Here's Chapter 10, I'm not going to say much because, 
well, there's nothing much to say.  Since I have, uh, 
nothing much to say, here are a couple of my favorite 
quotes:
"Distance doesn't end friendship; friendship ends the 
distance." ~ unknown
"Love it seems made flying dreams so hearts could 
soar." ~ "Flying Dreams"
"Tomorrow is another day!!" ~ Gone With the Wind
     I hope everyone enjoys chapter 10!
     E-mail SlrUnico@aol.com to comment!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Weaving a Romance"
CHAPTER 10: A Dinner Game of Let's Pretend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Darien looked at Serenity with raised eyebrows in 
reaction to Estelle's remark.  Her eyes seemed to be 
apologizing to him, but that didn't make him feel any 
better.  A tiny part of him blamed Serenity for the whole 
betrothal business and no matter how he tried he couldn't 
help but feel awkward around her.
     Trying again to ignore this, he bowed and kissed 
the hand of the prim looking queen Estelle.  "The pleasure 
is all mine, Majesty."
     "I've heard so much about you, highness," returned the 
queen, as if just her saying so was a great compliment to 
him.  "The princess Serena seems to have been quite taken 
with you."
     At that Darien could have sworn he heard a faint 
giggle.  This prompted him to look around the room at the 
other guests.  The one he was sure was guilty of the 
laughter from the smile on her face was a dark haired 
beauty standing in front of a chair studded with red stones.  
Stones, he thought.  Of course.  Each chair was identical 
to the others except for the twinkling gems adorning the 
frames.  Each of the young ladies in the room seemed to 
be standing next to a chair with these jewels.  He noted 
that beside the girl with dark hair was a chair studded 
with light pink, almost white diamonds.  There was no one 
standing beside it...therefore it had to be Serena's.
     A young man was standing near that chair.  He could 
only be Bruce.  Of course again.  Serena and her betrothed 
*would* be seated next to each other.
     As Estelle babbled about things he could have cared 
less about, to get his mind off Bruce and his jealously, 
Darien looked at the other people in the room.  On the 
opposite side of the table, moving closer toward him was 
a young girl with light brown hair in a green dress.  
Next to her was another girl, this one blushing under his 
gaze, with...could it be...blue hair?  Must be from Mercury, 
Darien thought to himself.
     Oops.  Estelle had finished talking and Serenity was 
moving him off in the direction of the young ladies.  
"Princess Raye of Mars," she introduced the dark haired 
maiden, "Princess Lita of Jupiter," meant the brunette in 
green, and "Princess Amy of Mercury," had to be the blue 
headed one.  "Princess Mina of Venus will be a little late, 
as will my daughter," Serenity explained, (she must have 
forgotten that she had already explained Serena's absense 
outside... Darien thought).
     The other princesses nodded and murmured their hellos, 
then went back to their own seats talking among themselves.  
Now Serenity led him toward Bruce.  Thus was Darien's first 
good look at this man who would be given Serena's hand in 
marriage.
     Bruce was tall, but not that tall, a little shorter 
than Darien himself, for which the Prince of the Earth was 
happy about.  He did have classic good looks, blonde hair, 
glittering green eyes, and a nice face.  Woman must find 
him handsome, Darien thought in disgust.  I wonder if 
Serena...no, of course not, he's not her type at all.  He 
does look very much the foreigner.  Is that a good thing 
or a bad thing?
     "Prince Bruce," Serenity was saying, "this is Prince 
Darien of the Earth.  Darien, as you know Bruce is 
Serena's fiancee."  Darien hated how her face shown at 
this.
     "Good to meet you, old boy," Bruce exclaimed, shaking 
his hand heartily.
     "Likewise," Darien muttered, hoping his smile looked 
fake.
     At that moment the doors burst back open, and a 
startled valet ran to assist whoever was entering.  "Uhm," 
the poor man started, "Her highness, Princess Mina of 
Venus has arrived, Majesty."
