TW: Drugs
The Prince's Quarters, The Palace, Angeles, July 22nd, 8:37am
Elijah
Micah was sitting on the end of Eli's bed, wearing an old and rather worn out hoodie, looking only slightly worse for wear, mostly due to having to put up with Eli's total inability to fall asleep at a somewhat normal time, probably made worse due to the fact that Eli had slept six hours during the day on Sunday. He felt kind of bad about accidentally keeping Micah up, but he had a good reason to want to play babysitter right now.
Eli was dressed up, in stark contrast to Micah. He had a meeting in less than thirty minutes, and he was probably going to be late, but there was nothing he could do about that now. It wasn't his fault Micah had snoozed his alarm before it could wake Eli up. Twice. Jerk. "This is your fault, by the way," he said.
"What's my fault this time?"
"I'm going to be late." Eli pulled open a drawer, searching for a specific pair of cufflinks. He could have sworn they had been on top of his dresser on Thursday, but now they were nowhere to be found.
"Oh. That is my fault, you're right. And I don't regret it."
"You're an ass," Eli said fondly. Micah was probably right, Eli could use the sleep, but that didn't mean he wasn't a little bit annoyed. Not too annoyed, though.
Micah reached out and pulled a file off Eli's desk. "Watch what you say, I've done half of your Selection planning for you. Do you want me to quit?"
"You don't have to do it," Eli said, still searching for his cufflinks. "In fact, if it's too much, I want you to stop."
Micah rolled his eyes. "What am I supposed to do? Lay in bed moping and thinking about how much my life sucks? I could use the distraction from my own stupid fucking brain."
"Fair enough." He wasn't about to argue on this one. If planning kept Micah out of trouble, then he was welcome to do it.
Why couldn't he find those stupid freaking cufflinks anywhere? Oh, those were the cufflinks he had let Jay borrow, and he still hadn't gotten them back from him. No wonder he couldn't find them. He was about to shut the drawer when his eyes fell on a small black jewelry box shoved in the back. The sight of it immediately destroyed any good feelings he might have had before he had seen it.
He reached out to pull the box out of the drawer, even though it was the last thing he wanted to look at, and held it in one hand, debating with himself about opening it. The reminder would be painful, but he kind of wanted to feel it.
"What's that?" He heard Micah ask behind him. Eli turned around and flipped open the box to show him, and heard him suck in a breath. "Is that—"
Eli cut him off before he could say it. "Yup." He took a long look at the ring himself. It was silver, and fairly simple, made from two strands of metal twisted together, with small stones set close together along part of it. She hadn't been one for ostentatious jewelry, and while if Eli had given her a ridiculous ring, she would have worn it, big diamonds would have just looked wrong on her left hand.
Of course, he had never gotten the chance to even give her this ring. He slammed the box closed and tossed it back in the drawer, and slammed the drawer as well. He had shoved the engagement ring in that drawer the day after the funeral, never intending to pull it out again, never wanting to even see that stupid thing again. And now he had, and it had been a mistake.
"So, I'm assuming now would be a bad time to ask you who you want to go out with this week?"
"Very," Eli spat out, reaching for a different pair of cufflinks.
"Alright. Don't get bitchy with me, it's not my fault."
That sounded like something she would say, when Eli was in a bad mood from dealing with too much bullshit all day. In fact, he vaguely remembered that she had said that before, almost word for word. "You could stop trying to act like her," he said angrily.
"What? Jesus Christ, Eli. I'm not."
Eli sighed and sat down on the bed next to Micah, burying his face in his hands, suddenly not angry anymore. "It hurts," he mumbled.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I was a bitch."
"Don't worry about it. You are a bitch, but I forgive you."
Eli laughed. "Thanks. But that doesn't really make me feel any better."
"You're going to be okay. I'll pick two girls for you this week, and that'll be that. And I know you already know who to eliminate on Friday. Otherwise I'd pick that for you too."
Eli nodded again. "Thanks. And I'm still sorry."
"Seriously. Don't worry about it." Micah glanced up at the clock. "You'd better get a move on, you've got less than ten minutes."
