Emilie of the Royal Heart

Chapter 28: The Princess-To-Be Has Been Hiding Something...

Agatha was scandalized when Ester helped Emilie out of her dress that night and all three of her attendants noticed the bruise on her chest. Naturally, she told them that Aurora got a little carried away, but while Agatha believed it based on the night she found him in her room, Minnie wasn't buying the lie. Thankfully, Ester kept her opinion to herself. In the morning, Minnie mixed up a paste to cover up the discoloration and applied it well enough that unless someone chose to stare directly at her breasts, it would go unnoticed.

The travel party from the Fellen palace collected themselves and headed back to the capitol. Soon enough they were back on the ferry, retracing their steps on the Golden Canal. Emilie spent the time leaning her forearms on the railing and watching the water roll by.

The view was pleasant even if her skirts kept her legs hotter than she wanted. She was glad they were headed back to the palace. Cedric could make her more dresses of the Zuhian style, with thin layers and a skirt that stopped above her ankle. She suppressed a smile. She had a reason to see him as soon as they returned now.

The ferry ride felt longer this time around. Maybe it was because she was oddly excited to get back to the palace grounds. She felt as though she could call them home.

Home.

It was a foreign notion for so long, but now it was coming back to her mind and her tongue. Emilie didn't know how she should feel about that. Her brain wanted to talk to her about what happened back in Zuhia and she did not, so she shivered through the cold ick of thoughts coating her body until she could pretend the overbearing sun warmed her back to the proper temperature.

She heard footsteps striding behind her and her face lit up. She beamed as she looked to her right, expecting to see Aurora, but there was no one. Emilie furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why she thought he would be there and why she felt worse to find that he wasn't. She sighed and looked back at the water.

"Is there something bothering you?" Aurora spoke up from her left.

Emilie shrieked and whirled on him, heart hammering. He blinked at her and inclined his head toward her as though to prompt an explanation. Her body melted back into place and she even grinned at him.

"Were you trying to surprise me like that?" she chuckled, her breaths still rearranging themselves into a steady pattern again.

"I did not realize you were so surprise-able. You did look somewhat... forlorn... just now. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine," she insisted, leaning her forearms back on the railing. Aurora followed her over, though he only rested his hand along the wood. "I'm simply thinking about home."

"You must miss your place in Zuhia terribly," he said with a somber nod.

"Actually, I was talking about the palace..." she squinted over at him almost like she was asking if such a thing was permissible.

"Oh." he replied, straight-faced. Then his eyes popped and he said, "oh."

Emilie chuckled at his expression and stared off into the water. She felt him sidle up closer to her and even lean down next to her with his arms balanced on the railing beside hers.

"Do you like staying in Tilzen?" he asked.

"Of course I do. The palace and the village around it are wonderful."

"What do you like about it?"

Emilie pursed her lips and then she turned her face to Aurora's. She whispered in a low voice with glittering eyes, "is this going to go in your little book?"