Supernova

Chapter Fifty Four - SHA's Scarcest Commodities: Love and Trust

Neither Leo nor Iliana came to see me again, but in many ways, it felt like they never really left me.

They were swirling around my head so viciously, I started to question whether the both of them had mind control quirks as well. My skull filled with Iliana's words. You're feisty and smart. She'll hate you for it. Enough to want to change it. Get out while you still can. Heir Claeson can't and won't protect you.

I couldn't decide whether Leo's voice was worse. Let them drag someone else into their sick game. He'll never take a wife. I pity the Empress less. She'll be rid of him. It didn't help that Elias, for maybe the first time since I'd known him, seemed troubled. Uneasy. He wasn't reading. He didn't sleep much. He'd stare off into nothing, and when I'd try to get his attention or ask what he'd been thinking about, his face would morph back into the smile I'd come to know, and he'd tell me that he was just pondering. Not to worry. How are you? All of this only left me troubled, because I didn't know whether it was it was all an act or not.

Elias has asked me to accompany him to the helicopter pad to see them off a few days later. I'd agreed, simply because he told me he'd understand if I didn't want to. We bundled ourselves up, him for necessity and me for show, and walked into the crisp air, where they were already waiting for us. Iliana was so glorious, her water hair glimmering as it fell, the snowflakes sinking right into it. Her eyes were as white as the coat she wore, and seemed only brighter framed by the fur lined hood that rested on the crown of her head. She was tapping her foot, and her face twisted from impatient to livid the second she saw me. Leo's arm was snaked around his wife's waist, but he slowly pulled it back as we approached. His eyes sparkled in the daylight and his smirk widened.

"Princess Stronghold," Leo said, in that pompous way he had from that day in the hallway, as he extended his hand for mine. I obliged the pleasantries, while Elias did the same with Iliana, trying to read Leo's eyes. "It was kind of you to see us off. Congratulations again on your win."

"Thank you," I told him, lifting my chin to the both of them. Four could play at this game. "I only wish I'd had more difficult opponents."

Iliana scoffed audibly, her white eyes focused on me. "Be careful what you wish for."

Leo gave me a wink before turning to his brother, extending his hand to him. "Heir Claeson. Always a pleasure."

"Likewise, King Claeson," Elias told him, taking his hand, and shaking it once before dropping it. It was such a strange, business-like sight, that I once again had to remind myself that they were brothers.

"Quite the pair you two make," Leo told him, wagging a finger in my general direction. "Quite the pair indeed."

"Princess Stronghold is her own person," Elias told him back flatly. His eyes, from what I could see from a side glance in my peripheral, were flaring something vicious.

"You'll be home for Midsummer?" Leo asked him, his eyebrows raising slightly.

"I'll shine my dancing shoes," Elias replied.

"See you at the maypole, then." Leo laughed a little, a few loud beats of pompousness. "I'll bring the flower wreaths."

"We'll see," Elias said, his smile widening. More than it should of, in my opinion. Artificially.

"Yes," Leo said, his smirk increasing in the same manner. "I suppose we will."

Leo's eyes travelled to me, his eyes flaring like he was handing me a gift, but it fell through my hands. This was such a strange conversation. I knew they spoke their own version of bullshit, similar to how my father and I spoke to each other in front of others, but this wasn't a dialect I was familiar with. My Swedish was good, Elias had told me so, but it was not cultural or masterful enough to read the undertones. Perhaps it never would be, and perhaps that would be a blessing.