Eliana looked at Georgina's retreating, displeased about her leaving. She didn't want to fight with Damien again since so many things were going on in her mind. "I think she has gotten used to me and would even say she likes me. Initially, I was worried that she would remain hostile toward me, but I am happy to see that I gained her trust..." Damien tried to lighten the mood, but Eliana crossed her arms before her chest and looked at the wall, avoiding his gaze.
"Eli, I-"
Before he could express his regrets, Eliana interrupted him, lifting her palm to signal him to stop talking. "Please call me Eliana since we are no longer on a nickname basis." She said, narrowing her eyes at him.
Damien's eyes widened at her remark. He really f***** up. Did he destroy all his progress? "As you wish. I want to sincerely apologize for last night. Seeing my mother in this state clouded my mind, and I completely overreacted. Of course, there was never any doubt regarding you not being complicit to those filthy bloodsuckers. I even forgot to congratulate you on your initiation." Despite his earnest apology, unbeknownst to him, he made a poor choice of words. His offensive statement about vampires hurt Eliana. Once again, it became evident that they could never become one since she was one of those 'filthy bloodsuckers,' and he would never accept her for what she was.
Her mood worsened, and she was not ready to accept his plea. "Thank you for your apology, but that does not revert how easily you lost your faith in me, which is curious because YOU were the one who offered us to follow you here. And YOU were the one who decided for us to stay in your house, and it was YOUR mother who took us to the caves. Besides, I don't think I have given you any reason to question my intentions ever since we met."
Damien was distressed by how little his words had affected her. On the contrary, it seemed he had agitated her further, making him insecure about how to proceed. "I can see your resentment and understand your disappointment. There is no excuse for my behavior, but I assure you that I feel terrible about what happened and would love to make it up to you. Hell, I will prove to you that something like this will never happen again. How about we celebrate you two becoming Agoran tonight during dinner? Please give me another chance."
Abruptly a servant appeared in the corridor, looking for Eliana. "Miss, you have a visitor waiting in the receiving room." Not expecting anybody, Eliana was confused.
"Who is it?"
"He said his name is Nigel, my lady. He brought his notes and offered a tutoring session if you are available today." The servant answered diligently, glancing over to the crown prince, who had a stale expression and was annoyed.
Before Eliana could answer, Damien butted in. "Miss Eliana is busy, so please ask him to leave the notes and return home."
Eliana's head snapped in his direction so that she could glare at him. The servant was about to leave when Eliana spoke without looking away from Damien. "No, I will meet him and have my tutoring session today. You can tell him I will be there in a minute." Damien stared back at her, deeply furrowing his brows and taking deep breaths to stay calm. Her defiance put the servant in a dilemma, making him look back and forth between the two people having a staring contest, unsure who to listen to.
"Eli, our conversation is not finished yet. Aside from that, you will see him tomorrow anyway. Can't you wait until then?" He said, gritting his teeth.
"I told you not to call me like that anymore. Also, this is not about seeing him; it is about my studies. There is much to catch up on, and Nigel can help me. We can continue our conversation tonight." Having said the last word, she was about to turn and leave, but Damien pulled her by her arm.
"What do you think you're doing, Damien?" Her shriek was louder than anticipated.
"Just because I have been lenient with you does not mean you have the right to disobey my orders, ELI." Looking back at the servant, he was about to repeat his order, but Eliana spoke in such a defeated tone that he couldn't get it over himself. "Please don't do this, Damien."
He looked at her for a few minutes, feeling overwhelmed by the situation. Not wanting her to spend all afternoon with Nigel, he was about to order the servant to send him away again, but her expression was sullen, and his gut feeling told him this was a crucial moment. He could create a significant drift between them if he didn't act accordingly.
Letting go of her arm, Damien nodded and communicated his decision. "Alright, if you say you need his help to study, I shouldn't keep you from meeting him. But know that I would have appreciated it if you at least allowed us to finish our discussion."
She knew he regretted his actions and that it was important to him that they made up, but it was all too much for her. "I understand, but I have to study, and we will have time to clear things up later."
Watching her disappear around the corridor's corner, Damien stood there rooted for a couple more minutes. He closed his eyes to calm his mind, but it didn't work. Knowing that his mother had listened to their conversation since they had been standing in front of her chambers and waited for him, he went inside her room to explain.
"Ah, my son, sometimes you act before thinking." His mother had listened to Damien's explanation and had waited until the end to contribute her feedback.
"I know, but you could have died yesterday, Mother! Thinking that it might have been because of my mate and imagining one of those bloodsuckers being her lover drove me insane. I didn't expect her to get so angry at me."
