"I'm not intending to, Princess Caroline." Emory gave her a stony expression before shrugging. He knew something was wrong from the way she suddenly stiffened, and her words became a little less friendly. "You hide your feelings too much, when was the last time you properly showed the emotions you keep inside?"
Caroline crossed her arms. “Emotional displays make you weak. Emotions make you weak.” The petal in her hand was starting to get a bit crushed. “Besides, how do you know I’m not stony and serious all the time? What if these are my true emotions?”
"Well," Emory thought for a moment, choosing his next words wisely. "I've already come to the conclusion that you are quite a genuine person, although while you make the inference that you are stony and serious, I know that you're generally a quiet person. You get easily flustered, as I noticed when we were dancing, and I feel like given half the chance, you would talk for hours about books. Serious and stony people don't show emotions such as those."
Caroline could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I don’t get flustered easily.” The petal was a folded, mangled mess in her hand. “You think you know me? You don’t know me. Today was the first legitimate conversation that we have had in years and those aren’t qualities of mine that I share freely to the public.” Damn. She had basically just revealed that everything he had said was true.
Emory had to force himself not to say something along the lines of 'I told you so', because that would have just been mean. Instead he shook his head. "I never once pretended to know you, I merely shared my observations. Forgive me if I said anything that was incorrect, it wasn't my intention to offend you." Why did he always have to make things awkward, or better yet, why couldn't he just understand the female mind?
"Was it your intention to fluster me?" she spat. "Make me scramble for my bearings?" Caroline sighed. She brushed at the hair around the lily, making sure it had not fallen out of her hair. Prince Emory didn't have any ill will towards her. "No, forgive me. I sometimes fail to remember that not everyone is trying to make me look weak. You have been nothing but kind to me."
"It's alright, I don't mind you taking your negative emotions out on me." Emory rubbed the back of his head nervously and sighed. "I'd rather you take them out on me rather than someone who will retaliate in a way that will possibly make them worse."
How many times had Caroline been subjected to being patronized that it seemed to be almost a natural response from her to lash out like that? The poor lady didn't deserve to be looked down upon like that.
Caroline smiled. “Yes well, you still don’t deserve it. And I appreciate it, but you don’t need to worry about me.” She looked around them. All the flowers were white. She smiled again. “We’re here. The center of the maze.” She motioned for him to follow her with head and turned a corner, revealing a clearing. Stone benches lined the outskirts. Hedges cut in the shape of animals were scattered here and there. In the center of it all, leaves crawled up an arch. A lantern hung from the center of the arch.
Emory's eyes widened in wonder as the clearing came into view. Everything from the animal hedges, to the soft glowing lantern inside the arch, was like something from a dream. The area looked like it hadn't been touched by human hands for quite some time, but some part of Emory felt that this was a place Caroline took herself to whenever she wanted an escape. "It's beautiful here…" he breathed, smiling as he wandered under the arch.
Caroline sat down on one of the benches. She smiled as she watched Emory. He looked quite handsome under the glow of the lantern. "I know. I worked hard to design it to be that way." She couldn't take all the credit. It had been her idea, but she hadn't executed any of it. There were a lot of quiet whispers to servants. As far as she knew, none of her family or any of the advisors knew of this spot. They knew there was a center of the maze, of course, but no one came in here but her.
"You designed it?" Emory looked impressed, he didn't doubt Caroline's ability to create such a masterpiece, but it would have taken a lot of work to have it completed—determined as well as loyal. Princess Caroline was turning out to be more more of an independent and strong woman than Emory had ever thought. "You're amazing, I'll say that." he smiled at Caroline, holding out his hand towards her as if asking for her to join him under the arch.
Caroline lowered her eyebrows at Emory's hand, though she still smiled. After a moment of consideration, she stood up and walked over to him. "I know." She took his hand, standing next to him under the arch. His hand was warm. "I like having special places. And I especially like having my own places. I do not get many of them." She looked at his face and smiled at him. "You're lucky I shared this place with you, you know. I could have just let us wander and wander and never get to the center."
"Then why didn't you?" Emory frowned, keeping a light hold on Caroline's hand. It felt nice holding it. No, this isn't what you want to do. While marrying Caroline was something that he didn't want, a strong part of him did seem to want it. His brain just wasn't happy with the prospect of emotions coming into play. His eyes met hers, and held the gaze for a moment while he spoke. "Why did you show me this place?"
Caroline's breath caught in her throat, but only for a moment. "It's a test," she tried to tell herself. "Because I'm testing you, to see if I can trust you." But she knew that wasn't it. She knew she would never do something like that. She wanted it to be true, but she knew it wasn't. "Because," she said, holding his gaze. "Sometimes . . . it's nice to share things with other people."
Now would be the perfect time to—
Emory interrupted his own wandering mind by clearing his throat a little. "I guess so." he smiled, his eyes once again wandering around the area. "What gave you the idea for this place then? You could have had your own secret area absolutely anywhere on palace grounds, so why here?"