"Oh." Eli glanced up at the clock. "Well, shit." He stood up, but paused for a moment on his way to the door. "Are you going to be alright on your own today?"
Micah nodded. "Yeah, of course."
"Are you sure about that? Because if you die and there's an afterlife I'm going to meet you there and punch you so hard you die again."
Micah laughed. "I'll be okay. I promise. No need to punch me in the afterlife."
"Good," Eli said as he left the room.
Eli was late, by about five minutes, and he ignored Dad's dirty look as he sat down in the empty chair that had been saved for him. He would have to deal with that afterwards. Ugh.
Just as he had predicted, after the meeting ended and the room cleared out, Dad gave him a nasty look. "We've talked about your behavior before, haven't we? And what did you tell me?"
"That I wasn't going to be late again," he mumbled, staring down at his shoes.
"Look up at me, son. You're a prince, act like a fucking prince."
Eli raised his eyes. If he just did as he was told, then he could leave.
"Well? What happened to 'I'm not going to be late anymore, I'm going to take my responsibilities seriously'?"
Eli knew it was a terrible idea to tell his father what exactly had happened, from long experience, so he said, "I overslept."
Dad snorted. "Of course you did. You're lazy, that's all there is to it. You need a better work ethic. How are you going to rule a country if you can't even get out of bed?"
There had been a lot of days where Eli had wondered that himself, although for different reasons. Was he really fit to rule a country? How much crazy was too much crazy to be in charge? He tried not to think too hard about it. There wasn't anything he could do about it except try his best. One thing he did know is that he wouldn't schedule any meetings before ten when he was in charge.
Dad grabbed a stack of folders off his desk, and handed them to Eli. "Here. Take care of these. To fix your work ethic problem. I expect to see results by the end of the day. And if I don't, well, maybe I should ban your friends from the palace."
Eli wasn't a fucking child Dad could ground on a whim. Except he could. Ugh. It was fucking annoying to be treated like that, but there wasn't anything he could do, so he just took the folders and held his tongue. It looked like he would be spending every free hour that wasn't consumed by meetings today working. Micah could not be banned from the palace. It just couldn't happen. Eli was relying on Micah, but Micah was relying on Eli too, and Eli didn't want to think about what might happen if Micah was one hundred percent on his own.
He headed over to his office to get started. Eli wasn't sure how much time passed before he looked up and saw Jenn sitting in the chair across from him, flipping through one of the folders, clearly off the top of his stack. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Helping you perfect the art of delegation."
"Okay." He was relieved, honestly. This was too much to do in the limited time he had. "You don't have to."
"I need an internship to finish my degree. This counts. So yes, I do." She flipped a page. "I have good news for you."
"What's that?" Eli asked distractedly.
"Zach and Adrienne are coming."
"Oh really? I thought they were staying in France until the end of the summer."
"Change of plans."
"Huh. Your boo Nicholas coming?"
"I haven't heard. And God, I hope not. He's nice enough, but…"
"I know, I know. I'll scare him off for you if he does show up."
"Thanks." She paused for a moment, before saying, "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
She shrugged. "A lot of things." She didn't say anything else.
Liath's Room, The Palace, Angeles, July 23rd,10:47am
Liath Ereshkigal, 2, Sonage
Ermine: So is he socially maladjusted like we said? :)
Liath turned at the sound of her phone buzzing, and picked up to see Ermine's message on the screen. She smiled slightly, amused, and unlocked her phone to respond.
Liath: No, he seems fine actually. He doesn't even seem super out of touch with the real world. Which is what I would have expected from a guy like him.
Ermine: Huh. That's interesting.
Ermine: Done with your peek at the lifestyles of the one percent yet?
Liath: Nah. Medical bills aren't paid off yet
Liath: I think he's kind of into me, too. This is only the sixth date, and he's invited me.
Ermine: As Roman would say: You?
Liath: And as I would say to Roman: Oh shut up
Liath: Anyway, I'd better go. Like I said, I have a date.
