The Aldean Chronicles: Hidden

Saturday morning, I jog to the field, I'm excited to see Tristan. I stop when I see someone different.

"Jamie, what are you doing here? Where's Tristan?” I ask, walking up to him.

"Ouch." He jokes. "You're not happy to see me, I'm hurt."

"Seriously, where is he," I look around the empty field.

"He had to go home last night, family emergency. He asked me to fill in for him."

"Did he mention anything about?” I pause. "Anything about...tonight?”

He looks confused. "Tonight?" Then realization dawns on him. "Oh, tonight. Your date, no, that's still on. He'll come around to pick you up. He just has to deal with some stuff first."

I sigh. "So you really are training me today. You're a combatant."

"It's not hard, Tristan gave me a list of instructions. You just need to do everything on the list and then I can report back to him." I frown a bit. "Try not to look too excited." He says. "Now on to the first lesson." He reads out the instructions for some basic techniques for me. We stay there for about an hour before calling it quits.

"I didn't hate this as much as I thought I would." I drink from my bottle.

"Thank you." He rolls his eyes. "But you are good. You're strong and you work hard. Even considering asking you to be my partner for unity day."

I laugh. "How don't you have a partner for that?”

"Kat and I were supposed to do it, but..." He sighs. "Then I asked Tristan, he's not sure. He said he'll have an answer by Sunday."

"I hope he says yes. It'll be good for you guys."

"What are you doing for Milton's match?” He asks. "I doubt your aunt will let you compete."

I shake my head. "She won't, she said I'll be in her box watching the games. If my ratings are high, I'll give out some medals."

He nods. "Good for you."

"Yeah. Um, Jamie, if you don't mind me asking. How are you and Kat?"

He tenses up. "Kat and I are..." He stops to think about his answer. "We're broken up, and we're not getting together anytime soon."

"And that girl you were photographed with, are you dating her?”

His silence answers my question. He runs his hand through his dark brown hair. "Just don't tell her, I love your cousin, I do. It's just, we need some time apart."

"I understand and respect that. But please be gentle with her, she's going through a lot."

He nods. "I've known her longer than you. Her mum is...a lot."

I snort. "Tell me about it, she's only been on my neck for two months and I already feel suffocated. I can't imagine going through that for 17 years."

"I should go, I have things to do today." He turns to leave. "Bye Cass."

I pack up my bag and go back to my room. After a long shower, I dress in shorts and a big t-shirt I was able to retrieve from my home closet. I was so happy to see them stored safely, they didn't suffer the same fate their family did at the hands of Lena.

I get a phone call from Derek. I'm starting to regret giving him my number. "Can I help you?"

"I asked for Jason, why is this girl here?” He says immediately.

"That girl is the best archer in her class, and my friend. So try being more respectful."

"How do I know if she's good?" He's succeeded in getting on my nerves.

"You're about to start training, challenge her to a fight or whatever. Although I doubt she'll still want to be your partner after this."

"Fine, I'll give her a chance." I end the call. I spend the day studying, my mind isn't very focused, I keep thinking about my date tonight.

Around noon, I get a text from Tristan, he wants me to get a pass out of school early. He apologizes for missing our session this morning. I ask if I can call him but he says he's really busy and we'll see each other tonight.

I change into leggings and go to Lilian's office. "Hey Cyan, I need a pass."

"Cass." She calls me. "Oh how are you, I was following you all over the news last month."

"I'm good, thanks for asking. It's been stressful but I'm great."

"That's so good to hear. If you want to leave, you have to check in with Lilian. Sorry."

"It's okay, I don't mind. Just tell me when she's ready to meet with me."

Cyan picks up her landline and calls Lilian. "It's Cassandra, yes...yes. Okay." She looks up at me. "She said you can go right in."

"Thanks." I open Lilian's door. "Hey, I wanted to ask if I can leave school."

"No." She doesn't look up. "It's not safe or smart to leave on your own."

"I'm not leaving on my own, I'm going with Tristan," I argue. "You trust him, don't you?”

"Where are you going?” She asks. "And last I checked, he already went home this weekend."

"Well, yeah, but he's coming by later to pick me up. It's nothing serious."

