Chapter 27

"Your Highness, might you honor me with this dance?" Neal asked, bowing. Eliena glanced at her parents. Both gave just the slightest nod. Eliena rose and offered Neal her hand.

"Nealan of Queenscove, it would be my pleasure to dance with you," she replied. As princess, she didn't need to curtsy. Neal helped her off the dais and kissed her hand.

"Thank you." Eliena grinned. From the way Neal was acting, no one could tell how he really was. Neal led Eliena onto the dance floor and they started to dance.

"So, are you enjoying yourself?" Eliena asked.

"Oh, yes. It's quite funny to stand with the young men. You know, they're all elbowing each other saying, 'No, you ask her first!' You're intimidating them, El. Finally, I just walked over. Look." Eliena glanced at the men Neal was talking about. They were gaping at Neal. She smiled and threw her head back to laugh before leaning in to make sounds in his ear. "You're an evil girl, Eliena of Conté."

"Thank you." Eliena tossed her head. They laughed.

When they finished, Neal returned Eliena to her dais with a bow. "You dance splendidly, Your Highness," he flattered.

"As do you, Nealan," she replied, sitting once again.

"I hope you will save me another dance," Neal remarked.

"I shall do my best." She dismissed him with an incline of her head. As Neal rejoined the group of young men, they all seemed to jump on him with questions. Eliena smirked to herself.

"Your Highness, might I have the honor of this dance?" Eliena looked and saw Lord Martin bowing to her. She cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt, the secret sign to her parents that she didn't wish to dance with the person.

"Lord Martin, Eliena is quite tired, she's been dancing all evening you know. I think she will sit this one out," Jonathan explained. Lord Martin bowed again and nodded.

"I understand." Eliena offered her hand and he kissed it. "Happy Birthday, Your Highness. May the gods shine on you this and every day." Eliena inclined her head politely, not trusting herself to say anything.

The next dance went to Duke Gareth, the following to Raoul, then one to Gary, one to Myles, one to George, and one to a new knight Eliena couldn't remember the name of. Halfway through the evening, Jonathan rose and turned to his daughter.

"Will you honor me with this dance, Princess Eliena?" he asked, eyes dancing. He took her hand and helped her up as Eli giggled. She curtsied.

"The honor would be mine, Your Majesty," she replied. Alanna grinned.

"Have fun!" she told them. Jonathan led Eliena to the floor, and a path was cleared for them.

"Oh, no, keep dancing," he told the people they passed. They obeyed. Jonathan took Eliena and started dancing with her. "How's your birthday so far?"

"Wonderful," she replied. "I only wish some of those boys wouldn't be so afraid of me!" She acknowledged the boys who Neal had mentioned before. "Many are almost knights-or new knights. The only new knight I danced with was so nervous he stepped on my feet!"

Jonathan chuckled. "It never occurred to me this might happen to you. I never had this problem myself. Because I was a man, I asked ladies to dance with me. And, being the prince, they rarely said no."

"You're getting full of yourself again, father," Eliena warned him. Whenever her mother wasn't around, it was Eliena's job to keep her father's pride in check. Jonathan returned the favor for his daughter.

"Why don't you dance with Leo? Then maybe they wouldn't feel so nervous," Jonathan suggested.

"Father, Leo and I are fighting. You know that," Eliena reminded him. "Somehow, I think that dancing with him might bring about disaster."

"You could get the upper hand by agreeing to dance with him," Jonathan sing-songed. Eliena's eyes lit up. Get the upper hand? That sounded promising.

"OK. But how will you convince him to dance with me?" Eliena asked.

Her father's blue eyes were guarded. "Oh, I'll manage something."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Jonathan pulled his squire aside. "Leo, you know how you want to be friends with Eliena again?"

"Yes…" Leo replied.

"Ask her to dance," Jonathan told him.

"Uncle Jon, she hates me," Leo said. "There's no way she'd agree to dance with me."

