Two Americans in Cordonia
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- Two things to address, one I’m working from memory, not screenshots so dialogue won’t be exact. Things will still happen similarly to the way they do in the game (at least at first), but I’ll take liberties with the dialogue, etc. Secondly, Amelia and Eleanor’s chapters happen concurrently, not consecutively, particularly when they aren’t in the same scene. This lets me tell both their stories effectively.
Rating- PG
Summary- Drake fills Amelia in on the basics of the social season while Liam and Eleanor share a moment in the maze garden.
Words- 2222
Chapter Three
Amelia
“We both agree that Olivia is a bitch, right?” I muttered as Eleanor and I went in search of Hana.
The redheaded duchess had viciously attacked her for seemingly no reason. Well, ok, I knew why she did it; because she could. Women like Olivia got off on making other people feel bad and Hana seemed like a sweet girl, which made her an easy target.
“We can,” Eleanor agreed, she laughed, “for a moment there I thought you were going to slap her.”
“I was tempted,” I admitted, but I knew that I had to keep my temper since my behavior reflected on Eleanor as well as on myself. “You handled it well.”
Eleanor shrugged, “I’ve dealt with girls like Olivia all my life, their bark is worse than their bite and usually it’s meant to conceal some kind of pain or insecurity.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t care about Olivia’s inner pain,” I commented with an eye-roll.
Eleanor laughed as she knocked on the door of the room the maid had directed us to.
A moment later, it opened and Hana seemed surprised to see us. “Eleanor, Amelia, what are you doing here?”
“We just wanted to make sure you were ok,” Eleanor told her softly, stepping into the room.
“Oh. That’s kind of you.” Hana said quietly, looking between the two of us.
“Olivia had no right to talk to you like that,” I pointed out.
Hana sighed, “but she’s right. My last engagement did end and it was an embarrassment.”
“Why?” Eleanor asked quietly. “A broken engagement is nothing to be ashamed of.”
Hana blinked, “it’s not?”
“No,” Eleanor told her, “it just means that a situation wasn’t right for you and you realized it before you made a bigger mistake.”
Hana sighed. “That’s not how my parents see it.” She took a deep breath. “However, it’s behind me, and I’m here now, and it’s a second chance.” She didn’t look all that convinced, but I bit my tongue. “Thank you for coming after me,” she said again, “it was very nice of you, both of you. Most of the women here aren’t that nice.”
“I noticed,” I said, making a face.
Hana laughed, “the court isn’t to your liking, Amelia?”
I shrugged, “it’s fine. Just a lot of snobby people, but I’m not here to impress anyone.”
“That must be nice,” Hana said wistfully. She looked at Eleanor. “What do you think?”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” Eleanor said carefully.
Hana nodded, “that’s reasonable, you just got here after all.” She made a face. “I must look like a fright.”
“Nothing that a quick touch-up won’t fix,” Eleanor assured her.
Hana nodded and ran to the bathroom. She emerged a moment later and smiled at us. “We should go back downstairs.”
Eleanor and I followed her back to the ballroom as soon as got there, Maxwell appeared and whisked Eleanor away to go dance with the prince while Hana was stopped by one of the nobles.
I looked through the crowd and spotted Drake heading for the door. I quickly made my way over to his side. “Escaping?”
“Yeah, the night’s almost done,” he said with a shrug.
He raised an eyebrow, “how did you enjoy your first royal social function?”
“It was interesting,” I told him, “the people…”
“Yeah,” he said with a grim face, “it might seem like something out of a fairytale, but it’s really not. Especially for people like us.”
I really wanted to know his story, why he was so cynical, but I also knew that I probably wasn’t going to get it out of him the day we met. “Were you headed to bed?”
“Nah, I was going to go have a late night drink, maybe catch up with Liam,” Drake told me.
“A drink sounds good,” I told him, glancing around us where the ball was obviously winding down.
Drake looked surprised but then he nodded, “follow me.” We exited the ballroom and then headed for a small study. “This is Liam’s,” Drake explained, “but he lets me use it.” He grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the shelf and poured two glasses. “Eleanor won’t wonder where you are?”
I shook my head, “I got a text saying she was off to explore some maze with Liam and not to wait for her.”
Drake looked surprised. “She and Liam went out to the maze?”
“Is that unusual?” I asked as I sipped my whiskey.
“Liam tends to be big on following the rules,” Drake explained, “he’s not really one for sneaking out and part of the rules of the social season is getting to know all the candidates equally and not singling any of them out, especially this early.”
“What exactly is this social season all about?” I asked curiously. “Maxwell didn’t provide a lot of information.”
Drake snorted, “no surprise there, Maxwell doesn’t really think things through. Basically, the most eligible women in Cordonia compete for the chance to be Liam’s bride.”
“Like the Bachelor: Royalty Edition?” I joked.
Drake chucked, “kind of, but not quite. No hot tubs or rose ceremonies, but a lot of boring, official events. It’s also not just about Liam. The King and Queen and the Royal Council all have to approve his bride.”
“Oh.”
“You see what your friend is working against?” Drake asked me, gripping his glass. “She’s an outsider, she’s got almost no chance, and what’s going to happen is that both she and Liam are going to get their hearts broken.”
When he put it that way, I could see why he was so cold to Eleanor and yet… “Sometimes risks are worth taking,” I pointed out, “and I mean, it’s not like she’s me. Eleanor is a private-school educated, Yale graduate from a wealthy background.”
Drake raised an eyebrow, “then why was she working as a waitress?”
It was a good question, but it wasn’t an easy answer.
