Chapter 45 – Nevaeh de Montignac

The palace was surprisingly quiet, now that the Selected had all gone home. Well, not all of them: Sydney had kindly offered to take in Morrigan over the Christmas break since she refused to go anywhere near her mother in Clermont. But all the others went back either to their families or to their solo apartments to spend Christmas with some friends.

But the Palace was not empty at all: the royal family was still there, as well as the De Montignac's, and Ximena and her mother. Plus all the staff who stayed over Christmas. There was a ball to prepare soon, anyway. Oh, and Jesse was still here as well. He didn't want to go see his family just yet – not that they were dead or anything, but he just thought that Nevaeh and the Schreaves were more his family than his actual one. So he asked if he could stay.

At first, the Queen was not very keen on letting him stay, but after Nevaeh put her vote in, her aunt finally accepted.

"On one condition," she had said to Jesse. "Everything that happens from now until the girls come back is entirely off-record." She had paused. "I'm letting you stay for my niece's sake. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Jesse had replied, bowing to his queen. "I understand."

Now, Nevaeh was in her room, wrapping presents for her family. A knock sounded on her door.

"Who is it?" she asked, ready to hide whatever she had not yet wrapped.

"Jesse," the voice said. "May I come in?"

She quickly looked around, but his gift had already been wrapped. She pushed it under her desk with her foot. "Yes!"

Jesse stepped in and smiled when he saw her. He looked around her room and whistled. "Your room is as big as my apartment in LA," he said coming over. He bent down and kissed her on the top of her head. "Aren't you a bit late for wrapping presents?" he asked. "It's the 24th."

"I know, I know," Nevaeh replied. "But I had other things to do before." She paused and looked at the piled of wrapped gifts in the basket next to her. "I was lucky to have Hanna go into town for me and buy what was on my list," she said. "Otherwise, I don't know when I could have done it."

Jesse stood next to her, his hands in his pockets. "Are you ready for the party tonight?"

Nevaeh looked down at herself and grimaced. "Not really, no. What time is it?"

"Six-thirty," Jesse said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"Quoi? Déjà?" Nevaeh said. "Shoot shoot shoot." She finished wrapping the one she was doing and then went to her walk-in closet to get the dress she had picked out to match with Jesse's green suit. She stripped down and slipped on the green top with ginormous long puff-sleeves, and then added the white skirt to it. It was cinched at her waist so any baby bump she might have wouldn't be visible under the fabric of the skirt, and the sleeves would hide most of her midsection as well. She slipped on a pair of golden shoes and went out to join Jesse in her room.

"Can you button me up?" she asked, showing him her back. She couldn't see Jesse, but he froze for a second. He gently pushed her long blond hair out of the way, grazing the skin of her neck with the tip of his finger. Nevaeh felt the hairs on her skin rise at the touch before Jesse started closing all the tiny buttons, one at a time. When it was done neither of them moved, waiting, breathless.

Jesse delicately wrapped his arms around her midsection and placed a tiny kiss in the crook of her neck. Nevaeh didn't move. It was so weird to be like this, in her room, both sober and being intimate, yet not making love or being naked. Just the two of them there, with him helping her get dressed…

She took a deep breath and stepped away from him, just enough to turn around. She didn't quite meet his eyes and focused on straitening his golden bowtie. "There, all set." …

"Hey, are you okay?" he suddenly asked, lifting her chin with two fingers.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, forcing a smile.

"With the baby and all," Jesse started, fumbling a little on his words. "I mean, we don't have to– we can take things slowly if you want– I mean, if you'd rather I go back home I–"

"Jesse," she said cutting him off. "I didn't plead with Auntie Lena for you to stay if I didn't want you here." She paused, searching his eyes. "I'm glad you're here. And so is he," she added, taking his hand and placing it on her belly.

"He?" he asked. "What if it's a she?" He smirked and Nevaeh laughed softly.

"Yes, well, you left me the blue sock, so I'm team boy." They laughed softly and then Nevaeh stood on her toes and kissed him. Jesse responded in kind and pulled her even closer.

After a few seconds, he broke off the kiss and took a step away, holding her hands, and looking at her from head to two. "You look gorgeous," he said, grinning like an idiot.