She finally looks at me. "And what time are you leaving?"

I consider lying. "6 pm, but we're not staying out long."

"And where are you going?"

I'm silent for a long time. "Kristin's." I squeak out.

"Aha. And those Sebastian or your aunt know about this?"

"They might, it's nothing big just dinner. He noticed I was feeling sad and offered to take me out." I lie. "It's actually a really nice gesture."

"Cassandra I don't want to be held responsible for anything that will most definitely happen to you. How about instead of going out of school, you stay here and study?"

"Please Lilian, I'll stay with him throughout and we'll be back in an hour. If it makes you more comfortable, I'll ask Seb." I bring out my phone and shoot him a very quick test. "I just asked him."

"And what did he say?" She gestures at my phone.

"He hasn't responded yet but I know he'll say yes. Please, I'm going with someone you like and you'll know where I'll be at all times." I beg. "Please just let me go."

She sighs. "If Sebastian agrees, why not?" She sounds a little too sure of herself.

There's a notification on my phone and it's from him. "He said I can go," I tell her.

"What," Lilian asks disbelievingly.

"He said as far as it's just the restaurant and I come back here after." I show her the phone. "I'll tell Cyan that I have your approval and she can give me a pass?"

Lilian looks ready to complain. "Fine." She says instead. "Just make sure your photograph isn't taken."

"I will," I promise as I leave the office. I skip all the way to my room and lay out my outfit. I start getting ready at 5. I dress up in a knee-length black dress with a sweetheart neckline. The sleeves barely cover my shoulders and the dress is a little tight around my bust. The skirt drops freely to my knees and is lined with gold buttons from the top to the bottom. I wear my signature gold necklace and gold earrings, I pair all these nicely with cream stiletto pumps. My hair is straightened to a paper-thin line that stops at my midback and I do minimal make-up. I take a cream coat in case it gets cold, it goes with the cream-colored purse in my hand.

Sara whistles when I'm done. "Look at you, looking pretty and off to a nice clandestine date at a fancy restaurant. I'm so happy for you." She fake cries.

"I'm finally going on a date with him. I'm happy to go anywhere." I adjust my hair in the mirror. "Okay, it's almost 6 pm. He'll be here any minute." I put on some rose-scented perfume.

I walk around the room and rub my hands together nervously. Sara tries to calm me down. "Don't worry, it'll go fine. You'll be fine."

"I don't know, it's my first ever date," I say. "I wasn't exactly popular in my last school."

She laughs. "I can't imagine a world in which you're not popular." The sarcasm is very clear.

"I hate you," I say with a straight face. My phone dings with a notification and I scramble for it. "It's Tristan, he's here."

She jumps up. "Okay, okay. We can do this, we're ready." She looks around frantically. "Oh great now I'm nervous."

Typical. I pick up my purse, smooth down my dress and move to the door. "Make me proud." She screams as I close the door.

I make my way out of the building and to the car park. There, standing beside his car is Tristan in a blue polo shirt and dress pants. He looks up and takes in my appearance.

"Hey, you look great." He compliments. "Sorry for canceling this morning, had to take care of something."

"Oh it's alright, Jamie was a really good tutor. You know, for someone who isn't a fire elemental."

He smiles and opens my door for me. I slide in and he goes round to the driver's seat. "And now we can go." He starts the car. "The restaurant I picked is pretty quiet, no paparazzi."

I squeal. "Paparazzi, I feel so famous." I feel giddy but also nervous.

I can't stop smiling. I study Tristan's facial expression, he seems tense. "Hey." He briefly glances at me.

"Yeah." He plasters on a fake smile.

"What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm good. I'm great." He doesn't sound convincing.

"Tristan," I say softly. I think this has something to do with his impromptu trip home. "Can I ask you something, why did you go home yesterday?”

He shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about that."

"You can tell me." He's silent. "Okay, but I will use this against you later."

He cracks a small smile. It quickly disappears and he's back to his somber expression. "Fine. But only because I don't want you waving this in my face a few months from now." His face goes darker. "My family came to visit, all the way from Sanders." I nod, I know that's a state in Aldean. "It was the usual fight."

