The First Dates
POV: Lucien
I was more excited to go out with Jess than I had initially thought I would be since she wasn’t someone that I was generally attracted to. She was beautiful for sure, and her personality was such that any man would be lucky to call her girlfriend/wife, but she was missing something about her that attracted me to her. I was excited to be able to talk to her some more about my feelings. She would make an excellent advisor and counselor, so I had wondered why she chose to join the Citadel. We met in the banquet hall along with Blake and Alesha since the four of us didn’t have a brunch meal planned. I wanted to do the dates earlier in the day so that we could have a party for Jess later on. Jess had also requested that the ladies have a slumber party in her room later. I would take that time to gather the men to kind of check their feelings on these dates. I was particularly interested in hearing about Blake’s date and Meldon’s date. I wasn’t interested in Derek’s date simply because he wasn’t my brother nor was he going out with someone I was particularly interested in. As for Litha, we still weren’t sure what her involvement with The Order was just yet. Blake had reported that, on the surface, it didn’t appear that she knew very much about the situation, but he wanted more time to be certain. When we found out about how much she knew, we would have her father arrested and she would likely be disqualified to compete any longer. This was, of course, up to the discretion of the panel but they would see her as a tainted candidate. If we knew about her involvement, this could save her from being stripped of the title she would inherit when her father got arrested. This was why we wanted to be sure of what her involvement was, not to mention Jess and Alexandra had asked to find out.
The four of us had finished our breakfast and gave well wishes for a pleasant date. Blake and Alesha, already dressed in their workout gear made their way to the gym that was set up in a separate building. I offered my arm to Jess but she shook her head, “I think we should just have a casual stroll. Don’t you?” I pulled back my arm, “Very well. I want you to be most comfortable. Happy Birthday by the way.” She smiled at me as we walked towards the meadow, “Thank you. I must say I was kind of happy to go out with you today.” I widened my eyes, “Oh? And why is that?” She got a mischievous look on her face, “I think we need to discuss a few things.” I nodded, “We do.” She leaned over and picked up a pretty blue flower, “I felt that last night. You are becoming aware of how you feel. What changed?” I sighed, “I got the idea to kiss her before everyone came out. I felt a warmth in my heart and perhaps in my soul.” She stared at the flower but didn’t look up at me, “Didn’t you kiss her before though?” I nodded, “That was sort of different. We were practical strangers then. I know looks can sometimes play a factor in falling in love and believe me, I think she is gorgeous, but I didn’t know her. Do you get what I am saying?” She smiled and nodded, “So now that you know her so much better, you wanted to test it out. Did she resist you knowing that she has a curse?” I shook my head, “No, she let it happen and she didn’t pull away. She did tell me in a whisper that she felt nothing and was apologetic.” Jess sighed, “I know her very well, she’s almost like a sister to me. Trust me when I say, she probably would have felt something for you if she hadn’t been cursed. She told me that, in many ways, you remind her of her father. That is the one person in the world she loves the most, she won’t say that out loud but when she speaks of him, her face lights up. I hope that we can free her soon.” I nodded, feeling like something had been stolen from me, “Let’s hope.”
POV: Alexandra
I wasn’t particularly attracted to Meldon, but I felt like he was like a male Jess. Not that they had the same personality but that they both had that ability to make me feel at ease so that I could talk to them. It was weird that I could get along with the brother of one I could consider my enemy but here we were, both excited that we got to hang out today. This is what we both were choosing to call this “date” because neither of us saw each other that way. We talked about it briefly last night. I was given the picnic basket and a blanket by a servant and was standing outside of the back of the living quarters. Meldon strode out the door and smiled at me, “Hey you! Ready to go hang out!” I smiled and nodded at him, “Let’s go!” He took the basket from me, and we walked down to the lake. The retreat was sitting at the top of a hill that overlooked the lake, so we had to take a path with a small incline down to it. As soon as we got to the path, Meldon offered me his hand, “I don’t want you to fall so it’s best we hold hands for now.” I nodded at him, “Thank you.” I grabbed his hand and I felt like I had had my hand there before, it was really weird. I think he had felt it too because he was staring at our hands interlinked. He snapped out of it and we both started to walk down the hill. Usually, during a walk like this I would take in the sights around me, but I found myself staring at the back of his head. He was brunette and had blue eyes, he didn’t look anything like the blonde Melody but that likely meant they were fraternal twins. How strange it was to have such a nice guy be twins with such a jerk like Melody or be the son of that jerk Marquis Maigny. I had hoped that the title would fall to him rather than his sister so that this the Marquis was in safer hands.
We finally got down the hill and he pulled his hand away, “Where do you think we should set up?” I pointed to a large tree with a swing hanging from it, “I think we should sit on the opposite side of the swing.” He nodded, “Good choice. Let’s go.” We walked over to the spot, and I spread the blanket out and we both settled on the blanket while Meldon laid out the sandwiches, a bottle of drink (I wasn’t certain what it was yet), and some fruit. He picked up the bottle and opened it, “It smells like honey wine. Don’t worry this has very low alcohol content. I’ve read humans from your country don’t drink until they are twenty-one.” I was surprised that someone read anything about the Terre, “Yes, how did you find that knowledge?” I gasped, “You didn’t know your grandfather has books on human customs and behavior?” I shook my head, “It makes sense though, he was always in my father’s study when I was growing up. I thought he just sat around reading all day. Interesting.” He smiled at me, “I have to sneak them from the library at the university though because my father isn’t really fond of Terre.” I nodded, “I got that feeling from him too when he came to my ceremony and my mother’s birthday party.” He shrugged, “I just don’t think he’s able to understand humans since they used to be our food source.”
I wanted to change the subject because the topic was starting to make me feel uncomfortable. I picked up a sandwich and took a bite. After I swallowed, I said, “So Jess has a total crush on Derek, she hasn’t told me that much just yet but I’m going to pry it out of her tonight.” He laughed, “How do you know that for certain though?” I shrugged, “Oh, the way she looks at him and any time he talks to her, looks at her or touches her, she’s blushing.” He nodded, “Sounds about right from what I’ve seen. He likes her too, but he isn’t letting on that he finds her attractive as well. He told me that it’s because he doesn’t know quite how to approach her. He likes you like that too though.” I shrugged, “I’d rather steer him in her direction, she’s my best friend and I want her to be happy. Besides, I don’t have feelings for him.” He looked at me seriously, “You don’t know if you would though. You did say you were cursed not to fall in love with anyone but that God.” I thought it was time to reveal what I had known, “True but I was told a while ago that my fate was to marry one of the royals. Aphrodite tried to tell me I could choose who I wanted to but I am not sure she was right.” He shook his head, “I think you should consider what Aphrodite said. Isn’t she the Goddess of Love?” He made a compelling argument, but I had to ask, “Why are you pushing so hard for me to choose Derek though?” He was a Maigny after all and I couldn’t be certain he wasn’t deceiving me so that his sister could win the heart of Lucien. He shook his head, “I don’t care if my sister gets power, I just care if my best friend is happy.” I could relate to that, and I’ve told him as much. I looked down at my sandwich, “I will consider it but only after my curse is lifted. If that can even be a thing. Just promise me something.” He nodded, “What is it?” I looked up into his blue eyes, “Help me to get those two together just in case. I don’t want them to be hurt because of me.” He nodded, “Okay.”
