♡ Odette's POV ♡

Zayn and Eli left Eli's bedroom to catch up on a few things, leaving Erica and I in Eli's room. Erica had offered me tea, and I had gratefully accepted, seeing as how it was starting to get colder in the room. We sat in two of Eli's ivory armchairs, just relaxing. It was nice to be able to just rest after a long trip.

"So you and Zayn are engaged?" Erica asked, pulling her curls back into a bun before taking her hot teacup into her hands.

"No, not yet." I answered, "Are you Eli's girlfriend?" I couldn't help but ask. Erica's smile confirmed my answer.

"Yes, for about a year now." I teased her by saying how cute they looked together, and how happy too. Erica laughed before taking a more serious look.

"Yeah, but it wasn't always like that. Believe it or not, I was one of his nurses before he took a liking to me." She spoke, taking a small sip of her tea. She was one of his nurses before?

"Really? That must be nice, at least you could help him if something happens." I said, and she nodded silently before frowning.

"The only reason I'm Eli's girlfriend now is because of an incident with his anemia about a year ago." Erica set her tea down on a glass coffee table, taking a breath before starting her story.

"He was outside with his brother walking around the gardens, and Elliot told him he was going to be a general and lead a battle later to prove to their father that he was ready to be king. Eli hated the idea, he didn't want to risk losing his only brother, and they got in a huge argument. Eli almost punched Elliot, well, he tried to. Of course, Elliot would have never hurt Eli, he was more concerned with Eli hurting himself by falling or forgetting to take his medication." Erica spoke softly and slowly, the temperature in the room dropping considerably with the grim topic being discussed.

"Well Eli swung at Elliot, but Elliot only caught his hand and told him to calm down. Eli didn't, and ended up getting so worked up he had a dizzy spell and ended up collapsing in the gardens. Elliot carried Eli back to the palace, where it was determined Eli had been stealthily not taking his medicine, and needed a blood transfusion desperately."

"Why wasn't he taking his medicine?" I asked in confusion. Erica rolled her eyes before continuing.

"The idiot claimed he felt better, plus he hated taking those iron pills everyday. So he just stopped, and that combined with him trying to beat up Elliot, as well as the stress of the whole situation had taken a toll on his iron levels." I nodded in understanding, and Erica began to pick at the nail polish on her short nails.

"In order for a blood transfusion to work, the blood the recipient gets needs to be as close to their blood as possible, so it was quite handy to have an identical twin at hand. Elliot gave some of his blood to save Eli, and I was one of the nurses in charge of transferring Elliot's blood to Eli. Poor Eli had an IV stuck in his arm for about an hour before he felt better and his iron levels in his blood were back to normal." Erica smiled slightly.

"I was the only nurse that stayed by his bedside the whole night, getting him snacks or something to drink, or just to talk to when he felt lonely. And now I'm here, officially both his girlfriend and personal nurse. They needed someone to make sure he wasn't faking taking his pills, and believe me, he's tried to fool me." We both laughed, the sound a nice comic relief from all the drama that had been going on lately in this palace.

"He hasn't had another anemic episode since then, has he?" I asked in curiosity.

"That's the thing. Everyone thought he had his anemia under control, but I guess last night is proof we still have to be careful." Erica solemnly told me. "He was fine until last night, so I guess it's like a huge step backwards for all his doctors and family members."

Erica was relatively quiet, but just then she shook her head and laughed.

"Enough with all this depressing medical talk, wanna go do something? I'm sure Eli is dying to do something where he isn't bedridden." I nodded and she led me out of Eli's room, walking around the corner and opening another door to lead into a room I recognized to be a study.

Papers were scattered around the wooden desk, and Eli was sitting at the leather chair behind it. Zayn was sitting at another chair in front of the desk, and he smiled as he saw I had walked in. Erica walked over to Eli, kissing his cheek and mumbling something incoherent that sounded like something about his anemia. Eli nodded silently before Erica broke our temporary bliss from being reunited with our significant others.

"Why don't we do something fun, Eli? I'm sure you're boring Zayn with your mind-numbing political talk." Erica teased the prince, but he only shook his head and laughed.

"I'm sure Zayn and Odette will have plenty of fun at the coronation gala tomorrow, love." Eli reassured her, causing Erica to pout before Eli tapped her bottom lip. Wait, Eli was having a coronation party? I looked over at Zayn, who seemed just as confused.

"Coronation gala? Eli, you're already becoming king?" Zayn asked, his eyes getting wide. Eli only nodded before yawning into his hand.

"It wasn't even my choice. Apparently Mum and Dad had already decided to give Elliot the throne as he set off for battle, but he passed, and they can't go back on their word." Eli sighed before attempting to smile. "At least we'll have a fun party, right?"

I noticed him tense up and remembered what Zayn said about Eli not liking huge gatherings of people. I assumed his parents were planning the gala.

"You sure, Eli? You're ready to be a king?" Zayn interrogated Eli, but Eli only shrugged his shoulders. "What about your anemia?" Zayn pressed on, and once I saw the annoyance growing in the prince-to-be-king's eyes, I knew this wasn't going to end well.

"It's fine, I've got it under control. Why can't I be king? You're king, why not me?" Eli pointed out, and Zayn gave him a glare.

