Chapter Nine: Getting Back

Aella returned from the ball that night, struggling to contain her excitement. Of course, Èlise knew about what had happened. By the time Peter and Aella had come back inside, the ball was in the final dances. Madame De la Roche had insisted that Peter dance with mademoiselle Cambout one last time, although he did not appreciate the suggestion. During their dance, Aella told Èlise about everything that had happened. Èlise was giddy. Somehow she had known it was Aella all along. She knew they would be good together.

After Peter and Madeline had finished their dance, Peter whisked Aella away again. Èlise suddenly found herself alone with her thoughts. She never enjoyed when this happened, it made the visions come to her quicker than they should. She preferred when they were only dreams, more like nightmares was more like it, but either way, she preferred it better. Nobody else knew. Ever since she was little, she would have these visions which showed her things to come. Nobody believed her, so she kept it to herself. Now she knew the dangers of sharing her 'gift.'

She had seen the arrival of Aella in a vision of hers. She had seen with her own eyes that first night when Peter couldn't take his eyes off of her. A vision had shown her how they fell in love. Not everything came true, but the ones that did always amazed her. Now, alone with her thoughts, she saw that same dark cloud that always appeared in her mind. Before the storm. A new vision.

Aella loved dancing with Peter. He was very good at it and tried to make it a bit more fun. They tried to bump into other people, and then start giving the other couples dirty looks. They avoided Madame and Monsieur De la Roche, who was also dancing, but they had such fun. Soon enough, the ball was ending. Juliette was about to fall asleep by the time they were leaving. The family got into their carriage and Aella, along with the other escorts, got into theirs.

Within a few minutes, they were driving down the paths, back to Sceaux. Aella remembered Peter's promise to show her around. They'd have to hide their relationship very well if no one was to find out about it. Peter had made it clear that only Èlise could know. She would have to. She played a part in their plans.

Soon enough, the carriages were arriving back at Lyshill Manor. Èlise quietly asked Aella to come to her room so she could help get her ready for bed. On their way up the grand staircase at the front of the house, Aella caught Peter staring at her. It was so strange they had only started their relationship tonight. It seemed as though they might have known each other forever. Peter saw Aella catch his staring, and somehow they began to communicate with their eyes.

She said goodbye silently as she slipped into Èlise's room. Aella undid her hair and wiped all the makeup off of her face. She helped Èlise out of her beautiful dress and hung it in the closet. Èlise did the rest behind her changing screen and appeared in her nightgown a few minutes later.

"Do you need any help with your dress and such, Aella?" asked Èlise, her tiredness leaking into her voice.

"No, I think I've got it from here," she replied. "And I assume you know how to fall asleep, so I think I will leave you be."

"Thank you, Aella," Èlise said, yawning.

"No, thank you. This has been the best night of my life."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Aella walked through the dark halls. As she passed Madame and Monsieur De la Roche's room, she felt herself take quieter steps. She didn't want to wake them or anything.

"Gentle steps won't help you," said a voice in the darkness ahead.

Aella looked up from the ground. She saw only the sprawling darkness ahead and the staircase to the left.

Madame De la Roche stepped out of the darkness. Aella didn't understand. Why wasn't she going to sleep?

"I don't know who you think you are or what you thought you were doing, but it was unacceptable." Madame De la Roche said quietly, yet firmly.

"Excuse me?" Aella asked. Had Madame De la Roche seen something? Did she know about Peter and herself sneaking off to roam the halls and the gardens? Worry penetrated Aella to her core as she tried to figure out why Madame De la Roche had stopped her from going downstairs in the middle of the night.

"Oh, don't act naive. You came into my house and you broke the rules. You putain [yes, this is a French cuss word, if you don't like it, don't read it]. You should have known better."

"I have no idea what you are talking about!"

"Look at your dress! You've practically exposed your entire front to all of France! No one needs to see that. Èlise is rather attached to you, so you will not be dismissed, but I advise you to never pull a stunt like this again. Am I clear?"

Aella was relieved Madame de la Roche hadn't seen her run off with Peter. She released a breath she hadn't known she was holding in.

"Yes, of course, Madame. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Good. You may go back to your quarters now."

Madame De la Roche walked briskly into her room and Aella found herself alone in the hallway. She took off her shoes once more, not being able to stand another minute in them. She considered going straight down to her room. But another idea popped into her head. No, it was ridiculous, she thought to herself. Maybe another time.

She walked down the staircase, remembering her experience imagining this moment the night before. She laughed quietly, not knowing how naive she was. How could one night change everything so fast, she wondered. She reached the bottom of the staircase and walked through the halls and to the servant quarter again.

She reached her room and found Alice and Marie already asleep. She carefully undid her hair and wiped the small amount of makeup off of her face. Aella then proceeded to silently take off her many layers of dress and replace it with her nightgown. She hadn't realized how heavy her dress was until she was relieving herself of the weight of it. She walked over to her bed after folding up her dress to put away. She hadn't found a great place for it, so she left it on a stool. She climbed into bed and curled herself into the covers.

Aella thought of her night. She thought of the wonderful food she'd eaten. How she and Peter had danced until she had to take her shoes off. When they'd snuck away to roam the halls. How Peter had shown her the library. She thought of their walk in the gardens. When Peter had brushed his hands over the grass and fireflies had appeared everywhere, and how beautiful it was. She thought of the kiss, that seemed unrealistic in every sense but was so real to her. Her mind drifted off to when he had told her she was 'the one.' She had doubts about it, but she couldn't deny what she'd felt. Slowly, her mind drifted off to sleep.

Èlise couldn't sleep. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Aella was in danger. She wrote down her vision in her small notebook. No one knew about the journal. It had all of her vision written down in it. Ever since Aella had arrived, they had been much more frequent. She had her reasons to believe why, but she had been wrong. Aella was in real danger. Èlise would do everything in her will power to stop it. But no matter what she did, she would only delay the inevitable. She knew her own fate, she'd seen it not long ago. She only had a few more years. But how long did Aella have?

Peter laid down in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He loved her. He really did. He loved Aella Delattre. His mother was going to kill him if she found out. She didn't have to know. He was sixteen. In a few years, he'd be an adult. He'd take Aella with him when he moved away from his wretched mother. Maybe they'd get married, start a family, and be happy. That's what he wanted. He wanted to be with her. Just being alone in his room, trying to fall asleep, he felt a little lonely. Maybe one day, he thought. Maybe one day, I'll fall asleep and she'll be there next to me. And when I wake up, she'll be there too. Slowly, he fell asleep, thinking of tomorrow when he'd try to show Aella around the town.

Madame De la Roche worried. Her eldest son was being brainwashed by that putain. She should have dismissed the girl. If his marriage with Madeline Cambout fell through… bad things would happen. She knew they would. She may not have seen everything that had happened tonight, but she wasn't stupid. She knew he'd run off with her. She didn't know what they'd done, but she could guess. She did not approve of it. She was lucky Èlise liked her. Otherwise, she'd be gone. Èlise was a troubled child. She had all these ideas of change running through her head. When she was young, she would even claim she'd dreamed of something that happened in the future. She continued to worry as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

-Author's Note-

I hope you're enjoying the story! If you liked anything I included in this chapter, go ahead and tell me, and if you absolutely hated something... I guess I could Star Wars 9 it and just pretend it never happened and move on. Thanks for reading!