With that he let go of her and disappeared into the sea of people. She was uncomfortable to be alone, but now the sea of dances became a storm threatening to destroy her if she stayed. Dodging the dancers she made her way back to the table her and Zeven had been sitting at previously.
It took effort to keep her hands from shaking, and she felt physically ill. All the good feelings from earlier that night seemed to have vanished. Leaving her alone with her fear.
From behind her two arms wrapped around her in a tight hug. She jumped, trying to escape from the touch. Stressed and frightened she strained against the hold.
"It's me," the grabbing hands disappeared as Zeven came around to the front where she could see him, "It's just me."
Very slowly he knelt down and placed a hand on her leg. When she looked down she realized that it was shaking. But he was kind enough not to mention it.
"Where did you go?"
"Nowhere important."
"As a future queen of this country I think I have a right to know."
"Fine, I'll show you," he stood up, holding out a hand to her, "but you can't say anything."
Zeven led Chris out of the ballroom, any protest from the castle servants died on their tongues with one look from Zeven. Chris watched him as he walked tall and proud, looking every bit of the royalty he was. If he noticed her gaze, he didn't say anything. Taking them silently to a separate part of the castle.
In between watching him and where they were going, Chris's mind still found time to wander. Wondering about Zeven's childhood, and what makes a child grow up to be like Zeven. She had heard bits and pieces of it, small details from everyone including Zeven. But the picture was still hazy.
Had he once ran up and down these halls or did he spend most of his time in his room. Where had he slept, what had he seen, who was there with him. She wanted to ask him, but at the same time she did not want to be asked about her childhood. It would only be fair if he answered her question for her to answer his, and there were parts of her life she was not yet ready to share.
The time for thinking ended abruptly as he stopped a few feet shy of a door. He let go of her hand and turned to face her. She could hear faint murmuring from inside the room, but the sounds held no clarity.
"I won't let you leave. If you don't win the bet, I won't let you go." his hand tightened around hers.
"That was the deal, why would I renegotiate? I still have a day or two…" her words trailed off as she realized that although she had been working on finding a solution for so long now, it had been ages since she had thought about the deadline. She tried to count the days in her mind to see how long she had left. Her eyes widened as she found out the days had flown by faster than she thought. Tonight was the last night. This thought horrified her, and at the same time it didn't. It was almost welcome.
"Now is probably as good a time as any to say this," he paused. Taking both of her hands in his. Holding them together as if he was praying. "I don't want to take away your freedom. I don't want to restrict you in any way. I won't ask you to change for me or to pretend to be anyone or anything else. I don't want you to lose anything. You'll still be able to do what you like, where you like, whenever you like. I just want to be there when you do it-"
A loud slamming sound came from the room, pulling her attention away.
"...Our forces are larger, and without a strong leader they will fall..." someone shouted, an argument heating up.
She was beyond angry, her stare cold and furious."Have you been sneaking off to a secret war meeting?"
"It's not a war meeting."
"Then what exactly is it? Because that sure doesn't sound like a peace meeting."
"You know my plan for peace. I swear Chris, it is not my intention to go to war with your country. Please believe me."
"The stupid thing is that I do. But I sure don't believe that is what they want."
"As king I will have final authority, I will make sure it doesn't come to that. Now, can we please go back to the party? Our presence may be noticed."
"No. I am going to stay here and listen to this meeting play out. So go on in there and get to talking."
"If I take you in there with me, I want you to promise to stay behind me and draw absolutely no attention to yourself. Am I understood?"
"This is not my first war meeting. I am aware of how they work."
"That wasn't an answer."
"That was my answer."
Her face was set with a smirk, with or without his blessing she was going to do exactly as she wanted. And Zeven knew it was better and easier to just accept that fact.
Taking a deep breath, he held his arm out for her to grab onto. When she took it he began walking towards the door. still unconvinced if this was a good idea or not, but he was leaning towards the latter.