Before a Once Upon A Time

The 'Princess' and the Assassin...Er...Pea - The Mattress Phenomenon

Story 4 - The 'Princess' and the Assassin...Er...Pea

Part 4 - A Mattress Phenomenon

Marie woke strangely comfortable for having fallen asleep on a bench. Yes, her neck was stiff and her head hurt but not that much. Yet she could feel that a lot of time had passed since she fell asleep. Strange. She opened her eyes and looked up at James. She blinked a few times and managed to compose herself quickly and stammer (So maybe not fully compose. But close enough)”Oh. Hello there.”

James blushed. He hadn’t really thought this part through. All he had thought of was that she looked uncomfortable and that he wanted to watch her sleep. Every breath that came through her body seemed precious to him-a thought that she was still living and he could watch it. Watch his love living. And that had been it before he had lifted up her head gently and put it in his lap. And watched her sleep. He felt his ears warming as he thought back on it. It was bad. How could he do that? He should have woken her and lead her out of the garden. But she had seemed so tired at breakfast and even when she was sleeping-and now it was past lunch and hours until dinner….

Even in his terribly embarrassed state, words slipped from his mouth that both parties would later wonder upon the origin of.

 “Found ya.”

Marie thought back to her previous thoughts. That sounded oddly like the same thought process.  James was just amazed that he had spoken at all. How had that happened? When had he gained a backbone?

Even so, Marie replied and the tension between tem amplified miraculously.

”Not that I don’t love lying in your lap, but could I sit up now please?”

James’s blush, amazingly, intensified. It was impressive. No one should be that red and yet, he was. His ears, his nose even his eyelids looked like they were steadily going redder as he mumbled some very incomprehensible things and Marie sat up, fixing her mussed hair slightly before giving up. That was a monumental endeavor that would require at least a few people’s aid. She sighed and stood, trying to straighten out her skewed skirts and succeeding fairly well. She looked at James and laughed the tiniest bit. His face was so red it looked at though he were trying to hold his breath for an hour.

She smiled at him and the smile broke through the awkward that James felt trying to strangle him. He smiled back and Marie felt a gentle warmth in her face as she started to blush. To blush? She didn’t blush. She hadn’t even known she could blush. She had never done so before. Was it James? Had this boy done something to her? She didn’t know. She didn’t feel like she had been drugged. But sometimes it was hard to tell.

“James. Would you walk me to the kitchen? I think if I ask nicely I can get us something to eat.” And some water to wash any drugs he might have given her out of her system. Good thing she wasn’t actually the princess or this could have been a very messy situation. James agreed to her proposal with a smile and they promptly raided the kitchen.

Life returned to normal and both of the two were pulled apart for their separate court duties-unscathed but not unchanged. I think you can probably infer the change but I’ll state it very clearly-both walked away from the other that day with a new budding love that could only grow stronger with contact. Which is a little unfortunate. Considering the complex relationship here. James thinks that he is in love with the girl who is soon to become his brother’s fiancé who is also the princess of a warrior nation. But she is not the princess of a warrior nation but a stand in princess who is actually of a slightly higher than servant class rank and who really wouldn’t be a suitable match for him as her self. However she is an even less suitable match as the princess, considering the whole reason she is in their court in the first place is to ensure that a marriage is arranged between Ross and Laurel.