah. I only wish I had that luxury."
She raised her eyebrows. "Do you really?"
"I mean, kind of." Too much honesty there probably. He needed to dial it back. "I dunno what I'd do with myself if I had that much free time, though." He did know, but he wasn't ready to be that honest.
"You could always take up gardening," she suggested jokingly.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. When I was in college, my…" Ex-girlfriend. "Friend grew some plants on the windowsill of…" Our. "Her apartment. She had me take care of them for a week once, and they were all dead before the week was up. And I watered them every day." It had been a mistake to talk about Isabelle. He hoped that she wouldn't read anything into the pauses. Thank God this was Gemma, not Nefertiti. Nefertiti would have read something into them for sure.
She laughed slightly. "You probably watered them too much. If you're not careful, you can drown plants."
"Great. I'll keep that in mind if she ever asks me to water her plants again. She won't, though." Because she was dead. Not because he had killed the plants. Gemma would assume it was because of the dead plants, though.
"I'll teach you sometime, if you like," she offered. "How to properly care for plants."
"Sure. That sounds kind of fun. We'll do that sometime," he agreed. He tiredly pushed a bite of his waffle around on his plate. How much longer before he could declare that this had been an excellent date and it was time for it to be over.
Gemma clearly picked up on how tired he was, because she said, "Do you think this has been long enough for the whole 'reputation' thing?"
"Oh, absolutely. All we really needed was the pictures, to be honest."
She nodded in understanding. "So what I'm hearing is if you ever need an excuse to catch up on a few hours of sleep, all you have to do is call on a sympathetic Selected girl, ask her on a date, stick around for fifteen minutes to get pictures taken, and then you can go sleep somewhere."
"Uh, yeah, I guess." He hadn't thought of that before, but she was right. That would be an easy way to get free time, without anyone calling him out for daring to take a couple of hours off.
"Great. I volunteer to be the sympathetic Selected."
"I thought you were going to teach me how to garden on our next date." He realized he was effectively promising her a second date, but he didn't see any reason why he might want to eliminate her any time soon.
She looked slightly surprised, but said, "If you want to learn how to garden, I can teach you any time. I just thought I would offer, since you say you don't get enough sleep."
"Well, I appreciate it, and I might take you up on it sometime." He smiled at her. "Anyway, are we ready to call this date over?"
She nodded. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"Alright. I'm going to find out how Micah feels about you keeping him company for a bit, and I'll come down to the Selected's Wing and let you know. Sound good?"
"Sounds good."
"Alright, sweet. See you." He stood up, and left the room, heading back to his bedroom.
Micah had moved to laying on the bed, clearly half-asleep. Eli felt bad about doing it, but he shook his shoulder lightly. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
Micah stirred slightly. "More hungover than anything really," he mumbled.
"That's good." Eli let his hand sit on Micah's shoulder for a moment before pulling it away. "So, I think my date with Gemma went pretty well. But she walked in on me talking to Jay, so she knows what happened last night. And she told me that you guys have talked before. She also offered to keep an eye on you for a few hours today so I can get some sleep."
"If you didn't take her up on it you're an idiot," Micah mumbled before rolling over to bury his face in the pillows. "You need to sleep."
"I told her I'd ask you what you thought. So I guess I'll go tell her it's a yes."
"Close the blinds on the way out, I'm dying," Micah said, voice muffled by the pillows.
"You're not dying," Eli said, rolling his eyes but going to close the blinds anyway. "You're just being a drama queen."
"Says you. Hypocrite."
"Just shut up already, dying people don't talk." He turned the lights off as well on his way out.
He made his way down to the Selected's Wing, heading straight for Gemma's room, but Addie stepped into his path, stopping him.
Well, shit.
Of course, Thea was watching. So whatever Addie had to say, it was going to be public. Between Thea and Addie, he knew news traveled fast among the Selected. Oh boy. From the look on her face, he could already tell it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"You lied to me," she said quietly.
Somehow he thought 'I lie to everybody, you aren't special,' wouldn't be particularly comforting, even if it was the truth. So instead he said, "Yeah, I guess I did." He tried to think back and remember what had been said after she had left, if it had been particularly incriminating. No, he hadn't. But what if she had followed him, and had seen Micah passed out with a needle in his arm? There wasn't really any way around her knowing what had happened if she had seen that.
Oh shit. He had sworn about five times in the course of a minute. So much for a good impression. But he had also made Marlee call him a dickhead in front of everyone just a week before, so it wouldn't exactly be much of a surprise that he wasn't always perfectly refined and princely. So that was probably alright. It was really just a matter of how much she had seen.
"Yeah, I guess I did? That's all you have to say?" She whispered.
He ran a hand through his hair, stressed. This was very much not good. "I didn't have a choice."
"Why couldn't you tell me the truth?"
He sighed. "It's complicated. Let's say you have a friend."
She nodded. "Alright. I have a friend." At least she seemed willing enough to play along.
"And let's say this friend told you something in confidence. And let's say this secret led to an incident that you have to drop everything to deal with. And you're with someone who needs an explanation of why you have to drop everything. But you can't betray your friend, who doesn't want this secret spread around. What do you do?"
She hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. "You tell them something happened and you can't tell them what it is, but you have to go."
"And what did I tell you?"
"That I didn't have security clearance for this one."
"Yeah. And while that might have been a little bit of a half-truth, I basically said what you told me I should have said, except I made sure you wouldn't ask any more questions about it by implying that it was something official."
She nodded. "I guess I see it. I'm sorry." She turned away, heading for Thea, who had been watching this whole time. They headed off together, talking quietly between them, leaving Eli feeling horribly guilty. This time he had only lied a little bit. But next time it wouldn't be so minor. And he had no doubt that he would lie again. To her and all of the other Selected.
Illéa in Focus
July 21st
After The Ball
Last night, the thirty remaining Selected attended a ball hosted by the royal family. (Pictures from the event are on page 11) Eli appeared to favor a few particular ladies. Lady Calista was the first he sought out at the ball, and the first Selected he danced with. Although he didn't dance with her, he spent a good bit of time chatting with Lady Nefertiti. Our photographers didn't catch them together, but word on the street is that he asked Lady Gemma on a date today during the ball. So it appears that these three are the ladies to watch if you want to know who Eli's favorites are.
On to the dresses! The Selected all looked radiant, of course, but some of them were better dressed than others. Below is Illéa in Focus's take on the matter.
Best Dressed List
1 Calista Matapang
2 Helena Tomas
3 Cassandra White
4 Gemma Albright
5 Nefertiti Gamel
6 Florida Smith
7 Marlee Weston
8 Liath Ereshkigal
9 Ixchel Hamilton
10 Angelique West
11 Elaine Walton
12 Zenya Laventis
13 Yunuen Hamilton
14 Thea Verdant
15 Lydie Tyler
16 Violet Harper
17 Adelynn Sailor
18 Lennox Flecks
19 Wilhelmina Von Schmidt
Continued on page 10...
AN: TW: Drug use/Drug overdose
The rankings are based as much on media bias as anything else...
