Give Her A Chance
POV: Blake
Alesha pulled me into the hallway to talk to me alone. She turned after shutting the door, “I know you’ve been looking into Litha about betraying Alexandra. I could have saved you a whole lot of trouble on that front. Litha has a lot of admiration for Alexandra. She thinks it was cool that she was raised elsewhere.” I narrowed my eyes at her, “And how did you know that her father was in The Order?” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, “I do have friends in the Citadel and my own sister is a soldier. They’ve been looking into House Delnaro, I was given a heads up to maybe not hang out with Litha for the time being. Being the free spirit I am, I ignored it because I’ve known Litha my whole life and knew she wouldn’t get tangled up in some prejudiced plot to rid the nobility of anything other than pure blood pyrios. If you knew anything about that sweet person, you’d know Litha would never be like that.” Alesha had always been known to have a fiery and blunt personality. She was always willing to speak out to stick up for the injustices she saw. She had told Lucien that she would join the Citadel once they got back and I believed that she was the perfect one to be amongst their ranks. I sighed, “Look, I admit that I don’t know Litha very well but I do know Alexandra and I am just trying to protect her. You’re her friend, wouldn’t you feel the same?” Alesha relaxed, “Of course, she’s such a wonderful person. Who wouldn’t? You’ve got to promise me, Blake, that you won’t be so judgmental towards Litha just from the actions of her family.” I looked down at my feet annoyed that I had to hear this twice tonight and simply nodded. I took the promise to the Goddess more seriously but I figured if I had a promise to Athena, then it wouldn’t hurt to promise the same to Alesha. She sighed, “I’m going to get back to Meldon. You can join us if you want.” I shook my head, “No, that’s okay. I’m tired, I’m just going to go to bed and just talk to my brother tomorrow.” Alesha turned and rejoined Meldon as I walked down to my room. I was still frustrated that he was still out with Alexandra because I wanted to be the one to ease her mind on her friend.
The next morning, I made my way to the banquet hall to have breakfast before we had to head back to Tarn and Blackwood. Alexandra was the only one seated at the table. She was heavily nursing a cup of vitality tea but she mustered a tired smile at me, “Good morning Blake, you look well-rested.” I smiled at her as I sat down next to her, “I did but you looked like you might have had a rough night.” She shrugged, “I actually haven’t slept. I was having such a good time swimming in the lake last night that we lost track of time and got in about an hour ago.” I furrowed my brows knowing that she spent the entire night with Lucien, I was envious of him. I pulled a strained smile to my face before she could notice, “I had an interesting night last night.” She set down the teacup and turned to me, “Oh yeah? Did you make out with Litha or something?” I rolled my eyes, “Ha, ha. Your snark knows no bounds, Alexandra. No, I found out she’s not betraying you. She’s really very ignorant to the plot.” She leaned back in her chair and sighed with relief, “Oh thank the Gods, I really didn’t want to be suspicious of her. Though I do wonder…” A servant came in and served me my normal sausage and pepper omelet with tea, I took a bite then swallowed, “What is it?” She picked up her cup again, “What will happen to her when you guys arrest her father?” I reached over and squeezed her hand, “She would be investigated officially. When they determine that she knew nothing, Lucien would have to appoint her as the new Countess Delnaro. You don’t need to worry about that either, I will vouch for her. As the crown prince, my opinion holds a lot of weight.” Her tense shoulders immediately relaxed and she smiled, “Thanks, Blake.”
Lucien strolled into the room and smiled at us, he looked just as tired as Alexandra. I rolled my eyes, “I swear you two are going to be the worst travel companions today. You’ll be passed out and I will be sitting there in silence.” Lucien laughed, “Sorry brother, you know how I get when I go out on the lake. We just enjoyed a good long swim.” He smiled over at Alexandra, she smiled back and shrugged, “It was really nice and I haven’t had such good exercise for a while.” The other five occupants of the retreat all entered the room chatting about their night with each other. Litha was talking about how she felt unwell last night but how I was kind enough to offer her a makeup date. Alesha looked over at me and smiled, “That was really sweet of you to offer that Blake.” I shrugged, “I know that Litha had been looking forward to the date. I figured it wasn’t fair to her to miss out just because she was ill. I hope you are well now, Litha.” She sighed, “I’m feeling a bit lightheaded still but I think food will help me recover.” She looked over at Alexandra, “You look tired, Xan. Are you feeling well?” Alexandra smiled at her, “I’m quite alright, I just didn’t get sleep last night. I will probably nap when I get home but can you do me a favor?” Litha’s face lit up as she was seemingly eager to help Alexandra, “What do you need?” Alexandra looked over at Lucien then at me, “Can you ride with us until we get to the rally point? I fear that Lucien and I might fall asleep on poor Blake and he’ll feel quite alone while we’re passed out.” She hesitantly looked over at me, I nodded at her and she smiled, “Okay. That sounds fine.” I looked over at Alesha who was standing behind Litha, she put her thumb up in approval.
After we finished breakfast, we all loaded our luggage into the two carriages to go back to the rendezvous point. I helped Alexandra and Litha into our carriage and climbed in after Lucien. It was a mistake to do so since Lucien sat next to Alexandra. This act made me slightly cranky which was made worse by the beaming smile on Litha’s face. I chided myself for thinking she was irritating since I had promised others that I would give getting to know her without judgment a shot. I sunk into the seat and looked out the window as the retreat slowly left our view. We were far enough to take a portal but just before that I heard a quiet snore. I turned my head to see that Alexandra had rested her head on Lucien’s shoulder and fell asleep. He quietly chuckled, “She tried to stay awake but I think the pull of sleep took her easier than she thought it would.” Litha was staring at Alexandra, “Even when she sleeps, she’s just so pretty.” Litha looked over at me, “I don’t blame you for liking her so much, Blake. I got to know her so much more up here and she’s amazing. I had this notion in my head that the guys liked her so much because she was beautiful. I think perhaps that was too premature of a judgment.” I widened my eyes slightly as she spoke about Alexandra. She looked back at me and I could see now that she, perhaps, wasn’t nearly as annoying as I had initially thought. She smiled, “What? You are looking at me as if I said something shocking.” I shrugged, “I thought that perhaps you were some shallow person who only cared of power and looks. You surprise me that you would have more depth to you.”
She blushed and looked down at her hands, “I admit that I acted as my father taught me to. He told me that you might favor a bolder woman since Alexandra seemed to him to be so bold.” I looked at Lucien who was trying to hide a smirk, he said, “Alexandra isn’t so much bold but she is someone who was raised to follow her convictions. I suppose one could call that bold but she too has depth to her.” Lucien had nailed down her personality to an extent, I added, “She does have her hesitations too. She hesitates to tell others how she feels if she thinks it would stress them. It drives us all nuts, trust me.” I looked at Lucien and he nodded, “Very frustrating.” Litha looked up at me, “So what sort of woman seems less annoying.” I sighed, “Don’t model your personality to what anyone tells you to, Litha. You need to stand out on your own. Be yourself, then I might soften up to you.” She gave a determined nod, “Okay, I’ll do just that then. I hope to show you who I really am when next we meet, Blake.” I gave her a stern look, “Be sure that you do.” I turned my head and smiled that she decided that she would live for herself instead of what some old fool told her to do. I had liberated that woman and I hoped she took the opportunity to seize on it, to show me that I was wrong about her. I looked forward to being proven wrong.
