To Wed a Princess

Eloise sat at the piano in the lounge of her apartments. Ignoring the aching in her back, arms, wrists and even her fingers, she continued to play. Her left leg was even beginning to hurt from having to do the work of the right on the pedals. Originally she'd wanted to play the violin, but it had been up on a high shelf and she hadn't fancied having to hop around like a fool to get it down...nor did she want to ask for help. No, after that morning she wanted to be alone. Her eyes burned from tiredness and occasionally the sheet music would blur in front of her eyes, but she was familiar enough with the pieces to get by. Unaware of how long she'd been sitting there, playing Swan Lake, she didn't particularly care.

“You've been like this for hours.”

Well, there was her answer. She didn't know Brian was even in the room, but she didn't jump when his voice sounded behind her and continued to play, unaware if she was even capable of stopping at that point. They'd become more comfortable around each other in the past few days and were able to talk somewhat freely between themselves, although there were a few obvious sore topics. Brian was, perhaps unknowingly beginning to broach onto one of them.

“Your brother said to leave you alone when you do this but I figured he wants me to leave you alone in general, so fuck it.”

Still she said nothing – speech was another thing she didn't know if she was capable of at that exact moment in time. A few moments later he huffed and dropped a chair at her side. It hit the floor with a heavy thud before he occupied it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him lean back in the chair, index finger to his lower lip as if he was curious at what she might do next.

“Surely the ballet can't be that damn long.”

It wasn't. She vaguely recalled restarting at some point.

“Alright, we'll play the guessing game.”

He was clearly quite amused at this. She didn't care.

“You're.....having a bad hair day?”

She hadn't bothered doing anything with her hair other than washing it since she'd woken up.

“You've realised you're gonna be married to such a sexy man and can't quite contain all of your emotions and excitement?”

She didn't appreciate his attempt at humour, no matter how good natured it may have been.

“No? Okay. The Charlotte thing?”

Charlotte could rot for all she cared.

“Our deal?”

His voice was deadly serious all of a sudden. He seemed satisfied at her reaction, though – or lack thereof, as he hmm'ed and went silent.

“Oh.”

His voice was still serious now, but softer, in realisation.

“You looked at the leg.”

Her foot slipped from the pedal with a bang and her hands faltered. Damn him. The doctor had been in that morning to check her leg and she had finally given in and looked. Seeing it had made it all too real. She felt her chest tighten and her eyes burn, but she said nothing, resuming her playing after a second. However, she'd given herself away.

“It was always gonna be there whether you looked or not,” he leaned forward on his chair, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together in front of himself.

He was right but it didn't make her feel any better. She said nothing, not trusting her voice. All she wanted was for him to leave, if he left then she could cry. It felt like all she did was cry lately, she couldn't count the number of times she'd had to excuse herself from a conversation so she could hurry to her rooms as fast as her new motorised wheelchair would allow and cry. It didn't matter so much if she was with her family, or even Kate, but she didn't want to worry them by just randomly bursting into tears mid-conversation. That was something she did a lot. She felt so weak and she didn't even have the energy to be bitter towards herself for it.

There were a lot of unanswered questions weighing on her mind as of late which she pondered over when everybody else was asleep. She didn't even know if she'd slept since originally waking up in the hospital. Part of her assumed she must have – it had been what, four, five days? All she knew that was whenever she tried, whenever she began to drift off, she was suddenly back on that surfboard. She'd then hop (quite literally) out of bed and onto her wheelchair and make her way back into the lounge where she'd read or simply think until sunrise.

“I'm guessing it was bad then.”

She'd almost forgotten Brian was sitting there. He was right, it had been bad. The wound itself was more or less a neat oval encompassing a great deal of her thigh and part of her backside, but it had been pink and angry looking with severe looking black stitches holding it together – it still had a great deal of healing to do before recovery would truly begin. The scars would be prominent and dark, almost like indentations on her previously flawless skin. She'd had the best surgeon money could buy....she hated to think what state her leg may have been in if she hadn't. Then there was the pure embarrassment of having to stand in only a t-shirt and underpants whilst a doctor poked and prodded at her – even if said doctor was female.

“Why do you think Charlotte chose South Africa?” her voice was weak as she forced the words out, quietening her playing considerably as she spoke.

“Huh? The fuck should I know?”

“That was my response more or less when Harry asked me last night. He then went on to inform me that South Africa is shark attack capital of the world.”

“What, so you think she planned for you to get, uh...?”

“Mangled?” she snorted humourlessly “No. That'd be paranoid, even for me. I am curious, though. I've sent her an invitation.”

“You really think she'll show?”