Ermine: Okay. Have fun. Tell us all how it went afterwards.
Liath put her phone away, and stood up, smoothing out her skirt. She honestly wasn't sure what to expect. Nobody except Gemma had seen Eli anywhere since the ball on Saturday, and Gemma had refused to gossip about her date. Which was admirable, really, but she could have used more information. They had only spoken twice, and she was still trying to work out just who Eli really was.
There was a knock on her door, and she went to open it. Eli was waiting outside the door, hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "Hello, Lady Liath. Ready to go?" He held out an arm.
She accepted it, and let him lead her through the palace, silently. She didn't ask where they were going, assuming she'd find out soon enough.
Once they were partway there, Eli stopped in the middle of the corridor, and said, "Guess where we're going?"
He seemed kind of excited, and it was sort of cute. But it wasn't hard to guess at all. "The roof?"
"Yeah. We have to go the normal people way, though, because I have a desk job and don't get much practice climbing buildings."
She nodded, a small smile on her face. "I would expect that you wouldn't be allowed."
"Never stopped me when I was a kid." He shrugged. "I used to climb out windows during meetings without anyone noticing when I was like seven." He laughed. "It's all been downhill since then. Now I think someone would miss me if I climbed out a window and made a run for it."
Joking about ditching responsibilities. That was not a point in Eli's favor.
He reached for her hand instead of holding out his arm as they headed the rest of the way to the rooftop, and she let him take it.
They headed through a few service access corridors, then arrived on the roof, where a blanket and food were laid out, like a picnic.
She sat down, and Eli did the same. He reached for the bottle of wine first. Another point very much not in his favor. "Want some?" He asked as he poured.
She shook her head. "More of a whiskey kind of girl, really."
"Oh, me too. Slightly more acceptable to day drink if it's just wine though." He laughed, setting the half-full wine glass aside. "That can be arranged, though, if you give me a couple of minutes."
"No, you don't have to do that." Another point not in his favor. He seemed to really be the guy he presented himself as.
"I have a stash like one floor down from here, I think." He stood up. "I'm going to go get it." He vanished back through the access hatch, and returned a few minutes later, holding a metal flask in one hand. He unscrewed the cap, took a drink, and passed it over to her. "Here."
She took a drink herself, pleasantly surprised to find that he at least had good taste in alcohol. She supposed if you had to be an irresponsible playboy, having good taste in drinks was worth at least one point in your favor. She took a look at the flask in her hand. It was made of silver metal, and was engraved with someone's initials. I.G.L., it read. Someone had taken a sharpie to it, and drawn an X over the L, and the letter S was scrawled above the crossed out letter L.
She looked up, to find Eli staring at the flask, an unreadable look in his eyes. When he noticed she was looking at him, he immediately started smiling again, and reached out to take the flask from her. She let him have it, and he took another drink.
"Who's initials?" She asked. Maybe this was all more complicated that she had expected.
"Not important." He passed it back to her.
Suddenly the pieces almost clicked. Crossing out her last name and writing in your own. How middle school. "Ex-girlfriend?"
"Yeah. It was a long time ago, though."
"How long?" She raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised by that. How had no one known he had had a girlfriend.
"Few years."
"No, how long were you together?"
"Few years."
Oh, so it had been a serious relationship. There was more baggage here than she had thought. Maybe she and Ermine hadn't been terribly far off with their jokes about him. Or maybe this ex-girlfriend was the reason he wasn't horribly out of touch.
Council Offices, The Palace, Angeles, July 23rd, 2:05pm
Elijah
Eli's date with Liath… hadn't gone as well as he would have liked. She was still hot, but they didn't seem to have as much in common as he had hoped. Still worth giving her another chance, though.
He wished he hadn't found that flask, though. That had led to awkward questions. He had rearranged the truth a little bit to make her believe that he was over Isabelle, but he was sure she was no idiot, and she had her suspicions.
He walked into the main council offices, looking for Councilor Murray to answer a question about the report he had sent earlier. Eli was admittedly slightly tipsy from drinking with Liath, so maybe he had missed something, but whatever.
