Her Royal Pen Pal

Chapter 16 [An Unexpected Turn of Events]

(Copyright) © 2011 Candle_Ice

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Chapter 16

Through no fault of his own, Leonidas was running late. All the time he wasted yesterday, avoiding Elise rather than telling her the truth, came back to bite him in the butt. Today, he was actually busy, but he still needed to find time and talk to Elise, sometime after his conference with the Ambassador to Callista and before his meeting with her father. But the conference would be a tense one, seeing as Callista and Elyria are still feuding over the under hand crimes carried out by their previous Ambassadors. 

He had called her and told her that he was running late, and she understood, and agreed to wait for him in his office. Hopefully he wouldn't be too long.

***

After the phone call last night, she was feeling a bit uneasy. His parting words weren't exactly comforting, so she spent the night in a restless slumber, twisting and turning as her dreams filled with various explanations as to what he had to tell her. What would his grandfather have to do with her being his girlfriend? Did he disapprove of her? And what did the Late Princess Leah have to do with it all?

Worrying over it would not help. And Leonidas being late wasn't helping either. She understood he had matters to attend to, but just because she understood, didn't mean she couldn't be upset about it. The longer she waited, the more time she had to think about her talk with Ari. 

This morning she had asked her father about Princess Leah, because she died before Elise was born. He just said that there were rumours that she was depressed during her mid-teenage years, and 3 years before her brother's coronation she died. One night during a celebration dinner, she was there, not saying much as usual, then she went to get some fresh air and just collapsed. The autopsy showed it was from an overdose or a misdiagnosis of medication on her part. But from what Ari told her, there was more to it than that. Things the palace kept secret.

So caught up in her thoughts, she didn't realise someone had entered Leonidas' office until the girl was standing directly in front of her.

"I'm sorry I startled you, but the secretary told me I could wait for the Crown Prince in here. I didn't realise someone else was already in here," the new comer said.

"That's alright. No harm, no foul," Elise smiled, as she took in the girl's skinny jeans and dress blouse. She looked like she just stepped out of the page of a fashion magazine! From her shiny blonde hair to her designer pumps.

Sitting in the chair next to the one Elise was in, the girl turned to her and gave her a genuinely bright smile whilst sticking out her hands to introduce herself, "I'm Catie, by the way." [A/N: pronounced like 'Kathy']

"Nice to meet you, Catie, I'm Elise," she replied, taking her hand.

"Pleasure's all mine Elise," Catie continued to smile at her, "You think this royal bloke is going to have us waiting long?"

"I hope not, but he did say his conference was going to run late. Did you have an appointment, perhaps he forgot to inform you of the delay?" she asked her.

"No, not really an appointment, I just had some enlightening news, and needed to clarify it with the Crown Prince," the other girl replied, with just a tang of malice in her voice, "Tell me something, do you know him personally? The Crown Prince, I mean?" 

"Yes, in fact I do. You could probably say I'm his girlfriend." Elise responded lightly. 

"Really," Catie said, interest evident in her voice, "You look different in person, from the pictures on TV and in the papers. A Good different!" she hastily clarified.