Alison, quickly turned away from the sight, unable to watch as Ben kissed Emily. Anger shot through her body, furious at Ben for doing such a thing. She wanted to have him beheaded, she had a right to. He was poor common folk, but she also knew Emily would never forgive her if she did.
"Alright that's enough." Alison said, her voice almost causing the shack to shake. She turned back to see a smiling Ben, unable to take his eyes off of Emily, much like how Alison was unable to take her eyes off her. Emily was looking at the ground, smiling slightly, her face red.
"H-how?" Ben began to question, looking at Emily in disbelief. "How did you escape the queen?"
"I didn't." Emily said. "I'm still under her service."
"Than how did the cold hearted Queen Alison allow you to leave the castle to come visit me?" Ben asked, stroking Emily's cheek to check if she was real.
"She didn't." Alison snapped, causing Ben's hand to jump back from Emily's face. "She came to see her mother, you just happened to be here."
"Uh, who exactly are you?" Ben asked, frowning and looking at Alison.
"Vivan Darkbloom." Alison said, glaring daggers at Ben.
"Should I know who that is?" Ben asked, stepping closer to Emily and putting his arm around her waist.
"No. But the queen does have her connections, everyone's watching her people. So I don't think touching what is hers now is going to do you any favors." Alison said, becoming more and more angry.
"I don't think the queen owns Emily. She obviously doesn't if Emily is outside of her castle. She is a vile person who doesn't care about the feelings of her people." Ben said, his voice filling with disgust. He turned to Emily, "Why don't we go somewhere and catch up? You can tell me about all the nasty things about the queen."
"Ben who are you talking to?" a voice said, coming from the back room. Exiting the back room was a middle aged woman, with flour in her hair and on her hands like Ben. She looked confused, but when her eyes caught sight of Emily, her face lit up and she hurried over to her.
"Emily! I didn't think I would ever see you again!" she said, hugging Emily tightly.
"I didn't either mom." Emily said, hugging her mother back. Alison watched their reunion, examining them. Was this what love was? She didn't know, her parents only paid attention to her because she was beautiful.
"What is the castle like? Is it beautiful? Is the queen beautiful? I heard she's getting married to Prince Noel! Is he attractive? I heard he is! I didn't get to see either of them when the queen escorted the prince to the castle. I heard she's gorgeous." her mother said, releasing Emily and holding on to her shoulders.
Emily's eyes flickered to Alison and Alison shook her head slightly, signaling to Emily that she didn't want her identity being revealed. Especially with Ben around. "She is beautiful. She's been treating me very well." Emily said.
"Obviously not well enough if you had to sneak out of her castle." Ben said, crossing his strong arms.
"She didn't sneak out, I-... Queen Alison let her." Alison said, crossing her own arms.
"Ben, what are you doing here? In my mom's bakery. Shouldn't you be at the butcher's with your dad?" Emily asked, awkwardly trying to steer the conversation away from another bicker between Ben and Alison.
"Ever since you left, your mother has needed some help. I offered to help her until she found someone else... or until you returned." Ben said, rubbing his hands together, causing the flour dust to fly.
