Chapter 10

It was noon on the second day of Midwinter when Leo found Eliena in the royal family's dining room. From about eleven to one, the eighteen people permitted to eat at the royal dining table drifted in and out of the room reserved for their eating purposes only. Eliena was sitting with Daine and Numair. They were talking and eating. Leo took a seat beside Eliena.

"Hello," she greeted, kissing him.

"Hi, Leo," Daine said, waving slightly. "Escaped for a minute?" Leo laughed.

"You could say that. Uncle Jon decided I could break for lunch," he replied. "Unfortunately, I have to also deliver their order for lunch. The king and queen are working on something, so I get to play slave boy for the day."

"Oh, poor you," Eliena teased. "Playing slave boy for my parents." Leo glared at her, but he didn't mean it.

"El, I need to talk to you, so finish up. Its important," Leo said. Eliena raised her eyebrows.

"Well, now that you've piqued my interest, how can I say no?" she asked. Leo laughed again and kissed her forehead as she stood up.

"That's my Eli," he replied and went to get food.

"Brainstorm: what could he be talking about?" Eliena asked, turning to Daine and Numair.

"He wants help with your parents," Daine replied. Eliena made a face.

"Doesn't sound like Leo," she said. "Numair?"

"Maybe he's looking to court you," the mage suggested.

"You think?" Eliena asked, watching Leo laugh with some of the kitchen servants.

"Haven't you been sharing a…room for nearly a month?" Daine wanted to know. Eliena blushed slightly and nodded. "And he's been in love with you forever."

"Maybe." Eliena shrugged. "I suppose I'll find out soon enough. Excuse me." She rose, taking her tray with her. Dumping her garbage, she followed Leo out.

They went into her parents' study, and Eliena noted the guarding spells on the room. Her parents were sitting at their desks, bent over books and papers. Gary and Myles were in chairs, reading intently and making notes.

"What's going on here?" Eliena asked. Everyone looked up.

"Trying to work out this marriage," Gary replied. Eliena nodded: as part of the treaty between the Yamani Isles and Tortall, Jonathan and Alanna had agreed to marry Roald to one of their princesses. Roald was the heir to Barony Olau, and the princess he married would help him in running the fief if Myles were to die and Alanna couldn't handle it. Roald was at the City of the Gods, training to be a mage, and was only fourteen. His twin sister, Lianne, was going to be a lady.

"It seems like more than that," Eliena remarked.

"Well, it doesn't help that Scanra and the Copper Islands don't understand that the war is over," Alanna replied. "I think we need to explain it to them. Though, truthfully, I'd prefer not to use force." As Alanna was a knight, Jonathan could let her handle those affairs while he handled politics.

"You, mother?" Eliena teased. Alanna glared at her. "Anyway. So, what's Leo doing?"

"He's our errand boy for the day," Myles replied. "And in a few hours he'll be taking over for me so I can go teach the pages." Eliena nodded.

"That's part of the reason we wanted to see you," Jonathan said. "We'd appreciate it if you could help Myles in going through all the particulars of the events with Carthak and the war. You'll help him out for a few days, and by helping you could help us get work done." Eliena nodded. So her parents had wanted to talk to her, not Leo. Her heart fell a little. She'd wanted Leo to ask to court her.

"I've a question, Uncle Jon, Aunt Alanna," Leo put in. Everyone turned to look at him while Eliena's heart rate quickened. Was this it?

"Go on," Jonathan prompted.

"I was hoping, with your consent as well as Eliena's, that I might have permission to court her," Leo explained. He smiled at Eliena. "I really like her."

"We can tell," the Lioness remarked. "Well, I don't see a problem with it. Jonathan?"

"Nor do I. Eliena?" Gazes shifted to Eliena, whose smile was a mile wide.

"I'd love for you to court me, Leo," she said, maintaining a level voice.

"Go on and let it out, Eli. We can all see you're dying to," Gary allowed. Eliena threw herself at Leo, hugging him tightly.

"Of course you can court me, you dolt!" she exclaimed. "Was there ever a chance I'd say no?" Leo laughed and kissed her. Myles and Gary had suspected that there had been something between Jonathan's squire and the princess for a while, but then they were sure. Gary, who had secretly known about the affair between Alanna and Jonathan when they were that age, smiled. Like mother, like daughter, he thought.

"We can announce it tonight," Alanna resolved. "And this, of course, excuses you from being escorted by anyone else for the whole social season. But you do still have to attend the outer functions you agreed to." Eliena nodded. She knew how it would work.

"You have half an hour," Jonathan said. "Go tell your friends." Eliena and Leo bowed and rushed out. Once in the hall, Leo lifted Eli—he was six feet tall to her five foot four—and spun her around. As he slowed down and began putting her back on the ground, their lips met.