"Families are crazy," I say to make him feel better. "Harringtons aside, you should meet the entire Flores clan."

"It's not the same thing." His fingers clench the steering wheel. "I'm going to inherit the Liege title from my father, my extended family don't think I should. The arguments got heated, as they always do."

"I'm so sorry."

He takes a deep breath. "For the first time ever, my dad defended me." He doesn't look happy about that.

"That's not good news?"

He shakes his head. "No. I feel so stupid, I thought he was proud of my improvement or something."

"That's ridiculous, why would he defend you if he wasn't proud?”

"It's you." He says softly.

"What do you mean me?”

"He's proud of you, of my relationship with you." He doesn't remove his gaze from the road. "Said you're the one thing I'm doing right."

"I still don't get it."

"He likes the idea of us. He told the family about what happened at the palace, when the Queen congratulated me." He scoffs. "I wasn't even originally invited to the New Year state dinner last week, your dad put me on the guest list. Thought I'll provide you with moral support."

"I'm..." I don't know if I should apologize. "They shouldn't care about me."

He has a small smile on his face. "You're not aware of how much power you have. Cass, you're a senior member of the royal family. It's only going to get worse when you take the pledge."

I scowl and swipe my hair behind my ears. "That stupid pledge, why does everyone think I'm going to take it?”

"Because you will, eventually. When you do, you'll experience a whole new level of power. Magical and political."

"I don't know what to say."

"I know." We're quiet for a long time.

We arrive at the restaurant ten minutes later and silently walk in. The decor makes me feel better, it's so classy. The hostess leads us to a table in a secluded section.

"I'm sorry," Tristan says as we take our seats. "I made everything weird."

My smile is sincere. "I don't care, I'm just happy we're here. Let's not think about all that tonight."

"I'm happy we're here too." He looks lighter. "So, are we splitting a plate?"

I frown. "Too intimate, we'll save that for the third date."

His eyes widen slightly. "Third, you think we'll have that many."

"Depends on how well this one goes." It goes really well. We spend the night talking about our lives, the fun parts at least. I tell him of my childhood back home and he tells me more about his friendship with Jamie. We laugh our way through the main course.

An hour later, we're ready to leave. The waiter drops a little black checkbook on the table. I bring out my card and hand it to him the same time Tristan does.

He shakes his head. "It was one of your conditions for agreeing to come." I cringe, I can't believe I said that.

After paying, Tristan picks up his takeaway bag and we leave the restaurant. The concierge brings the car to the front and we get in.

The drive back is nice. Tristan and I sit in comfortable quiet. It's calming. We get back to school and he parks as close as he can to my building. We get out and lean on his car.

"Here." He offers me his carefully wrapped dessert, a slice of chocolate and hazelnut cake.

I gasp. "No, you can't give that to me. It's yours, I already had mine."

He laughs. "No you didn't, you had one bite of the lemon meringue and abandoned the rest."

"I don't know why I thought I'd start liking lemons." I wrinkle my nose. "But still, I can't take this."

"It's alright, I should start getting in shape for Unity Day."

I beam. "I'm proud of you for doing that. I wish you and Jamie the best."

He sighs. "Now we just have to win."

I take his hand in mine. "I'm proud of you, does that make you feel better."

"It does actually." He closes the distance between us and presses his lips on mine. I feel a tiny spark at the pit of my stomach. It spreads all around making me feel woozy. I lean into him and deepen the kiss. His right hand cups my waist and holds me up. I place my hand behind his neck and draw him even closer to me.

He pulls away a minute later and rests his head on the roof of his car. "Rules be dammed, this is my first kiss," I say. He laughs. He leans in for a second. This one is faster and more intense, I place my hands on his chest and feel his stomach through his shirt. His hands go up to my hair and he runs his fingers through it.

I get a notification on my phone, I ignore it. I get ten more, my phone won't stop going off. I pick my purse up from the roof and bring my phone out. "It's my friends, they want to know how the date went."

"And? How did it go?" He asks.

"I didn't hate it." I feign indifference

"Is that all I get?"

"Yes." I give him one last peck and grab his dessert. "Goodnight. And thanks for everything."

"Goodnight, Cassandra." He gets back in his car and drives off. I skip to my room.