Emilie of the Royal Heart

Chapter 45: The Prince Reorganizes His Desk

 She knocked on the door. From inside she heard him call her in. She cupped the handle and turned it, then pressed her other hand to the middle of the wooden surface. She pushed it all the way open, but Emilie couldn't enter the study. Her feet were stuck in the doorway.

Neither could she lift her eyes to Aurora sitting at his desk. No, she needed to stare at the floor right now. It became a requirement between rising like a ghost from her bed and walking her way here as though across the clouds. Was she glowing? She felt like she was.

"Is everything alright?" Aurora spoke up after she dawdled too long.

"Um..."

She didn't add anything after that. To her, that kind of encapsulated the matter as a whole. Her eyes pried up from the floorboards and she searched for Aurora in the room, but when she looked to his desk, he was gone.

Suddenly, Aurora's face was all she could see. He stood before her and she slowly adjusted her eyes to him. His arms were crossed and he examined her, tilting his head this way and that.

"Did Tiago do something to you again?" he muttered, matching her gaze and holding it for once, "I swear, we can pin him on it this time."

"No, surprisingly, it's not Tiago related news," she exhaled, the sound building into a breathy chuckle as she smiled at him.

Aurora stared at her for an utterly silent minute, but she could see his breaths pick up. His mouth tensed up and he brought his hands out in front of him to fiddle with his rings.

"What is this news you have for me?" he breathed after realizing that Emilie wasn't going to confess to it immediately, "perhaps... perhaps you should come all the way inside first."

"Alright," she shrugged.

Aurora gently closed the door as she jumped into the armchair and leaned her head back into the cushion behind her. She stared at the ceiling with a blissful grin. He approached her chair, still fidgeting, still visibly nervous. Normally, Emilie would sweep in and attempt to calm, but nervousness felt so far removed from her right now, she could hardly understand how anyone could be nervous about anything at all.

"Oh, Rory..." she sighed happily.

"Is this about Elias?" he interjected.

"Huh?" she twisted her gaze to him, "no! This is nothing of the sort!" She pushed herself into a tall sit and craned her head up at him. Her hands clutched excitedly at the armrest between them as she gushed, "my mother is alive, Rory! Countess Analeigh has located her. I can see her again when I visit Zuhia."

"That's incredible," Aurora blinked with a slackened jaw. He placed his hands on the armrest to lean down to her, with one hand in between hers and the other one framing her left hand between his. "You will want to arrange a trip as soon as possible then."

"I suppose I will. I thought I had time to get things in order, but I've been apart from her too long after the tragedy. I should see her right away, shouldn't I?" Emilie figured.

"I'll see if I can expedite the process for your papers," he responded, leaving her side to stride to his desk.

"Don't bother," she groaned, sinking back into the chair, "I've been over those codes a thousand times. To cross the border from Fellen, I am in need of a passport, but I am not a citizen of Fellen, so it takes about three steps more for me to secure one. I believe I have to be documented as an approved resident by a judge on the board of Registered Persons, then I must submit my intentions for travel to the head of the Border Security office and they must approve my submission before I can move onto the required briefing on how I am allowed to travel and with what and with whom and only after all this can I apply for my passport, which must be specially requested and stamped by both you and Elias..." her ruminations died off with a laugh.