"This is going to be great," Eliena remarked. "I just know it."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Neal walked into Sir Myles' class, which was usually his favorite and saw a familiar figure talking with Myles. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Eliena was standing there. She wore Neal's favorite outfit on her: tan breeches tucked into knee-high soft deep brown leather boots and a nicely fitted blue-violet shirt. Her long black curls were only half pulled back from her face, the rest spilling over her shoulders. Even from where he stood in the back of the room, he saw that her violet eyes shone.

"Go in!" Kel hissed from behind him. Neal looked around and saw that the only open seats were right up front. He swallowed and followed Kel to them. They sat down, and Neal tried to make himself invisible.

"Is everyone here?" Sir Myles asked. He got a mumbled "yes" from the first-years, who were slightly worn out. "Good. As you can see, we have a special guest with us today, everyone say hello to Princess Eliena of Conté, my granddaughter."

"But don't get up," Eliena put in hurriedly. "I look like a fool when I bow and I'm in breeches." The pages chuckled. Neal smiled to himself. He'd always loved how Eliena made fun of herself. Myles sat down behind his desk and Eliena went to the front of the room. "Now. Who knows about the Carthak peace talks?" A few pages raised their hands—Neal included. "I wouldn't expect many of you to know the particulars. It was kept fairly quiet, and it was just about two years ago. If I remember anything about being eight, it was that I frankly didn't care about any of 'that political stuff', as I so wonderfully referred to it as." That got a few more chuckles.

"Excuse me, your highness?" It was Quinden of Marti's Hill, a year-mate but not friends with Kel or Neal. He was a part of Joren of Stone Mountain's group—who hazed younger pages.

"Yes, page? I'm sorry I don't know your name." She smiled apologetically.

"Quinden of Marti's Hill, your highness." Eliena nodded. She would remember it. "Wasn't Page Nealan fifteen?" Eliena's violet eyes found Neal.

"Yes, he was. Nealan, what can you tell us about the Carthaki peace talks?" Eliena asked, walking so she stood in front of Neal. She purposely didn't mention how he and Leo had snuck into Carthak to rescue her.

"Well, your highness, I know that the delegation's main purpose was to arrange a peace treaty with the late Emperor Ozorne. They brought along Daine the Wildmage, because the emperor's birds were sick. And, of course, you went along to. I know there was a controversy with the wish to marry you to Emperor Kaddar," Neal replied. He knew a lot more, but if Eliena wasn't mentioning that he was in Carthak, neither was he.

"Very good, Nealan," Eliena praised. She started walking around as she spoke. "Just recently the finer details were able to be made public, but you are going to be the first to hear them.

"As Nealan said, I was a part of the delegation. The other members were Duke Gareth the Elder of Naxen, Sir Gareth the Younger, Lady Thayet, Master Numair Salmalín, Lord Martin of Meron—" Neal caught the flash in Eliena's eyes as she said his name, "—various mages and clerks, and Veralidaine Sarrasri, the Wildmage. We were welcomed by Kaddar—excuse me, Emperor Kaddar, he was only a prince when we were there—and then taken to the palace. We met the emperor—Ozorne—and it was fairly uneventful the first few days. We took tours; saw the menagerie, et cetera. Not long into the talks, Emperor Ozorne said that he would not agree to peace unless I agreed to marry Kaddar. I had two weeks to think it over. I agreed, but was then released from it. Daine was kidnapped. We didn't know where she went, or anything. She just disappeared. I was once again offered the marriage, and this time accepted. Daine then reappeared. This time, I couldn't get out of it—the marriage, I mean. Not long after, Numair was arrested.

"For those of you that don't know, Numair was once known as Arram Draper, and he was a student at the university in Carthak. He worked for Emperor Ozorne, but was arrested for some reason I don't remember. He was put in the dungeons. Eventually, he escaped. When he came to Tortall, he was changing his name and trying to avoid being captured by Emperor Ozorne. When we went as a delegation, Ozorne pardoned Numair, but under certain terms. Ozorne managed to arrest Numair and execute him.

"This is the one piece of information that is kept private, so I can't tell you how we found out, but we learned he was alive and well. With the aid of Stormwings—don't look like that. It was a particular Stormwing who I'm sure you've heard of, Rikash Moonsword. He found out that his king and queen were being held captive. With Rikash's help, we managed to trick Ozorne into turning himself into a Stormwing. Those particulars you'll learn with Tkaa or Numair, I believe. In any event, that's the end of it. Or, so we'd thought, at least."

"Any questions?" Myles wanted to know. A page put up his hand.

"Go on," Eliena told him. "Name, too, please."

"Esmond of Nicoline, your highness." Eliena nodded. "What do you mean by 'so you thought'?"

"Well, Esmond, I'll be getting into that as soon as we finish questions. Those are the events that lead into what's being called the Immortals War," Eliena replied. "Next? Yes."