"Oh, you'd be surprised what Eliena will agree to," Jon mentioned mysteriously. Leo eyed his uncle, knight-master, and king, but the king revealed nothing in his body language or sapphire eyes. Leo sighed.

"All right. But I'm telling you, she won't."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Might Your Highness honor me with this dance?" Leo asked, bowing deeply to his princess, former friend, and crush. As she had done for almost every other man, Eliena glanced at her parents. Jonathan nodded. Alanna watched her husband with a suspicious look, but nodded as well. Eliena knew that her mother would grill her father while she and Leo were dancing. Eliena faced Leo and gave him her hand. As many others had done, Leo helped Eli to her feet and kissed her hand.

"It would be my pleasure, Squire Leonard," she replied. Leo led her to the dance floor. Daine, who was dancing with Numair, and Neal, who stood with the other young men, looked shocked. Eliena and Leo were dancing? What was going on?

Eliena noticed that Leo had grown quite a bit since they had last…spoken. He stood over six feet in height, but still two inches shorter than Jonathan. And he was four inches shorter than Raoul and Numair, but three inches shorter than his father. She couldn't read Leo's hazel eyes, which bothered her. Just because they were no longer friends meant he wouldn't let her see his feelings? His brown hair was perfectly combed, which was very un-Leo. His scarlet hose subtly showed the time Leo spent in the saddle with his defined leg muscles. His billow-sleeved scarlet shirt hid what Eliena knew were well-muscled arms. She also knew that his chest was strong and she could count eight abdominal muscles when he was shirtless. His golden tunic and scarlet shirt hid this, however.

Eliena, whose rooms looked out over the practice courts, had secretly spent long amounts of time watching the pages, squires, and knights practicing. Many of them practiced shirtless, giving Eliena a chance to sigh without anyone knowing. Leo had surprised her with how well he was built, as had Neal.

Leo said something, but Eliena missed it. She smiled. "Sorry, Leo, what? My mind was… elsewhere."

"Thinking of Numair?" Leo asked meanly. Eliena looked taken aback.

"Leo!" she gasped. "How could you talk like that? I'll have you know that he and I didn't even make it past the boat home!" Her violet eyes snapped and crackled like flames in a fireplace on a cold winter's day. Leo softened, and let the guard in his eyes drop. Eliena saw that there was the same wicked gleam in his eyes that were in his father's.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'd said Happy Birthday." Eliena smiled at him.

"Thank you," she replied. They were silent for a while.

"I'm sorry for how I acted in Carthak!" they blurted together and laughed.

"You first," Leo told her.

She blushed slightly. "I had no right to act the way I did. I was…mad is all." Leo smiled.

"You've picked up Daine's speech habits," he remarked. Eliena smiled.

"We've spent a lot of time together. We're very close," she explained. "Now, your turn."

"I shouldn't have said the things I did. I was out of place- both as a loyal subject and as a friend," Leo told her.

"I forgive you," they said together and laughed.

"Friends?" Eliena offered.

"Always," Leo replied. They smiled at each other. The song came to a close and Leo escorted Eliena back to her dais. He bowed and kissed her hand. "Princess Eliena, you dance like an angel."

"Squire Leonard, you overly flatter me," she replied. "But you dance very well too." Jonathan and Alanna exchanged a knowing glance. They could tell that the two were friends again. Alanna saw flashes in Eliena that reminded her of herself: flashes meaning that the princess felt something for her long-time friend. Leo stepped up on the dais momentarily and whispered in Eliena's ear, "You look beautiful tonight, Eliena. Like a goddess." With that, he walked away and to Neal. Eliena looked shocked.

"What is it, Eli?" Jonathan asked.

"Nothing," Eliena replied, a secretive smile creeping across her face. "Nothing at all."

Author's Note- and next chapter will start the ROTG-ness. I want to get some reading done in it tonight, to refresh my memory. DON'T FORGET TO GIVE IMPUT ON THE FINAL PAIRING POLL! As things are going now, this story may get quite long. With what, I won't tell. REVIEW.