"I know I do," she said, swatting him on the arm. "I'm always amazing. Come on, we're going to be late."

The couple went downstairs together to join the rest of the royal family in the small dining room that was decorated like the rest of the palace in red, white, and gold, though everyone had agreed to wear green and white. Against a wall of the dining room was a gigantic hearth with a roaring fire burning there, putting the whole place in a warm and cozy atmosphere. Right next to it, a tall beautifully decorated tree – there was one in practically all of the rooms…

"Ah! Here are Nevaeh and Jesse!" Nathan said coming over to them. "You two look nice– Damn, it's really weird to see you two officially as a couple!" he laughed.

"Why?" Nevaeh asked. "I thought you had bet thirty dollars on this particular fact," she said a little bit bitterly.

"Yeeaaahhh," the prince replied, elongating the word. "Still. You two were always fighting like cat and dog… what changed?" He eyed them both suspiciously.

"Oh, for crying out loud," Val said, joining the small group. "Leave them alone, Nathan." He wrapped an arm around his cousin's shoulders. "They don't need to justify themselves, and least of all to you. Right?"

"Thank you, Valerian," Nevaeh said.

"I mean… love works in mysterious ways," he added, shrugging away the pink blush that was slowly filling his cheeks.

"Is there something you're not telling us, Val?" Henri piped in, coming over. "Now that the girls are gone for a few days, you can tell us without breaking their hearts, am I right?" he chuckled, asking the group. Nathan, Nevaeh, and Jesse laughed along, which made Valerian blush even deeper.

"What's going on here?" Silas asked, coming over with Ximena, who was wearing a beautiful dark green sheath dress.

"We're messing with Val," Henri replied, ruffling his baby cousin's silver hair.

"Hey!" Val said, pushing him away. "It took me fifteen minutes to get them to look like this!" He ran his fingers in his hair, putting it back the exact way he wanted.

"Fifteen minutes?" Ximena said, laughing. "Mine took an hour to style. You've got it good, Val."

"I agree," Nevaeh said. "Don't ever complain about your hair in front of ladies, Valerian."

"Duly noted," he said, coming back in the circle of young people, but staying away from Henri and Nathan. He stood between Nevaeh and Ximena, just to be safe. "So," he said. "Who are we waiting for still? I'm starving!"

Silas looked around. "Marmee."

But just as he said her name, the queen mother walked in wearing a silk green dress with a lace long-sleeve top and her silver hair styled in her usual fifties style. She was radiant, regal, and did not look like her age at all.

"Good evening everyone," she said, and the whole room bowed and curtsied to her, as per protocol. They were maybe only family – well, almost – but she was still the queen mother and everyone respected and loved her still.

Her two daughters, Helena and Sybil, joined her and guided her to her seat at the large round table. There were twelve white chairs, decorated with a red ribbon, and the table was laden with red and gold decorations on a white tablecloth.

The first dish arrived and the conversations started, merry and joyful until the giant stuffed turkey was brought in. As usual, it was Uncle Toby who would be carving it, since he had learned to do that on his farm, growing up. Silas and his brothers always refused to do that and were happy to let their father do it, year after year.

Nevaeh was very self-conscious of the curious stares she had when she refused wine. Of course, she couldn't drink any because of the baby, but the others didn't know that. Would they guess, though? She hoped not. She wanted to keep this little treasured secret a while longer between her and Jesse. Besides, Jesse hadn't even known for a week yet, and she could still hide the tiny bump under her clothes.

The meal went on for hours, dish after dish until it was finally over. Dessert would be brought in later, around midnight. The twelve people headed to the private living room of the royal family, on the third floor, and all found a seat around the room on couches, armchairs, cushions, and so on. They had this cute tradition to spend Christmas Eve together by listening to Christmas music – Valerian was always in charge of creating the playlist – and playing board games until midnight, after which they would drink a glass of champagne and wish each other a merry Christmas. The presents would only be exchanged and opened on the 25th, before a gargantuan brunch. The cousins and their fiancée or boyfriend all sat around a table to play a few games of poker while the parents chatted around the fireplace with tea and/or whiskey.

