Beyond the Castle Walls

Chapter 8

Hey guys! I was listening to the song above while writing part of this chapter, if it doesn't show up, it's the Glee cover of Somewhere Only We Know. If you're gonna listen to it, I put in bold where you can start and end it (if it doesn't already finish) if you want to kinda feel what I was feeling while writing that part :)

Emmaline hears a knock at her door, and she sits up on the bed. Her father still hadn't given her the key to her room back, so she was staying with Elizabeth. She assumes her father meant for her to stay with Emil, but she would rather spend as much time with her younger sister as she can before she was married off.

"Yes?" Emmaline answers, swinging her feet over the side of the bed and standing up to answer the door. She opens it to reveal her mother, hands clasped in front of her.

"You're required in the library for wedding plans." She instructs and Emmaline's heart sinks. She knew she would be getting married now, but she didn't think it would be so soon.

"I'll be there in a moment," she smiles fakely, not knowing if her mother knew of her father's threat or if she thought Emmaline was marrying Emil of her own doing. She hoped it was the latter, she didn't want to know her mother was okay with her being manipulated into this.

Emmaline closed the door and rubbed a hand down her face, grabbing a black dress from Elizabeth's closet. It reached the floor with a neckline ending just above her bust, lace covering the top of the dress, her arms, and skin on her chest that wasn't covered by the solid fabric. Although her sister was a few years younger than her, she had some bigger dresses that would fit Emmaline alright. Elizabeth had also managed to steal some of Emmaline's dresses back from her room, how, Emmaline had no idea.

Emmaline adjusted the neckline of the dress to make sure it sat right and left the room, walking to the library.

Emil was sitting in a chair at a table in the library, my mother across from him and an empty chair next to him.

He smiled as Emmaline took the seat next to him, and she managed to smile back. Emil was nice, and although she certainly did not and will not love him, he's alright to be around. It's not his fault she has to marry him, so it's not fair of Emmaline to blame him. He was probably the best man she could've been set up with, in terms of kindness.

"Good evening," Emmaline greets quickly, leaning forward to look at the pieces of parchent scattered on the table.

Flower arrangements, guest lists with names that Emmaline did not recognize at all, churches, and dress plans were all on the papers, some places scratched over and rewritten to the side. It was obvious that the two had already done a lot of planning before Emmaline arrived, the girl probably wouldn't get much say in the wedding anyway.

"I started plans," Emil points out obviously, grabbing the closest page and scooting closer to Emmaline's side, allowing her to read the handwriting better. "This is what the Queen and I think for flower arrangments, what do you think?"

Emmaline took the parchment from him, looking closer at the little drawings that she assumed were Emil's. There were about five little diagrams of differently arranged inked bouquets, little labels pointing to certain ones with the name of the flower shown.

"Are these for the tables?" Emmaline asks, glancing up at the prince, who shakes his head.

"No, it's for your bouquet." He corrects and Emmaline nods, heart sinking a bit. Now that she's actually looking at which bouquet she would be holding, everything felt so much more real.

"This one," Emmaline points at a drawing of roses, dahlias, and carnations. She really didn't care what flowers she had, none of them were particularly appealing to her. Emil smiles and takes the parchment back, marking the chosen bouquet and putting it to the side.