Princess Charming

Chapter 9: Elliot

Selene had only been gone for two hours. The fact that she was returning at all meant that Charmaine hadn't eaten her alive. But two hours was too short for her meeting to have been successful.

Helios had been pacing the hallway floor for the entire morning, leaving a trail of mud and foot scuffs on the floor Elliot had cleaned only a few hours before. It would have to be done again before he left for tonight's ball. Elliot sighed. The fact that he would even be attending the ball felt like a dream come true. The knowledge that he would get to see Charmaine again had his stomach in knots. He would definitely get to speak to her again. The mystery of his sudden disappearance would have been weighing on Charmaine's mind all day. She would be desperate to find out more; he would have to be careful if he was going to avoid slipping up and revealing his true identity. He wasn't sure he was ready to do that yet. If he would ever be.

"Well? How did it go?" Helios stopped his pacing to accost his sister in the doorway. Selene breezed passed him with a lazy wave of her hand. She was humming. "Selene! Details, please! Does she want to meet me tonight? How soon can you introduce us? Did she send a message?"

Elliot nearly felt sorry for his step-brother at the desperate tone his questioning had taken.

"Give up, Heli. She's not interested. I tried my best, but she says you're not her type." There was something about the wording of Selene's answer and the carefree way in which she crushed her brother that set alarm bells ringing in Elliot's head. What game was Charmaine playing with his step-sister?

Still humming, Selene barged straight through Elliot as she passed him and ascended the stairs.

"But what did she say?" Helios demanded frantically as he followed her up. "Is there absolutely no hope? Why did she want to see you if not to talk about me? What else can I try tonight? It can't be too late. It can't." His pleas were cut off by the slamming of Selene's bedroom door.

She didn't emerge for the the rest of the day. When she did, it was in a dress very different to the one she'd had Elliot collect from the seamstress and press for her. This dress had a plunging neckline and clung to Selene's body like molten gold. Sky-high heels lengthened her legs and a ruby the size of a duck's egg hung from her neck.

Helios spat the huge gulp of cinnamon beer he had just taken back out, staining his dinner jacket a luminous shade of orange. "Hoping to catch yourself a husband tonight, sister? I thought the ball was for the princess to window-shop, not all of the kingdom's unmarried maidens."

Selene rolled her eyes at her brother. "So behind the times, Helios; not that I'd expect anything else from you."

"Ready at last," Lord Lebroski said, without passing comment on his daughter's strange outfit choice. He had vanished into her room after her reappearance from the palace and hadn't reemerged until sometime later, his forehead creased in thought. Whatever Selene was up to, her father had sanctioned it.

But what, Elliot wondered, could have left Selene and Lord Lebroski so relaxed about Charmaine's disinterest in Helios? His step-brother was beside himself; his hair dishevelled and the shoes Elliot had polished at 3am that morning were already scuffed. He didn't even seem concerned with the stain on his jacket. Nor did his father, who was apparently no longer seeing him as an eligible match for Charmaine. But Lord Lebroski would never give up on the crown that easily. Not unless Selene had a spectacular marriage option of her own on the horizon. But who could be a bigger prize than the Princess?

Elliot's jaw dropped as the pieces clicked into place. Whatever Charmaine has said to Selene over tea had clearly left his step-sister believing that she had a shot at the crown. But Charmaine would never be interested in Selene as anything other than a play-thing, and a short lived one at that.