"We should play strip poker," Nathan said. "I'm sure it would be much more fun, and the stakes much higher too."

"I'd be up for it," Henri said, sharing a glance with his favorite cousin.

"You should do that with your Selected," Silas said: the wine had loosened his tongue and he was much more open in his comments now, which was always fun to see. "I'm sure that would be something interesting, don't you think?"

Valerian burst out laughing. "I'm sure your girls wouldn't mind! But I'm not doing that with mine…"

"Speaking of your girls, Val," Henri continued, "Are you going to spill who is your favorite? Or should we do it for you?"

"How would you know?" Val said. "You're not in my head–"

"You mean in your heart," Ximena said. "Love doesn't happen in your head, sweetie." She leaned towards Silas and quickly checked his cards.

"Or down there," Nathan and Henri said at the same time before bursting into laughter.

Silas also chuckled, turning a little red – but Nevaeh put that on the heat and the wine from before – before putting down most of his chips. "I'm raising," he said.

Henri's eyes went huge when he saw what Silas was doing. "You're bluffing." So Henri followed Silas' bet

"Am I?" he asked, laughing softly and kissing Ximena.

"Silas, how much wine did you have?" Nevaeh asked.

"More than you, clearly," he retorted. And it was true: Nevaeh had been the only one not drinking.

"I follow, too," Nathan said betting as well.

"Not me," Valerian said, putting his cards away. It went like that for another round, but most of them were not really focusing on the game, making crude jokes and giggling like teenagers. Nevaeh wished she could have had at least one glass of wine so she could 'appreciate' the mood and all, but alas…

"Well, guys, it's time to reveal the cards," Henri said. "I've got two pairs." He put the pairs in front of him on the table: two eights and two Queens."

"Straight," Nathan said, showing his cards that went from 3 to 8.

"Damnit," Jesse said. "I had a 2 to 6 Straight."

Nevaeh showed her cards as well. "Four of a kind of tens," she said.

Ximena sighed and put her cards down. "Damnit. Four nines."

Valerian had already put his cards away a long time ago, and he looked at Silas. "So, what do you have?" he asked. "Because for now, Nevaeh has the winning hand."

Silas stared at his cards for a few more seconds, debating. Then his face broke into a wide grin. "Royal flush, ladies and gentlemen."

Nathan threw his cards on the table. "How do you do that?" he asked. "It's a once in a lifetime hand, and you have that every single year. How?"

Silas shrugged. "Destiny. And I had my lucky charm with me," he added wrapping his arm around Ximena and kissing her again.

Valerian shuffled the cards for another game, but dessert arrived before they could start and they all hurried to the table. It was covered with cupcakes, donuts, macarons cookies, cranberry pound cakes, and so on, all decorated for Christmas: Santas, trees, snowmen, reindeer, green, red, white, with sprinkles, and many more things than one couldn't possibly eat on the same day.

"Oh. My. God," Jesse said. "This is literally the best Christmas ever."

"Because of the food?" Nevaeh asked, teasing him.

"Yes. And because of–" he looked around, "you-know-what," he whispered in her ear, grinning.

Nevaeh smiled. "You know, I was really terrified of how you'd react to that, I have to admit."

"Why?" Jesse said, genuinely confused. "That's the best thing ever, right?"

Neveah was about to say something to that when Nathan barged in the middle of them, an arm around each of them. "What's the best thing ever?" he asked. He leaned in a grabbed a cookie.

"Macarons–"

"Donuts–" Nevaeh and Jesse said at the same time. And even if they didn't agree on that, at least it was food.

Nathan eyed them suspiciously, nibbling on his cookie. He looked at both in turn, and then again. "There's something fishy going on between you two, and I'm going to find out what it is." He finished his cookie and wrapped his arm around Jesse's neck again. "So. How long have you two been 'officially' dating?" he asked, air-quoting with his fingers.

"A few weeks?" Jesse said, and Nevaeh nodded. She didn't even know when they had started, just that it happened. Was it when she had sent him the olive branch? Or when she had told them about… it?

"Hmm, okay," Nathan said. "And how intimate are you guys?" he asked.

