Adalynn peered up at Prince Reili with as much grace and demure charm as she could muster but the shaking nature of her petite frame had her concentrating on valiantly holding down her breakfast before it splattered across the room.
Her body begged her to flee from the overwhelming uncertainty that consumed her and for a moment, she was sure she was going to lose the battle between her and her stomach.
A fissure of irate confusion blossomed in her mind. When had she become such a startled rabbit that bolted at the first sign of danger?
Anger began to creep in following the wake of her revelation and lent her courage she hadn't felt in years. She would leave this wretched man who doomed her and she would find her way home or may the gods damn her soul for betraying her people.
"Good morning, Crown Prince Reili. It is a pleasure to see you today," she softly greeted and she did not miss the brilliant grin that broke across his face.
"A pleasure to see you today as well, Lady Adalynn. I trust that you are in good health following your magnificent debut last night?"
"Oh yes, thank you for asking."
"Now, as you may have been made aware, I've arrived today to hopefully take you out upon a tour of my city. As I recall last night you stated that you hadn't had a chance to see it."
Truth be told, that was one of the last things she recalled about last night in his presence, but she nodded along anyways.
"Well, what do you say?"
Adalynn carefully took in the expressions of those present in the room. Lysandra was certainly hopeful and a little maddening in her encouragement; Leonel was certainly suspicious and yet approving, and her own prince stood there expectant and eager as they waited for her verdict.
She shouldn't. She truly, utterly shouldn't, but how else was she to find access to the Dantu library where she may very well find a map pointing the way home in big, bold, red ink.
Oh bother, what was the harm?
"Yes, I would love to," she genuinely agreed and vowed silently to have this last day with the prince to hold secretly in her heart for the days to come. Surely one day out would not be her undoing. After all, most stories need a bit of legwork before it gets to the truly interesting part and perhaps her story was not over yet.
He released a relieved sigh and fixed her with a more bashful smile than before.
"Excellent. Shall I lead you to the carriage now, milady?" he teased lightly as he offered his arm for her use.
"Oh, but would we not need a chaperone?" she asked in confusion as her eyes slid over to her disagreeing guardians. They sat discreetly to the side, leaving her to be unhindered in her choice but their expressions were not so schooled as to hide their clear emotions. The gleam in Lysandra's eyes was much too bright and for all her work, she might as well have gift-wrapped her to the prince herself. Leonal, on the other hand, could break stone with the hard furrow in his brow, and she could see the internal battle he was wielding.
"I'm much too pregnant and Leonel here has work to do," Lysandra breezily exclaimed and a startled Leonel turned to her.
"I do?" He inquired blithely as his gaze flickered between the prince and Adalynn.
Lysandra responded with a none too subtle hiss of threatening words before Leonel glumly echoed her words to them. Adalynn wasn't sure why he even bothered sometimes, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at their antics. If Lysandra had her way, she'd be off to pick out her wedding gown and they would happily host the event before sundown.
"Well, if that is all, shall we be off?" Prince Reili asked once more and with a heart's beat of hesitation, Adalynn slipped her hand around his arm. She had never been into Dantu City before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Would her past be there, waiting and ravenous? She reminded herself to breathe. She had grown up some, and in doing, left some of the nightmares behind. Tal would not find her, and she would not allow herself to be found.
Instantly she felt the thick and hardened ridges of his muscles beneath the velvety richness of his coat and a soft blush crept across her face as he led her towards the royal carriage.
For heaven's sake woman, get a hold of yourself!
Duly chastised, she shook off her silly thoughts and lifted her chin higher in an attempt to convey confidence when in all reality, she had no clear idea what she was doing. Still, her adoptive guardians and certainly the Crown Prince did not seem to notice and she mentally coached herself for the day. If no one else would doubt her, then she should not have to for herself.
Trailing behind the carriage were a dozen soldiers, all neatly lined in twos on large warhorses. Her heart stuttered at the sight and that wary fear she had worn so well for six years snaked around her skin once more.
