Lucy Meets Cal
POV: Alexandra
It took me a minute to process the fact that I heard Lucy’s voice in House of Dark. I stopped in my tracks and blinked up the child wondering why the hell Mordred would bring her here. I sighed and asked the butler, “Do you happen to know why young Miss Lucy is here?” He nodded, “Apparently, your parents thought that The Order would target the child as well. He brought her, Nystasia, and His Highness Ashton here.” I still had to get over the fact that they regarded us as royalty here in House of Dark. The butler continued, “We must hurry though, Your Highness. We are expecting our guests any minute now and His Majesty wished for you to be ready and dressed before they got here.” He rushed me up the stairs and Lucy fell in step beside me. We entered the room and I saw two beds in the room but the butler explained before I had to ask, “His Majesty said the young miss would likely need to stay with you so that she felt comfortable in a strange place.” Lucy grabbed my hand, “He wasn’t wrong. I think it’s great that we can have a three-night sleepover! Mordred said that we could build blanket forts and have snacks in the room. I’m so excited.” I smiled down at her, “It does sound fun but I need to get ready for this dinner.” The butler pointed at the wardrobe, “You’ll find a dress for you and Miss Lucy in there along with shoes and accessories. I shall leave you to it but I will fetch you in about twenty minutes. Would that be enough time?” I nodded, “Yes, I don’t think it will take us long since we’re mostly suitable. Just a wardrobe change I think.” I looked down at Lucy and she nodded back up at me, “See in about twenty then.” He smiled and left the room.
I turned to Lucy as soon as he shut the door, “I’m afraid I need to lay down some rules while we are here. There is a mean man here that I want to protect you from. Do you understand?” She nodded, “I think I do. I don’t mind rules especially if it makes you feel better Mama Lex.” I smiled and walked over to the wardrobe, “We can discuss this while we are getting dressed. So now there is a very tall man with long blonde hair and teal-colored eyes. He’s very pale, has pointed ears and his eyes are cat-eye shaped. He has wrinkles and wears a whole lot of dark blue. I need you to try and stay far away from him.” I helped her pull her dress over her head and she smoothed out her hair after her head poked through, “Is he really mean then?” I nodded, “He caused his son to have a big ouchie on his face recently. He is not nice at all. I think if he can do that to his own son, he would do that to anyone.” She nodded, “Okay Mama Lex, I will try to stay away from him. Let’s get you dressed then.” She was only wearing her dress and the black tights she had already had on. I shook my head, “You need to put your shoes on, kiddo.” She shrugged, “I want to see your pretty dress. Have you seen it yet?” I shook my head, “Not yet. Let’s look at it.” I walked back over to the wardrobe and pulled out a silver gown that shimmered magically when I pulled it out. Lucy gasped, “That is so pretty! You’re going to be even prettier than you already are. I wish Lucien was here to see it.” I pulled the sweater I had on over my head and stepped into the dress. I pulled it up over my shoulder and Lucy zipped up the back. I pulled the skirt up so that I could shed the black leggings I was wearing.
I turned back to the wardrobe and looked down at where the shoes were supposed to be. I sighed, “The bane in my freaking existence.” Lucy leaned around the door to look down at the shoes, “Those look painful.” I nodded, “They are, especially when you are about as graceful as a drunk chicken.” She giggled, “I don’t think you’re that bad.” I shrugged, “You’ve never seen me in heels.” I sighed and pulled them out and the small black mary jane shoes that were in there for Lucy. I walked her over to the bed and put the shoes on her, “I really don’t know why they set up two beds, we could’ve just shared the one. I wonder if I can ask them to take the small cot out. I imagine that wouldn’t be comfortable to sleep on.” She clicked her feet together, “I tried to tell Mordred that when we got here but he said you would have to make that decision.” I sat down next to her and placed the silver shoes on my feet, “How’s my makeup? Do you think I need a touchup?” She pulled my head to face her and she shook her head, “Perfect as always but you might want to fix your hair. It’s sticking out.” I walked over to a mirror and gasped, “I look like I stuck my finger in a light socket. Holy Einstein!” She looked at me confused and I sighed, “It's a reference to things in Terre. Einstein was a person who was widely considered a genius, had wild hair.” She giggled, “Well, I think all you need is a little spray and a comb. Grammy said that your hair gets wild if you use a comb when it is dry because of the waves.” She hopped down from the bed and ran to the private bathroom and emerged with my spray bottle and a wide-toothed comb. I poked her nose, “Ever my helpful sweet child. Thank you.” I sprayed my hair and smoothed down the wild hair. I turned around to the child for an assessment. She nodded, “You are all good to go.”
