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🌸 A N E E L A 🌸
Aneela was usually a patient person but not when the Queen had asked to see her father and her sister while the prince wanted to meet her in the drawing room after breakfast. She had felt so uneasy, she didn't even eat anything and barely managed to drink one cup of tea.
The conversation with Kheru last night kept replaying in her head while she waited for the prince, drawing something random in her notebook to keep herself from running around the room like a headless chicken. The shu had told her about the meeting with the Queen and how everything else had went down.
"Do you ... do you think he will forgive me?"
Kheru took her hands and squeezed them tightly. "Aneela, you have done nothing wrong. I convinced you, it was my plan, my doing. And he knows that. He is angry, yes, but that will pass. I explained everything, him and the Queen know what's going on in Shu Han. And what kind of risk you and your family are taking for me. He will come around shortly."
Her shoulders sunk. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. He likes you way too much to cut the cord over this. And it's not like you wanted to help me or something – he knows that you care about your shu friend."
Aneela smiled. I don't regret my decision. I would help her again if I was to be put in the same position. But the prince being crossed with her made her worry about what was going to happen next. She desperately tried to think what to do about the situation but ... What? I did him wrong, he was rightfully upset. How do I make it right?
"Do you ... still want to go home?" Kheru asked carefully.
"No, he has given me no reason to leave." Aneela shook her head, really meaning what she said. "He actually gave me one to stay."
To get to know him better. It was crazy when she thought about it: They've been only spending time together for six days and the way he had already gotten to know her was baffling. He was serious about the courting season. And she was, too. They had been in such a good place, but she had to go and mess it all up ...
"I'm sorry that I told him, it was a slip up, I didn't mean to-"
"No, Aneela, don't apologize." Kheru waved it out of the air. "I should have told him straight up. And all of this will get fixed, trust me."
I hope you are right, my friend.
The pencil scraping over the white paper was the only sound in the room that got softly distracted by some footsteps coming closer. "Am I interrupting, Miss Ceron?"
Aneela's heart dropped when she heard his voice only a few meters away from her. She looked up from her sketch, not really knowing what to expect from his attendance. He seemed calmer than the last time they spoke – or fought for the matter of fact – but she could tell it was still bothering him. Obviously, it stirred me up as well and I'm trying really hard to not let it get to me right now.
