Chapter 23

Leo had to do squire things with Jonathan, but Eliena was too excited. She knew Daine and Numair would be around, so she used her power to locate Numair—they were in his chambers. Eliena pounded on the door.

"Its Eli, open up!" she called. "And you'd best be dressed!" She heard fumbling, muttering, and then, finally, Numair opened the door. His hair was mussed and his shirt was only half closed. "Ew, Numair. Finish closing your shirt. I really don't need to see your chest, thanks. I'm engaged now!"

"You're engaged!" Daine cried. "Come over here!" Eliena ran over and sat on Numair's bed.

"Oh, Eliena! So nice to see you!" he said sarcastically, shutting the door. "Me? Oh, yes, I'm fine."

"Shut up!" Eliena and Daine told him. Numair sighed and sat on Daine's other side as the Wildmage admired Eliena's ring.

"Goddess, Eliena, its so beautiful! I haven't seen it up close before," Daine remarked.

"That really is a great piece of craftsmanship," Numair agreed. "May I see?"

"I'm not taking it off," Eliena told him. "This is staying on my finger until my son or daughter is engaged." She got up. "I'll leave you two to your… whatever you were doing." She smiled wickedly. "Though, by your appearances I can guess." Daine flushed deep crimson. "Farewell!" Eliena walked out, shutting the door firmly behind her.

She proceeded to sprint to the practice courts. "Excuse me, Lord Wyldon, but might I see Page Nealan?" she requested, putting on her "princess" look.

"Of course, your highness," the training master replied, bowing deeply. "Queenscove!" he barked. Neal dropped his staff and jogged over to Eliena. She dragged him just inside and circled them to be invisible and unheard.

"Oh, magical spells against visibility and hearing. This is important," Neal commented.

"Shut up and admire my new jewelry," she commanded.

"You called me out of training to look at your new—Great Mother Goddess!" Eliena was holding up her left hand. Neal grabbed it. "Is that…?"

"The ring that was on my mother's hand until this morning? Yes. The Conté betrothal ring? Yes. A sign that I'm betrothed to Leo? Yes," Eliena replied. Neal ran his hand through his hair.

"Gods, Eli. Leo knows and he still proposed?" Neal whistled. "He's really something, that Leo."

"Well, he doesn't exactly know," Eliena said. "I haven't exactly told him yet."

"Eliena. You can't marry him without him knowing that we… you know," he told her seriously.

"Jeez, Neal. Its not that big a deal." Neal raised his eyebrow and Eliena blushed. "OK, maybe it is. But I'll tell him before we get married, promise. Just… not now. Don't you go telling him, though. I want him to hear it from me first."

"All right, I promise," Neal said.

"Swear." Eliena held out her hands.

"You want me to swear?" Neal asked incredulously.

"Gods, Neal, yes!" Neal rolled his eyes and sighed, getting down on one knee. He took her hands.

"I, Nealan of Queenscove hereby swear that I shall not tell Leonard of Pirate's Swoop that I shared a bed with Eliena of Conté," Neal said.

"And I, Eliena of Conté, swear that I will tell Leonard of Pirate's Swoop that I shared a bed with Nealan of Queenscove before I marry him," Eliena promised. Neal kissed her hands and dropped them.

"Happy? You've just made my knees hurt. If I'm not perfect, my lord Wyldon isn't going to be pleased," Neal grumbled.

"Oh, shut up." Eliena took off the spells. "Don't tell your friends, either. They need to find out later." Neal nodded.

"Got it." He waggled his fingers at her and went back to staff practice. Eliena went to find the other people she wanted to tell: Myles, Thom, Onua, Evin, Miri, Sarge, Buri, Raoul, Gary, Cythera, Eleni, Thayet, Liam, and Elizabeth.

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Eliena finally made her way back to her parents' study. She walked in without knocking and smiled at Leo, who was working on something for her father—presumably something to do with the impending war with Scanra.

"Hello, Eli," the queen greeted. "Leo said you two have something to tell us." Leo jumped up to stand beside his betrothed.

"Aunt Alanna, Uncle Jon, you know how I asked for your permission to ask for Eliena's hand yesterday afternoon?" Leo said. The monarchs nodded. "Well, I did and…"

"We're betrothed!" Eliena exclaimed.

"That's wonderful!" Jonathan cried. "Our little Eliena's going to be married, Alanna."

The Lioness smiled. "And so young! Goddess, at seventeen I still didn't want any of it!" Eliena grinned.

"That's why we're different, mother," she said, looking up at Leo lovingly. "I want it all."

Author's Note- none of that crazy "blessing the marriage" crud in this story. That annoyed me. I think they'll announce it next chapter and some other crazy stuff will happen. So, anyway. My friend Liz and I have decided that we're going to Cuba. She's Cuban and wants to go before she dies, and I promised I go with her. We'll probably get stuck there. I'm kidding, promise. We want to go SOME DAY, maybe later on in life. Maybe when I won't be killed by upset reviewers… just kidding. So, REVIEW.