We heard a knock at the door and I had assumed it was the butler, “Come in.” Cal poked his head in and Lucy ran behind me, “It’s the mean man Mama Lex.” I giggled, “Oh no, that’s the son I was telling you about.” She poked her head around my leg to have another look at him, “Oh, yeah. He has an ouchie on his face as you said. That’s not nice.” I pulled her out from behind my leg, “Your Highness, this is my adopted daughter Lucy. Lucy, this is His Highness Prince Calypso of Seely.” She curtsied at him, “Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. I am sorry for my rude behavior earlier.” Oh lord, my mother got a hold of her for etiquette lessons. It was like watching a mini brown-haired Talia. He bowed to her, “It is my honor, Miss Lucy.” He pulled her hand to his lips for a small peck, “A prince must always properly greet a beautiful lady in his presence.” She blushed, “Oh I like him, Mama Lex. Oh, but mustn’t you greet her that way? She’s the most beautiful.” He smiled at her and picked up my hand then placed a small peck on my hand, “I cannot argue at all with that assessment, Miss Lucy. I have thought the same since meeting her.” I shook my head and smiled, “I assume you came for a reason though, Cal. What can I do for you?” He sighed, “I hear that I’m going to be taking the light-healing potion tonight. I hear it puts you to sleep for a time so I just wanted you to know that will probably be why you won’t see me anytime soon. Mordred ordered that guards be posted at my door and I am not to be disturbed by anyone other than the healers and you.” I hugged him, “I’m glad to hear that your father cannot interfere with your healing process. Where is he anyhow?” He looked towards the east, “Mordred set him up in the east wing which is far away from your room. I heard him talking about our young lady here and I don’t think he will drop his curiosity about her. Did you tell Miss Lucy about him?” I nodded, “That's why she was afraid of you at first. I neglected to tell her what you looked like so she could differentiate. To be fair…” I looked down at Lucy, “I did say he wore dark blue. Prince Cal wears a lot of white and gold and rarely any blue.” Cal cleared his voice, “That’s because that is Seely tradition. Male royalty wears dark blue unless they are a virgin and then we have to wear white and gold.” I blushed and looked away from him, “Oh, um…that’s not awkward.” He chuckled, “I’m not embarrassed. It’s normal for the fae to flaunt their status in that regard. If you look at my father’s garb, you’d find-” I placed my hand over his mouth, “I hardly think this is a topic for young pyrio ears.” I looked down at Lucy and he nodded, “Sorry Alexandra. I didn’t think. Perhaps a conversation for another time if you’re interested, that is.”
Another knock came at the door and I called out to whoever it was, this time it was the butler, “Pardon me, Your Highness. We need to get going, the guests are outside of the gates and we need to be down now to greet them.” I nodded and looked at Cal, “Family duty awaits me. I will come to see you later. Okay?” He nodded, “Yeah but can you wait until I’m awake?” I nodded, “You bet.” I got up on my tip toes and kissed his cheek, “See you.” I took Lucy’s hand and we followed the butler down to the front door. My brother was standing there with Mordred who were both in black ties and tails. I smirked at Ashton, “Looking smooth, bro.” He hugged me, “You look gorgeous, dear sister.” Mordred cleared his throat, “Can we focus? I’m nervous as hell and I need you, Alexandra.” I cleared my throat and stood on the other side of him with Lucy still in hand. The doors opened to Vanessa wearing a green velvet, curve-hugging gown on the arm of my uncle Talon who was also in a black tie and tails. She smiled, “Aren’t we all just so fancy? I’m curious to see what all of this is about though.” Mordred stepped forward and kissed her hand, “You’ll see soon, after dinner but first let us eat. May I escort you?” He looked at Talon who gave Vanessa over to Mordred and came to escort me in. He took my arm in his and whispered to me, “Do you know what this is about?” I nodded and whispered back, “It’s about family. That’s all I can say for now but I will say that she’s going to need emotional support.” Realization came over my uncle’s face as I gave that brief explanation. It was expected that these few hints would be understood easily by someone as smart and tactical as him. I looked down at me, “Is he really?” I nodded, “Yep, I pushed him to tell her.” He planted a kiss on the top of my head, “Good girl. She deserves to know. So…she’s royalty.” I only nodded since we had entered the dining room.
We all took our seats going in. Mordred had me on one side and Vanessa on the other. Talon was seated next to her with Lucy next to me and Ashton next to Lucy. I had imagined he placed me on his other side so he would have me at his back when he told Vanessa about who she truly was. We spent the meal talking about what had happened during the day. Vanessa was still teaching the remaining students who did not have an apprenticeship. She explained that Lorna Gersha had practically blown up her hearth at school with a slight misstep in a spell. She had to send a repair request to the Headmaster’s office. I laughed as I told her that I saw Lucien read a report today and sighed about it. I thought perhaps that was the report he was grumbling about. She laughed hard at the reaction but explained she had no heartburn about giving him a hard time since she was still angry with him. Dinner had finished after a while and it was time to tell Vanessa. I felt a hand grab mine under the table and a squeeze. I squeezed back to encourage him and to let him know that I was there for him. He turned and spoke to Vanessa, “So I guess it comes now to why I have asked you here.” Vanessa looked up at Mordred with the same green eyes that were staring back at her, she just didn’t know it yet. He cleared his throat, “I guess there isn’t really a delicate way to tell you this but a long time ago I was in love with Evelyn, your mother. We were going to get married but your grandfather had me thrown out of Vellum before we could. I didn’t know your mother was pregnant with you when I left. I am your father, Vanessa.”
