She doesn’t choose right away, but I can see the decision in her eyes already.
There’s conflict there, but also determination.
“This is incredibly unfair, you know,” she murmurs, staring into my Oathstone.
Her thumb brushes unconsciously over its surface as she speaks, almost reverent despite the accusation in her tone.
I just nod.
“I’m a Princess,” she continues. “A deal from someone with your potential...”
It’s all I can do to remain still. It’s clear to me that she wants what I offered, but she also knows what accepting it would mean for us.
If she accepts, then whatever exists between us now will have lived a terribly short life.
I know, through the magic at play, that she feels it just as I do.
So every second that she hesitates feels unbearable. Even though I know what kind of person she is, and even though I told myself I already knew what her answer would be.
It doesn’t stop the terror from clawing at my ribs anyway, leaving only one thought rattling in through mind endlessly.
I don’t want to lose this.
My tail curls tight around my leg like it’s trying to hold me upright.
“Yet here you are, forcing me to choose between what I want and what’s expected of me,” she huffs, finally looking away from the stone to give me a petulant glare.
Her eyes are still watery as she battles herself, so it doesn’t sting. I just offer her a small, reassuring smile.
She looks away, her face turning beet red the same moment she takes a step toward me.
Then another.
And another.
Each footfall is slow and hesitant, but she never stops.
The Oathstone trembles in her hands, though not from magic.
From her.
She’s shaking, something about this moment tearing apart her reserves of control as she moves.
Oh, Bella...
When she finally reaches me, she squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, as if she’s gathering the courage to leap off a cliff.
She stops just short of touching me, hesitating for only a moment, her breaths uneven.
Then she places the stone into my palm, gently curling my fingers around it despite the tremor in her hands.
The moment she does, it vanishes into the in-between, where it belongs, and my smile turns into a grin so broad my face hurts.
Her eyes slowly open, their beautiful crimson meeting my own icy blue, and she looks away with a flinch.
“T-this doesn’t mean I accept—oh!”
I sweep her up into a hug, spinning us both in place with a delighted yip of laughter.
“Emilia! Put me down, I haven’t said—”
I wasn’t listening anymore. I was just happy that she chose herself over what everyone else expects of her. That she chose me.
No... she chose us.
So I dance through the room with her, lavishing her with hugs and twirls as all of my pent up stress finally bursts free. For several long seconds, her hands hover uselessly in the air like she has no idea what to do with them.
At least until she’s too flustered to keep protesting properly.
When her arms finally wrap around me in a return hug, and her tears wet my shoulder, and her voice cracks with laughter all her own...
Only then do I finally settle down.
The room settles with us, a soft quiet filling the space as my belly fills with anticipation and butterflies.
I watch her cautiously as she composes herself. She tries her best to seem put out about it, but flounders whenever our gazes meet.
Gods, she’s so cute when she’s trying.
Bella smooths out the front of her skirt unnecessarily before moving to her abandoned tea. The moment she touches the cup, though, she pauses.
“…It’s cold,” she murmurs with the kind of devastation I’d normally associate with mortal injury.
I snort softly.
“You left it sitting there for a while.”
Her cheeks darken again as she raises the teacup to her lips more for something to do with her hands than any actual desire to drink it.
“I was occupied,” she says stiffly.
“Mmhm.”
That earns me a sharp look that loses most of its force when she fails to hold eye contact for more than two seconds.
Silence settles again after that. Less awkward and more fragile, this time.
Bella clears her throat delicately.
“We should discuss... expectations moving forward.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from grinning too hard.
Is she really trying to turn this into a diplomatic negotiation?
“Expectations?” I echo innocently.
“Yes,” she says, latching onto the word with visible relief. “It would be irresponsible not to establish boundaries and understanding before proceeding with...”
She trails off weakly.
“With?” I prompt, tail lashing languidly behind me with obvious delight.
Her eyes narrow.
“Emilia,” she says flatly.
“With...?” I urge.
Her face twitches.
“...This.”
I fail spectacularly at hiding my grin.
“This what?”
She looks away immediately, ears burning red.
“Stop looking so pleased with yourself,” she mutters.
“I can’t help it,” I say honestly. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”
Her composure cracks so violently that she nearly drops her teacup.
“Gods above, Emilia.”
I laugh softly, warmth bubbling in my chest all over again.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped feeling the need to hide any of this.
Maybe it happened the moment I offered her my Oathstone. Maybe even before that.
Either way, after laying my heart bare like that, teasing this unfairly gorgeous and devastatingly flustered Princess feels almost unfairly easy.
Then Bella straightens slightly, visibly wrestling herself back under control.