Jesse choked on a piece of donut and Nathan smacked him in the back, trying to dislodge the food from his air-pipes. Everyone turned around to see what was happening.

"Stop hitting him!" Nevaeh said. "You're not helping, espèce d'idiot!" Insults always came easier in French for her and she pushed Nathan away. "Jesse? Are you okay?"

He stumped his chest with his fist and accepted a glass of water from Valerian. "Yeah," he said wheezing. "Better." He coughed some more, but now he was safe from choking, and all the young adults were around him, making sure he was okay.

"So," Nathan said, continuing his interrogation, "how int–"

"Stop," Nevaeh ordered. "Why don't you just go play with your shiny lightsabers for a moment. Give him some space to breathe!"

Nathan and Henri burst out laughing and Nevaeh almost face-palmed: how could she forget the lightsaber thing? Ugh. Nathan was so annoying when he was a little drunk. Then again, she hadn't had a single drop of alcohol in weeks, so she was the only completely sober person in the room.

She looked at the time on the clock that was on the wall: almost midnight. She could soon go to bed. And instead of staying with her alcohol-filled cousins, she went to sit with the 'adults'. Not that she wasn't one herself, but they were more mature adults.

"Hey sweetie, is everything alright?" her mother asked, welcoming her daughter next to her and letting her snuggle against her.

"Yeah, they're just being mean," she said, resorting to being a little girl in her mother's arms. There was no more Selected to impress, it was just her and her family, so she could be completely herself.

Helena looked over at the group of boys playfully pushing and teasing each other and shook her head. Ximena also joined the 'adults' and sat near her own mother. "It's quieter here," she said.

Uncle Toby chuckled. "Well, I'm definitely outnumbered, I think I'm going to, uh, go over there…" he motioned the boys with his thumb and they started a new game of poker. Neveah watched them from her couch, but she quickly lay down in her mother's lap as she ran her fingers in her blond hair.

"Nevaeh, are you alright?" the queen asked, really looking at her niece.

"M-hm," she replied, nodding. "I'm just tired." She yawned, illustrating her statement. "I feel like I've been running on adrenaline ever since this summer and now that all the girls are gone, I feel exhausted and empty." That, and her pregnancy was taking a toll on her. She was barely 8 weeks gone, but the fatigue was already there. She had read somewhere that it could start as early as the first trimester.

"Do you think they'll all come back?" her mother asked.

"No idea," she said, yawning. "Xi, you have an idea?"

"Ximena shrugged. "Pretty sure they'll all come back. Except maybe Pallas, but I don't know."

"Why not Pallas?" Helena asked.

"Because she and Henri have something going on, I think," Nevaeh said.

"I see…"

A few minutes later, the boys joined the ladies with glasses of champagne, but Nevaeh refused one, to everyone's dismay. She usually never misses champagne; like ever. She excused herself and headed to her room, to get ready for bed. She was tired and in need of sleep, especially with the Ball to prepare soon.

-o-0-o-

Since Hanna was not there – she had sent her home to France to spend the time with her family – Nevaeh had to undress herself. And those tiny buttons at the back of her outfit were a pain in the–

"Nev? Are you okay?" came his voice after a slight knock on her door.

She smiled. "You can come in, Jesse," she called out and waited for him.

"Here, let me help you," he said, walking over and undoing all the little buttons. When those were done, he gently made her sleeves slide down her arms. "You looked like a wrapped gift with those huge sleeves," he said with a smile.

Nevaeh took off the green top and turned around to face him, wearing only her lacy and flowery white bralette and her white skirt. Jesse gently put his hands on her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, both foreheads together. She kissed him and he tasted of Champagne and sugar and cinnamon, and she needed more of that. Jesse deepened the kiss while Neveah worked on taking off his bowtie, his suit jacket, and unbuttoning his shirt.

Before long, they were both on the bed – much soberer than the last time, at least on her end of things – and kissing each other. Jesse was on top of her, not weighing her down for fear of hurting her or the baby, and he kissed her neck, her collarbone, and went down to her navel. He rolled on his side next to her and ran his fingers on the tiny baby bump. He grinned.