     He stepped aside, and there was a blonde girl who 
almost could have been Serena.  So much was the resemblance 
Darien's heart leaped a half-leap.  Upon closer inspection, 
Mina did have lighter hair, and her eyes were shades apart 
from his love's.  But still...  If I'm this nervous, 
Darien remarked silently, and Serena's not even here yet, 
imagine how I'll be when she does arrive.
     Serena, he prayed as the princess of Venus giggled 
an introduction and took her place at the table, I sure 
hope you have yourself more together about this than I do.  
Or else we're in deep trouble. 




Serena was a nervous wreck.
     Ever since her mother's announcement about the royal 
dinner that Darien would be attending she felt as if the 
world was coming to an end.  How was she expected to act 
the way she had always acted around him when the wonderful 
truth was that she now loved him?  She'd spent the last 
forty minutes in her room acting out the things she would 
say to him and the things she would do so no one would 
suspect the reality:
     "So, Darien, entertain us with stories from your 
primitive little neck of the galaxy, hm?"
     "You know, Bruce is an outstanding horseman...you 
could learn a lot from him.  You...did say you like to ride, 
didn't you?"
     "Darien, would you mind passing those mashed potatoes 
over here?  What?  You were going to serve yourself aNOTHER 
helping??" ::skeptical look:: "Shouldn't you be, umm...
watching your weight, there?"
     Serena wasn't sure how well those lines would work, 
but they sounded good.  Her inspiration had been to picture 
the annoying Darien...the way he had been before she realized 
that she loved him and he loved her the night she'd cried 
in the garden.
     "I'm ready," she announced to the empty room.  Of 
course she had been "ready" an hour ago.  Her hair was 
fixed to perfection, her tiara sat crowning her two meatballs, 
her dress of baby's breath pink was on in full radiance, 
and even her makeup was all right for once.  But now, armed 
with self-confidence about the way the evening would go, 
she was finally and for certain, "ready".
     The princess made her way out of the room, down the 
hall and then the stairs.  Her feet paced her steps to be 
even and slow and neat, even when her heart was jumping 
around in first her stomach and then her chest, as if it 
could not make up its mind where it belonged.  I am in 
control, she repeated over and over.  I am in control of 
this whole situation.  Whenever things get their worst, 
I have to remember that.
     In no time at all she was at the entrance doors to 
the dining hall.


Darien looked up and saw heaven standing in the doorway.  
Serena.
     She was decked out in one of her prettiest dresses, 
and was all around the most beautiful woman he had ever 
laid eyes on.  He knew that she was doing this to torture 
him -- it was part of her game plan.  She was gorgeous 
and he was just within reach of her...but there always 
loomed that sharp and terrible little reminder that he 
could look as much as he wanted, but could not touch.  
Damn you, Serena, he thought with a smile in her direction.
     Serena glanced uneasily at him in response, but 
regained her composure as fast as if she had never lost 
it at all.  "Oh," she said in distaste.  "It's you.  I 
was hoping you wouldn't have the nerve to show up here, 
but as always, Prince Darien, you never fail to shock 
me."
     That'a girl, he thought.
     "Dear," Serenity interrupted, "remember our little 
discussion."
     "But Mother!  Did you see the look he gave me just 
now??  I swear, it was the most disrespectful one I have 
ever seen in my entire lifetime.  I don't even think he 
should be here with us...he's not REALLY part of the court.  
He's an..."  She narrowed her eyes.  "Outsider."
     Darien winced.  It was laying it on a little thick, 
but at least no one would ever be able to suspect the truth.  
"Nice to see you again too, princess," he said, standing 
and giving a little bow.
     Serena sniffed and disdainfully moved toward her chair, 
muttering comments under her breath.  It was going to be 
one of the longest hours of Darien's life, but one of the 
most exciting.


