Admiral's Honor [ThrawnXReader][Arranged Marriage]

Chapter 12

"LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!!!!"

The crowd below you began to mill about, a space in the center of the room clearing out, making room for couples to begin dancing to the music that had just appeared. Though nobody started dancing for some reason you did not know. There was a gentle hum of background chatter as the excited people began talking among'st themselves.

You didn't want to face your new companion. You really, really, really... didn't want to. Why would they not have warned you that this was coming? Wouldn't it have been in their best interest to have you prepared for the moment of the announcement, instead of risking that you would be too shocked or outraged to continue? Whatever The Emperor's reason for not telling you, you were at least sure that it probably wasn't just an oversight on his part. He MEANT not to tell you. 

Your brief moment of thought was interrupted though when Thrawn turned to face you. You still did not look up at him. "You did not know?" You could feel his eyes on you, and it sent an imperceptible shiver down your spine. 

"No..." you finally turned to meet his gaze, and found you had to tip your head back quite a ways to do so. "Did you?" you asked in return, your eyebrows furrowing a bit, hoping you would be able to gauge whether he lied or not, though you were sure that, based on your brief interactions with him, if he tried to lie you wouldn't be able to tell either way.

"I did not." You were taken aback by how genuinely sincere he sounded. And other than the anger you had been able to detect in his voice after the battle aboard the Chimaera, this was the most emotion you had been able to see from him. 

Your face softened a bit, feeling a bit guilty about how quick you had been to accuse him of being involved, even if you had kept most of it in your own head. "Oh..." you looked down, unable to hold eye contact any longer. Your gaze was quickly drawn back to the crowd, and you realized that there were many of them still looking up at you and Thrawn. 

"You are upset?" He asked, his voice lowering so you could just barely hear him over the crowd.

You weren't sure how to answer him. In one respect, yes you were upset. Furious actually. But on the other hand you had promised to do whatever the Empire needed you to do. Which really just meant whatever the Emperor needed you to do. So you weren't sure that you were even justified in feeling angry. You had wanted to prove to the Emperor that you could do this. That you were ready to be the princess that the Empire needed. 

Thrawn waited patiently for you to respond. He saw your eyes scanning the crowd as if searching for something. 'Yes,' he thought, you were upset, if not angry, or at the very least surprised by what had taken place without warning. Thrawn himself had also been surprised for a moment, but had quickly taken it in stride as he seemed to do with everything. As soon as he himself had taken in the information he had switched his focus to you to see how you would handle it. 

He had been impressed by how quickly you had been able to put on a brave face, pretending for the sake of the crowd that you were pleased by the announcement. But now that some of the pressure had been taken off of you by the crowd shifting their attention to other things, he watched as you processed everything again. He could practically see the gears turning in your head. But as you came to a decision, he noticed your shoulders squaring up a bit more, and and your chin taking on a confident set. 

And then you were fine. You had made up your mind. You had told the Emperor that you would do whatever was necessary, and you would stick by your word whatever the cost. You glanced back at Thrawn again for a moment, intending to say you were fine, but seeing his face, staring so intently at you, you realized his question had actually just been more of statement, and decided to be honest yet again. "Not anymore." you said, meeting his stare with as much confidence as you could put into your eyes. Though the height difference between you and Thrawn did little to aid you in your attempt.

Thrawn actually looked away from you first this time, and gestured with his free hand to the empty dance floor. "They are waiting for you." he stated matter of factly. 

"Oh!" you started, surprised for a second time already that night. You hadn't realized that was how it was supposed to work. Thrawn gently tugged on your arm, beginning to lead you down the steps of the dais toward the empty floor, and your gut began to roil nervously. You had only had a few weeks to practice your dancing, and though Instructor Vorru had told you that you would do perfectly fine, you didn't feel as much confidence in yourself.

But it was much to late to back out now. With the entire room turning their attention back to you and Thrawn turning tail and running would have been a much bigger scandal than simply tripping over a few dance steps.

Author's Note: Hey guys! Its been quite a long time since my last update, and I'm sorry about that. I just really felt that this conversation between you and Thrawn was turning out awkwardly and was trying to think of a may to smooth out some of their conversation. I'm still not entirely pleased with how it turned out, but at least now I can move on and hopefully get to more of the story. As always, I'm loving y'all's feedback! Its just so great a feeling when I know that someone read my story and likes it. 

BYE!!!! <3<3<3<3<3<3