Acadia Restoration

Chapter 16

 Cristina scanned the darkness that surrounded her. The horse startled her when it galloped from the void to greet her. She stared at the gleaming white mare and instantly recognized it as herself. She looked into it's dark eyes; her own dark eyes. The mare closed the distance between them and Cristina reached her hand out to pet it. As her fingers brushed against the horse's face, her memory sparked to life and a flashback played.

"Come on Cristina!" Florence yelled from the sitting room. Cristina ignored her sister as she placed pearl pins into her hair. She could hear Florence's steps racing up the stairs. Cristina's bedroom door swung open and hit the wall with a clunk. "We need to leave," Cristina stayed focused as she blotted on lipstick. "Now," Florence gritted her teeth. Cristina spun around. Her sister stood in the door frame, wearing an overly ornate dress, similar to the one Cristina wore. Their mother had hand picked each of the girl's dresses.

"Fine, I was just finishing up," Cristina stood up and the sister's walked downstairs and out of the door. Her parents and two other sister's shot her a few glares before they began their walk to the castle. Her mother matched her pace, Cristina knew she was going to be lectured.

"Cristina, you're a lady of the court, your father and I are members of the court," he mother shot her a disapproving look. "Punctuality is expected. I expect you to behave today,". Cristina just nodded. She hated when her mother talked to her like she was a child. She was eighteen for goodness sake.

When they arrived on the castle grounds her parents were immediately escorted inside. The girls however, were directed to the garden where a brunch had been organized. Cristina knew it'd be a day of socializing with the other children of the court.

Cristina quickly separated herself from her siblings as they entered the gardens. She watched as her siblings mingled with the other to be Lady's and Lord's. She rolled her eyes, she found it all so stupid. Guards and guards in training lined the area of the garden. She scanned the area for Max and found she wasn't the only one watching him. Edith. She felt her face flush with anger as she quickly walked over to join her sister. She linked arms with her sister.

"Hello Ladies," Max sauntered over. He barely spent a second looking at Edith, he focused on Cristina.

"Hello Maxwell," Edith giggled. He gave a polite nod. Cristina didn't know what Edith was playing at. Edith knew just as well as Cristina that guards were unsuitable options. It had been drilled into their heads since birth who they'd be allowed to court with. Cristina scanned the garden. Bingo. Elias Green. She smirked as she realized what Edith was trying to do. She was trying to get under Elias' skin, who happened to be chatting with Florence and another girl Cristina didn't care to know the name of.

"Elias is watching," Cristina nudged her sister, who instantly perked up. She watched her sister and Elias' eyes meet from across the garden.

"Excuse me," Edith curtsied before scurrying over to Elias.

"Nice thinking," Max complemented.

"I did get Florence's leftover brains," Cristina joked as she linked arms with Max. They walked around the garden, she knew it wouldn't be suspicious; Max looked like a typical escort. They talked about typical things like how their summer was going etc. They both knew they couldn't properly converse during these types of events. They couldn't expose too much emotion, they had to keep their conversations vague and "small talky".

"Are we still on for tonight?" he asked in barely a whisper, they didn't look at each other, they both faced forward.

"Of course, same spot as usual?" She replied.

"Yes, bring your violin," she bit back a smile. She loved to play for him.

"Max!" The couple turned to see Prince Elliot approaching them.