by Ella Brooke
“I think every man wants to hear that,” Emrys joked.
“Which is to say, this part has always been the one thing you and I always got right.”
Emrys moved his arms around her and cupped her ass. “We could get more than that right, I’m sure.”
Caitlyn wasn’t sure about that part, but she kissed him again anyway. She could be greedy about this. She would take every bit of him she could get, while it lasted.
Chapter Seven
Emrys paced impatiently in Caitlyn’s anteroom. Inside, at least five servants were hard at work preparing her for the Autumn Ball. While Emrys could hardly imagine that Caitlyn was pleased with how many women were hovering around her to perfect the dress that they had been working furiously to complete in time, he also knew how critical it was that his mother and father approved of her tonight.
His mother had been terribly pleased over the last few days. So much so that she had ignored rumors around the palace that tended to spread every time Emrys and Caitlyn disappeared alone together. Everyone knew, of course, what they would be up to, but it wasn’t polite to say. And maybe that was why he’d never corrected his mother. And never told Caitlyn about the misunderstanding. He liked the freedom they had, and he could tell she did too.
It wasn’t even really proper to refer to her as his fiancée until she’d been formally presented to King Eldon as such. The rigid social rules worked in Emrys’s favor in this case. It meant that no one would directly mention it to Caitlyn, and his mother wouldn’t directly question his choice. Not until his father had a say.
It also, unfortunately, meant that the female servants would be stricter about keeping Emrys out of Caitlyn’s room, which irritated him no end. He was already dressed but had to wait on them to finish dressing, painting, and coiffing Caitlyn.
Heloise popped out and held her index finger up at him, telling him to go wait in the study by the Grand Hall. With much irritation and anticipation, he did.
***
Caitlyn gave a squeak as one of many women bustling around her tugged the sides of her corset into place. Another girl zipped it up, and a third came around, sticking her fingers underneath the top next to her breasts.
“Oh!”
“We’re very nearly done, dear,” Heloise promised. “We just need to check the fit there. Don’t want the top slipping down in front of the entire royal court!”
“God, no. Fondle away,” Caitlyn encouraged. Not that she had to. All these women really required of her was to be still and allow them to push and pull her into her dress as they madly rushed to add the finishing touches.
The gown was absolutely gorgeous. It probably cost more than her entire apartment building. The top included a corset that held her breasts aloft, making them appear twice their size and emphasizing the tightness of her waist. Over this, however, shimmering lilac fabric draped around her curves and covered the very tops of her shoulders. The sleek fit ended at her hips, where the fabric billowed out all around her, fading to white as it went down. It looked like she was hovering wherever she went.
It seemed strange that they would go to all this trouble for a friend of the prince. Caitlyn had little time to focus on the strangeness of it all, though. With these women around her, expertly painting her cheeks, pinning her hair in curls about her head, and placing the stunning diamond necklace on loan from Emrys’s mother around her neck, it was hard to think about anything at all other than what it would be like to step out like this at a fancy ball, where everyone else knew what they were doing and was used to dressing so exquisitely.
Her nerves seemed to be getting the best of her. She’d barely been able to eat all day, even though Heloise had tried several times to push meals on her. She would be meeting King Eldon tonight. He would definitely be there, even though he’d been absent from the palace during her visit so far. What would he be like?
She’d asked Heloise about the king before, but the older woman hadn’t given her much that she could use. Heloise said that Emrys favored his father in looks, mostly, that King Eldon had a sweet tooth, and that Adora was his clear favorite, even if he did trust Imelda the most with matters of state. No one had said much about his feelings about Elsa or Emrys, the former of whom Caitlyn had only met the night before and who was the closest in age to Emrys. She also looked the most like him, having cut her hair even shorter than her brother’s and wearing slacks rather than a skirt. It would be interesting to see Elsa at the ball, since she’d spent the entire meeting with Caitlyn and her mother rolling her eyes and sucking in her cheeks every time Eliana brought up the preparations for it.
“Come.” Heloise took Caitlyn’s hand. “Let’s see if you can walk.”
Caitlyn felt slightly off balance with every step, but after a few turns around the room, Heloise seemed confident that she wouldn’t faceplant into anyone important. Caitlyn wasn’t so sure, but this didn’t seem to matter. Within moments, the women had turned her around for one last check over and spritzed her with something that smelled a bit like strawberry, a bit like violets.
And she was out the door. Heloise instructed her to fold her hands in front of her and walk slowly.
***
“Come, Emrys,” his mother called. “We’re beginning to line up for the procession.”
“Caitlyn isn’t here yet,” Emrys objected.
“Oh, I’m sure Imelda is still rounding up her children.” Eliana waved her hand. “There will be time yet for our stragglers.”
“They were still working on the gown when I left.”
Eliana gave him a stern look. “What were you doing in there anyway? You’re just going to make things difficult.”
“That’s hardly my intention. I merely wanted to be there in case she needed anything. Caitlyn has never been to a function quite this big before.”
“Ensure her fingers stay where they are meant to be, and yours as well, and we should all be fine,” Eliana instructed.
“Mother!”
