Author's Note: Thanks soooo much to my small but very awesome band of readers for the reviews…sorry these took longer than the last couple of chapters have…they've been ready it's just that Christmas is getting a little hectic. Happy Holidays! *Emma the NazgulQueen*
Sunday drew nearer and nearer and training became more and more painful. They had both become very reserved and formal, and it killed Venitia, but she tried very hard not to show it. Donovan didn't seem to have this problem at all, since he seemed to keep himself very calm and collected.
On Friday, Venitia's hand shook so much as she tried to shoot an arrow that Donovan finally asked her if something was wrong.
"No," she said stubbornly.
"Why don't I believe you?" he said sarcastically.
"I don't know what can't I believe in you?" she countered.
"I don't know why don't you go ask your boyfriend over there," he countered back, nodding his head toward Teagan, who was sitting and watching intently.
"I can't believe this…why can't you just let it go?! And he is not my boyfriend!"
"Oh really…who are you going to the ball with?" he challenged.
She lowered her head in defeat and mumbled, "Teagan."
"Sorry, couldn't hear you."
"Teagan," she said, still barely audible.
"Sorry, still didn't catch it," he egged on.
"TEAGAN!" she screamed in his ear.
He put a look of satisfaction on his face and smirked.
"Um, I hate to interrupt, but I feel…well, maybe it's best that I go," Teagan said, coming over.
"Oh, no, stay. You can watch our every move," Venitia said to him but looked at Donovan with a look of challenge on her face.
"Fine with me," Donovan said.
Venny took extreme satisfaction in finding that Donovan was entirely not happy about this, and skulked with annoyance on his face whenever he could.
It finally reached five o'clock, and Donovan told, no, more like ordered them to go home. Venitia put her arm dramatically into Teagan's so that Donovan could see it. She smiled at herself.
"So, you do not have training tomorrow?" Teagan asked.
"No, I thought I would help father with preparations for the ball," she answered. "Plus I need to help Annette with my dress."
"Right. Well, I think I will leave you here since I was supposed to meet my mother ten minutes ago," he laughed. "See you at dinner, Venitia."
"Good-bye."
Venitia walked to her room, thinking about Donovan. Who knew he was so stubborn, she thought. She was suddenly struck by a thought.
She ran back to her father's study, where there was a pile of extra invitations that he was probably going to give to people that he had forgotten to invite. Next to the pile was a list:
Lady Chandelle
Sir Bernardo
The CadogansLady Oriana
Donovan
Donovan! What, why wouldn't he have invited him in the first place? That was what was bothering Venny as her father got older; the sudden decrease of memory.She grabbed a pen and crossed Donovan's name out as she picked up an invitation. She started walking when she got butterflies in her stomach and turned around. "Brannon!" she cried as she saw the butler walking ahead of her.
"Yes, my lady?"
"Oh, Brannon, will you take this to Donovan? Oh, but don't tell him that I sent you."
"Of course milady."
"Thank you so much."
What if he thought it was a pity invite? Best not to let him think it was from me, she assured herself as she made her way back to her room.
Saturday came, and Venitia made her way down to the very lowest floor of the palace where the sewing room was, where Annette was busy making not one, but three dresses.
"There you are girl! Come over here and help me out!" Annette was one of those servants who spoke to everyone the same way, whether you were a stable boy or a king.
Venny rushed over to wear the woman was sitting hunched over a blanket of blue satin.
"Hold it up," she ordered Venny.
Venny held it up in front of her, and her jaw dropped. Wait until Donovan sees me in this! No…Teagan sees me in this! Yeah, that's what I meant.
A look of confusion must have come over her face, for Annette said, "What, you don't like?"
"No! It's gorgeous!"
"Ah, Annette knows. You are thinking of who will see you in just a beautiful gown, eh?"
"Well…yes, I suppose so."
"Child, come here," Annette said. Venitia walked over and sat down. "Annette sees and knows all the things that go on in this palace. And she knows that you have had the company of two very dashing young men lately. The question is, which one do you really want to see you in that dress?" she asked with a look of knowing on her face.
Venitia sighed and stood back up and stared at herself with the dress. Annette was right; she was always right. Venitia was so confused. She whispered a thank you and mumbled something about being back later. Annette looked after smiling.
"Ah to be young," she said.
Venitia went outside and headed across the field toward the stables. She went to Crystal who had been good ever since that very first incident.
Venitia led the horse out and saddled her. She got on and rode off, not really knowing where she was going.
She rode for about an hour, when she ended up by a river, the clearest river Venny had every seen.
"How could I have ever missed this?" she breathed to herself.
Struck by an impulse, Venitia hurried over to a cliff overlooking the water. With a yelp of delight, she jumped into the clear water. She came up feeling refreshed and revitalized. She laughed at herself for being so silly, when she heard someone else laugh.
"Hello?" she called.
"Hello, fair one," she heard a musical voice say in Elvish. A tall elf stepped out of the trees.
"Legolas!" Venny cried, and hurried to get out of the water. Ever since she was a child, he father's friend had almost seemed like a second father. He was always popping out of nowhere, uninvited and without telling anyone when he was coming.
She ran to him and hugged him. "My dear, you have grown into a woman since I last saw you," he said.
She smiled. "And you of course have not aged a day," she chuckled.
"But what's this? I see a cloud over your eyes. Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"No…not really," she lied.
But you cannot lie to an elf. They are the wisest creatures of all, and Legolas was no fool. "Tell me," he said.
"Well…it's complicated. I suppose you know that father has decided to let me queen?" He nodded. "Well, he also said that I have to train to be a soldier, so he hired this man Donovan to train me, and things were going great. We were friends and I thought there was something more but he always held back, and so did I of course, but that's me! So anyways, then Lady Emilia shows up with her high-and-mighty daughter Tamanna and her son Teagan. So Teagan and I started doing things together, nothing big, so he started coming to all of my training practices and then Donovan and I had this huge fight about it and now were not friends anymore and I am so confused," she finally finished with a huge breath.
Legolas looked at her serenely for a moment, then beckoned for her to come sit. "And now there's this ball tomorrow and I have this gorgeous dress, but I don't know who I would rather go with. Maybe I should just go alone," she said exasperatedly.
Legolas smiled. "Sometimes our paths are not as clear as we would like them to be," the wise elf said. "But sometimes all we need to do is look at our past and learn from it. Think, melamin. What could be learned from your past? How can you keep it from repeating itself?"
He rose, kissed her on the forehead, and leapt onto his horse and headed back toward the palace. Venitia sat, lost in her thoughts. "How can you keep it from repeating itself?" Venitia was determined not to let another Thaddeus happen to her.
She thought of when they had met, when Thaddeus had come to be a soldier for her father. He was the daughter of the aristocratic Lady Carlotta. She had followed her son into the city, but died a year later from natural causes.
Thaddeus had been charming, charismatic and debonair. Later, Venitia would realize that they had never actually had a real conversation. She had been in love with the idea of him, and he had been in love with her beauty. Their whirlwind courtship that had astounded everyone was nothing but flowers and love letters and private dinners and walks through the woods. When he proposed, Venitia felt her world was finally complete. And when he left, she had felt her world had crumbled.
But now, sitting there wet and shivering in the woods by the river, Venitia put two and two together. It was what Annette had been trying to tell her and what Legolas had basically told her. Teagan was the same as Thaddeus! But no…they had had real conversations. Somewhat. She resolved to find the true Teagan out at the ball the next night.
