Here's Chapter 10, I'm not going to say much because,
well, there's nothing much to say. Since I have, uh,
nothing much to say, here are a couple of my favorite
quotes:
"Distance doesn't end friendship; friendship ends the
distance." ~ unknown
"Love it seems made flying dreams so hearts could
soar." ~ "Flying Dreams"
"Tomorrow is another day!!" ~ Gone With the Wind
I hope everyone enjoys chapter 10!
E-mail SlrUnico@aol.com to comment!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Weaving a Romance"
CHAPTER 10: A Dinner Game of Let's Pretend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darien looked at Serenity with raised eyebrows in
reaction to Estelle's remark. Her eyes seemed to be
apologizing to him, but that didn't make him feel any
better. A tiny part of him blamed Serenity for the whole
betrothal business and no matter how he tried he couldn't
help but feel awkward around her.
Trying again to ignore this, he bowed and kissed
the hand of the prim looking queen Estelle. "The pleasure
is all mine, Majesty."
"I've heard so much about you, highness," returned the
queen, as if just her saying so was a great compliment to
him. "The princess Serena seems to have been quite taken
with you."
At that Darien could have sworn he heard a faint
giggle. This prompted him to look around the room at the
other guests. The one he was sure was guilty of the
laughter from the smile on her face was a dark haired
beauty standing in front of a chair studded with red stones.
Stones, he thought. Of course. Each chair was identical
to the others except for the twinkling gems adorning the
frames. Each of the young ladies in the room seemed to
be standing next to a chair with these jewels. He noted
that beside the girl with dark hair was a chair studded
with light pink, almost white diamonds. There was no one
standing beside it...therefore it had to be Serena's.
A young man was standing near that chair. He could
only be Bruce. Of course again. Serena and her betrothed
*would* be seated next to each other.
As Estelle babbled about things he could have cared
less about, to get his mind off Bruce and his jealously,
Darien looked at the other people in the room. On the
opposite side of the table, moving closer toward him was
a young girl with light brown hair in a green dress.
Next to her was another girl, this one blushing under his
gaze, with...could it be...blue hair? Must be from Mercury,
Darien thought to himself.
Oops. Estelle had finished talking and Serenity was
moving him off in the direction of the young ladies.
"Princess Raye of Mars," she introduced the dark haired
maiden, "Princess Lita of Jupiter," meant the brunette in
green, and "Princess Amy of Mercury," had to be the blue
headed one. "Princess Mina of Venus will be a little late,
as will my daughter," Serenity explained, (she must have
forgotten that she had already explained Serena's absense
outside... Darien thought).
The other princesses nodded and murmured their hellos,
then went back to their own seats talking among themselves.
Now Serenity led him toward Bruce. Thus was Darien's first
good look at this man who would be given Serena's hand in
marriage.
Bruce was tall, but not that tall, a little shorter
than Darien himself, for which the Prince of the Earth was
happy about. He did have classic good looks, blonde hair,
glittering green eyes, and a nice face. Woman must find
him handsome, Darien thought in disgust. I wonder if
Serena...no, of course not, he's not her type at all. He
does look very much the foreigner. Is that a good thing
or a bad thing?
"Prince Bruce," Serenity was saying, "this is Prince
Darien of the Earth. Darien, as you know Bruce is
Serena's fiancee." Darien hated how her face shown at
this.
"Good to meet you, old boy," Bruce exclaimed, shaking
his hand heartily.
"Likewise," Darien muttered, hoping his smile looked
fake.
At that moment the doors burst back open, and a
startled valet ran to assist whoever was entering. "Uhm,"
the poor man started, "Her highness, Princess Mina of
Venus has arrived, Majesty."
He stepped aside, and there was a blonde girl who
almost could have been Serena. So much was the resemblance
Darien's heart leaped a half-leap. Upon closer inspection,
Mina did have lighter hair, and her eyes were shades apart
from his love's. But still... If I'm this nervous,
Darien remarked silently, and Serena's not even here yet,
imagine how I'll be when she does arrive.
Serena, he prayed as the princess of Venus giggled
an introduction and took her place at the table, I sure
hope you have yourself more together about this than I do.
Or else we're in deep trouble.
Serena was a nervous wreck.
Ever since her mother's announcement about the royal
dinner that Darien would be attending she felt as if the
world was coming to an end. How was she expected to act
the way she had always acted around him when the wonderful
truth was that she now loved him? She'd spent the last
forty minutes in her room acting out the things she would
say to him and the things she would do so no one would
suspect the reality:
"So, Darien, entertain us with stories from your
primitive little neck of the galaxy, hm?"
"You know, Bruce is an outstanding horseman...you
could learn a lot from him. You...did say you like to ride,
didn't you?"
"Darien, would you mind passing those mashed potatoes
over here? What? You were going to serve yourself aNOTHER
helping??" ::skeptical look:: "Shouldn't you be, umm...
watching your weight, there?"
