The Daughter of Illéa [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter Nine - Part One

Jess blows air out of her nose in frustration. She adjusts her glasses but then takes them off altogether and dumps them on her desk on top of piles of paperwork. "Dad, I love you and all, but how can you do this every day?!"

"With immense difficulty and multiple coffee breaks," Maxon looks up from where he was signing documents and smiles tiredly. "How was the interview, dear?"

Jess huffs, completely giving up on what she was working on. "It wasn't too bad. They just asked me about the guys, if I liked any of them, dates I've been on, et cetera. Pretty boring. At least they liked that I was going on a date later today."

The King looks at Jess on top of his glasses. "And...?"

"Aaaand what?"

He smiles mischievously. "Do you like any of them?"

Jess debates her options, before deciding to tell her dad the truth. "Yeah, I do."

Maxon's face splits into a grin. He gets up and leans against Jess's desk. "Tell me everything,"

"Dad," Jess scolds, blushing. "I can't tell my dad about my love life!"

He draws himself up to his full height. "What about your King?"

Jess rolls her eyes.

"I'd just like to point out that you are legally required to do anything your King tells you to do," he winks.

Jess sticks up her nose. "A future monarch is required to do no such thing," she says before standing up and leaving the room, her head held high.

Looking after her, Maxon laughs quietly. "She's her mother's daughter, alright."

---

Jess sits on the edge of her bed, fiddling with a thin, silver bracelet. She goes through the plan in her head:

She gets up and closes her door behind her on the way to Jack Lee's

This is going to be the first time Jess and Jack Lee meet up since the dance. If Jess didn't know any better, she would think that he's been avoiding her.

She knocks against the wooden door. Once. Twice.

"Who is it?" Comes an irritated voice.

Jess's eyes slide down the door until she squints at the crack. No light streams through. "Jack Lee?"

Silence.

Jess is about to knock again when the door swings open.

"J-Jess!" Jack Lee looks slightly ruffled. His eyes dart around.

"Are you... expecting someone?" The princess asks slowly. "I can go, if you like,"

"No, no, sorry. Please. Come in," He holds the door open with a bony arm, then follows behind Jess, relying heavily on his right foot.

Jess looks around the room for a place to sit and ends up just standing awkwardly around the bed.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you," Jack apologises as he opens the curtains. The bright sunlight comes streaming in, illuminating his pale skin to make it look as if it's glowing. His messy, black hair falls on to his angular face in clumps, partially covering his emerald eyes.

He wasn't expecting me, but he could have been expecting someone else. "It's alright,"

He leans against a dresser and crosses his arms. He opens his mouth to say something, but notices his butler in the corner of the room. "Jozeph,"