There are scenes in novels you read and think: 'Ah, how romantic. I wish that would happen to me.' The protagonist crosses the room, grabs the girl by the waist, pulls her to his chest, and tells the world she's his.
You read that and sigh.
No one tells you that when you actually do it, you feel your heartbeat in your eardrums, and your hands sweat so much you have to keep wiping them on your lap so she won't notice.
I arrived at the hall, crestfallen. I could still taste the betrayal on my palate, accompanied by the cold sensation on my back left by that wall I had leaned against minutes ago.
But what I saw upon crossing the doorway made me forget everything.
They had formed a circle around my Lianza.
Nobles, each with their best smile and most rehearsed posture. Counts, viscounts, heirs to minor houses, but of course, much more important than the Elcronne. All of them orbiting around her in hopes that Lianza, the girl who in the future would be called the Garnet Ice Queen, would grant them a single glance.
Flies. They were flies buzzing over fresh meat.
And in the center of that swarm, Lord Caspian of House Vereth. He held a bouquet of white roses so large it could hide a dead dog inside. He spoke with the confidence of someone who believes flowers are the ultimate courtship.
Lianza listened to him with a half-furrowed brow and a wrinkled nose, like someone smelling something unpleasant but who has too much poise to make the bothersome gesture of covering their nose; not in front of so many nobles.
"The Caspian, how... thoughtful," she said. Her voice was flat.
"Only the best for the most colorful flower in all of Mayorka," he replied.
And I wanted to tear my ears off. He had just called the woman I called precious 'the most colorful flower in all of Mayorka'. And the worst part is that I had said something similar twenty minutes ago, while courting Alexia...
It's because of things like this that I think karma exists.
Caspian was closing the distance. His free hand was heading towards Lianza's, and she, trapped by the stupid rules of etiquette, couldn't step back without causing a scene.
Something moved inside me.
I walked.
I crossed the semicircle of flies with both arms as if they were a huge puff of smoke.
A count tried to say something to me.
I didn't hear him.
A viscount stood in my way.
I dodged him.
I reached Lianza in three strides. My left hand found her waist. My right hand took Caspian's roses and shoved them back against his chest.
And I pulled Lianza close against me.
Her body tensed. Then relaxed. For a moment. Just long enough to feel it.
"Caspian," I said, looking at him over Lianza's head. "Nice flowers. Did you grow them yourself or ask your gardener for them?"
Silence fell over the group like a ton of bricks.
Caspian opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked at Lianza. Looked at my hand on her waist. And looked back at me.
"Elcronne," he pronounced my surname as if it were a disease.
"The very same."
Lianza didn't move. Her breath against my chest was coming fast. Too fast for someone everyone thought had a glacier for a heart.
"Dariel," she whispered, so low only I could hear her. "What are you..."
"Quiet. I'm here."
I felt her fingers dig into my back to hold on.
Caspian left with his roses. The rest of the flies followed him. The semicircle dissolved into murmurs and curious glances.
When the last noble walked away, I loosened my grip on her waist. But I didn't let go.
"You can let me go now," Lianza said. Her signature icy-breeze voice had returned.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Because you are, or because someone is watching us?"
"The latter."
I smiled against her hair. She smelled of a mix of daisies and hazelnuts, with hints of her addictive floral perfume, a fruity and heavily powdery scent.
[ALPHA MALE! 🦍 You defended your territory in front of a circle of 7 suitors. The female recognizes your dominance!]
[+15 Experience Points → Aura/Charisma]
I closed my eyes. I asked the three gods for patience.
[Lianza D'Tariel: Affection +5. Reason: "Unexpected territorial protection". System Note: Aww. She liked it. Don't tell her. 😏]
"What are you looking at?" Lianza asked, pulling away just enough to straighten up.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"Dangerous, in your case."
"Thank you for all the confidence you place in me."
She adjusted her neckline and dusted off her skirt. She recovered that queenly posture. But what she didn't know was that her cheeks were still pink, and her fingers trembled when she picked up her book from the table.
"Don't do that again," she said.
"Do what?"
"Grab me like that. In front of everyone."
"Gotta shoo the flies away somehow, right?"
"Dariel."
"Lianza."
"I've already told you not to call them flies."
"You're right. It would be a huuuge insult to the flies that work so hard to clean nature of carrion."
She looked at me. Her garnet eyes had that gleam that only appeared when her mask cracked. Fury and a few other things. Things her lips didn't dare pronounce.
"You're unbearable," she concluded.
"I know."
And then the hall changed.
There's something characteristic about Empero that I can't quite identify, but everyone else can.
Remember a few minutes ago, when the princes walked away? Well, it wasn't because of me.
The truth presented itself right in my face.
Empero can be perceived through the five senses. Each has its ways, of course. In this case, the air thickened. Voices died down in waves, like candles being blown out one after another.
Lianza's fingers dug into my forearm.
A kind of aura, sliding like threads of smoke, began to seep through the edges of the main door. It was golden, with a bright hue.
And the main door of the hall opened, releasing the rest of that aura like a shaken bottle of soda being uncapped.
And Ardwyn entered.