"Every morning I pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming," he said. "We did this." He drew little circles on her belly and planted a kiss there as well.

"Yes, well… it wasn't planned," she replied. "But I don't regret it," she quickly added when his face fell a little.

"Can I ask you something?" he said, propping himself on his elbow and keeping his other hand on her belly. When she nodded, he continued. "Would you have reached out to me if it wasn't for her?" He smirked and Nevaeh giggled lightly.

"I don't know. Maybe yes, but it would have taken me longer." She paused. "I don't even know why I was so mad at you. Like, it's wasn't your fault, we were both drunk and all, so we were both to blame I guess."

Jesse pulled the covers over them and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I think you enjoy arguing with me a little too much."

"That's a possibility," she agreed, kissing him back. They ended up making love again, but this time, it was much slower and more genuine than the last time. Jesse spent the night in her bed, curled up around her and they slept like the dead.

The next morning, Nevaeh's phone buzzed on the nightside table and she woke with a start. Jesse's arm was around her and she reached for her phone. It was Nathan calling her.

"What?" she said in a groggy voice.

"Nev, we're all waiting for you and Jesse!" he yelled. "Mom says we can't open the presents unless you're both here, and I swear if I find out that you two spent the night together–"

Jesse grabbed the phone from Nevaeh and held it to his ear. "What if we did?"

"Damn, man," Nathan said right before Jesse put the phone on speaker. "I don't even know what to say…"

"Then just mind your own business," Nevaeh said, taking the phone back. "We'll be down in a minute." She hung up and sighed. But then both of them burst out laughing. "What were you thinking when you took the phone, Jess?" she said, chastising him a little.

"I don't know, I panicked!" Jesse replied, laughing in her neck.

"Come on, we're late." Nevaeh pushed the covers away and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was somewhat naked so she grabbed the first thing she could reach for, which happened to be Jesse's shirt, and put it on. "How do I look?" she teased, striking a pose.

Jesse smirked. "Hot."

"Of course, I am." Nevaeh clicked her tongue and went to the bathroom to freshen up before putting on a comfy sweater dress that was large enough to hide her belly. She slipped on a pair of black pumps and when both were ready, they went downstairs with Nevaeh's basket of gifts.

The moment they stepped into the living room, Nathan and Henri whoops and wiggled their eyes at them, but Nevaeh promptly ignored them. She settled all her gifts under the Christmas tree before settling herself with Jesse at the foot of a couch, near Silas and Xi's feet.

"Alright!" Uncle Toby said. He distributed the presents, one after the other so everyone could see what everyone was getting, and it took them almost two hours to go through everything. At the end, there was paper and ribbons everywhere, and genuine smiles on all the faces.

Silas cleared his throat. "Uhm, we'd, uh, like to say something."

"Oh, my God, are you pregnant?" Nathan asked, only to be whacked behind the head by his father.

"Let him speak," he said.

Silas and Ximena shared a look. "You all know we're getting married soon, on January 17th," Silas started, "and since Xi will have quite a few bridesmaids, I'm going to need some groomsmen to even it out…"

"Since I have one maid of honor and four bridesmaids," Ximena said, "he's going to need the same number of guys."

"Yes," Silas continued. "Ezra will be my best man, but I would want you guys to be my groomsmen."

"Woop! Yeah man!" Nathan said. "You mean all of us? Like me, Val, Henri, and Jesse?"

Silas nodded. "But only if you want to, you don't have to–"

"Of course, we want!" Val said, looking at Henri for support, who also agreed.

"Jesse?" Silas said.

Jesse seemed to be a little taken aback by this invitation. Silas had called him a bloodhound for tea, in the past… "I'd be honored," he said and Nevaeh squeezed his hand. She knew how much working for the Royal family meant to him, and for him to be one of the future king's groomsmen was higher and better than he could have ever imagined.

"What about you, Xi?" Nevaeh said. "Who will be your Maid of Honor and your bridesmaids?"

"Laurel Coleman," she replied.

"Who's that?" Nathan asked, throwing a ball of wrapped paper at her, landing on her lap.

"My best friend and co-worker," Ximena said, tossing back the paper right into his face, which made everyone laugh. "She's been handling Raihna while I was gone, and she already knows she's going to be my Maid of Honor."

