A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but there's been a lot of stuff happening lately. Plus, my muse is in great need of Starbucks, and I can't find my money, so she refused to come out. But, anyway, in the end, Starbucks and guilt prevailed, and, without further ado, I give you the next chapter!


Chapter 9

DG giggled as she twirled in front of her mirror. She had insisted on having the entire family, plus Glitch, Raw, Cain and Jeb come and have dinner with her. She and Az and decided to dress up for the night, and they were currently in DG's walk-in closet, trying on every outfit she had and laughing like they were young again.

"Oh-oh gosh Az, I haven't laughed this hard since…well, I can't even remember!" DG exclaimed, once the two had calmed down a bit. Az smiled and nodded.

"Me neither. Oh jeez Deej, we've certainly changed over the years, haven't we?" Az asked her sister, lying her head on DG's shoulder. DG smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, we sure have."

The two sat for a while, contemplating themselves in the mirror, before Azkadellia sat up.

"All right, enough playing around. If you want to look your best tonight for Cain, we've got some serious work to do." She said.

She dodged DG's hand as her sister tried to smack her arm, and started rummaging through the dresses hanging up. DG went to help her, and they soon pulled out five different dresses. Az picked up a bright pink one that had small sequins embroidered on the bottom.

"Who in their right mind would even wear that?" Az asked DG, appalled.

"Oh I don't know, it might look good on you." Her little sister joked. This time it was she who dodged a smack. The pink dress was flung into a corner, and Az picked up another one. This one was longer, a dark green color, and was made of satin. Az held it up to DG and made a face.

"Definitely not your color." She said, and the green dress joined the pink in the corner.

Picking up another dress, Az held it up to DG, her eyes lighting up, and she thrust it into her sister's hands.

"Try this one." She commanded. DG rolled her eyes, but tried on the dress nonetheless.

It was beautiful. It was made of dark purple fabric that fell to just about her knees, just a little above. The waist was tailored to fit her exactly, and the bodice was covered by black lace. DG twirled in the mirror, admiring her reflection. She turned to Az and smiled.

"It's perfect!" she said happily. Then she looked her sister up and down.

"All right, now that we found me a dress, you gotta have one!" she laughed, and pulled her sister out of her closet and down the hall to her room. They entered Azkadellia's closet and DG looked around.

Az had most of the clothes the witch had made her wear burned after the eclipse, and her closet was now stocked full of light, loose dresses. Not a corset was in sight. DG ran to the back wall and picked out a light blue dress and ran back to Az. She held it up to her sister, but within a second had tossed it onto the bench occupying the middle of the closet. Az laughed and sat on the bench while DG rushed around, looking for suitable dresses.

After trying on more than ten dresses, DG finally brought out a light green dress and gave it to Az to try on. Rolling her eyes, the elder princess did as she was told and stood in front to the mirror. The dress fell to just below her knees, since that was as short as she would allow one of her dresses to be, and the sleeves were short. It hugged her curves in a sophisticated way and made her look extremely pretty and young, like a girl who was on her first date, not like one that had just been freed from the clutches of and evil witch.

Az smiled lightly as DG squealed with delight, and she gave a spin. As she turned, she caught sight of a very familiar face. She stopped dead and stared over DG's shoulder at the face of Jeb Cain. He smiled hesitantly. She immediately became flustered and cleared of a seat on the couch for him.

"Hello, Jeb, how are you?" DG asked cheerily. Jeb shrugged and said,

"Oh, I'm fine. And you, princess?"

"I'm fine. Az and I are trying to find dresses for tonight's dinner. What do you think of Az's." she asked him, noticing how his eyes kept wandering over to her older sister. Having and actual reason to look at her, his eyes slowly traveled the length of her body. He smiled at her.

"You look beautiful, Princess." He said softly. A bright blush made it's way over Az's cheeks at his compliment.

"Thank you, Mr. Cain." She said, her eyes downcast.

"Please, call me Jeb. Mr. Cain sounds far too much like my father." He said, a soft smile playing around his mouth. Azkadellia smiled too.

"Well, then, I insist you call me Az. Princess sounds far too formal."

"As you wish." He said, bowing his head slightly. In the background DG rolled her eyes at her sister, and Az had to suppress a giggle.

"Er, is there a particular reason you came to see me, Jeb?" Az asked politely.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I, um, well, I was just…coming to see if you were alright." He finally got out. He seemed about to say something else, but stayed silent. Az looked disappointed.

"Oh. Well, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. You can wait outside of my chambers, if you wish." She said, doing her best to hide her disappointment. Jeb nodded and stood.

"If you need anything…" he said, trailing off. Azkadellia smiled and nodded.

"We'll call." She said. Jeb nodded and bowed once more to her and DG, and then left the room.

As soon as DG heard the door to Az's chamber shut, she glared at Az.

"What?" her sister said, knowing the question about to be posed.

"You have a thing for JEB?" DG asked loudly. Az clamped a hand over her little sister's mouth.

"Do you want to blow the whole thing? Jeez DG, why don't you hold a ball and announce it to the whole world. Gods!" she exclaimed. DG stuck out her tongue, licking the palm of Az's hand.

"UGH!" She squealed.

DG glared at her sister, putting one hand on her hip.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you liked his father, and I thought you would think it strange. Plus, well, he's younger than me. In fact, he's younger than you!"

"SO? Wyatt is much older than me and I still love him!"

"Yes…well… this is different."

"Yeah? How so?"

"Er, he's my bodyguard, and uh…" Az trailed off, for she couldn't think of another reason why they shouldn't be together. DG smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Wyatt is my bodyguard. And, don't pull the whole 'princesses-don't-marry-commoners' thing. If princesses didn't marry commoners, we wouldn't be here, dearest sister of mine. So yeah, admit it. You totally like him. And I can see why. He's almost as cute as his dad."

Az glared at her.

"That SO didn't sound right." She muttered.

"Yeah, well, deal with it Az. There's something about those Cain men."


A/N: So, there you have it. Finally! I know it's really late and all, but it's always nice to spread a little holiday cheer around. Especially when there are Princesses, Cains and spiked eggnog involved! Haha, well, I hope you liked it, and I PROMISE to have the next chapter up as SOON as possible. Trust me, I would have written it into this chapter, but there wasn't really enough room. So leave me some feedback, whether you liked it, hated it, or just wan to berate me for waiting to freaking long with this chapter, please and thank you!