He walked into Councilor Murray's section of the office, only to find that Dad was already there. And horribly enough, someone he recognized. Ella Maxwell. They had met briefly at Isabelle's funeral.
What the fuck was up with all these reminders of her? First the engagement ring, then the flask, then her fucking cousin had to show up in the palace.
Councilor Murray turned towards him as he entered. "Prince Elijah! How was your date this afternoon?"
"Fine," he said, trying to avoid Ella's gaze. She was watching him, as if she was trying to work out where she had seen him before that wasn't on TV. He hadn't been stupid enough to attend the funeral using his own name, of course, but he hadn't done much to hide his face.
Councilor Murray rested his hand on Ella's shoulder. "This here is Ella Maxwell. She's managing press for my department now."
Oh really? He had known Ella had married up, Isabelle had talked about it, but that had been a pretty big jump. He held out a hand towards her. "Nice to meet you, Ella."
She accepted it, and he could see the moment recognition clicked in her eyes. She knew who he was, and she knew how he had been involved with her cousin.
Because he had told her.
While drunk at her cousin's funeral.
But she didn't say a word, just shook his hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Your Highness."
He suddenly got the impression that she was just as dangerous a woman as her cousin had been.
He might be in deeper shit than he had expected.
The rest of the work day went fine, and at the end of it, Eli found himself in his room with the window open wide, sitting on the wide ledge that made up the windowsill, holding the flask in one hand. It was still half-full, and he intended to drink the rest of it before bed.
He rubbed at the sharpie on the side, hoping he could rub it off. It really was kind of juvenile. He remembered the moment he had written it. She had laughed and called him an idiot then, but she hadn't tried to wipe it off.
She had been sentimental, although she wouldn't admit it.
The door to his room opened, and Eli looked up, expecting to see Matthias, but instead Micah came in. "Hey. What's up?"
"I saw her cousin today."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Are you stupid?" Eli closed his eyes, resting the back of his head against the wall. "I mean someone who knows about her is working in the palace and she could spill all my secrets to all the wrong people. Was my meaning not clear before?" He got progressively louder as he talked, and even though he hadn't meant to sound annoyed or angry, he knew he did.
"Jesus, Eli, what's wrong with you?"
He threw the flask. It was only once it had hit the wall, bounced off, and landed with a clang on the wooden floor that he realized that he shouldn't have done that. He and Micah stared at each other for a long moment, both of them shocked that Eli had actually physically lashed out.
Eli was a good person. Or so he had thought. He didn't do shit like this. He didn't hurt people, or threaten people, or scare people.
Maybe he wasn't actually a good person. In the moment that he had that stomach-dropping realization, Micah stepped forward, reaching out as if to rest a hand on Eli's shoulder. "Eli—"
Eli moved before he could touch him. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, crossing the room and grabbing the flask from where it had landed on the floor before hurrying for the door.
He walked through the palace, ignoring everyone who tried to get his attention, until he found a place where he could actually be alone with his thoughts, in a secret passage on the third floor.
There was a dent in the metal of the flask now, probably from hitting the wall and then the floor. He rubbed at the dent, letting another wave of guilt wash over him, trying to convince himself that he was still a good person. He wasn't actually angry with Micah, he was just angry at the world in general and taking it out on him. But that didn't make it any better. If he could flip out at Micah when he was down, what could he do to other people?
Lost in thought, he didn't hear the sound of the panel that hid the entrance to the passage clicking, and then swinging open. It wasn't until the light coming in from the now open passage hit his eyes that he noticed it was open and turned to look.
Mel was standing there, a guilty expression on her face. Of course, the last person he wanted to see when he was convinced he was a bad person just had to show up, because Eli never had any fucking luck. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Exploring," she said, still looking guilty. "I know I'm not supposed—"
He rolled his eyes. "Come on in, I'm not going to go running to tell your mother."
She stepped into the passage, and plunked down on the floor next to him. "Are you drinking? You smell like alcohol."
"Not anymore I'm not." He slid the flask down the hallway, so it was out of reach and not visible in the dark. "And you're seven, you're not supposed to know anything about alcohol."
