The Cruel Crown (A Young Elites Fanfiction)

Adelina Amouteru ❦

"Sour and then sweet." I look up to the staring faces which gaze at me wildly.

"Don't tell me you've never drank before, have you?" Magiano playfully laughs.

"No," I reply. "I never have. But why would you want to drink this stuff anyway? It's so bitter."

"But then it's sweet." He holds his glass up as if he's about to toast."

"The red wine leaves your mouth dry," Magiano says, setting his glass back down to the table. "Unlike other wines, but do not be mistaken, all wine tastes a little bitter."

"But it still tastes better than river water," Violetta says with a grimace. The way her face melds into a grimace might be compared to an angelic presence falling into demise—but hers being on a lesser note.

Violetta still will not make eye contact with me directly. I think about testing her, but that would not help my present strained situation with her; it won't bring any needed resolve.

"It's been too long since I've had a drink of this taste, a sweet one to say the least," I say. Violetta always received better prepared meals than I. I was locked and isolated in my chambers, might as well have been plastered against the wall in silver shackles. Violetta always got everything: new dresses, lavish deserts, makeup, fortune; she was a malfetto too, just unmarked.

I don't realize I've clenched my fists under the table, I bring my hand up to see that my knuckles have turned pale. I try to quell my jealously, but I don't think one like me will ever overcome human emotions, or ever lock it out completely.

"Just don't drink too much. I've gotten a little crazy more than once and when you awake the next morning, you feel absolutely awful." He grins like he's remembering a sweet moment. Sweet and amusing to him, I'm sure.

"Stories?" Sergio and Violetta call in unison, and then giggle and smile after.

"I'm full of stories," Magiano replies. "There was this one in the Sunlands with this Elite girl whom I found all alone. I don't know where she is now." His face expression goes from humor-ridden to wistful, and he doesn't expand upon the subject anymore.

"Now wine stories? I've plenty of those." He smiles my favorite smile; the one where the edges of his mouth curve first, before blossoming into a full one. "There was this one ball that I attended, uninvited of course, that I drank so much I became so intoxicated that apparently I had caused a large havocal scene. Though, being dizzy and dazed, I cannot recall that time clearly." He chuckles lightly. And I can tell that he can discern very clearly what happened but is unwilling to share.

"Who was the girl?" I ask, not helping myself, a bit too earnestly.

That smirk glints on his face and fire glimmers behind his eyes, and that same fire I can feel in my center of my own heart.

"Was she a former infatuation or a childish rendezvous?" I inquire with a snap my jaw.

"It was nothing of that sort, at least I don't remember if anything scandalous transpired, but when I saw her at the ball I was heavily intoxicated." He waves a hand at his notion. "She wrote me love letters, that I remember clearly."

"I remember a suitor, once Adelina became of courting age, of course, that had an eye for Adelina," Violetta chimes up. "He wrote you a love letter once, but Father never allowed it to be delivered."