Princess of Illéa

Chapter 6 - Cousins reunion

We welcome the King and Queen of Swendway to the palace, as well as some of our relatives on my mother's side. In no time at all, tents are set up in the gardens and tables of food and wine are laid out on the lawn. The number of guards increases, and along with them there are also the soldiers who accompany the king and queen. One of the tents is set up especially for us: my mother, father, Maxon and me, along with the king and queen of Swendway. The queen chats amiably with my mother.

I'm excited to meet my cousins who I haven't seen for a long time. Maxon and I have six cousins, Adele's children, my mother's sister. Nathan, 21, Matthew, 18, Caleb, 17, Veronica, 15, Rebecca, 10, and Samuel, 8. I'm closest to Caleb and Veronica, who are the similar in age with me.

Maxon runs after Samuel and Rebecca, taking pictures of everything with his camera. From a distance, I notice my aunt talking to America and the other Selected and I realize she's drunk. I look at Ronnie (as I call Veronica), and she's shaking her head, looking disapprovingly at her mother.

"She can't resist a good wine." Caleb says to me and his sister.

"And she's not much fan of these royal events either." Ronnie says.

I nod. I understand my aunt, although when my mother married my father, her whole family automatically became Caste One, it's hard to get used to this kind of event when most of the time she lives a totally different life.

Soon Maxon appears with his camera to take a picture of us. "Smile."

My smile soon vanishes when I see Celeste talking to the Swendway queen, and soon after she calls Maxon to join the two.

I don't know if my brother notices the sudden change in my face, but Veronica does. She looks me in the eye and nudges me with her arm.

"Now things are getting more interesting." she says. "Kat, how come you didn't tell me you were into a Selected?" her eyes widen, and she is clearly curious to know more.

I give her arm a gentle pinch. "Keep your voice down!" I whisper.

I grab her arm and drag her into a corner. Caleb goes along, since he heard everything.

Apart from Maxon, Daphne and my maids, my cousins are the only ones I can consider my friends. It's hard to maintain a close relationship when we only see each other a few times, usually on birthdays, sometimes not even that, since Adele isn't very close to real events. But I know I can trust them both, because I don't have much choice anymore.

"How did you notice?" I ask Ronnie.

"Oh please, you are clearly jealous, Kat. Anyone who pays a little attention can see that."

"It's true, I can almost see fire coming out of your eyes." Caleb says.

"Who knows about this?" Ronnie asks curiously.

I sigh. "Only my mother." I point my finger at both of them. "And you two, so be quiet."

"Okay, okay." they say.

I take a deep breath.

"How did your mother react?" Caleb asks.

"She actually found out before I did. She had come to talk to me one day and said that she thought I liked Celeste."

"I'm not surprised, your mother has always been very observant, just like you." Ronnie say.

"And you are okay about all this?" I ask, I am afraid of people's reaction to this.

"Of course." they both say.

"You are not the only one who likes people of the same gender, Kat." Caleb says.