"Well, I do." She went quiet after that. Eli was perfectly happy to let her stay that way, and he hoped that she would get up and get back to exploring, but after a while, she said, "What's wrong? What are you sad about?"
He didn't answer the question. Instead he asked one of his own. "Do you think I'm a bad person, Mel?"
"No, of course not. You're my brother." Somehow that wasn't particularly comforting. "Why would you be a bad person? Did you do something bad?"
"Yes."
She fixed him with a stern look. "Well are you sorry?"
"Yes."
"Well, then you're not a bad person. Bad people are never sorry."
It wasn't quite as black and white as Mel thought it was, but still, that helped. "And what should I say?"
"That you're sorry. And you won't do it again. And you don't make excuses because excuses make people angry with you."
She knew that from experience. He was sure of it. And nothing he could do would protect her. "Thank you."
"You're still sad."
"About something else now. Don't worry about it." He stood up. "Have a good time. Make sure you aren't late to dinner, or you'll be in big trouble with your mother."
She nodded. "Good luck," she called out after him as he left the passage.
There was just one problem. He didn't know where to find Micah. He tried his room first, then the garden. Then, finally, he tried the roof, and found him up there, with Jenn. They were talking about him, he knew, even though they were talking in voices too low for him to hear. He cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "Talking about me?" He asked.
Jenn gave him a guilty look. "Only a little. Come here, okay?"
He nodded, and crossed the roof to sit down in between them. He immediately turned to Micah. "I'm sorry. Seriously, I am."
Micah nodded. "Don't worry about it. Either your aim really sucks or you weren't actually trying to hit me."
"Still, I feel like shit. I'm supposed to be a good person. Or at least not a bad person. I'm supposed to be helping you, not throwing things at you."
Jenn reached out to touch his shoulder. "You've been bottling it all up for too long, okay? Just relax. It's okay."
He shook his head. "No, it's not. I can't relax."
"Nobody's watching you, Eli. You can."
He just shook his head. "No, I really can't. Get me really really fucking drunk and then maybe we can talk about my emotional issues, but I can't do it mostly sober."
"I'm sorry."
"You keep saying that, when you really don't have to."
Jenn shook her head. "No, I do." She squeezed her shoulder with one hand before standing up. "We'll talk later, then." She left the rooftop, leaving Eli and Micah alone.
A moment passed in silence, while Eli tried to think of what to say other than 'I'm sorry'. He couldn't think of anything, so he was grateful when Micah broke the silence. "Have you eaten yet?"
Eli shook his head.
"Me neither." He sighed. "Look, obviously you shouldn't go around throwing shit at people, but I'm not even a little bit upset about it. Should you have done it? No, but I understand what's going on in your head, better than you think. People do shitty things sometimes when they aren't thinking straight. I just think that Jenn is right, and you need to be locked in a soundproof room with a shit ton of alcohol to get it all out. Or maybe like, professional help or something. Second option would probably be better for your liver."
"Not gonna happen. And if we're talking about professional help..."
Micah shook his head. "Been there, done that, didn't help. I know it's not going to happen, I'm just saying. Come on, when was the last time you ate? You'll feel better if you do."
Women's Room, The Palace, Angeles, July 23rd, 4:51pm
Brielle Bennet, 2, Fennley
A pile of magazines filled a coffee table in the women's room. They all bore headlines like 'A Look At The Favorite Selected' or 'Your Predictions For Selection Winner'. Brielle wasn't sure where the magazines had come from, but she was glad to have them all the same. Many of the Selected had jumped at the chance to find out what people thought of them, most prominently Cassandra, Lena, Yunuen, Wilhelmina, and Nefertiti, but just as many, maybe more, were completely ignoring the magazines.
Brielle absently flipped through the magazine she was holding, which was a week old, and had photographs from the first five dates. She only skimmed the articles, already knowing what it had to say. She and Eli appeared to be having a good time together and maybe she was finally getting over the heartbreak of her ex-boyfriend Beck. She wished the magazines could just find something else to talk about already when it came to her. Surely everyone knew about Beck by now, and they could stop talking about it.