Serena had to resist the urge to applaud herself for her 
performance.  She gave it two thumbs way, way, up!  
Worthy of an encore, no doubt, she thought.  If only they 
knew that I was acting.
     As she neared her chair Bruce leapt to his feet, 
kissed her hand with a loving, "My lady," and helped her 
into her seat.  All the while Serena could feel Darien's 
eyes smoldering into her back at this action of chivalry 
on behalf of the other prince.  She bit her lip and tried 
her hardest to ignore it.  
     However, in the process of pretending she didn't see 
Darien's face contorted with what very well might be secret 
plans to assassinate Bruce in a jealous rage her hand 
knocked over her water goblet.
     Her so-called friends roared with laughter and whispered 
back and forth to each other about how it was obvious that 
Serena was so gone for the foreign prince of Lerence that 
her coordination was even more shot than usual.  The Moon 
princess' cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she rapidly 
apologized to the silent maid who had been assigned the 
specific chore of cleaning up her mealtime disasters.  
     Bruce whispered comforting words to her, and she 
tried her best to let him think he was succeeding in his 
task to make her feel better.
     Darien, on the other hand, was busy staring at her, 
smiling a smile she knew was supposed to mean that he knew 
why she had knocked over the glass and found it hilarious.  
She was trying so hard to ignore him that she felt a migraine 
coming on.
     Soon, things were back to normal at the table...people 
ate and talked and laughed.  No one seemed to be noticing 
that Darien was staring Serena down so hard that she was 
blushing as she served herself some salad.  I do hope it's 
this easy for the rest of the meal to make them think that 
nothing is going on, she thought, busy with the panic of 
his eyes on hers.  
     Raye practically threw the basket of rolls at Serena, 
as she was in the middle of listening to one of Lita's ever-
hysterical jokes.  Serena took one and buttered it softly 
with the silver knife.  She was glad to see that her 
friend was no longer suspicious, and that maybe their 
meeting in the hall had nothing to do with anything after 
all.  Of course, one could never tell with the elusive 
Princess of Mars, who had learned after the tragic deaths 
in her family to hide her feelings.  For now, anyway, 
Serena and her secrets were safe.  Still...it wasn't like 
Raye to give up so easily.
     As she was watching her hand butter the bread she 
could feel Darien's gaze on her again.  Serena bit her lip, 
(which was by now very sore) with nervousness.  She wasn't 
used to having two men interested in her at the same time, 
one of them madly jealous of the other.  Raye or Mina would 
certainly enjoy the excitement of the situation had they 
been in her shoes, but Serena wanted none of it.  All she 
did want was for the engagement to be terminated so that 
she could be free to love Darien as she wished.
     The only thing to do, she thought, is to just avoid 
looking at him or talking to him.  It would be hard to 
contain the thrill she got with him just across the table, 
but she'd have to try.  Her future depended upon her 
skills of ignoring.
     She was just beginning to think that things might 
work out without any major calamities when something hit 
her foot...hard.  She gasped and jumped in her seat.  A 
glance across the table revealed just who had done it...
Darien.  He was smirking at her, his eyes dancing all 
over her body as his foot nudged hers again.  Serena 
moaned a little bit as she tried to move away.
     Serenity and the others were looking at her.  "What's 
up with you, Serena?" asked Mina, her face concerned.
     Raye turned to Lita.  "It's that dish you had the 
cook make, I saw Serena take a bite of it just before 
she got that look on her face.  Lita, these recipes of 
yours are too out of this world for our stomachs to handle."
     "I liked it," Mina volunteered.
     "You would."
     Serena pushed her chair back away from the table a 
bit.  "No, really, I just got a slight cramp...it's not 
at all Lita's cooking."
     Lita shot Raye a superior glance and everyone 
returned to their plates...satisfied with Serena's answer.
     Serena, on the other hand, was fuming at Darien.  
She didn't look at him, though.  His face was driving 
her crazy with just the mental picture of it -- she was 
not sure she would be able to stand looking at him 
again for real.