"I'm excited to meet her," Nevaeh said. "And you're bridesmaids? There are four, right?"

"Yes: Laelia, Brandy, Odessa, and maybe Leigh? But I'm not sure about her, yet." She paused. "I still need to ask them, and I would totally understand if Leigh doesn't want to do it."

"Plan B?" Valerian asked. "I mean if Leigh or some others don't want to come back for this?"

Ximena shrugged. "I haven't really thought about that," she said. "I mean, Nevaeh for one? But then I don't know. Whoever's still in your Selections, I guess."

Henri sniggered at that, and Nathan whacked his cousin behind the head. "Have some respect, dude."

They all continued bantering and bantering over brunch but all in all, it was a very nice Christmas morning. Nevaeh wondered who her Maid of Honor would be if she ever got married – though she was pregnant…

-o-0-o-

Nevaeh had spent every waking hour after Christmas to get the New Year's Ball ready: thank goodness she had started a few weeks ago and sent invitations a couple of months ago. But she had done so many of these parties that her check-list was easy and quickly filled.

On the 29th of December, all nine Selected came back, all at the same time in the same Limousine from the airport. Nevaeh didn't want to admit it, but she had missed them, and the constant chatter, laughter, and overall good mood in the palace. Yes, they were rivals, but they were also great friends, by now, and they would remain so for a long time, still. Nevaeh was still careful to wear layers or large clothes over her growing bump, but she wouldn't be able to hide it forever. No one – apart from Jesse, of course – knew about it, not even her mother.

As soon as the girls were settled in again, Nevaeh requisitioned the girls to help her out with the last details of the ball. But Pallas was nowhere to be found.

When all nine girls – Ximena included – were gathered in the ballroom, Nevaeh asked, "Does anyone know where Pallas Ramirez is?"

Gail and Jen exchanged a knowing look. "I think I saw her with Henri earlier his morning…" Jen said, smirking.

"I see." Nevaeh sighed. "Oh, well, we don't expressively need her right now– I just hope she knows what she's getting into," she said, typing something on her iPad. "He's not as bad as Nathan, but not far."

"Yeah, well, he can't be worse than Nathan in any case," Gail said. "But that's why we love him, right?"

Jen and Emelda giggled in agreement. Morrigan was more reserved in her appreciation of Nathan, though Nevaeh knew she had some feelings towards him. She just didn't know to what extent: was she coming back because she really liked him or because this was her safe haven from her mother and agent?

Nevaeh looked at the four girls who had come back for Valerian: Eve, Ashia, Essie, and Dyani. They were a little trickier and Nevaeh wished she knew more about their feelings for the silver-haired prince. One thing that was sure was that Valerian had missed them terribly during the Christmas break, and had hinted that he had missed one, in particular, the most, though he did not say who. Henri and Nathan had tried to pry the answer out of him, but Valerian hadn't budged.

She gave out her orders, and the girls went directly to their assigned tasks, like a well-oiled ship: they were used to organizing parties by now, though they still needed Nevaeh's guidance. She smiled at her herself: whoever would win Val and Nate's heart would be well-enough trained to second Ximena in her tasks of being queen consort to Silas.

The two days right before the New Year's Eve ball were hectic: with all the Christmas decorations gone, the palace had been transformed to look festive and hopeful for the next year, with at least one wedding coming up in just a few weeks – eeek! – but thank God the queen had hired a professional wedding planner and Nevaeh didn't have to do that one too: she deserved some rest.


eeeeek! how uwu was this chapter!?

sorry, we didn't see the girls a lot, but they were on holiday ;) I hope you enjoyed the uwu-ness of Jessaeh :eyes:

only nine chapters left (!), and I can assure you that they will be full of uwu and love and cuteness... I don't want to spoil anything, but you might want to stick around for the next chapter :eyes: several things might happen that you won't want to miss... :eyes:

check out the Instagram account for some posts this week (and if you missed last week's posts too, go check them out!). see you on Saturday! byeeee~


Translation:

Quoi? Déjà? = What? Already?
espèce d'idiot! = you idiot!