She flipped another page, and saw photos from Isla's date. They were clearly candid shots, and it looked like they were having a good time. She looked around the room for Isla, but didn't spot her anywhere. She didn't see Liath, Flo, or Lydie either, for that matter. Surprisingly enough, she saw Ixchel, in a corner with a book titled 'History of Modern-Day Paloma', instead of in the library as usual.
She tossed the magazine back on the stack on the coffee table, and held out a hand for the magazine Lena was about to put aside. Lena handed it to her with the words, "I wouldn't put too much stock in their ratings if I were you."
It was an issue of Illéa in Focus from just after the ball. Brielle flipped through it, but found her own name disappointing low on the list, but found Lena had come in second. She wondered if Lena had wanted a higher spot on the list, or if she had expected a lower ranking.
Cassandra leaned over her shoulder from the spot on the couch next to her to see the list. "I'm in third? Really? Are they kidding me?"
"Their accuracy is questionable." Lena held out a hand, and Brielle passed her the magazine. "I didn't think Cali's dress was anything special." Lena glanced over towards Cali, who was playing a board game with Jade and Gemma.
"I thought she looked nice," Brielle said. Sure, she was disappointed about not getting a higher ranking, but Cali's dress had been pretty.
"I didn't think there was anything wrong with the ranking either, other than the fact that they didn't say anything about what the criteria for the rankings was." Nefertiti flipped a few pages in the magazine she was holding. "I suppose these aren't exactly the pinnacle of good journalism." She laughed. "Maybe Addie should have been higher, she looked nice, but they ranked her really low. Lennox too. Smells like caste bias to me, actually, once I think about it."
"They ranked Wilhelmina super low. And me too," Brielle pointed out. "And both Zenya and Violet got higher rankings."
"According to this Zenya is Eli's favorite, that's why they're ranking her so high." Nefertiti flipped the magazine around so they could see the picture. In it, Eli was giving Zenya a wide smile, a different smile than the one he gave all the other girls.
Lena gave the picture a long hard look. "Huh."
Cassandra did the same, but it was obviously a jealous look. Brielle had figured out already that Cassandra hated to lose. "I would have thought they would be betting on Gemma, I heard he asked her on a date at the ball."
Nefertiti shrugged. "Other magazines are, it's just this one that's betting on Zenya." She closed the magazine. "Wonder if Zenya's seen this. I think I'll go show her." She stood up, heading for where Zenya was sitting with Lainey, who was teaching her how to do something on the cell phone Zenya had mysteriously acquired.
Cassandra gave Zenya a dirty look. "I heard she got that phone from Eli. And I heard she got his personal number."
Lena picked up another magazine. "Well, if she has a direct way to reach Eli, you should watch what you say about her." She fixed Cassandra with a warning look. "Or maybe you shouldn't."
Brielle suddenly didn't want to be sitting in between them anymore. If things escalated, she didn't want to be there. The last thing she wanted to do was have a panic attack for all the Selected to see.
Fortunately, an obvious escape came quickly, when the door to the Women's Room swung open and Mel came in. Brielle stood up and headed over to her, smiling.
Mel glanced up at her. "Learned any songs about superheros yet?"
"I haven't found any in my songbooks yet. I'm sorry."
"That's okay. Let me know when you do." Mel closed the door behind her, and sprinted across the room, towards the table where Addie, Thea, Marlee, Lennox, and Violet were playing cards. Brielle could faintly hear her say, "Can you teach me how to play?"
Brielle headed back over to the stack of magazines, and grabbed another one, sitting next to Wilhelmina this time. Wilhelmina gave her a polite smile before continuing to flip through the magazine she was holding, and Brielle nodded in acknowledgement before continuing to search the magazine for any mention of her name.
The Prince's Quarters, The Palace, Angeles, July 25th, 1:14am
Elijah
"I need help."