“She doesn't know I know she posted that video,” she sighed “She has no reason not to. No doubt she'll assume it'll be an opportunity to work her way back into...this. She'll be here in an hour. It's up to you if you want to be present. I don't doubt it'll be very dramatic.”

“I do enjoy watching you tear people down. Gets me all hot.”

She snorted again, but this time it wasn't entirely without humour.



Eloise decided to receive Charlotte in the gardens, purely so she could wear her sunglasses to disguise her tired eyes and the dark circles underneath them. She sat in her wheelchair and Brian sat to her right. It was a cool evening, but pleasantly so. The sun shone down on the garden with an orange glow. It would have been a pleasant afternoon had she not invited Charlotte.

Said brunette arrived slightly late with an overly patronising pout on her face when she saw Eloise in her wheelchair.

“Oh, god, El!” she simpered, approaching as if to hug her and kiss her on the cheek.

Eloise shook her head and gestured to the chair at the other side of the small circular garden table they sat at. Charlotte frowned but sat anyways, leaning forward with her hands clasped in front of her. She feigned concern brilliantly.

“You know, I think it's just awful that the security leaked that footage. You just can't find the staff these days, completely untrustworthy!” she sighed, shaking her head.

To Eloise's right, Brian snorted and shook his head.

“We know it was you, Charlotte,” Eloise sighed, pushing her sunglasses up her nose.

“What?!” she had the good grace to try and look scandalised “El, why would I ever-”

“We'll get onto that in a minute,” Eloise interrupted, holding her hand up “What I want to know is why you chose South Africa.”

“...What?” the brunette stared, dumbfounded.

“I recently found out that it's shark attack capital of the world. Now, I highly doubt you wanted this whole thing to happen, truly, no matter how much you profited from it,” she shrugged “But I have a feeling there's a reason...and if you don't tell me the true reason, I'm sure I could make it look like you did plan this whole thing – twist some facts. Now, this isn't the medieval times and you couldn't be beheaded for treason or anything as exciting as that, but...Well, planning for a royal to be attacked by a shark? There's a crime in there somewhere.”

Charlotte had paled by the time Eloise had finished, but Brian looked positively gleeful. At the time she was sure he'd been joking about getting off on watching her threaten people, but now she wasn't so sure.

“I....I...” Charlotte took in a deep breath and squirmed in her seat “I knew it was shark attack capital. I didn't think you'd be attacked, I honestly didn't! I just...I hoped we'd see some sharks if we were far enough away from the shore...”

“Why? You've never been much of a nature enthusiast.”

“I thought maybe you'd be scared and that, uh....” Charlotte trailed off, blushing bright red as though she knew how stupid she'd sound when she finished her sentence “Brian would comfort you.”

It was Eloise's turn to be stunned.

“This...” she gave a high pitched, harsh laugh “All of this happened because you were still playing these childish match-making games?!”

Charlotte went to stand as though to leave, and then Brian spoke up for the first time.

“Sit down.”

The words were said in a bored manner, but even then they sounded dangerous to the point where Eloise herself felt a tad uncomfortable. Charlotte dropped, almost comically, back into her seat.

“What do you gain if Brian and I are together? Truly? Is it linked to why you sold the footage?”

“No!”

“Ah, so you did sell the footage, then,” Eloise nodded slowly.

“No! I mean...” Charlotte spluttered for a few moments before giving up and slumping in her chair “If you and Brian are together, you and Cardona aren't.”

It took Eloise a good few minutes to even begin to form words, and when she looked at Brian he was staring at the brunette in disbelief.

“All of this....because you didn't like the fact that I was screwing Rafael Cardona?” her voice was void of emotion.

She felt numb – barely even to comprehend the stupidity of the whole situation.

“He was no good for you! A gang member! A drug lord! He hated me for no reason! You could do so much better!”

Eloise began to laugh. Once she started she couldn't stop. As before it was a cold, humourless laugh. Charlotte didn't want her to be with a criminal and so her alternative was Synyster Gates?! It was all just too ironic. Once more she glanced towards Brian and saw he was unable to contain his laughter, too – except his was genuine.

She took in a deep breath and smoothed out her skirt, contemplating her response. How she wanted to tell Charlotte who Brian was and watch her face pale even more. How she wanted her to realise her mistake. She couldn't, however, and so she had to take a different path.

“Charlotte doesn't like being overlooked...” she sighed mockingly “Charlotte doesn't like being snapped at. Charlotte doesn't like being reminded that she has betters. Charlotte is jealous.”

“I am not! I-”

“So that's why you sold the footage? Petty jealousy?” Eloise raised her index finger to her lips thoughtfully “What would Richard think? Charlotte nearly kills a princess because she's jealous...”

