They hadn't walked back over the same halls, and in fact they had gone in the opposite direction, and Lord Cedric had led the to what appeared to be a measly brooms cupboard. It was there that Elyon's curiosity grew and diminished, all at the same time and she stepped forward quickly to rattle at the door, but finding it refusing to open, Elyon let go and stepped back to look up at Cedric. "It's locked."
"Eínai fysiká, to kleidioú sto domátio tis mitéras sas." The words slipped from his lips in a sinister whisper which tickled at the pit f Elyon's stomach and blushed up to her rounded cheeks. His hand twisted toward his sleeve, as one might perform a magic trick at a show, and Elyon gleamed when he pushed a minuscule key to his fingertips. "Elyon; princess. For every lock there is a key."
With that Elyon responded to a playful smile of mirth, by tentatively removing the key from is hands, and sliding it into the door's lock. It made a low, scraping noise as she slowly turned the key, which felt heavier than it looked and it's silver shine didn't match the bronze doorknob, and for a split second she thought it wouldn't be the right one until it clicked. Looking one final time to Cedric - a precaution of making sure that the next step was permitted each time - when he nodded knowingly, Elyon practically pounced her hands onto the door to push it open and gape at the long, impossibly cramped, yet delicate winding staircase. With a movement of hands from Cedric, the room lit with a sparkling white glow that revealed only more to gasp at. White stone and marble linked the heavy, maroon wood of every step, and into the curved wood walls, there it was again - cherubs and flowers and vines which swirled marvelously and made little Elyon feel like she were.. Royalty.
After a sum of minutes, long after the impressed Lord Cedric had composed himself; unseen by Elyon's eyes, Elyon finally dragged her eyes away to wordlessly question the Lord, who to Elyon had never lost the calmly smile. "There is another entrance, but I felt you ought be able to feel like a real queen when you descended. Only the ladies of the house, with their advisory seconds have ever descended these stairs."
"My.. Second..?" Elyon blushed when Cedric held up his arm from the elbow; offering her to rest hers atop of take his hand. She was quick to lace her fingers around his own soft palm, making sure to keep her lady-like composure as she'd seen in so many films, but Elyon couldn't help but ruin the image with a grin.
Elyon Escanor; Princess of Meridian was elated when Lord Cedric too bared his teeth charmingly. "Like a queen."
...
It hadn't taken Will a few moments to notice the crowd of three, but she swam on, all too aware of the penetrating green eyes on her. Had Caleb never seen anyone swim before? Or was he just glaring at her because he wasn't done fighting and Will knew she was probably being silly not to trust Cornelia.. But she didn't want him to know that she knew that he was right. So she kept on swimming; ignoring the burn of her skin that she was sure was no longer from the water. She couldn't keep going like this, so when Will reached the pools edge once again, she would probably just have to get out and see what he wanted.
...
Elyon had greedily drank in the scene, which Cedric himself could not deny as magnificent. It wasn't a lie, that a downstairs male would be the one to take each Queen, down the majestic stairs, though Cedric himself had never worked with her whilst the Queen had lived, and his father had never been given the direct privilege Cedric had practically presented to himself. Elyon was in no depth to a queen, and not nearly well enough dressed, but it was the proper way, to take a lady majesty. "Where does it go?"
Cedric smiled at the echo of her childish voice around the room, and felt her shift her fingers with a modern Earth impatience. It was a room that Prince Phobos hated, and coming down these stairs was more necessary than Cedric let on, considering the man did not know the whereabouts of the key, for the other large doors into the ballroom. Celebration was banished, silently, by the young Prince, who Cedric knew to never once have been to an event - not even the celebrations of his own years - whilst Lord Cedric had once been brave enough to peek out for hours as laughter and music emitted from the larger entrance.
There was nothing to romance a woman quite like the beauty of the ball, and Cedric knew one as enthusiastic as Elyon and as imaginatively minded would not mind the haunting cobwebs. No doubt, Lord Cedric thought with a wry smile, Elyon would only resolve to clean it with her bare hands - the girl was yet to treat any as a royal should a servant and she would constantly get a raise of Phobos' brow as she acknowledged and thanked the dinner staff at the long, prestigious table; something Cedric was only himself allowed to stand attention at the wall, long feet away from (Elyon had accustomed not to speak to him, but still her grey eyes wandered over). Elyon would not have been a suitable queen, so Prince Phobos' actions were only a version of what Cedric, otherwise, would feel inclined to take.
Eínai fysiká, to kleidioú sto domátio tis mitéras sas. - Of course it is, the key was in your mother's room.