"I was given the throne because two of my family members were murdered." Zayn spat rather rudely, and I placed my hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down.

"My brother was murdered too!" Eli stood from his chair, previously sleepy eyes now full of rage. "Don't tell me what I can or can't do! This is my duty, I can't disappoint Elliot!"

"That's what this is about? Not disappointing Elliot? What kind of motivation is that?!" Zayn yelled at Eli, who was slowly turning red from anger. "You just can't let it go that you couldn't stop him from going to war!"

"He's my twin brother! I wanted to protect him for once!" Eli had completely lost it now. "He protected me all those years we grew up and I would fall down or get hurt! I wanted to be his protector for once!" Zayn had gone completely silent.

"But no, fragile little Prince Elijah can't protect anyone because everyone thinks he's one scratch away from breaking into pieces!" Erica tried to calm Eli down, but Eli only shrugged her off before storming out of the study, his chest heaving from his sharp breaths. Whether it was from his rage or his anemia, I didn't know.

As he reached the door, Eli had to slow down and lean against the wall, but Erica made no move to help him. He needed to blow off some steam, and helping him because of his chronic illness wasn't going to make anything better. Eli managed to have enough energy in him to slam the study door behind him as he headed to only God knew where.

Zayn let out a few frustrated curse words, getting out of his chair and racing to the door to follow his childhood friend. I sighed and rubbed my temples before following Zayn out of the study, Erica hot on my trail. However, before I could go after Zayn, Erica grabbed me by the elbow, stopping me right in my tracks. I turned around to see Erica shake her head no.

"They'll apologize eventually. Eli's been under a lot of stress, and I'm sure Zayn has been going through a lot too. They're childhood friends, they can't stay mad at each other forever."

Erica handed me a small key, the golden metal gleaming in the hallway lights.

"Here, that's your guest room key. It's just down the hall from Eli's room. You and Zayn can stay in there until you return back home." I thanked her before she turned to go back to Eli's room, leaving me to wonder how this visit could have gone so wrong.

Erica's POV

I held the small plate and fork carefully in my hands. I didn't want to risk ruining my surprise for Eli, I knew it would be exactly the thing to lift his spirits. I quietly tiptoed into his bedroom, knowing he would be hiding amongst the bed sheets and canopy drapes. It was already nighttime, Eli unfortunately choosing to be by himself the rest of the day. His room was dark, no lights on at all, and I quickly solved this problem by switching on his bedside lamp.

My little prince (and future king) must have been sleeping, his eyes opening just barely, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light. I loved his eyes, I could get lost in them. They reminded me of the seas of the English Channel, cool and ever changing.

"Erica?" He murmured, and I smiled down at him before pulling the canopy drapes aside. I sat on the edge of his bed, watching his body shift slightly over to make more room for me. He was so sweet.

I pushed some hair out of his tired eyes before revealing my surprise, waiting for his excited reaction. It was a plate with a slice of his favorite dessert, strawberry cheesecake.

He stared at it for a second, no happiness or excited smile at all appearing on his face. Nothing. My heart sunk.

"What's wrong? You love strawberry cheesecake, I thought you would be happy to have some after such a long day." I told him, but he only sighed and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

"I'm not hungry." He mumbled, and I exaggerated a gasp.

"Not hungry for cheesecake? My boyfriend? No way." I joked, but got no laughter in return. Something had to be really upsetting him for him to be acting this way. "Why are you acting like this? I thought you were excited to see Zayn."

Eli didn't say anything.

I sighed again before getting up to put the cheesecake back in the kitchen fridge, he could have it later. Before I could get too far from the bed however, I felt the gentlest touch on my wrist. I turned around to see Eli gazing up at me with his big, tired eyes, his fingers gently wrapping around my wrist.

"Please...stay? I'm sorry for being rude." He whimpered, and I nodded. Eli sat up in bed, the same pajamas he wore today his attire for tonight's sleep. "C-Can I have some?" He pointed to the cheesecake, cheeks tinted red, and I smiled before handing him the plate and fork, watching as he ate it slowly.

"Thank you." He spoke when he finished, and I didn't say anything, only taking the plate and fork from his hands and setting them aside on his bed side nightstand. I ushered him to scoot over in his bed, making room for me to fit under the covers. Eli silently obliged, wrapping his arms around my waist, his hands resting just under the hem of my shirt, palms pressed against the warm skin of my stomach. Eli loved to cuddle, preferring to rub soothing circles into my skin as we laid together.

"You're so warm. It's nice." Eli whispered, pressing a kiss to the back of my neck. I pulled one of his hands out from his grip on my waist, pressing a kiss to the back of it.

"I love you, my brave king." I whispered, turning off the night lamp so we could rest in peace.

"I love you too."

A/N: I'm so proud of myself for busting out these Impeccable updates, especially since school is getting hectic right now. Please be patient as some updates will take longer than others to post, but I'm not too worried about that cuz all of you who read this story are super nice and patient :)

Also, I'm super excited about this story in particular because I finished planning everything out and even starting writing some chapters of a (possible?) sequel I might post when Impeccable is finished.

Please let me know what you felt about this chapter in the comments and vote! <3, M