“They....El-”

“Ma'am,” Eloise corrected.

“They were offering a lot of money...Ma'am,” the last part was added grudgingly.

“After you approached them?” Eloise tilted her head to the side.

Charlotte's silence told her that this was the case.

“Well....I suggest you spend that money wisely,” Eloise spoke slowly “I would ask what I've done to deserve any of this, but I don't care. We're finished. Leave.”

“Well,” Charlotte sniffed as she stood, bravery seeming to return to her “I got what I wanted, anyway. Do you really think that any man will look at you now that you've been maimed?”

“Oh, Brian does more than look at me,” Eloise smirked up at the brunette.

It was a lie, but Charlotte believed it and her eyes widened.

“You are a bi-”

“You have ten seconds to get out of my sight before I have you killed.”

Eloise wasn't sure if that one was a lie. Charlotte was out of her sight within five.

“Well...there are my answers and there was your evening's entertainment,” Eloise muttered after a few minutes once she knew Charlotte would be well on her way out “Good evening, Brian.”

Brian simply pulled out his phone and began texting in response. He knew better by then to fight her when she was in a mood. She made her way to her apartments by herself. However, when she arrived at her lounge, she found William there, standing beside the piano.

“William,” she greeted tiredly “How are you?”

“Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?” he asked softly, sitting down on one of the couches.

“I've been asked that enough to last a life time this week alone,” she muttered sourly, bringing the chair over to the couch opposite him and hopping on to it, holding up a hand in protest when he went to help her.

“Well you haven't exactly let us in, El,” he sighed “The only person you've been spending any time with at all is, well...him.”

“This is about Brian, then?” she removed her sunglasses and threw them gently onto the coffee table between them.

William coughed and shifted, always a clear sign that he wanted to talk about something he knew she wouldn't like. He'd inherited it from their father.

“Will, do we really have to do this now?” she asked tiredly “I'm not feeling too well today.”

“Darren sent these up,” he gestured to a plate of pink French fancies.

She gave a small, tired smile. She'd loved them ever since she was a child. The chef was doing his best to try and make her eat something substantial, probably fearing for his job if he didn't. The cooking wasn't the problem, though, and she was sure everybody knew that.

“You can have them,” she said.

“El, you need to eat,” he moved to sit beside her, on the side of her non-injured leg “You're losing weight already.”

“Not true. Lack of sleep makes you gain so I'm finding a happy balance,” she drawled, reaching for the bottle of water on the table.

“Not funny.”

“Not a joke,” she unscrewed the lid and took a sip “I do believe you were here to complain about Brian.”

“I just want to know when your guest will be leaving,” he frowned at her, concern shining in his eyes “This should be family time.”

Someone somewhere didn't want her to have any peace, it seemed. She decided to go along with it.

“If Kate's here then Brian has every right, I think.”

Will stopped, froze and stared at her for a few moments, clearly taking a few moments to comprehend what she meant.

“Oh, El...You don't mean?”

“Since Harry's party,” she shrugged “Well, that was when we admitted we had some form of feelings for each other. We discussed making it official on the yacht right before, well...”

“I don't agree with it.”

She could tell he was trying to be diplomatic because of her “condition”. If not he'd have been shouting by now.

“Why not?”

“I don't trust him. So many men have tried to get close to you because of who you are or because of your looks. What if he's another?”

It was then that it hit Eloise that this deal didn't just involve lying to the public, but also her family. Resolving to be upset about it later, she took in a deep breath and allowed tears to come to her eyes – they were real, but she'd by lying to Will about why they were there.

“Oh God, El, I didn't mean to upset you,” he pulled her into a hug, making her feel even more guilty.

“I love him, Will,” she whispered tearfully, bringing her hands to her face.

Her brother froze beside her.

“You...You what?”

“I love him,” she repeated with a sniff “And when I woke up....When I woke up I was so fucking scared, Will. Scared that he was going to leave me because of...Well...That's why I asked to see him first. I gave him an out. Told him he could take off if he wanted and I wouldn't hold a grudge. He chose not to, clearly.”

“You...love...him?”

William sounded so stunned that she couldn't help but give another loud sob.

“Please, Will, just...give him a chance? You barely know him? He's so funny and kind and he's been here for me so much since...since...” she broke down into sobs again, feeling awful for having to lie to her oldest brother to this extent.

“I would have been here for you, had you let me,” he murmured “We all would have.”

Everything seemed to rise to the surface at that - the sight of the scar, Charlotte's betrayal, the fact that she had had to resort to marrying a man who didn't even like her and then the fact that she was betraying her family in doing so. They'd never forgive her if they found out the truth. They'd be so disappointed. That was when Eloise's sobs turned into hysterics.