Chapter 9

"Page Nealan?" Eliena asked as Neal was removing their dishes for the soup.

"Yes, your highness?" Neal replied with a bow.

She looked at him, but he avoided her eyes. "Could you please send Master Oakbridge to us?"

"Yes, your highness." Neal went off.

"Eli, what are you doing?" Leo asked. Eliena smiled at him.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Eliena," Jonathan said. "You're planning something."

"Why does everyone think I'm planning something all of a sudden? I just asked to see Master Oakbridge!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"You have that twinkle in your eye," Leo explained. "The one you get when you're thinking up something evil." Eliena stuck her tongue out at him and Leo grinned. "See? I'm right."

"Shut up," she told him.

"You know, you're really starting to remind me of Neal," Leo muttered, but Eliena didn't hear.

"You wished to see me, your highness?" Master Oakbridge was beside her, bowing. "Is everything all right with Page Nealan?"

"Oh, simply wonderful, thank you. In fact, do you think you could assign him to wait on us every night? It doesn't matter if he doesn't look perfect, he's a magnificent server," she requested. Master Oakbridge bowed.

"I'm sure I could arrange that, your highness. Is that all?"

"It is, thank you." She inclined her head as Oakbridge bowed once again. As he walked off, Jonathan gave Eliena a stern look.

"That wasn't nice, Eli," he told her.

Eliena smiled at him. "I'm a princess—who says I have to be nice?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Queenscove!" Master Oakbridge called back in the kitchen. Neal straightened and bowed.

"Yes, Master Oakbridge?" he asked.

"You've just secured yourself a nightly serving of the royal table. Try to look presentable," the master of ceremonies replied. Neal gulped.

"Yes, sir," he said weakly. The teacher walked away and Neal groaned. "This has Eliena written all over it."

"What do you mean?" Kel asked.

"It would be just like Eliena to cook something like this up," he replied. "I know her to well to not see it."

"Why would she do that? I thought she hated you," Faleron said.

"She does. That's why she's doing it," Neal explained. "Eliena can get vicious when she's mad. That's why I hate being on her bad side."

"With power like that anyone would hate her bad side," Merric remarked. They all nodded in agreement.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Eliena!" Neal called. He was on his way to eat himself, but he needed to talk to Eliena. She turned, and Neal felt his heart leap. Eliena was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen. He knew that he'd always have a spot for her in his heart, even if she did end up married to someone else.

"Yes?" she asked, walking up to him. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What is it?" She's in princess mode, Neal thought. This isn't the reasonable Eliena I need to talk to. This is her highness

"I need to talk to you," Neal replied. "But turn off princess mode please." Eliena's royal appearance dropped. Her eyes regained their wicked twinkle, and her stance became full of attitude.

"Well? What do you want?" she asked. There it is. That's the Eliena I know, Neal thought. "I don't have long, so make it fast, Queenscove."

"Why did you get me to serve your table every night? Isn't not speaking to me enough?" Neal wanted to know. Eliena tossed her head.

"I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about," she replied.

"Oh yes you do," Neal said. "I know you better than that, El. That doesn't work." Her eyes flashed and Neal knew he'd said the wrong thing.

"Excuse me, Neal, but I think that you're mistaking our little relationship here." Her voice was cold and dripping venom. "We are not friends. Therefore, you may not use any shortened form of my name, which includes Eliena. Only friends and family may call me by my name. I believe that everyone else uses 'your highness.'"

"There's no use talking to you when you're like this," Neal remarked. "All I'm saying is can you please stop torturing me? You know how dramatic I am, and I'm driving all of my friends mad."

"Good," Eliena retorted. "Let you drive someone else mad for a change." With that, she walked away. Neal sighed. There's no reasoning with her, he thought. I'll just have to wait it out. But after she starts getting vicious, she starts getting catty. This is going to be interesting to say the least.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"El, you should go easier on Neal," Leo told her that night as they lay in her bed.

"What?" she asked, rolling to look at him.

"Go easy on Neal. He's still mooning over you," Leo replied. He ran his hand down the side of her face. "Not that I can blame him." Eliena smiled and kissed Leo.

"You know me, Leo. I get mad, and then I get even," she told him. "Sweet revenge."

"El, come on," Leo said. "Its not fair to be mean to him. You know how he gets. You know he writes poetry about you?" Eliena made a face. The small amounts of Neal's poetry that she had been subject to were painfully bad.

"Don't tell me it's about my eyes, or my hair, or anything else he writes about," she remarked.

"No. Worse. Its about how he's a lover scorned," Leo replied. Eliena groaned.

"Goddess, that's bad," she said. Her eyes shone. "Do you think you could sneak me some…"

"No, El," Leo told her. "No sneaking poetry so you can embarrass him." Eliena frowned. "See what I mean? Go easy on the poor guy. You can't help that he still loves you. Though, I am a little jealous." Eliena kissed him.

"Don't be jealous, Leo. My infatuation with Neal is over. I'm all yours now," she said. Leo chuckled.

"I'm glad to hear it," he remarked.

"You know, you're starting to sound more grown up," Eliena told him. "More like father… or Uncle George."

"I'm seventeen, almost a knight," Leo reminded her. "I guess it's about time I grew up. You sound more grown up yourself." Eliena grinned.

"Princesses need to grow up faster. You never know what might happen causing you to be queen. Father was king before he turned twenty-five," Eliena explained. She swallowed back tears. She'd often heard the story of her grandparents' untimely deaths, and it always made her sad. She's never known them.

"They died before you were born, Eli," Leo whispered. "There was nothing you could do." Eliena nodded.

"I guess. But you know that a cousin was killing them? If mother hadn't slain him… I wouldn't be here," Eliena replied.

"I know, Eli," Leo said soothingly. "But we can't dwell on the past. Duke Roger of Conté—that was his name—is long dead. Unless some powerful mage brings him back, he'll stay dead." Eliena nodded. "For now, all I want to do is hold you and get to sleep." Eliena smiled and kissed him.

"All right. Good night, then." She rolled so her back was against Leo. "I love you, Leo."

"I love you too… Tigress."

Author's Note- I have to do a story promo. Check out my new AG one-shot (yes, its REALLY an AG), "Carry Me Away." I needed to write some fluff, and I've been wanting to do an AG, so… voila! "Carry Me Away" was born! Chances are I'll stick to writing AJ, but maybe an AG one-shot here or there once in a while. Some unexpected things are happening on this story, so there will be a couple twists that I'm planning on. And there will probably be no Scanran war thing, but I'll probably mention it in passing.

Erin's Review Rant- I don't know how many times I've said it, but REVIEW. If you have the story on Alert or Favorites, you OBVIOUSLY care about what's going on. I don't care if you say "good job" or even just "update." REVIEW, because then I know you care. I'm sure there are people reading this who've never dropped a review on it. Even if you aren't registered on FF.N, do an anonymous review, I accept them. So…now that I've ranted about reviews…drop one!