Starlight's Heir - ✔️

Chapter 40 - The Whole Truth

"Are you sure you want to do this, Princess?"

"Yes, Elelas." The glowering stare I leveled at him had no effect on his perfect posture and censure expression. I sighed, throwing my hands up in exasperation. "For the millionth time, yes. I know you think it's a bad idea, but I'm telling her -- I have to."

"Very well then, Princess." He offered me his hand with a blank expression that did nothing to conceal his distaste for my actions.

"Thank you." Glad he had finally shut up about it, I took his hand so he could take me through the Shadow Gate.

The beauty of the rising sun over the palace melted away, leaving us in the shadows of an alleyway beside Chelsea's apartment. Pulling my hand from Elelas', I headed to the front of the building.

"I'll be waiting for you when you are ready to return, Princess."

By the time I had turned around to acknowledge him, he had already vanished into the shadows. Brushing off his perplexing behavior, I walked inside, trying to ignore the uneasy tingle that had settled through me.

My nerves only grew as I approached Chelsea's door. My legs shook as I fought to assure myself I was doing the right thing while anxiety screamed that I should've listened to Elelas.

But I owed it to her and had already made up my mind. Raising my fist to knock, I took a deep breath to steady myself, and the door swung open.

Standing on the other side was a young man with auburn hair who appeared as shocked to see me as I was him. "Uh, hello?" His brown eyes narrowed on my raised fist.

Lowering my arm, I shuffled my feet. "Um, hi. Is Chelsea here?"

He relaxed, a look of recognition passing over his face. "You must be Evelyn -- Chelsea talks about you all the time. I'm Connor."

So this was the man who had captured Chelsea's heart. Looking at him, it was easy to see why she had been so drawn to him. He was handsome, with a dusting of freckles over his tanned face, but it was his easy smile that made him attractive.

"Chelsea's told me a bit about you too." I smiled.

"Good things, I hope." He laughed with a wink. Opening the door wide to let me in, he looked over his shoulder and called, "Hey Chelse! You've got a visitor!"

"Who in God's name is crazy enough to disturb me this early in the morning?" Her grumbling shout from the bedroom brought a grin to my face. Chelsea hated mornings and considered waking her up before eleven o'clock a crime punishable by a major ass-whooping.

"Someone I'm pretty sure you'd like to see, so get out here before I drag your ass out of bed."

Suppressing laughter at his good-natured badgering, I shook my head at him while he shrugged and quirked his mouth into a grin.

Chelsea's displeased grumbling preceded her a moment before she emerged from her room with a blanket cloaked around her. "You know I'm gonna kill you later, ri--" An ear-splitting screech cut off her sentence as she caught sight of me and nearly tackled me to the floor. "Evie! Oh my god, what are you doing here?"

A squeak escaped my throat as her arms crushed the air out of me.

"Babe, I think you're asphyxiating her, she's kinda going blue. You might wanna let her go."

"Oh shut up, Connor." But she loosened her choke hold if only a little. "Seriously though, Evie, what are you doing here? You didn't call or anything -- I had no idea you were coming."

"I know, it was sort of a spur of the moment decision. You don't mind, do you?"

Pulling me to the couch, she smacked my arm. "Of course I don't mind! We've got so much to talk about!"

"Believe me, I know."

Sensing my sudden somber mood, she cocked her head and flicked her eyes to Connor who cleared his throat and opened the door.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone to catch up and whatever. I've got to get to work anyway. It was nice meeting you, Evelyn."

Chelsea popped off the couch to kiss him. "I'll see you later?"

"You always do, babe. I love you."

"Love you too." Shutting the door behind him, she turned to me, wearing a sheepish smile and a scarlet blush all the way to her ears.

"I love you?" I mouthed, wiggling my eyebrows in emphasis.

"Oh shut up -- I know." Bouncing back over to the couch, she jumped beside me and poked my side. "You don't have to tell me how crazy it is, but I don't know... I just, well..."

Bumping her shoulder against mine, the teasing dropped from my expression. "You love him. You don't have to explain it to me, Chelse, I'm happy for you. As long as he makes you happy and treats you right, you can be as smitten as you want and I won't tease you about it."

"Thanks, hun. You're the best friend a girl could ask for."

A heavy sigh escaped my lungs, betraying my apprehension to Chelsea.

"Okay, what's up? You keep going all mopey and nervous like something's wrong." Her eyebrow crept skyward, alerting me to an oncoming Eyebrow of Doom-stare I'd have rather liked to avoid. "Is everything okay with you?"

"Chelse, there's something I need to tell you." Forcing myself to look her in the eye, wringing my hands together on my lap, I dove right in before I lost my nerve. "You're my best friend, and you've always been there for me, but I haven't always been honest with you."

"Honest about what, Evie? I know I can be pushy sometimes, but you don't have to tell me something if you don't want to. I get that you have secrets that are just for you -- don't feel like you owe me anything because I've always known you're not an open person and I don't mind your walls."

"I want to tell you, Chelsea. Everything. You deserve to know the whole truth, and I can't hide it from you anymore." My voice caught in my throat and I choked, shuddering over the possibility that Chelsea might think I was crazy.

"Go on, hun. It's okay, tell me what you need to."

And so I did.

So Connor... What do we think of Chelsea's boyfriend? He seems like a nice guy. Any thoughts on how it will turn out? And in other news, Evelyn hasn't lost her nerve. How do you think Chelsea might react when she tells her? Any predictions?