What Lies Beneath

Chapter 4

Xavier and I spent the day wandering the palace. I even showed him a small glimpse of my room, which thankfully was always clean, or else Dax would have my head. Metaphorically, of course, but I couldn't imagine the punishment being very pleasant.

"Astra," an angry voice called. Oh, no. Here we go.

I stiffly turned around to see Callum glaring at me, with Dax standing by his side. "Yes?" I asked in a small voice.

"Are you aware of the time?" he demanded. I didn't know how to respond. "It is past nine," he informed me. "Meaning you should be well in bed right now."

"Of course," I said quietly. "I'm sorry. I was just... finishing the tour. Your palace is quite large." He liked it when I specified that things were his, and not mine. So that's what I did.

"Don't let it happen again," Dax ordered. "You'll go without punishment this time."

"She'll what?" Callum raised his eyebrows at Dax, fists clenched.

"I said, she'll go without punishment," Dax repeated, standing his ground. "She's had enough for one day, and so have you, I believe."

Callum didn't even object. He didn't set Dax on fire. He didn't even send Dax to his room. They just left, together.

"I should... probably go to bed," I said softly.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Thank you for today, Princess Astra."

"Just Astra," I requested. "I don't hear it often enough."

"Of course." He nodded formally. "Goodnight, Astra."

~ ~ ~

Dax and Callum decided to continue with the festivities, so we had another ball the next night. This time, Dax chose a light pink dress for me to wear, with a matching mask of course. Every year on Christmas I got a new one, and this was my most recent. he had decided not to get me masks on my birthday, since he knew I really didn't want them. They were more to keep Callum happy.

There was a knock on the door inside my room that led to the next one, which Xavier was staying in. I was wearing my mask already, so I opened it, to see him with his tie more than messed up, six suit jackets on the bed, along with five different pairs of shoes, some of them not matching. Not to mention, he hadn't even touched his hair.

"Oh, dear," I began, laughing.

"Help?" he asked, seemingly embarrassed. I couldn't hide the smile on my face as I entered his room and began to fix all his problems. I picked out the darkest black suit jacket, to match his pants and his tie.

"You've never tied a tie?" I asked softly, reaching up to fix his.

"Never owned one," he admitted.

"You can keep this one if you want," I offered. "I won't tell anyone." Xavier just smiled. I avoided looking at his face—handsomer than I'd like it to be—and just focused on the tie.

"Do I really have to go to this?" he asked.

"Shh," I ordered. "I'm trying to focus. And yes, you're required to be my date."

"Oh, am I now?" he chuckled. "Since when?"

"Since a few hours ago. Dax's orders," I told him. And he knew there was no defying Dax's orders. "There, it's done." I picked out a pair of black shoes, handed them to him, and waited patiently for him to put them on. Once he was finished, he stood up.

"Good to go?"

I eyed his hair. "Definitely not." Hurrying to the bathroom, I found some crappy unused gel in one of the drawers. "Do you know how to use this?"