Emilie of the Royal Heart

Chapter 22: The Princess-to-Be Has Spilled a Few Secrets Instead of Wine

Aurora was in the chair when she woke up. He was asleep again. Emilie wondered if he stayed all night, wished he didn't, then hoped he did again. She didn't know who she ought to keep around her these days, but she was glad to find that when she woke to see him in her room, she wasn't feeling ill anymore.

"Rory," she called out to him. He was slumped over with his forehead resting on the armrest. Emilie perched on the edge of her bed and called out again, "Rory."

"Mmuh?" he responded, shifting his head only enough to get that mumble past his lips.

Emilie shoved a giggle back inside her mouth with a slap of her hand over her lips. When she collected herself, she said, "it's daylight."

"And?" he muttered.

"And I'm feeling better. You should get some rest in a real bed so that you don't bend your royal body out of shape."

Before raising his head, Aurora lifted his hand and started patting the ledge of the backrest above him. At first, Emilie didn't understand what he was looking for - his jacket was on his lap. She was just about to say so when she felt a poke at her calf. She leaned over her legs and pulled at the sheet to reveal his crown nestled under her right leg. Not knowing how it got there and being a little embarrassed to ask, Emilie pulled it from its spot and spoke up.

"Rory..."

Finally, he looked up at her. She held out his crown. His eyebrows drew together as he observed it cushioned in her palms. With a clearing of his throat, he took it from her, tried to fix his hair, and then placed it on his head.

"One imagines you must be careful not to lose that," Emilie commented. He sat up straight again with that rigid posture.

"Well, I supposed you didn't want the crowned Prince catching your vomit, so I took it off so that you could simply think of me as a... friend."

"Is... is that what it means when you present yourself without it on?" Emilie asked, her mind tumbling back to that night when they kissed. He wasn't wearing it then. "That you want to be my friend?"

Aurora paused for a long time. But in this pause, he could hold her gaze, for the most part. Still, his expression seemed almost peaceful, but there was something harsh glimmering there. She thought he was angry at her for a second, but that emotion didn't match his eyes either. After unanswered seconds ticked by and several breaths were welcomed in by both, Aurora rose from his seat.

"I would like to think that you could see me that way even when I'm 'on duty'," he straightened his tunic, "but when I remove it, I guess I'm saying... that for that amount of time, you come before Fellen."

"Oh..." she breathed. She started smoothing down her hair to tame it like she was embarrassed for him to see her after just waking up and she even started trying to twist bits back the way that Agatha did. While she did this, she said, "really, there shouldn't be such a need for all that. Fellen must come first. It's why you made this arrangement despite your own desires to remain unmarried. For your people. That's the reason I'm here. To provide a service for your people. As such, I'm only a servant to your people... there's no need to put me above them because that's not why I'm here, right?"

Aurora did it again. This new thing he started to do before he went off to finish the Southern Tour. He paused and he looked at her for such a long time that Emilie wanted to slap him or scream at him to make some move because she felt it impossible to live under such an indeterminate gaze.

Then he simply said, "you fill your position extremely well."

He bowed to her and left her bedroom. Emilie hid her face in a pillow.