“I mean it,” she says, though her voice still sounds shaky. “This is... significant. My position alone complicates matters immensely.”
I sigh quietly, then firm my tone as I call out to her.
“Bella.”
Her crimson eyes flick back toward me cautiously.
“I don’t care what your father wants.”
She sputters instantly.
“Emilia! You can’t ignore—”
“I care what you want,” I finish.
Bella stutters to a halt mid thought, staring at me like I’ve just struck her with lightning. For a moment, her fingers tighten around the teacup hard enough that I worry it might crack.
Then her face somehow turns even redder.
“...You shouldn’t say things like that,” she whispers weakly.
She says it like a reprimand, but the fond exasperation in her voice ruins any real bite the words might’ve had.
I just shrug, absolutely unapologetic.
She hides half her face behind her teacup, glaring at me over the rim in a way that would probably be intimidating if she didn’t currently look like she might combust.
“You are impossible.”
“And yet here we are.”
She rolls her eyes, but there’s a fondness to her now that sends my tail swishing hard enough to thump against the bed.
Bella’s eyes dart toward it with the tiniest hint of longing before flicking away again. Her nails tap lightly against the porcelain cup in an uneven rhythm for a few seconds, so I take a step toward her, intent on letting my tail tempt her farther.
“Tomorrow is our free day,” Bella says suddenly, stopping me in my tracks.
I blink.
“It is?”
“Yes,” she says. “The Academy leaves one day unscheduled each week for personal study, delving, or other pursuits.”
“Oh.”
“I was thinking... as a start, perhaps we could spend some time together.”
The words clearly leave her mouth before she fully processes them, because her eyes widen immediately afterward.
“Not—not formally,” she says quickly. “Simply to better understand one another and establish—”
“A date,” I say immediately.
“It is not a date.”
“It sounds like a date.”
“No, it’s—it’s an outing.”
“With just the two of us.”
“Yes.”
“To get to know each other better.”
“...Yes.”
Her eyes dance away as she falls into the line of uncomplicated logic.
I grin.
“That sounds suspiciously like a date, Princess.”
Bella makes a strangled noise of despair, her entire posture folding in on itself in mortification.
“It’s not!” she insists. “Courtship among nobility is significantly more structured than—”
“So we are courting, then?”
Her entire face turns scarlet.
“Emilia!”
I just grin, letting my tail do all the talking as it swishes happily behind me.
She glares at me for all of three seconds before the corners of her mouth twitch upward too.
“There’s the smile I like,” I murmur.
That earns me another blush. And another glare.
Worth it.
Eventually, after several more failed attempts at regaining her composure, Bella finally steps over to the door with what little dignity she has left intact.
“I should retire for the evening,” she says carefully.
I nod, though disappointment still flicks through me. Still, I don’t want to push too far.
Besides, this went so much better than I imagined.
She hesitates a moment after opening the door for me, then grabs my hand in one of her own.
I freeze.
“...Tomorrow morning?” she asks quietly.
She stares at my hand, unwilling to meet my gaze as she asks the question.
As nervous as she sounds, I can’t help but wonder if the heat in my face has reached my hand, and whether she’s burning because of it. I’ve no doubts that the nerves racing through me would erase the world, were they to escape my mind.
“Yeah,” I agree breathlessly. “Tomorrow morning.”
She glances up for a scant moment to give me a relieved little smile.
My heart instantly shatters into a million pieces from the emotional overload.
“Goodnight, Emilia.”
“Goodnight, Bella,” I manage, my voice barely above a whisper.
Then she disappears, the door closing with a soft click.
I stand there for several seconds afterward with the dopiest smile imaginable stretched across my face.
Then I turn around, take a few wobbly steps, and instantly freeze solid with terror.
Cari is sitting perfectly still on the couch opposite me.
Staring directly at me, and the door behind me.
Her eyes are bloodshot.
There are several small plates of snacks beside her, as well as three empty tea cups.
“...How long have you been sitting there?” I ask slowly.
“Since you went in.”
I blink.
“...That was an hour ago.”
“I am committed to the pursuit of knowledge,” she says solemnly.
I stare at her.
She stares back.
Then she slowly closes her notebook.
“You know what comes next.”
She hadn’t blinked the entire time, her bloodshot gaze boring into me with the curiosity of a cat toying with a mouse.
“Cari, you really don’t—”
She leaps for me, hands outstretched like the claws of a demon, and I run for my life.
Authors Note:Might be my shortest chapter yet, but it's just how it turned out. I don't want to contaminate it with the silly desire to keep my chapters over 2k words. <3
Love is in ~ the air tonight ~