"Keladry of Mindelan." The princess nodded. She already knew who Kel was. "Are you still betrothed to the emperor?"

"Oh, gods no!" Eliena replied. "As soon as Kaddar became emperor he signed the treaty and got rid of that particular term. If he hadn't, I would be empress of Carthak right now, and none of you would be having this class, because Tortall would be a part of Carthak." She pointed to another page.

"Seaver of Tasride, your highness. How does that work? Because, begging your pardon, you aren't queen yet."

"That's true. See, just before I left, I was permitted to see the terms of the marriage. They stated that as soon as the marriage between Kaddar and I was official, Tortall would be absorbed by Carthak. Otherwise, it would just be a matter of time until I was queen that it would happen," Eliena explained.

"But couldn't one of your siblings become king or queen instead?" Seaver asked. Eliena shook her head.

"That only happens if I'm dead. Though many Tortallans would probably think me dead by marrying into such a thing, I would still be queen of Tortall, and neither of my siblings would take over. If I had married Kaddar and died without an heir, he would simply marry again and Tortall would've stayed a part of Carthak until someone revolted." She looked around. "Any other questions before I go on to the Immortals War? No? OK, then.

"Remember how I said we tricked Ozorne into turning himself into a Stormwing? Well, he wasn't exactly thrilled about that, so he gathered Stormwing, human, and other immortals allies to attack us, as you know. How many of you saw the dragons?" Hands went up all around the room. "Did you know that I helped to command from the back of Diamondflame—the big blue dragon?" Some pages nodded. "We warned my mother of a Copper Islands reinforcement ship right on their tail. And I killed Ozorne from the back of that dragon." She paused. "And I almost died. Did anyone see the big ruby and black sparkly fire cloud?" Many more nodded. "That was Master Numair and Inar Hadensra. For only a second Inar's magic escaped and it started to kill me. My mother had to bring me back from the Realms of the Dead—the same place she rescued my father from when he had the Sweating Sickness as a page. You owe it to her that I can tell you about this!" She chuckled slightly, though the memory frightened her. "And then the dragons breathed on this—" Eliena held up her ember stone, "—and told me that if I ever needed them all I had to do was hold it and think of them. That essentially means that we now have dragon allies." A murmur went through the group. "So, any questions?" Almost every hand shot up. "Quinden?"

"Everyone knows that the story of the queen saving the king from the Sweating Sickness is a lie. He wasn't really going to die," the page said. Eliena raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, really? Well, maybe you'd like to explain that to my parents. I'm sure they'd love to hear the story," she remarked as Quinden blushed. "Seaver?"

"What did it feel like to almost be in the Realms of the Dead?" he asked, and everyone leaned forward.

"Well, I was in the place between life and death. It was dark, cold." Her eyes clouded as she remembered. "The Black God was reaching out to me, drawing me closer and closer. Then I heard—and saw—my mother. She pulled me back." Her eyes cleared again. "That's all I really remember. It was an uncomfortable place to be, let me tell you that! Next? Nealan?"

"How was the magic killing you?" He already knew the story, but asked for the sake of the others.

"Well, it clogged up my windpipe and blocked my arteries. Basically, I couldn't breathe and there was no blood circulating through my body. That's bad," Eliena replied. "You, with the red hair."

"Merric of Hollyrose, your highness. Can we see a dragon?" he asked eagerly. The other pages nodded. Eliena laughed.

"I don't think they would like that much," she replied. "But I can make an image of one for you."

"Yes! Please do!" the pages enthused. Eliena laughed again. She has such a beautiful laugh, Neal thought with an inward sigh. So musical. Eliena called up a violet ball and closed her eyes. Her lips moved in silent words.

Suddenly, there was a large dragon sitting in the middle of the room. Everyone gasped as they looked at the life-like image before them. The dragon was the same colors as Diamondflame had been, but glowed violet with Eliena's Gift.

"This is a dragon," Eliena said, but there was no need to. Everyone knew. "I've made him to look like Diamondflame, the dragon I was riding when I killed Ozorne."

"Can we touch him?" Esmond asked breathlessly.

"No, it won't hold up to that," Eliena replied. "In fact, this takes quite a lot of effort. Say goodbye everyone." The image disappeared and violet fire was sucked back into Eliena's palms.

"Class is actually over," Myles put in. "If you have anymore questions for Eliena, you may find her later. Good day!" The pages filed out. Neal lingered in the doorway, watching as Eliena spoke animatedly with Sir Myles. He sighed and left to go to mathematics.

Author's Note- who knows what's coming next chapter? I bet many of you do! It won't earn you a cookie or anything, but I'll be very proud if you predict it. LOL, just kidding. The ball and the ANNOUCEMENT are coming up. So, I'd love a REVIEW, my darlings!