For a split second, Caroline could have sworn that he looked as though he wanted to . . . no that was silly. She sighed and took a slight step away from Emory as he looked around. She laughed softly, hoping he wouldn't hear it. You had to ask me that? "Does it matter?"
"Apparently not." Emory shook his head with a smile. While he would have loved to know her reasoning behind the location, he wasn't going to force her to explain her decision. He was more than happy to allow her to keep the secret to herself, it was a personal thing after all. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath, listening to the music that drifted through the air from the ballroom. He extended a hand towards Caroline and smiled nervously. "Care for a dance, without prying eyes?"
"Yes, because that went so well the first time." Caroline spoke before she could think, starting to roll her eyes. She caught herself and stopped mid-roll smiled slowly, almost sheepishly. "Yes, Prince Emory. I would love to dance. Thank you." She took his hand and stepped towards him, closing the distance between them.
Now that the two of them were in a more natural setting, Emory was more hesitant to touch any part of Caroline for fear of genuinely making her uncomfortable. But he held her hand all the same, and gently placed his other hand on her waist. The melody from the castle was gentle, almost melancholy, however it gave Emory the impression of two strangers forming a bond over time, eventually falling in love with one another. His feet began to move in time with the tune, guiding Caroline into a gentle dance.
Caroline softly hummed to the music as she danced with Emory. She noticed his lose hold on her, as if he was afraid to touch her. She tilted her head and smiled at him. “I don’t bite you know. At least I haven’t yet.” She grabbed his hand a little tighter, though not enough to hurt him. “Besides as you said, there are not any prying eyes here to care. We’re just dancing.” There wasn’t anything more to it, so why should there be such a fuss? Besides, so far she didn’t hate dancing with him. He was very good, and made up for her own lacking skills.
"I suppose we are," Emory smiled, gently tightening his hold around Caroline's waist. "Though it does feel a little odd without the pressures of social standards." He dipped her down gracefully, and when she was pulled up to her feet their bodies were closer. The dancing took a turn, moving the two of them out from under the arch and around the rest of the garden. The statues became the audience, but the judgement didn't come with them. Everything felt so…peaceful. Lifts and precise spins followed as the music continued, but time seemed to slow as Emory met Caroline's sparkling eyes. He found his mind wandering, thinking of a possible future where she would lead a kingdom with both the fire and love that sat in her heart, and strangely he wanted to be a part of that future.
Caroline was about to say something when she was swept up in the music and the dancing and her partner’s smile. Everytime she spun away from him or he dipped her she closed her eyes, and opened them again each time he pulled her to him. His smile was contagious and she couldn’t help but smile too. He spun her and his jacket flew off her shoulders, though she barely felt it. Her blood pumped through her veins and she thought that she had never felt so alive. As the song ended they came together, pressed up against one another. Caroline panted and smiled. She could feel Emory’s heart beating through his chest. They stared at each other for a moment, eyes locked. Caroline felt as though she had never seen anything more lovely and thought she could have danced with Emory for forever.
Caroline's eyes were locked on Emory's, as his were to hers. The heat that passed between their bodies made up for the chilly breeze, giving them the warmth they needed to remain outside for just a little longer. The smile on Emory's lips was a broad, dazzling grin, as though he had just done something amazing for the first time in his life, and when he looked into Caroline's eyes he only wanted to smile more. She was so beautiful and perfect, his heart felt like it could explode at any moment. Suddenly his heart was racing for a completely different reason, no longer out of breath from dancing. The smile begin to shrink until it was a look of awe that was displayed on his features. He didn't know how she would react to what he was about to do, but if he didn't do it there and then he feared he would never do it at all. One hand was still around her waist, while the other moved up to gently cup her cheek. Then hesitantly, almost scared, he leaned down with closed eyes and pressed his lips against Caroline's.
Caroline gasped as Emory leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. For a moment all she could think was ”Oh.” Then she couldn’t stop thinking about how soft his lips felt against her’s. She tilted her head back and let Emory pull her towards him as she kissed him back. One of her hands came up to cup his face. His mouth was warm and she could have stayed like that forever, but she pulled away. “I-I need to catch my breath.” She gulped the cold air, her eyes not leaving Emory’s. His cheeks were flushed and she knew here’s were probably flushed as well. Then she looked at his lips and decided she was just fine. “No I don’t.” She leaned into Emory, kissing him again, her eyes closing.
A soft "mm?!" vibrated in Emory's throat as Caroline leaned in to kiss him again. That was not the reaction he had expected from her at all—more like he had expected her to push him away in disgust. One of his hands gently cupped the back of her head, his fingertips carefully delved into her beautiful soft locks at the nape of her neck. He could practically feel the heat in his cheeks now, as their lips moved slowly against each other, and it was a nice, gentle heat. Her lips were so delicate, so supple. He pressed a little firmer, but not too much that it would hurt her.