Emilie of the Royal Heart

Chapter 48: The Countess, the Prince, and the Emperor, Allegedly Under a Spell

She knew it was coming but it still choked her breaths into gasps. Emilie held a hand to her heart as she uttered, "why... why would you ask it in that way?"

Not Tiago's question, but this is what turned Aurora's head. He watched her closely as sweat trickled down her hairline. She realized she betrayed herself. Because if she didn't know what he was talking about, then why did she ask about his question? Once it was set in stone, she shook her head. She didn't need his answer, she already gave hers.

"Yes, I was a priestess in the Temple of Nolais."

She was terrified to look around at the others, but she predicted Elias would raise an eyebrow, Analeigh would cover her mouth with a lace glove, and Aurora would grow as rigid as his body could get.

"You are a priestess in the Temple of Nolais," Tiago corrected, wrapped in a billowing cape of superiority, "and is your trade hypnotism?"

"It... was..."

"Such hypnotism and compelling magicks that might enchant the Countess, the Prince, and even the Emperor into following your every whim?"

"I can't do anything so extreme. But I... can make suggestions... and they can be very suggestive..." she said in a broken whisper.

Distress pinged off of Aurora in little sparks of invisible anxiety that sizzled hot around him, substituting for a visible reaction on his face.

But he did puff out a breath and fret to her, "this would've been important to know at the start of all this."

In just that second, Emilie was reminded of how she got into this mess with exile hanging over her head and she couldn't keep poised so she spat out, "you didn't give me a choice at the start of this!"

"He what!?" Elias cut in breathlessly.

"What did she say?" Analeigh faltered.

Elias leapt to his feet and stormed from the end of the row up to where Aurora sat. His face was tightly wound in a snarl that Emilie had never imagined on his features before and she understood now how Elias so easily held his title. His eyes were the blue of the hottest flame and they flared at Aurora.

"Did you force her to play your fiance?"

"I-"

Elias spun to Emilie, every harsh line she tallied only a second ago melting away and his eyes were two ponds reflecting the sky, "did he twist your arm to agree to it?"

"Um... it wasn't like that..." Emilie crumbled under his weighty gaze. Instantly, she regretted her word choice. She didn't deny it. She didn't deny it. She didn't deny it. She just confirmed the accusation that Aurora forced her into the engagement. The thing they had been keeping secret for the last few months.

"But it was something like that?" he enunciated. He turned back to Aurora, "Rory, what is wrong with you?"

"I knew this was unorthodox!" Sir Tobberty shouted from the Keeper's box. He banged his cane on the ground, "a fake engagement is utterly unacceptable! There will be consequences for the both of you for making a mockery of the Fellen throne."

Elias wasn't concerned in the slightest with what the Keepers of Tradition had to say. It appeared as though Aurora could sense this because he took in a restrained breath and stood up, facing Elias with his arms behind his back.

"I told you it might be a good idea to find a partner, I didn't think you were going to go as far as threatening someone to marry you!" Elias fumed.

Emilie could see the indecision in Aurora's body. Like her, no doubt he wasn't certain how much to reveal about their arrangement in this moment. Could this be salvaged or was it time to come clean? He sighed and she knew how he would respond.

"I'm not proud of how this started... it's simple that the Keepers agreed with your suggestion and they were going to choose a partner for me in a years' time anyway... I... know it was... wrong..."

She couldn't stay quiet anymore. They were making it out to be like Aurora was a heartless criminal. As though he really was the barbarian she accused him of being when they first met. Except that she knew very well that Aurora wasn't so awful and hearing Elias and the Keepers charge him as such was too much to bear.

"It was an agreement, that's all!" she defended, rushing to her feet, "he would get a wife and I-"

"You blackmailed Emilie?" Analeigh shouted from behind them, "it all makes sense now."

"I truly doubt he could've offered you anything of value," Elias huffed, speaking as though his brother wasn't right in front of him, "considering you were already staying with the Countess. The fact that he tried to stage his own marriage I think speaks to how he has no idea how to read people."

Emilie glanced at Aurora, who seemed to be staring down some speck in the distance. Elias twisted toward him to berate him more, but Emilie still couldn't have it. She grabbed Elias' arm.

"He baited me with you."

This froze Elias in his place. His brow furrowed as he peered back at her, "... what?"

"I wanted to go back to Zuhia and only you can grant me passage over the border and back again, so Aurora told me that if I pretended we were in love and married him, he could get me in to see you and you might let the new Princess of Fellen make a visit back home. He's been trying to help me arrange a trip to see my mother."

Aurora reached out and rested his hand on Emilie's shoulder. He glanced over at her for a moment and the defeat and sadness in his gaze drove a corkscrew into her heart.

"It's alright, Emilie," he said as she looked back at him, her eyes watering, "it's over. You don't have to defend me."

"If that's what you've been going through all of this for," Elias spoke up, though he glanced at Aurora before turning fully to Emilie and taking her hand in his, "you don't have to fret anymore. I can arrange a trip for you easily."

"Oh, if you'll allow me to add something, your imperial majesty," Tiago interjected from the podium. He leaned on his hand with a dreamy look on his face. Emilie knew he was relishing the chaos.

"You have something more to say, Sir Tiago?" Elias sneered.

"Just a little tidbit if you're thinking about letting Emilie return to Zuhia."

Elias groaned, but he said, "what would that be?"

"It's simply that I wasn't lying when I said Emilie has an outstanding obligation that would disqualify her from assuming the throne or marrying into the line of succession. In fact, I've already mentioned it and she has confirmed it. Emilie is a priestess of the Temple of Nolais and as such, she is dictated by them."

"I don't understand," Emilie blurted, "the Temple of Nolais burned down. There is no one to dictate me anymore. My order is gone. I have no obligation."

"I'm sure you'll be enraptured to discover that the Temple of Nolais has spread the good news of the Compelling Spirit to the outer reaches of Zuhia."

Was that a pebble lodged in her throat? Felt like it. Only now did Emilie realize that she did not like the life of a priestess that much. She did not wish to return to it. Still, she had a good education and she could put two and two together, so she knew exactly what Tiago was going to say even before it flittered out of his quirked lips.

"And if you cross the border into Zuhia to see your mother, the Temple of Nolais will regain its claim on you. I fear if you try to see your mother again... you may never return to Fellen."