Breathe and unbreathe, in and out, and there, in the thickness of her memories, she recalled strength. She was not a princess, but a weary traveler and she would find her way home. Her chest relaxed and the softest of sighs tumbled past her lips.
"Goodness, that is a lot of soldiers," she muttered before her mind could check her words and flushed when he turned to her with a cheeky grin.
"It is for protection after all. Not mine, but yours."
She laughed at that and shook her head. If he knew her secret, he would throw the guards at her rather than have them protect her.
"What, you do not believe me?" he asked, mistaking her amusement for disbelief and she shook her head at the notion.
"Not entirely. After all the stories I have heard of you, are you not enough protection for me?" she asked, surprised by the cheeky nature of her words.
Heavens above, was she actually bantering with him?
He laughed loudly as a footman hopped down and quickly opened the door for both of them.
"No, milady, they're your protection from me," he murmured in her ear as he helped her clamber into the carriage as gracefully as she could.
Her cheeks scorched in a fiery red as she gaped at him before shaking it off and settling back into the farthest corner of the carriage from him. Saying a quick prayer in her heart, she hoped she would have the strength to endure the journey that she hadn't even quite begun.
The prince followed her in and the steady slam of the carriage door reverberated in the air. He too sunk back into the seats and rapped against the ceiling.
Instantly, they jolted forward before smoothly beginning their journey. She waved halfheartedly at Leonel and Lysandra as they stood upon the door step, bidding her off as if she were never to be seen again. Goodness, the least Lysandra could do would be to conceal so much of her eager thrill and the way it beamed for all to see. Adalynn felt a curl of shame at such an opportunistic display but dispelled it before it settled into her bones. She owed the du Gati's much and she liked to think that Lysandra had stepped in exactly where her true mother had left off. Leonal on the other hand never seemed to rid himself of that furrowed brow since last night.
She hadn't been on many carriage rides in her lifetime, so a heady sense of adventure both old and familiar began to filter through her senses and for a moment, she could barely make out that Prince Reili was speaking to her.
"I apologize your highness, were you saying something?" she asked absentmindedly as she pressed up against the window, her eyes hungrily devouring the countryside. It was astonishing to think that in all reality, she owned this section of the world, or rather, the family she had been fostered into. For all her wariness about leaving the immediate confines of the household and its grounds, she was surprised by the regret sifting through her at never having personally known the rolling green hills and watchful trees. The sky, blue as diamonds, shimmered overhead, and she breathed in the sweet scent of approaching summer.
"Reili."
She turned to him then and frowned in confusion.
"My name is Reili. Please feel free to use it," he clarified with mocking smile.
"Have I not been, your highness?" she asked, worry instantly flashing through her and leaving her reeling with the sensation. Despite all her excitement about going someplace anew, she had briefly forgotten that she was still very much under careful watch by none other than the future ruler of this country. The smallest slight, perceived or otherwise, could leave her dashed against the rocks and the du Gati family disgraced.
"No, you have not. You've been calling me 'your highness' and quite frankly, I find it offensive. Prince Reili, Our Most On High would be more suitable." She searched his eyes, but there was nothing to suggest levity.
His face was absolutely serious and her heart nearly crumbled into dust. Oh dear, she had offended him already. Magnificent and eloquent apologies were ready to tumble from her lips when he began to laugh rather boisterously.
It took her a moment to realize that he had been jesting and an irked pout formed upon her lips.
Adalynn crossed her arms as she waited for him to cease guffawing, and she fought off the infantile thought that he was rather handsome when he laughed.
"It isn't nice to tease people like that. Your word can easily become law," she stated firmly but her mouth was already quirking up at the corners, fighting to break free and smile alongside him.
"I'm well aware, Lady Adalynn, but I could hardly resist. Forgive me for my humor. My sister had always said it was most unbecoming for the future king," he apologized with a wry grin but the light that had illuminated from within him had faded and a hard and hollow glint remained.
Uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation, Adalynn scrambled for any other topic to distract him with.
"What do you do in your spare time, Your Highness?" she spurted out, her cheeks staining red as the words flew from her mouth. Goodness, if Lysandra saw her now, she'd faint dead away from her horrendous lack of charm. That, or egg her on further, and at the moment, she wasn't sure which was worse.
Taken aback, he stared at her for a minute before releasing a sweet series of chuckles. He relaxed into the seat and studied her, his icy blue eyes exploring every aspect of her blushing face.
"What do you think I do, Adalynn?" he asked with a crooked smile, and she noticed the way her name seemed to roll off his tongue so slick and easily.
Floundering, she stammered halves of words. What on earth do future kings do? She knew what kings of fiction and old did, according to her history elections, but kings to come were new to her.
"Knighting?" she proposed, her nose scrunched in thought.
He looked at her for a moment, again caught off guard until he barked an uproarious laugh at her. Reili continued laughing so roughly and so freely that Adalynn couldn't help but join in with soft, hesitant chuckles of her own.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Reili grinned sweetly at her.
"Knighting? Oh no, I don't have the imperial power to do so or rather, I choose not to have it. My father does those, and as you may well know, it's quite rarely. It takes a lot to impress my father. No, I do less noble things, such as training and studying to be the next king."
"That must be quite taxing. How often do you train and study?"
"Every day."
The bitter edge that lined those words bewildered her, but as she cast her mind back to the young days when she too had been groomed to lead left her feeling more sympathetic. It was one thing she did not miss, but for a moment of a heartbeat, she would take it all back if offered.
"Then how could you-- I mean to say, today..."
"How do I have the time to take you out and about today?"
She nodded shyly. Please dear gods, let her form some sort of coherent thought, lest he perceived that her brains was pure mush.
"Simple. I steal it."
Oh, that smug grin of his. Reili was charming and sweet, much like the characters in her beloved fairy tale book were, but she wasn't stupid enough to blur the lines. They were figments of pure imagination; embodiment of hope and purity whereas her prince had something quite dark latched firmly hold onto him. She had spied it before, and more so in more recent years as the war had taken its toll on the members of the household. "Sweet Adalynn," Lysandra would coo, "never lose your radiance for you light up where the sun dare not shine." It was a rather odd compliment for her to pay, but she had known that there was indeed something within her that seemed to calm others. Leonal himself would seek her out on particularly bleak days, never saying what bothered him, but allowing her to read and sing by means of soothing him. It was a task she happily undertook for the family, but to offer such a lifeline to the prince was unheard of and frankly rather frightening for what if she could to light enough of him?
"So, milady, where shall we begin our journey today?"
She took a deep breath and readied herself; for what exactly remained to be seen.
___________
He was quite persistent.
As their carriage rolled steadily on, he managed to elicit answers from her, more than she wanted to surrender but she garnered more than her fair share of knowledge from him as well. She learned much more than she felt he meant to give up as well and in the process lost pieces of her heart along the way. The journey was only an hour long, but somehow, she felt that Reili had specifically requested for the carriage to amble along as slowly as possible. The landscape nearly appeared to be at a standstill from the rate they traversed along. Still, she could not admonish him for such.
With each chuckle, each smile, and each wild and crazy story of his, she found herself acting much more freely than she ever had in years. Her hopes and fears, and dreams and grievances, she managed to lay so much of it bare against him for inspection, for him to value and take the pieces accordingly. Even stalwart Leonal, her protector and father, could not know so much and at times she worried that this was not at all the way for her to proceed.
It was too odd, too raw, and at times she pulled back to shore, afraid of what lay in store for her but Reili, ever the constant tide, drew her back out.