“Do you think there is a single thing that occurs under this roof that escapes my attention? You must grow up, Emrys, and give her the due respect that you have offered.”
She meant, of course, the respect implied by their engagement. Emrys ran a hand over his mouth. There would be no fixing this easily while they were all handling his father. He would have to postpone that until the old man was too embroiled in politics to notice him much.
“Ah, here she is!” Eliana spotted Caitlyn entering the room, very slowly, with Heloise by her side. She remained in place, waiting for them both to reach an acceptable distance for speaking. “You are a vision, Caitlyn. Simply a vision.”
Caitlyn lifted the bulk of her skirt and smiled. “I feel like I’m about to go to a debutante ball.”
Eliana chuckled. “Just keep your chin up and smile, my dear. Your first formal presentation to the public is always the most difficult.” Eliana gave them a nod and went to speak to a guard who had just walked in.
“My first? How many balls do you plan on having while I’m here?” Caitlyn asked.
“Just the one, fortunately, unless you stay for Christmas.”
“I-I…Christmas?”
Emrys took her arm from Heloise and began to walk with her. “It is very beautiful here at Christmas time.”
“I’m sure it is, but I’ll have to get back sometime.”
“Sometime, I’m sure. But you’ve brought your work with you, haven’t you?”
“Well, yes—”
“So it should be no trouble to have an extended stay.” Emrys leaned in. “We can send you home whenever you like, of course. You only need to ask.”
They approached the large double doors that led out into the courtyard. Four festooned carriages stood in a row, waiting for the royal family to arrive. They were enclosed but had large windows so the passengers could be seen easily. Horses stamped and jingled their harnesses, eager to be moving.
“I knew it!” Caitlyn said suddenly.
“Pardo
n?” Emrys pressed his lips together in amusement.
“I knew there’d be carriages sooner or later.”
Emrys smiled, watching the excitement in her eyes. He’d never had someone on his arm for events like these. The king and queen were always in the lead carriage, of course. Then Imelda and her family in the second carriage, and the youngest siblings together at the end. Now, Elsa and Adora would be on their own, and an extra carriage had been prepared for Emrys and Caitlyn. It was like some kind of rite of passage for him, and he liked the feeling of finally having graduated from the children’s section.
Caitlyn watched people coming and going in the courtyard as servants uninvolved with the procession streamed in and out of the palace on business related to the ball. Adora and Elsa were reclining against their carriage until their mother came over snapping her fingers to get them both to stand up properly. The servants had solved Elsa’s short hair problem by clipping to the back of her actual hair a matching braid, which she took off at one point and fanned herself with while her mother wasn’t looking.
Then the king appeared.
Eldon Sébire walked at a fast clip, with two men scribbling notes furiously on either side of him. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with the same distinct jaw and striking eyes as his son, though his temples were streaked with gray, and his nose was bigger. It made him look hawkish and severe. It seemed that Emrys had gotten his mother’s nose, while Elsa and Imelda had gotten their father’s.
“Do not disappoint me,” Elden barked at the man next to him. “We will meet on this tomorrow, and I expect to be prepared.”
Well. He was The King. If anyone had to be on top of his game at all times, it was him. Caitlyn tried to give the man the benefit of the doubt, but the image of Emrys coming home to find himself engaged loomed in her mind. She imagined the same thing would happen to little Adora someday, even if she was his favorite. Had Imelda been given any choice in husband? Had the king told her how many children to have as well? Was four the standard obligation, or would the younger children get to choose how many to bear for the expansion of the family line?
The king strode to his carriage. He offered Eliana a hand so that she could enter first, and then climbed in himself. One of his assistants made a shooing motion toward the rest of them, and Emrys took Caitlyn’s hand to help her into the carriage.
“This is something else. Do you do this every year?” Caitlyn settled herself onto the cushioned seat, trying to keep the fluffy skirt of her gown from clumping around her.
“I’m not home every year, but when I am, yes.” Emrys leaned back as the carriage started to move slowly.
“What do I do? Do I just wave at the people? Do they want some rando waving at them? This is about fawning over the royals, after all. Not the prince’s date.”
Emrys looked at her with a strange expression. It was fond and kind and…a little conflicted. She rarely saw conflict in him. He was so decisive, usually. She put her hand on his leg and patted his knee.
“I’ll wave if you want me to,” she conceded.
“I think you should. It’s only polite.” Emrys took her hand.
It took some time for their carriage to make its way out into the streets of the city. Everything must have been shut down for the day. When Caitlyn peered out the window, she could see that there were people walking in front of them, and the parade itself was quite long, but the royal family was the highlight. They were what people were waiting to see, even if they occasionally got a glimpse of the royal family going about their business surrounded by guards.
Caitlyn wondered what the people would be doing that night while the royals were at the ball. Would they have their own dance that evening? A raucous street party?
Emrys squeezed her hand just as they began to approach a crowd of people on the street, sitting and waiting. Children waved little flags in exactly the same way kids did at Fourth of July parades in the States. One family held a full-sized flag, and they stood with it, two of the children jumping up and down. Caitlyn laughed and waved and blew the children a kiss.
“You’re a natural,” Emrys said.
“At least I don’t have to walk the whole parade. That would be exhausting.”
