With a week to Beltane, the pressure was on. It was customary for couples to jump over the embers on Beltane so the Goddess would bless them with a child the next year. Jonathan and Alanna, as king and queen, were required to do so every year, whether Alanna wore her charm or not. Eliena would have to do it as queen as well.
But, Eliena was now engaged. It was generally viewed that, if you were betrothed, you would jump the embers. Daine was also betrothed, but she wasn't sure if jumping the embers before she was married was such a great idea, given her mother and father. The girls were all worked up about it, leaving Leo and Numair a bit confused.
"So just don't do it," Leo suggested one evening when they were all sitting together. Eliena and Daine looked at him, aghast.
"And just throw all Court traditions out the window?" Daine asked.
"Since when have either of you followed Court traditions?" Numair countered.
"This is one that we can't dismiss," Eliena explained. "Its…it's complicated."
"Try us," Leo and Numair said. Eliena sighed.
"No. You won't understand." She and Eliena exchanged a look that neither man could interpret.
Meanwhile, Cressida and Neal hardly ever saw each other. Cressida was ticked with Eliena for not letting her go to Carthak—apparently, Talia and Kaddar got on fabulously. Cressida was just a touch upset, because, in her words, "Kaddar is so handsome! And not Tortallan. This makes him interesting!" When Eliena pointed out that Neal was pretty darn interesting, Cressida only sniffed. "He's not interesting. He's too…scholarly." Eliena rolled her eyes, thinking of Kaddar and his studies.
"So what do you want?" Eliena asked.
"Interesting." Cressida smiled wickedly. "Handsome. Charming. Witty. Lots of muscles. Strong. A little wild and crazy." The gleam in her eye revealed to Eliena that Cressida was also thinking of the bedroom.
"Cressida," Eliena sighed. "There needs to be more to a person than just that. They should be loving, and caring, and kind…" Cressida sniffed.
"That's all well and good for you, Eli, but I want exciting," the girl replied.
"You're impossible," Eliena muttered. Cressida either didn't hear, or chose to ignore it.
Eliena was starting to realize that the adventurous Cressida she had known and loved when they were little had turned into a wild girl that Eli wasn't sure she liked.
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"Eli, are we ever going to plan the wedding?" Leo asked that night as they sat, legs hanging out Eliena's window. Eliena looked at him.
"Well, I figured we would wait to get married until after you're knighted," Eliena replied. "And that's about six months away."
"In other words, you plan on procrastinating," Leo guessed. Eliena smiled.
"Precisely," she confirmed. He sighed.
"Eli…" he began.
Eliena's eyes practically spat flames. "Listen, Leo. If you don't like it, then you plan the whole damned thing!" Leo looked at her, eyes wide.
"Something wrong, El?" he asked calmly. Eliena sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I don't know. Just…thinking about the wedding makes me think I'm going to throw up," she replied. "And it isn't a good kind of throwing up feeling, like nerves or anything."
Leo was silent for a moment before asking, "Is it that you don't want to get married?"
"I don't know," Eliena murmured. "Maybe."
Author's Note- I. Am. So. Evil. REVIEW.