“That’s her story,” I deflected, “but it wasn’t for the money.”
“She’s still an American and a commoner,” Drake pointed out, “And believe me, the nobles will go out of her way to remind her of that.”
“It wasn’t easy being the commoner at court, was it?” I asked sympathetically.
He just shrugged, “I manage. I’m only here for Liam.”
I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, so I decided not to press. “What kind of events are we talking about?” I asked, going back to the social season.
“Tomorrow is the Cordonian Derby,” Drake told me, “and then there’s a picnic. The social season is made up of a lot of events like that where the goal is to smooze with the nobles and get your picture in the paper, that kind of thing.”
“Is the social season a regular occurrence?” I asked curiously. “Or is this something that is being held specifically for Liam to find a bride?”
“The social season happens every year, but this one is different.” Drake answered, “in a social season when the prince will be choosing a bride, the focus is less on events and the court, and more on the ladies in question. Last time, the press ran non-stop stories about the leading candidates.”
“Last time?” I asked curiously. “Did Liam pick a bride before and it not stick?”
It was a joke, but Drake didn’t laugh. “Not Liam,” he answered, “his older brother. Leo was the crown prince and he went through the obligatory social season, but a few months ago he made the decision to abdicate the throne.”
Ok, that was interesting and actually rang some bells. “I think that made the tabloids,” I commented, “they called him the Playboy Prince, right? And he married an American?”
“That’s right,” Drake answered, “there was more to it than that, but the result was that Liam is now the crown prince and is expected to choose a bride and that’s why we’re all here.”
I nodded, staring at my now-empty glass. It all seemed a lot more complicated than it had that morning and I started wondering if Eleanor had any idea what she had signed up for and if Drake was right and this was destined to end badly.
—
Eleanor
Maxwell pulled me away from Amelia and Hana and pointed me towards Liam, who was talking to Lady Penelope. “Excuse me, Lady Penelope, can I steal the Prince away for a dance?” I asked, approaching them.
Penelope made a face. “If you must.”
“I must,” I told her.
“We’ll talk later,” Liam promised politely and then led me onto the dance floor, “very well done.”
“I’m not completely clueless,” I teased, “I might even surprise you.”
Liam smiled, “I’m sure that you will. You already have, I still can’t believe that you are really here.”
“I am,” I confirmed, though the reality of it was starting to hit me. “Is this what it’s going to be like?” I asked before I could stop myself. “A serious of brief moments in crowded rooms where we can’t even really talk?”
A shadow passed over Liam. “Mostly,” he admitted, “it’s not like it was in New York. However, I do have a few tricks.” He danced us right out a set of doors onto a secluded patio.
“We have a few minutes,” he told me and for a few minutes, we chatted, not about the social season, but about Cordonia and his childhood. I filed the information about his brother’s abdication, and Cordonia’s three queens, even as I smiled up at Liam and laughed at his story about the garden maze.
“I want to meet the Liam who hides in mazes,” I teased as he danced us back inside.
“Those days are long past,” he said sadly.
“Do they have to be?” I asked, an idea suddenly occurred to me.
Liam grinned, “the last time I saw that look on your face I ended up on a boat looking at the Statue of Liberty. What do you have in mind?”
“Just… I’m going to be in the maze in 20 minutes if you want to meet me there.” I told him.
I could see the conflict on his face and then he nodded. “Twenty minutes,” he promised before he let me go.
I slipped out of the ballroom but headed towards the garden instead of towards my room. I sent Amelia a quick text so she shouldn’t worry. Before long, Liam appeared.
I playfully tagged him, “you’re it” and headed for the center of the maze. Liam needed to let loose a bit and have some fun and that was what I was there for. I could hear him chasing after me and I made a short cross, but just as I approached the center, Liam knocked me off my feet and we rolled together towards the center.
“I win,” Liam declared, leaning over me, “because I’m on top.”
I laughed, “is that so?”
“Do you have a better way of determining the winner?” He asked me.
I pondered the question, but it was hard to think with him so close to me. Before I could talk myself out of it, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me, pressing my lips to his.
“Eleanor,” he groaned and kissed me back hungrily. However, the kiss only lasted a moment before Liam pulled away.
He got to his feet and then offered me a hand and helped me up. “Eleanor, we can’t,” he told me and I could tell that it took some effort, “this isn’t… I can’t make you any promises and I don’t want you to get hurt, plus I have to be fair to the other women.”
I could see the longing in his eyes and the conflict on his handsome face.
“There’s no one else here,” I reminded him, “do you have to be fair to them in private?”
“You torture me,” he complained and then his expression turned serious, “I just… I don’t want to hurt you, Eleanor.”
I wanted to tell him that I was a big girl and I could handle it, but I had a feeling the words wouldn’t matter, not when it came to Liam’s sense of duty. Besides, we had just met. Yes, I had felt this instant connection to him and wanted to see what could of it, but I had no way of knowing if it would work out and neither did Liam.
We chatted for a few minutes, Liam telling me another cute story from his childhood while we enjoyed our time together. We stood close, but not touching as we talked. Aware of each other, but keeping that polite distance that Liam insisted on.
“Thank you for this,” Liam said when it was time for us to leave the maze, “it was a nice escape.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” I reminded him, realizing it was the truth.
I hadn’t come here to be Queen, I’d come here for Liam, and part of that was supporting him and helping him relax.
I squeezed his hand gently, letting him know I was there for him. He squeezed my hand back and we stood there for a moment longer and then we exited the maze and then said our goodnights.
As I headed towards my room, I was thinking about Liam. It had only been two days, but I already felt like he was going to change my entire life.
—
