Elinor took a deep shuddering breath when she revealed the truth to him. Azeph pulled her to face him leaning down to look into her eyes with his blue ones. His gaze was serious as he looked at her and she looked back at him holding her breath and waiting for what he was going to say."Someone had been trying to kill you?" he asked"His majesty told me after the investigation that most of the people in the caste knew about his habit of drinking from my cup. It was something he started to do a few years ago and we bickered a lot about it. I hadn't taken a sip from that cup, if I had we would have both died. His Majesty said that there was a big possibility that the culprit knew about his habit and they poisoned my cup instead of his. Either they didn't care if I died with him or they just didn't think that far ahead," She explained."But you are still blaming yourself for not drinking first. Even if you did, Elin, you would have simply died both," Azeph said"No... We wouldn't have..."
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Azeph asked as he took his coat from her before they headed back into the ballroom.“Of course,” she said with a smile his way. She was going to be fine either way. “Are you ready for our dance?”“I am ready,” she responded as she put her hand on his arm and headed inside. Soon after they came in, the crowds separated making way for them to head for the dance floor. They walked there and stood at the center waiting for the orchestra to begin the closing song.Azeph bowed before her his hand outstretched and she put hers in it curtsying to him slowly.They straightened up looking at each other in the eyes. Azeph was gazing at her with something akin of longing and reached out for her lightly touching her waist. She put her hand on his shoulder letting him pull her a bit closer. Enough to be close to each other, but not enough to satisfy the longing an passion burning between them.Azeph started leading the dance moving around slowly with the se
“Elinor Pendragon, you realize the situation you are in don’t you?” The headmaster told Elinor as she sat before him in his office.But, unlike last time, instead of sitting in the sitting arrangement, he was stationed behind his desk while she sat there in front of him waiting for him to say his piece.“Whatever you are talking about, headmaster?” Elinor asked with a straight look into the man’s eyes.Although he can be deceptively nice, Elinor made a point of meeting the eyes of everyone head on when she was in a confrontation. Ironically, this had been her father’s last advice before she left for the royal palace for her engagement announcement to the crown prince.“You are in a dire position and I find myself in a bind. Because having you stay here could eventually mean for me that I am protecting the daughter of a traitor,” he declared and Elinor smiled at him coldly making sure that her expression was devoid of any emotion as she looked at him.“I don’t know why you must call my
Elinor sighed as Louis closed the headmaster’s office door.“He wouldn’t budge,” she said desperately.“He didn’t answer a single question,” Louis stated, “he’s one strong opponent, to think that even you couldn’t shake him.“I just wanted to know what he was trying to do by setting me up with Azeph like that,”“That probably had been your only chance to get something out of him. Starting today things are going to get busy,” he told her,“I know,” Elinor responded, “I still have to go over the work Future had delivered for me, It’s going to take a lot of time, especially since the last incident has still yet to be resolved,”“Last incident’s victim, what was his name again? Nathan?” Louis said“It is,”“He and his friends had been doing well since they joined our class, they would make good aids in the future,” “Are you trying to make reservations on them?” Elinor asked with a smile.“I might be,” Louis responded“Well good luck, although I doubt that it's going to do you any good,"
“ would have agreed with you has the situation in our country been stable,” Nathan said as he spoke to Louis, “ But war is clawing at our walls from the outside while our nobles are busy with a succession battle that they’re fuelling for their own personal interests. I don’t think our country has the right grounds to welcome any new reforms, for now, change within times of turbulence could lead to a bigger problem that could sweep us under and destroy us from the inside out,”“Now let us hear your opponent’s opinion,” the professor said motioning to Louis who was leaning back on his seat as he watched Nathan with a light gaze that no one seemed to register.Elinor smiled to herself then.“He’s going easy on him,” Azeph whispered into her ear.“He totally is,” Elinor responded with a wry smile.“Is it because of the incident?“Azeph said, At that moment, Louis’ gaze went to her as if his uncanny instincts told him that she was speaking about him. She gave him a cool smile before lookin
“What about you?” Azeph asked, “What was your childhood like with Louis and Prince Nicolas?”“My childhood had been eventful for sure,” She said with a smile, “My parents had always been busy people. My father had always been busy, and my mother had a lot to take care of too other than taking care of the sucal estate, especially since the death of the queen and with the Kin’s sister, Louis’ mother, has a weak constitusion. My mother took over some of the workload meant for the royal castle too.That meant I spent a lot of time there with her. And there was also a time when both of them had to leave the country as a part of a diplomatic envoy, so most of my childhood was spent with Nicolas or Louis’ families.” She told him.“It must have been hard on you to be away from your parents all the time,” Azeph said.“Not really, it’s the way things had always been. I didn’t know any other lifestyle and I was okay with how things were. As soon as I was old enough to read and write, my mother s
“What was your relationship with him like?” Azeph asked, “With prince Nicolas.”Elinor took the cup from him and took the time to sip from it before answering. Azeph busied himself with pouring himself a cup before looking up at her. Elinor sighed before she looked back down at her cup.“It’s still a bit hard for me to talk about him, you know…” She said“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. I keep asking you the wrong questions,” He said and Elinor shook her head.“It’s all right, I want to tell you everything, but I might not be able to do this right away so please bear with me,” She said and he nodded.“Of course,” He said.“You might already have noticed, but Nicolas and I didn’t have a normal couple’s relationship… We weren’t… lovers,” She said,“I suspected as much, from the way you spoke about him,” He responded.“He had always been like an older brother to me. Just like Louis is. It’s not logical that you would marry your older brother but it was a fact that I
Elinor opened her eyes alert and listening in to any sound that may have woken her up. She heard another sound and sighed in relief that it didn’t come from her bedchamber. Whoever was there still didn’t get to her yet.Slowly moving up from her bed, she reached under her pillow for her gun. She always kept it there since Nick’s assassination. There was no telling who would come after her especially since she had been following up on his death obstinately looking for her killer.Her hand finally touched the metal as soon as the door to her room swing open and someone rushed to her bed seeing her awake. “She’s awake,” he said in a high accented voice before jumping on her.Elinor had pulled her gun by then but when he tackled her she lost her grip in it and it fell back on the bed.The man jumped on her strangling her as he pushed her back. She hit her head on the headboard losing her consciousness for a few moment before his painful grip on her neck woke her up again.As she struggle