For a moment, there, in the safety of the carriage, she was not a long lost princess and he was not a jaded prince. She was simply Adalynn and he was only Reili, and perhaps because of that, she hadn't noticed the way their souls already seemed to intertwine so slow and intimately.
"So you mean to tell me that your sister was truly the one behind much of the mishap at the castle?" she asked skeptically, though the goading smile upon her face softened the blow.
"I swear! I swear to the gods that she is a menace and that all of her dirty tricks were pinned -quite unfairly, might I add - on me!" he cried out, his decorum long gone. It had disappeared right around the time he had relayed the story of how he had tripped as a young lad against a noblewoman and landed with his hands in places only her husband ought to have them. Or perhaps it had faded when he had insisted she tell him of her own mishaps so that he may commiserate on their misfortunes. Truth be told, she had lost track long ago, and could only focus on the words tumbling from her lips without hesitation.
"Ah yes, poor you," Adalynn cooed in jest, and she reached out to pat his knee with a simpering smile.
Over the course of their journey, they had ended up sliding across the seats until they sat across from each other, huddled together in conspiracy and wild tales.
Their apprehension had faded and in its place settled a sweet and gentle familiarity that acknowledged their fears.
The darkness inside him was still there, she knew, but in her presence, it had been held at bay until it seemed all but vanquished with each smile he beamed and all the while, those incredibly blue eyes from her past twinkled back at her.
Reili opened his mouth to launch into another story when the carriage rattled to a firm halt.
"Ah, I believe we are at the gates," he mused with a frown as he peered out the window.
The unease that had been checked during their time together came swinging in full force as she too peeked out from the side of the curtain.
"Truth be told, I have been avoiding disclosing the reason we're here. I... Ah.. I may have let slip to my younger sibling, Eliys, about our meeting in the gardens and she took it upon herself to share it with the rest of the family. Next thing I know, I'm being pushed out the door with the strictest order to bring you back in time for lunch," he apologetically explained, and a trill of breathlessness hummed within her. He truly did seem sorry for the subterfuge, and she wondered what on earth had she gotten herself into now.
A ringing trumpet called for their arrival and suddenly, a low grumble of two massive wooden gates being pushed inwards echoed about them. The wheels which had clacked incessantly over the cobblestone road smoothed out over brick and the thickened rough scent of the bustling city wafted into their carriage.
"Are we not touring the city?" She inquired in delicate confusion, wondrous at the thought that the Royal Family would be so interested in meeting her. She had barely come out into society and the nuances and subtleties of court life eluded her. Gods forbid she make a mistake.
"Of course we are, but my younger sister is one of my confidantes you see, and she had asked how your party had gone and if anything interesting had occurred, and for some unfathomable reason I felt it necessary to talk about our meeting, and well... The little wench is her mother's daughter after all. I don't suppose you're hungry?" He asked timidly, fumbling about as he tried to gain control of the situation that she had created, simply by existing apparently.
"I... Well.. I suppose I am a bit peckish," she replied sweetly, touched by his stumbling about at his honesty. In some small sense of victory, it was nice to know that he had stayed up thinking about her as well.
They pushed through and she watched with hesitant eyes as people leapt to the side and bowed their head in reverence.
With each breath closer to the castle, her anxiety levels rose astonishingly until a warm hand around her arm jolted her from her fear.
"Adalynn, remain calm. I am here," Reili murmured as she willed herself to steady her rocky breaths.
She merely nodded, choking down her fear, and raised her head in false confidence. There was no hiding from it. She had willingly placed herself in this situation and by the gods, she would remain unscathed.
Their party strolled through the clean streets and cleaner people, until they halted right before the magnificent and grand oak doors that guarded Reili's home.
A coachmen leapt down and opened the door, bowing low as Reili pounced from his seat and into the courtyard.
Turning, his broad and calloused hand reached up for her.
"Are you ready, milady?"
"Here we go," she muttered and took a deep breath as she gently accepted his hand. The tremors had faded, and only her small hand in his steady one remained.