Perfection Deception

Meeting Acquaintance

Emme has been in the presence of royalty before, but nothing could have prepared her for Marvel's dad. He was the most regal person she had ever seen, but somehow he gave off a fun aura as well. It confused her.

"Hello!" he boomed when she walked in, her elbow in the crook of Marvel's. For some reason, he had insisted in taking her arm. He said it was "necessary in proving our relationship." She had blushed at that, and mentally scolded herself. Why had she blushed?

The King's voice brought her back. "And who is it that I have the pleasure of meeting?" he asked Marvel, his eyes twinkling.

"This is Emmaline, Princess of Carthia."

The King chuckled, and surprisingly, got off his throne and walked over to where Marvel and Emme were standing. "Princess Emmaline of Carthia," he stated, and then surprised them all by bending down to kiss Emme's hand.

"I truly am honored to meet you," he said, and something about him made her believe it. "And I you," Emme said with a smile.

"Well Marvel, I thank you for bringing her, and you did your job good." the King said.

"Thank you sire," Marvel said with a bow, and from the corner of her eye, Emme saw him smirk. The looked up, frightened for the king's reaction, but he was grinning and just rolled his eyes. "I thought we talked about that, boy," he said with a false warning tone. They both laughed, and Emme felt her shoulders loosen. Just now did she realize how worried she has been.

When the laughter faded, the king stood up from his throne and walked off the platform. He began pacing in front of his throne, and clasped his hands behind his back. "As you know, Princess Emmaline, I have summoned you here to the beautiful residence of Majik. And I have summoned you for good reason, too. You are Lilian's daughter, correct?"

Emme nodded, and then before she could stop herself, blurted out, "How do you know my mother?"

The king warmly smiled, and Emme detected another emotion in his gaze. Sympathy, perhaps?

"We have . . . met before," he said cautiously, "when we discussed a certian matter involving your very family, Emmaline." She could have sworn that she caught him shooting daggers at Marvel. Unbelievebly, he blushed. This confused her even further.

"Please," she said, "call me Emme. And what 'matter involving my very family'? Shouldn't I know about this?"

The king exchanged meaningful glances with his son. "What. . .?" Emme said gingerly. At this point, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

The king took a deep breath and finally said, "It is a very serious matter involving your sister, Scarlett. . ." He trailed off, looking nervous.

Emme steadied herself, and then gave a small nod for him to continue. He was looking at her similarly to how her own mother looked at her when she was sick in bed, burning up with a fever, and unable to move. It comforted her somehow, to see someone who cared about her so much though they had just met. She was also surprised to see Marvel looking at her, wearing a similar expression, although not as maternal.

"Ah,as I was saying, it involved Scarlett. That's why we are here today, actually," he continued, eyeing Emme suspiciously. "Are you sure you're okay, dear? You seem very pale-"

"I'm okay. Please, with all due respect, get to the point," she said, and heard how tired her voice sounded.

"Very well," he replied. Then, in a rushed voice, said, "Well, Scarlett had found the Intervallum similarly to how you did, and someone found her and guided her through. She was very special here, because she had a fate. A prophecy, if you will. This task depended purely on her to complete. As you can imagine, fufilling a daunting task can take time, so she was here for many months. This person who had found her had become quite close to her in many ways, and soon. . . Well, it was almost inevitable, with all the time they spent together. Of course, being young, they did not take all necessary measures to stay safe, and. . .they conceived. The boy, although he should have felt horrible, decided to push the matter aside, and put all of his emotions aside with it. Although he should have been there for Scarlett, he abandoned her, pregnant and alone.

"And dear, I thought it would be a good idea for the same boy to go and pick you up, just to get an idea of how much one mistake can knock someone's life completely out of orbit."

***************
Emme didn't realize she'd passed out until she opened her eyes. She also didn't know where she was, but soon became familiar with her surroundings.

Someone had placed her in a fairly comfortable white bed, one of eight in the room: four on the opposite walls. The whole room looked as if someone came in with buckets of white paint and just splashed everything, for everything was the same shade of blinding white, including the covers. The room was fairly small, which gave it a slightly more cozy feel.

Emme swung her legs over the side of the bed and placed her feet on the cold hardwood floor. Without a true thought coursing through her head, she walked confidently to the door. She was met with a sudden wave of nausea, causing her to double over and grab her abdomen. When it passed, she straightened up and continued walking.

The doorknob was cold. She turned and pulled, and cautiously stuck her head out the door; the hallway was empty. Barefoot, she padded outside and walked down the spotless, bright white hall.

Just as Emme rounded the corner, she collided with a body. "Watch it!" the person said. "It wasn't my fault," Emme countered.

Once Emme disentangled herself from the other person-a girl about her own age-she spoke. "Listen, it was just an accident-"

The other girl cut her off. "Of course it was. You seem too nice to run into someone on purpose!" she said brightly, and offered Emme a hand. "I'm Fantasia," she explained. "And you are...?"

"Emmaline," said Emme, feeling the need to use her full name. "But you can just call me Emme."

She shook Fantasia's hand, and before she knew it, the taller girl had her in an embrace. "I'm just sooooooo happy to find another girl my age. We can be such good friends!" she shrieked, and Emme couldn't help but feel excited at the thought. She hadn't ever had real friends, just royal figures about her age pretending to like her. For some reason, the thought of royalty brought her to think of the blonde prince that she danced with the night she met Marvel. A chill went up her spine as she remembered the look in his eyes: it made her want to run out the door and just keep running. Fantasia's voice snapped her out of the maze of memories that currently contained her conscious self. "Are you okay, Emmaline?"

"It's Emme," she snapped, and immediately regretted it. The look of hurt on the other girl's face made Emme feel protective of her-surprisingly.

"I'm sorry, Fantasia. I really want to be friends, but I need to see someone right now, okay?" Emme said in a soothing voice. "Of course! I understand," Fantasia reassured her, and she looked relieved that Emme wanted to hang out. "I can actually help you find whomever you're looking for. I know the castle like the back of my hand," she added, looking hopeful. "So...who is it?"

Emme was surprised that this girl was being so nice to her. "Yeah, sure-that would be awesome. Yeah, well, I'm looking for Marvel. I don't know if you know him-"

"Of course I know him!" Fantasia interrupted excitedly. "After all, I am his fiancé!"
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Hello people! Okay, so I feel horrible about not updating sooner, but I've had a busy couple of weeks. I've had to write this chapter, like, 3 times because it just wouldn't save, so I got really frustrated at Wattpad so I took a break for a while and then I was trapped without wifi in the Bahamas for a while so I couldn't write and just grrrrrrrrrrr. I promise to write more often and to keep the story going because I really love this story and where I want to take it and I want to share a bit of my imagination with you people. Thank you so much for following this story so far! Also, if you follow this story, you might want to make sure that Wattpad notifications are on so you know when I update. Love you guys!! :)

xoxo Viv