Just then, a band struck up with the anthem with a large, brassy sound. They were too far away to hear it clearly, but Emrys had mentioned that the anthem would play at some point, and he had played her a bit of it on the piano. Around them, the voices of the people grew along with their numbers. Caitlyn wished she had some candy to throw to the children. Would that be undignified? Probably.
The horses didn’t walk fast, and the procession’s route wound through much of the city. Caitlyn arched her back, starting to feel stiff. It was less fun now that they were half an hour into it. Emrys gave her an apologetic smile and then turned to wave to a new crowd. Caitlyn stifled a yawn.
Wickedly, she looked over to Emrys. He was devastatingly handsome in his outfit for the ball. Underneath his black suit jacket was a snug, double-breasted waistcoat that emphasized his well-cut abs and developed pectoral muscles. Just below the line of sight of the carriage’s windows, Caitlyn moved her hand down his abdomen, slowly.
“Stop,” he instructed her.
“I’m sorry. Was that not appropriate?” Caitlyn teased. She kept her gaze out on the crowd and a smile on her face.
“No. It isn’t appropriate.”
“Then this definitely won’t be.”
With a deft motion, she unbuckled his pants and slipped her hand inside.
“Cait!”
“Keep smiling, your highness!” She said brightly.
“A smile is not going to be a problem.”
Chapter Eight
When the procession finally returned to the palace, over two hundred people were already in the expansive ballroom dancing to a lively waltz played by the string orchestra. Emrys kept Caitlyn on his arm and watched her eyes shining as she took in the towering walls lined with gold filigree molding, the chandeliers that sparkled over the dancers, and the dancers themselves gliding in their gowns and tuxedos around and around the room. Her expression reminded him of the time he’d taken her to Giverny to see Monet’s gardens. She’d never been terribly overwhelmed by art. Her reaction to the museums had been gently appreciative. But when they’d stood in front of those gardens, she’d lit up, bouncing on her toes, and grabbed his hand excitedly.
She was doing the same now, even though it was impossible for her to bounce properly in her heels, and she seemed to be trying to restrain herself in the presence of his mother. Eliana was looking at them, in fact, and giving Emrys a knowing look. They would be having a formal conversation quite soon.
The waltz ended abruptly, and the king led the way through the ballroom. The dancers parted for the royal family to pass, with many bowing or, in the case of military officers, saluting. Emrys gave nods and waves to the people as they made their way across the tremendous length of the room. At the other end, a pair of thrones waited, as well as several other chairs on either side. Imelda and her family would sit on the king’s right and the rest of them on the left. They each stood in front of their chairs and waited for the king to speak. The lighting in the room adjusted, highlighting the head of state.
“Good people of Cabeau, it is good to be home,” he began in a booming voice. “Our country, our home, has done well in this year past.”
The king spoke for several minutes, detailing gains in certain economic sectors, work that he and the parliament had been doing to improve infrastructure, and the pride the country should feel at their hard work this year. He made a similar speech every year during the Autumn Festival. The speech was prepared rather than extemporaneous, and an unobtrusively placed microphone and camera recorded him as he spoke, which allowed those not invited to the ball itself the chance to hear the king’s words. Most would be watching the broadcast that very evening, but some would be out enjoying the festival.
At the end of the king’s speech, he
spread his hands and encouraged everyone to enjoy themselves. He then took Eliana’s hand and walked out into the middle of the ballroom. The music began to play again, and the people watched for several minutes as they danced alone. Imelda joined with her husband, and finally, the rest of the guests began to dance as well.
“We could dance,” Emrys suggested.
“Oh, God. I don’t have to know how to do that, do I?” Caitlyn looked horrified.
“It’s not that terribly difficult. I will lead, and you just follow my movements.”
“I’ll trip all over you!”
“I won’t let you fall,” Emrys promised. Caitlyn still seemed hesitant, so he took her hand and helped her into her seat. “Maybe later. How about a drink?”
Emrys spoke to one of the servants nearby about drinks and then returned to Caitlyn’s side. He spoke to her in low tones, telling her bits and pieces about the people they were seeing as she sipped her champagne and watched with large eyes.
At long last, the king and queen returned to their seats, hand in hand, and Emrys prepared himself. His mother looked to him, and so he rose, smoothed the front of his suit jacket and waistcoat, and offered Caitlyn his hand.
“I-I don’t know if I want to dance yet.”
“We won’t. But I do need to introduce you formally to the king and queen.”
Caitlyn nodded and took his hand. “I’ve met your mother, though.”
“Nothing really counts until the king knows about it and approves.”
Now was the dangerous moment. He approached the two thrones slowly, and then gave a half-waisted bow. Caitlyn awkwardly did the same. Emrys suppressed a wince, since she ought to have curtsied. King Eldon raised a brow in near amusement at the gesture, while Eliana clicked her tongue. His mother was likely annoyed that she hadn’t had enough time to prepare Caitlyn for proper greetings. Emrys could imagine Elsa smirking to their side; she always bowed rather than curtsied out of sheer contrariness.
“Come forward, my son. Let me get a look at you.” King Eldon beckoned them with one gloved hand.