Serena wasn't sure how well those lines would work,
but they sounded good. Her inspiration had been to picture
the annoying Darien...the way he had been before she realized
that she loved him and he loved her the night she'd cried
in the garden.
"I'm ready," she announced to the empty room. Of
course she had been "ready" an hour ago. Her hair was
fixed to perfection, her tiara sat crowning her two meatballs,
her dress of baby's breath pink was on in full radiance,
and even her makeup was all right for once. But now, armed
with self-confidence about the way the evening would go,
she was finally and for certain, "ready".
The princess made her way out of the room, down the
hall and then the stairs. Her feet paced her steps to be
even and slow and neat, even when her heart was jumping
around in first her stomach and then her chest, as if it
could not make up its mind where it belonged. I am in
control, she repeated over and over. I am in control of
this whole situation. Whenever things get their worst,
I have to remember that.
In no time at all she was at the entrance doors to
the dining hall.
Darien looked up and saw heaven standing in the doorway.
Serena.
She was decked out in one of her prettiest dresses,
and was all around the most beautiful woman he had ever
laid eyes on. He knew that she was doing this to torture
him -- it was part of her game plan. She was gorgeous
and he was just within reach of her...but there always
loomed that sharp and terrible little reminder that he
could look as much as he wanted, but could not touch.
Damn you, Serena, he thought with a smile in her direction.
Serena glanced uneasily at him in response, but
regained her composure as fast as if she had never lost
it at all. "Oh," she said in distaste. "It's you. I
was hoping you wouldn't have the nerve to show up here,
but as always, Prince Darien, you never fail to shock
me."
That'a girl, he thought.
"Dear," Serenity interrupted, "remember our little
discussion."
"But Mother! Did you see the look he gave me just
now?? I swear, it was the most disrespectful one I have
ever seen in my entire lifetime. I don't even think he
should be here with us...he's not REALLY part of the court.
He's an..." She narrowed her eyes. "Outsider."
Darien winced. It was laying it on a little thick,
but at least no one would ever be able to suspect the truth.
"Nice to see you again too, princess," he said, standing
and giving a little bow.
Serena sniffed and disdainfully moved toward her chair,
muttering comments under her breath. It was going to be
one of the longest hours of Darien's life, but one of the
most exciting.
Serena had to resist the urge to applaud herself for her
performance. She gave it two thumbs way, way, up!
Worthy of an encore, no doubt, she thought. If only they
knew that I was acting.
As she neared her chair Bruce leapt to his feet,
kissed her hand with a loving, "My lady," and helped her
into her seat. All the while Serena could feel Darien's
eyes smoldering into her back at this action of chivalry
on behalf of the other prince. She bit her lip and tried
her hardest to ignore it.
However, in the process of pretending she didn't see
Darien's face contorted with what very well might be secret
plans to assassinate Bruce in a jealous rage her hand
knocked over her water goblet.
Her so-called friends roared with laughter and whispered
back and forth to each other about how it was obvious that
Serena was so gone for the foreign prince of Lerence that
her coordination was even more shot than usual. The Moon
princess' cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she rapidly
apologized to the silent maid who had been assigned the
specific chore of cleaning up her mealtime disasters.
Bruce whispered comforting words to her, and she
tried her best to let him think he was succeeding in his
task to make her feel better.
Darien, on the other hand, was busy staring at her,
smiling a smile she knew was supposed to mean that he knew
why she had knocked over the glass and found it hilarious.
She was trying so hard to ignore him that she felt a migraine
coming on.
Soon, things were back to normal at the table...people
ate and talked and laughed. No one seemed to be noticing
that Darien was staring Serena down so hard that she was
blushing as she served herself some salad. I do hope it's
this easy for the rest of the meal to make them think that
nothing is going on, she thought, busy with the panic of
his eyes on hers.
Raye practically threw the basket of rolls at Serena,
as she was in the middle of listening to one of Lita's ever-
hysterical jokes. Serena took one and buttered it softly
with the silver knife. She was glad to see that her
friend was no longer suspicious, and that maybe their
meeting in the hall had nothing to do with anything after
all. Of course, one could never tell with the elusive
Princess of Mars, who had learned after the tragic deaths
in her family to hide her feelings. For now, anyway,
Serena and her secrets were safe. Still...it wasn't like
Raye to give up so easily.
As she was watching her hand butter the bread she
could feel Darien's gaze on her again. Serena bit her lip,
(which was by now very sore) with nervousness. She wasn't
used to having two men interested in her at the same time,
one of them madly jealous of the other. Raye or Mina would
certainly enjoy the excitement of the situation had they
been in her shoes, but Serena wanted none of it. All she
did want was for the engagement to be terminated so that
she could be free to love Darien as she wished.