Those words out of Micah's mouth were the last thing Eli wanted to wake up to at one in the morning, but they were nothing but effective. He immediately sat up, completely awake, and rubbed at his eyes. "Okay. What's up? What did you do? What did you take?"
Micah sat down on the edge of the bed, guilty expression on his face. "Nothing. Yet."
"Okay. Thank God. Let's keep it that way, okay?" Eli held out a hand. "If you've got anything, I want you to give it to me and we'll get rid of it."
Micah pulled a pill bottle out of the pocket of his jeans and dropped it into Eli's outstretched hand, white pills rattling inside.
"Thank you." Eli slid the bottle into the pocket of his pants and got out of bed to find a pair of shoes. "Come on. We're going to go dump these in the fountain." He finished putting his shoes on and left the room, Micah following.
They made their way down into the gardens, and stood side-by-side in front of the fountain. Eli unscrewed the cap from the bottle, and held it out to Micah. "You want to do the honors?"
Micah nodded, took the pill bottle, and dumped the pills into the fountain, watching as they fell. He handed the bottle back to Eli, who took a look at the name on the prescription label. Lillian Anderson. He raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything about how Micah must have got these. He simply ripped that section of the label off, shoved it in his pocket, screwed the cap back on, and threw the bottle as hard as he could. It landed in a bush, where it probably wouldn't be found for weeks.
He rested a hand on Micah's shoulder. "There. It never happened." He turned to look at him. "Want to talk about it?"
Micah shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Not really."
"Fair enough. Thanks for waking me up."
"No, thank you."
"You don't have to thank me. I meant what I said. I'll do this as many times as it takes." A promise he had repeated what felt like a hundred times over. And he would repeat it again. As many times as it took. "Want to watch a movie or something? I've been meaning to watch this one movie that just came out."
Sitting Room, The Palace, Angeles, July 25th, 11:55am
Lennox Flecks, 6, Columbia
Lennox took a nervous sip of water as Prince Elijah entered the room and sat down across the table from her. A photographer followed him in, and had them pose for a few pictures, then left them alone. She knew it was time to make a confession. Plan A had failed. She had done a terrible job of being flirty enough to make sure he kept her around, so it was time for Plan B.
"So, Lady Lennox, how has your week been?"
"It's been good. I saw your sister. She came to the Women's Room yesterday."
"Oh yeah? Which one? Mel, right?"
"Yeah. She's a cutie."
"She really is. When she wants to be. Sometimes she's completely annoying. She's started spying on me, it's kind of funny but also really annoying because I'm the one who has to explain to her mother why she's repeating certain things I've said that weren't meant to be heard by a seven year old."
"Yeah, I think I heard some of that." She laughed. "She told us some interesting things."
"Oh God, what's she saying now? For the record it was probably a joke out of context."
"I'll leave you to sweat and think about everything you've said in the past week that you thought was secret."
He laughed. "You're so mean. Whatever it was, I want to know so I can do damage control."
Lennox shook her head. "I'm just kidding. The only thing she said is that you're sad about something, and we should try to cheer you up."
He smiled. "Aww, that's sweet. But she's wrong. There's nothing wrong. I'm not sad. I don't have any reason to be after all." He gestured towards the pad of paper she kept on the table. "What's that for?"
"Writing things down. Stories and such. I want to be a journalist."
"Oh, sweet. You and Lady Nefertiti should talk, she works for a news station in Zuni." He paused, and she could see realization of the reason she was there in his eyes.
Time for her explanation. "I have a confession to make."
"You're here for my money? Yeah, I figured. That's okay. I won't eliminate you for it. It's not your fault doing something like this is the only way you can move up in the world."
She was kind of surprised by that. "Well, that's not the whole thing." She took a deep breath. "I'm actually a lesbian."
He just laughed, and she said, "Let me guess, you're…"
He shook his head. "Oh, hell no. I'm into girls. I mean how can you not be? I don't understand why straight women even exist. I mean obviously I'm glad they do, because otherwise I'd be out of luck, but damn, guys are not pretty. Anyway. I want to set you up with a friend of mine, if that's cool with you."
She paused. "You want to set me up? With who?"
