FATE'S GAMBIT

While Sophia was messing around with Anastasia, outside of the room Selene was catching up to Cassius.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, his tone harsh.

The Selene he knew before might have cowered, might have bent, but this Selene now only relished in his reactions and his anger. "I'm having fun."

"You... you think this is fun?!"

Selene laughed. "Of course I do! You show such interesting reactions every time."

"... What happened to you? Why did you change like this?"

"Don't tell me you're thinking something silly like you miss the old me..."

"What? No! I just-"

"Now that I've stopped following you around like a puppy you've realised that you actually liked it, is that it?"

He glared at her, but his cheeks were getting red. Was she right? Seriously? "No! I have Anastasia, with her around I would never want someone like you!"

There was a knowing look in Selene's eyes. "You better not come crying to me when you realise she'll never be exciting enough for you. From now on let's just pretend we're strangers. I'll stop bothering you."

Selene was just pulling this out of her ass, but he actually looked a bit disappointed when she said she'd stop bothering him. Did he really secretly enjoy the attention this whole time? What a piece of work.

She walked back towards the room before he could say another word, but when she turned around to catch a glimpse, he was looking towards the ground, a little lost.

Selene was laughing as she reentered Anastasia's room, then she took in the strange tension and she laughed even louder.

Anastasia flinched at the sound of her laughter.

"I didn't miss anything did I?" Selene asked as she took her seat.

"Nothing important, no. What did you talk about outside with the first prince?"

"Oh, well, since he made it clear that I'm not the girl for him, I told him I was done with him." Selene said, right before she took a small sandwich off the plate in front of her and popped it in her mouth.

Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Did you really? And how did he take that?"

Selene swallowed, then licked her lips. "He looked a bit lost, to be honest, like a sad dog who's toy has been taken away from him."

They continued to talk as if Anastasia wasn't sitting there, listening to every word. Selene was certainly playing the villainess role very well, despite the fact that she had never intended to comply to what the book expected of her.

Julius came back after a while, asked if Sophia had a good chat, which she replied a 'yes' to, and he too, ignore the tension in the room. Selene didn't know if it was just because of the enchantment or if he just never liked Anastasia to begin with.

Cassius didn't end up returning. Selene and Sophia left without seeing him again, while Anastasia looked miserable in the room. Julius waved them goodbye happily, and perhaps intentionally obliviously.

That's when the trouble started.

They were riding home in the carriage when Sophia felt a sudden bout of dizziness. It felt like she was experiencing extreme vertigo, and it took such a toll on her that she almost fainted, but thankfully Selene was there to steady her and reassure that they would arrive home soon.

The minute they arrived back at Boyd manor, Selene tried to lift Sophia up in her arms and carry her to her room, but for some reason her strength failed her and she wasn't able to pick Sophia up, despite the fact that she had done so many times before.

Sophia's mind was spinning, but she knew that something was very, very wrong.

Selene seemed shaken, but still managed to instruct James to carry Sophia into the house while she followed behind them.

Sophia could barely gather her thoughts in her mind to voice them, and stayed silent as James carried her inside, where he then asked for a maid to bring Henry and Lillian down to call for a doctor.

Henry and Lillian came rushing in, took one look at Sophia's state, and hurriedly called for the doctor.

"What's wrong with her?" Selene asked, showing an usual amount of emotion on her face.

Lillian sighed. "I suppose you won't remember this, but when you two were younger Sophia used to get sick like this very often. The doctors couldn't tell what was wrong with her, and so we never found a cure for her ailment, we just had to put her to bed and wait until the symptoms went away. When she turned ten she started getting sick less often, until a whole year went by without her falling ill. We thought that the sickness must have just gone away after time but... it seems it has returned."

"Why would it come back now?"

"I'm not sure. We really thought it was gone for good..."

They waited impatiently for the doctor to arrive, Selene standing still, at Sophia's bedside, the whole time, looking down at her with a crease in her eyebrows and a frown on her face. There was something connected about what was happening to them, about Sophia's sudden returning illness and the fact that Selene had suddenly lost all her strength.

There was an answer there, waiting for her, but she was scared to admit the possibility to herself.

Selene resolved to wait until Sophia recovered, knowing that it she would be able to figure out a solution to their problems much faster with Sophia's mind on the case.

Unfortunately, fate had quite a different path planned for these two...