The only thing to do, she thought, is to just avoid
looking at him or talking to him. It would be hard to
contain the thrill she got with him just across the table,
but she'd have to try. Her future depended upon her
skills of ignoring.
She was just beginning to think that things might
work out without any major calamities when something hit
her foot...hard. She gasped and jumped in her seat. A
glance across the table revealed just who had done it...
Darien. He was smirking at her, his eyes dancing all
over her body as his foot nudged hers again. Serena
moaned a little bit as she tried to move away.
Serenity and the others were looking at her. "What's
up with you, Serena?" asked Mina, her face concerned.
Raye turned to Lita. "It's that dish you had the
cook make, I saw Serena take a bite of it just before
she got that look on her face. Lita, these recipes of
yours are too out of this world for our stomachs to handle."
"I liked it," Mina volunteered.
"You would."
Serena pushed her chair back away from the table a
bit. "No, really, I just got a slight cramp...it's not
at all Lita's cooking."
Lita shot Raye a superior glance and everyone
returned to their plates...satisfied with Serena's answer.
Serena, on the other hand, was fuming at Darien.
She didn't look at him, though. His face was driving
her crazy with just the mental picture of it -- she was
not sure she would be able to stand looking at him
again for real.
His foot hit hers again and she shut her eyes,
trying hard to ignore. Suddenly Raye squawked beside
her in annoyance: "All right, who hit my foot??"
Serena giggled and risked a glance up at Darien,
who was blushing. "Sorry, Raye," he croaked out.
"Just...had a leg cramp."
Amy stared at Serena and then at the prince of
the Earth in bewilderment. "Goodness, what is it with
this table and cramps today?"
Lita looked with superiority at Raye. "At least
we know it isn't my cooking. And if Darien hadn't of
kicked you *I* would have for that remark about my food."
"But I didn't --" Darien began. Serena shook her
head slightly as she reached for a sip of her water,
signaling for him to shut up. Raye and Lita were fine
on their own...at least it was diverting attention
from the two of them.
Darien smiled a little and Serena inched her feet
back to the sides of the chair...anticipating another
kick. She could not believe him!! Even if his foot
had missed hers, he had intended to nudge at her again,
in an attempt to lead her over the edge of self-control.
He wants to see me lose it!, Serena thought to herself.
He thinks this is some kind of game -- it's his goal to
see how far he can push me! Well, two can play this one,
Mr. Prince of the Earth.
Her foot slid from behind the chair leg and hit his.
At first she was scared she would miss her target as
Darien had missed his moments earlier, but the surprised
look on his reddening face revealed the truth. How does
it feel, she jeered in her mind, smirking at him across
the table. If you can't take the heat, get out of the
fire, Dar.
She moved her foot again for another hit, deciding
this time that she would rub her slipper against his thigh.
Boy would THAT ever drive him up the wall!!
Just then Bruce started choaking on his roll.
Serena gasped. Damn, she thought, I missed!
"Bruce what's wrong??" Estelle cried, rising from her
chair.
He shook his head at her and continued coughing.
"Noth...nothing," he managed, taking a sip of water.
Raye started shaking Serena's arm. "Do something!"
she screeched. "Save him!"
Serena wasn't sure her fiancee was in any real
danger...the food had just gone down wrong was all, and
then his water had probably gone down the wrong pipe or
something. That was it. But everyone was looking at
her, Estelle was screaming along with Raye.
She was just starting to stand up, as the rest of
the table was, when Bruce made a swallowing noise and
the look of relief came over his face. "It's all right
everyone, I'm...okay."
Serena turned her glance from him, her face reddening
to as red as she was certain it could possibly get. She
could hardly bear to speak. What would Bruce think? He
would think she was a bad woman, that's what he would
think. Her eyes welled with tears, and her mind was
content to forget that a moment ago she was ready to do
the same thing to Darien without guilt.
But Bruce didn't even look at her. No, Darien had
asked him a question -- they were talking about horses!!!!
Thank you, Darien, she thought to herself, wanting
to run to him and kiss cover his face with kisses. He
had created a diversion so that Bruce would forget about
asking her what had just happened. Oh, what had she ever
done to catch such a wonderful guy?
The horse conversation continued, though one look
at Darien's eyes showed he was not enjoying talking to
Bruce one little bit. Serena wanted to help, but that
would divert attention back to her. And anyway, Darien
did deserve it for being so mean....
Again, rather abrupt ending. And hardly any author notes!
Chapter 11 to follow everyone! Here's my web page address
in case you missed it these past few chapters, (although I
don't see how you could have, I mention it every chance I
get!):
http://members.aol.com/jlcavazos/index.html
Remember all of my work is posted there as soon as
it is finished! E-mail SlrUnico@aol.com to comment on
this story and others!
~~~Ali~~~
(
geocities.com/tokyo/courtyard) (
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