"Can't out her without permission." He stood up. "I'll let you know."
Lennox waited nearly twenty minutes before he came back, dragging someone behind him. Princess Jenevieve stepped into the room, smiling nervously, looking very nice, dressed in a work-appropriate dress, with her hair pulled back. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She whispered nervously to Eli.
He patted her on the shoulder. "It's a great idea." He turned to Lennox. "This is my sister, Jenn." He gave Jenn another slight push towards the table. "Have fun. I'll be next door, let me know when you're done so I can walk Lennox back." He turned and left the room.
Jenn sat down in the empty seat at the table. "So, that's my brother. Something else, isn't he?"
Lennox nodded awkwardly. It hadn't been awkward with Eli, but now that she was on an actual date with a pretty girl, it was awkward.
"So, I've never done this before. Gone on a date. With a girl."
"Oh, me neither. There's a shortage of gay women in a small town."
"I'm in the closet." Jenn took a nervous sip of her water. "And I probably will be until… for a very long time, anyway."
"Why? Gay marriage is legal. In a lot of places, you probably wouldn't even get any hate."
"Not for me it's not. I'm second in line, I have to have permission from the monarch to get married. And right now, that would be my father."
Lennox nodded. "I think I get it. No reason not to date though."
Jenn smiled. "No. It's not. So tell me, what do you do? I don't think I got a chance to look at your form.
Entrance Room, The Palace, Angeles, July 25th, 4:43pm
Elijah
Eli had been in a terrible mood all day. Hell, thinking about it, he had been in a terrible mood all week. A few hours by himself while Jenn had taken over his date with Lennox had gone a long way towards making him feel better, but he still felt like he was two steps from falling apart and letting the cracks show too much again, like he had on Tuesday.
Hopefully this would be at least somewhat of a distraction from the fact that he felt like his carefully crafted mask was falling down. If he was lucky, it would even help to repair the mask so he could keep on hiding. That was unlikely, though. Eli was never lucky.
The front door swung open, and Zach stepped in, hand in hand with Adrienne, followed by a group of guards. Adrienne released Zach's hand immediately upon seeing Eli and swooped in to kiss him on the cheek. "Eli! How have you been?" She said, heavy French accent obvious as she spoke.
"Fine. How's your older brother?"
"Nicholas or Théodore?" She asked with a scowl.
"Either one. Or both." Nicholas was Jenn's potential fiancé to be, and Théodore was the crown prince of France.
"Both shitheads, as older brothers usually are."
"I wouldn't know anything about that," he said, smiling.
She smacked his shoulder affectionately. "Of course you would. You're a shithead older brother, after all."
"That's right. Just ask Jenn about me sometime."
Zach stepped forward, and held out a hand towards Eli. "How've you been, man?"
"Could have been worse. How's your French? Improved at all?"
"Umm…" He paused for a moment, trying to find the words. "Couldn't be worse," he said in French.
"Good enough," Eli said in the same language, then switched back to English for his next words. "What brings you two back to Illéa early?"
"The Selection, of course." Adrienne lowered her voice. "How's that going, actually?"
"It's going. Whether I want it to or not."
She nodded understandingly. "Well, Zach and I are here for backup."
Eli just laughed. "You mean you're here for the eye candy."
"I'm offended. I would never." She put a hand to her heart, making a big show of looking hurt. "Yes, we're here for the eye candy. How are they all so pretty, it's not fair."
"As long as all you do is look," Eli said teasingly.
She reached out to grab Zach's arm. "You know Zach here is my one and only."
"Yeah yeah, I know." Eli started walking, and they followed. "Come on, let's find Micah and talk plans for tonight. I don't know what you guys want to do, but knowing you it's going to be something fun."
"Oh, of course. There's this new club I wanted to check out, and you and Micah can come with us. It'll be a good time."
Eli didn't particularly want to go out, but he needed to, for the sake of the mask, so he would suck it up and go. It was for the best. Although maybe he ought to make Micah sit this one out.
AN: How do you guys feel about Zach and Adrienne? Thank you for reading.