"I understand your confusion, but the girls never gave us any reason to think that they could be planning an attack on us with vampires. On the contrary, they accepted the ritual of becoming Agoran and have put in a lot of effort to fit in, learning our customs and creating a life for themselves here. She is your mate, and as far as I have seen, she does care for you greatly. Now imagine she would have done the same as you did. How would you feel?"
"Wronged." Damien was too ashamed to look at his mother's face and kept staring at the floor.
"Don't misinterpret her kind nature for blind obedience. She is an incredibly clever and very prideful person, Damien. It must have been hard to leave all that she knew behind and trust a stranger, but she overcame those obstacles because she has faith in the good of people. But her loyalty comes at a price: her expectation that you believe in her too."
"I know all of that already, and I am aware that I messed up. What am I supposed to do now?"
"Don't pressure her and wait for her to come to you. She probably needs space to get over the disappointment." Damien knew his mother was right, but keeping his distance from Eliana would be a great challenge.
Meanwhile, Eliana had taken Nigel to her room with a study desk to go through his notes. They had been at it for hours, and even if she was absentminded because of her fight with Damien, she did her best to focus. "Thank you for helping me catch up, Nigel; I really appreciate it."
"It is my pleasure." He smiled at her and hesitated before speaking again. "I know you don't like to speak about your background, but I have to know one thing. How come you live in the palace?" His question hit Eliana out of nowhere. It never occurred to her that this wasn't a known fact about her. 'Why didn't I think of a story beforehand?' Eliana cursed herself for not being prepared for this situation.
"Oh well, as you know, Georgina and I are from Paxos, and the princes were so kind to take us in until we could stand on our own two feet."
"Neat, so you knew them from before? That would mean you come from a political family, right?"
"I guess you could say we met them before, but I am not from a politician family."
Nigel looked at her with a complicated expression. He had been baffled when the headmaster gave him this address on Friday. Since Eliana didn't stay much after school, he thought of this excuse to see her. But finding out that she was a close acquaintance of the famously good-looking princes, he became insecure. Although he was popular at university, came from a decent family from another city, and was handsome himself, he was no match to Damien or Simon. This however, clarified some of his questions because she did appear from nowhere, started university midyear which never happened before, had a personal guard, and was originally a Paxon. Being friends with the royals would explain why she was able to be and do all of that.
"Does that mean you are in a relationship with one of them?"
"What? No, of course not. Why would you ask me that?" Nigel didn't know that he had been holding back his breath until she answered, and he automatically exhaled, relieved. As a werewolf, he knew he would maybe one day meet his mate, but there was no assurance of that, and it wasn't uncommon to fall in love with someone other than one's mate and build a life with them. Eliana was a beautiful and amazing woman, someone any guy would love to have, and so would he.
"I was just wondering, but I can see that this topic makes you uncomfortable, so let's just leave it at that." He smiled at her, hopeful she might develop feelings for him one day. As long as the princes weren't involved, he was confident he had a proper shot which gave him an idea.
"Actually, Eliana, you said you were thankful for my help. Maybe you would accept to accompany me to the Mil Fest next weekend as a token of your appreciation?"
Just when Eliana thought the awkward questions were over, he came up with another one, taking her yet again by surprise. She didn't want to be rude, especially since he had helped her so much. At the same time, though, she didn't want him to misjudge her intentions. "As in, we go as a group together with Georgina, George, and Charles?" she asked to ensure he understood her agreement to his request didn't mean she wanted to be alone with him.
"Oh- well- hmm- sure, I suppose so." It wasn't what he intended, but it was better than nothing. Plus, he could convince his boys to keep her friend busy during the event to give them some privacy.
"Great, yes, I would love that." Eliana gave in, not anticipating what Nigel was planning.
The rest of their study session went on peacefully, and Simon left before dinner. Damien had to take care of some urgent business in the evening, which was why they couldn't resolve their differences that day. Usually, Damien would have visited Eliana after his work in her chambers, but as his mother had consulted him to give her space, he returned to his chambers in his restless state.
Unfortunately, he stayed occupied all week, not giving him and Eliana any opportunity to continue their postponed conversation. Feeling his absence from the palace so much, Eliana dove into her studies to avoid thinking about him and her nightmares, which she continued to have every night. Due to his workload and the goal to let her approach him first, he also stopped picking her up and sent the guard in his place. Although Damien only tried to accommodate Eliana, she misunderstood his actions and thought he gave up on their friendship, breaking her heart.