     His foot hit hers again and she shut her eyes, 
trying hard to ignore.  Suddenly Raye squawked beside 
her in annoyance: "All right, who hit my foot??"
     Serena giggled and risked a glance up at Darien, 
who was blushing.  "Sorry, Raye," he croaked out.  
"Just...had a leg cramp."
     Amy stared at Serena and then at the prince of 
the Earth in bewilderment.  "Goodness, what is it with 
this table and cramps today?"
     Lita looked with superiority at Raye.  "At least 
we know it isn't my cooking.  And if Darien hadn't of 
kicked you *I* would have for that remark about my food."
     "But I didn't --" Darien began.  Serena shook her 
head slightly as she reached for a sip of her water, 
signaling for him to shut up.  Raye and Lita were fine 
on their own...at least it was diverting attention 
from the two of them.
     Darien smiled a little and Serena inched her feet 
back to the sides of the chair...anticipating another 
kick.  She could not believe him!!  Even if his foot 
had missed hers, he had intended to nudge at her again, 
in an attempt to lead her over the edge of self-control.  
He wants to see me lose it!, Serena thought to herself.  
He thinks this is some kind of game -- it's his goal to 
see how far he can push me!  Well, two can play this one, 
Mr. Prince of the Earth.
     Her foot slid from behind the chair leg and hit his.  
At first she was scared she would miss her target as 
Darien had missed his moments earlier, but the surprised 
look on his reddening face revealed the truth.  How does 
it feel, she jeered in her mind, smirking at him across 
the table.  If you can't take the heat, get out of the 
fire, Dar.
     She moved her foot again for another hit, deciding 
this time that she would rub her slipper against his thigh.  
Boy would THAT ever drive him up the wall!!
     Just then Bruce started choaking on his roll.  
Serena gasped.  Damn, she thought, I missed!
     "Bruce what's wrong??" Estelle cried, rising from her 
chair.
     He shook his head at her and continued coughing.  
"Noth...nothing," he managed, taking a sip of water.
     Raye started shaking Serena's arm.  "Do something!" 
she screeched.  "Save him!"
     Serena wasn't sure her fiancee was in any real 
danger...the food had just gone down wrong was all, and 
then his water had probably gone down the wrong pipe or 
something.  That was it.  But everyone was looking at 
her, Estelle was screaming along with Raye.
     She was just starting to stand up, as the rest of 
the table was, when Bruce made a swallowing noise and 
the look of relief came over his face.  "It's all right 
everyone, I'm...okay."
     Serena turned her glance from him, her face reddening 
to as red as she was certain it could possibly get.  She 
could hardly bear to speak.  What would Bruce think?  He 
would think she was a bad woman, that's what he would 
think.  Her eyes welled with tears, and her mind was 
content to forget that a moment ago she was ready to do 
the same thing to Darien without guilt.
     But Bruce didn't even look at her.  No, Darien had 
asked him a question -- they were talking about horses!!!!
     Thank you, Darien, she thought to herself, wanting 
to run to him and kiss cover his face with kisses.  He 
had created a diversion so that Bruce would forget about 
asking her what had just happened.  Oh, what had she ever 
done to catch such a wonderful guy?
     The horse conversation continued, though one look 
at Darien's eyes showed he was not enjoying talking to 
Bruce one little bit.  Serena wanted to help, but that 
would divert attention back to her.  And anyway, Darien 
did deserve it for being so mean....




Again, rather abrupt ending.  And hardly any author notes!  
Chapter 11 to follow everyone!  Here's my web page address 
in case you missed it these past few chapters, (although I 
don't see how you could have, I mention it every chance I 
get!):
http://members.aol.com/jlcavazos/index.html

     Remember all of my work is posted there as soon as 
it is finished!  E-mail SlrUnico@aol.com to comment on 
this story and others!
~~~Ali~~~