~.✧ Love & Tradition ✧.~

~.✧ bonus scene for austora ✧.~

Gentry's quick but gentle fingers worked at my hairstyle, finishing up the final touches for the day. It was a little more intricate than my normal day to day hairstyle, but I liked it and it hadn't taken her much longer than normal.

She slid the final pin in, the last strand securely in place. "Done. What do you think?"

"It's beautiful. Thank you," I told her with a smile as I turned my head from side to side to see it from all angles in the mirror. "Just out of curiosity, why a little fancier today?"

She shrugged, her smile small and holding a hint of smugness to it. "No reason. I just learned it from one of the other maids the other day and I thought I'd try it out. And it came out great."

I eyed her for a moment before letting the strange feeling that she wasn't telling me something go. "It did. It looks perfect." I stood and gave her a hug which she gladly accepted.

When I pulled away, I said, "Should I try out the new perfume Braz gifted me?"

"Yes, definitely!" she answered enthusiastically, shuffling to grab the little vile of oil from the other side of my vanity. My eyes trailed after her, wondering what had gotten into her today.

As she helped me dab the fragrant, floral scent onto my wrists and neck, I started, "So..."

She glanced up at me and raised her brows slowly. "So?"

There was only one thing that could make her act this way. "How's that crush of yours going?"

She paused, my eyes widening at me. I chuckled.

"I, um... It's nothing."

"Come on, Gen. It definitely isn't nothing. I feel like you haven't gone a day the past few weeks without seeing Kartren. It's so sweet."

"It's not sweet," she insisted, screwing the lid to the perfume back on more tightly than needed. "I'm helping him with his Quyntish."

"And that's all," I said, trying to sound serious but I had to laugh. "Gentry, I heard him reading Quyntish out loud rather perfectly the other day. You've done your job amazingly and he doesn't need you to tutor him anymore."

Her face fell even though I could tell she was trying not to let it.

I smiled, taking her hands. "But," I interjected cheerily, "I think he might need you for a different reason."

At my suggestive look she slid her hands out of mine and covered her face. "Saidy!"

Laughing brightly, I tried to peek through the spaces in between her fingers to see her eyes. "You do have to admit that he's been rather attached to you recently."

She let out a long breath and then tucked her hands behind her back. "We are friends, Saidy. That's all. Besides, he's the heir. He needs a beautiful, talented noble woman to become his queen."