Page 42 of Will You (Not) Marry Me

“Do you have your notes?”

Finn was startled out of his melancholy daydream to find his mother standing close by, an expectant look on her face.

“Sorry, Mother. What was that?”

She pinched her lips together ever so slightly. “Do you have your notes for what you’re going to say?”

“I don’t need notes.”

“It’s always useful to have them no matter how well-rehearsed one is.”

Finn was aware that his arms were folded tightly across his chest, as if in protection, instead of his hands resting loosely in his pockets, which would have presented a much better image. But he couldn’t find it within himself to unlock the crisscross of his elbows. Not until the cameras were turned on, at least.

“We went over what I would be saying last night, and it’s a five-minute announcement, nothing terribly difficult. Just think of the number of tedious conversations I’ve had to bluff my way through without any sort of script at all. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Finn was suddenly painfully aware of how quiet the camera crew had become on the other side of the room. He should have just asked them about their equipment. That would have been less awkward. His mother’s face was very carefully composed, not used to Finn even remotely back talking or resisting her suggestions.

“It is live television,” she countered. “You never know what could happen.”

Finn tried to soften his demeanor with a smile. “It’s hardly like masked men are going to come swinging through the windows interrupting me, are they? I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

His mother pinched her lips into a smile once more but left it at that, drifting back to the king, who was seated in a chair so that his tremors wouldn’t be as noticeable to a stranger’s eyes, and so he didn’t have to depend on his cane so fiercely. The king’s gaze flickered away from his son to his wife as they started up a quiet conversation between themselves.

Guilt stabbed at Finn for displeasing his parents, no matter how minutely. Then anger quickly took its place. It was impossible to be perfect one hundred percent of the time. And maybe that was a rod he’d made for his own back over the years by keeping himself to those standards. But surely he was allowed to be only eighty percent perfect some of the time. Surely he was allowed that? He could be perfect when it counted. But right now, he just didn’t have the energy. Not today.

As the camera crew’s chatter came back to life, Finn resumed his pacing by the wall. This kept him occupied, at least. Moving his steps in circles seemed to somehow stop his thoughts from circling too badly.

There was a vibration in his jacket pocket, and it took all of Finn’s self-control to not jump six feet into the air. Instead, he stopped by the door and took the phone from his pocket to see who was messaging him.

Eva.

Eva’s name was on the screen. Finn’s heart felt like it had dropped through the floor, right through to the ground floor, never to be seen again. Maybe he was overtired and hallucinating. Or he’d gotten so wrapped up in his own misery that this was some advanced sort of wishful thinking.

I’m in the courtyard behind your palace, the one with the hole in the fence. Not a stalker, I promise. Not crazy, I promise. But please can you come out? I need to tell you something important.

Finn felt himself grinning like an idiot. Yes, that certainly sounded like his Eva. Then he flinched away from the thought. No, nothisEva. Not his anything. She wanted to be free, and he would be damned if he trapped her here for the sake of his own happiness.

Disregarding how she even knew about the hole in the courtyard fence in the first place—that wasn’t important right now—Finn pocketed his phone and opened the door.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” he announced to the room. His mother’s eyebrows rose so high they nearly hit her hairline, and his father squinted at him suspiciously.

“Um, Your Highness,” stammered one of the camera crew. “We’ll be going live in just a few minutes.”

“I’ll be back in a moment,” Finn said again, with as much authority as he could muster. It seemed to do the job, with no one else making a sound as he left, the door clicking shut behind him.

It took every atom of will in Finn’s body to not start running, but his steps were as quick as he dared as he weaved in and out of corridors to the other side of the palace where Eva was waiting in the small corner courtyard. Hopefully. Hopefully this wasn’t all some bizarre sort of dream. He might not make it back in time for the live address to the public, but right now he didn’t care. All he could think about was putting one foot in front of the other.

Finn turned a corner and skidded to a halt, as did the three people he came face-to-face with. Tobias was one, looking less than pleased. To his right was a small woman wearing an Eschenberg flag as a cape for some reason, and there on Tobias’s left was Eva. She looked tired and drawn, her face paler than he remembered. But it was her: jeans, boots and all.

All four of them stood in awkward, shocked silence for a moment, Finn entirely unable to tear his gaze away from Eva or think of a single word to say. Tobias, ever the practical one, cleared his throat.

“Well, that was decent timing for once, Finn,” he said and took the woman in the cape by the elbow, dragging her back in the direction they’d come from. “We’ll leave you two to it, then.”

As Tobias tugged his charge with him, she offered an awkward curtsey that was entirely wrong in multiple ways before they both disappeared around the corner. Then Finn was alone with Eva, still staring, not quite able to believe it.

If his heart had fallen through the floor before, now it had soared back into his chest with the force of a cannonball, ready to burst through his ribs. Eva stood there, seemingly as lost for words as he was, clearing her throat.

“I just—” she began, her voice quiet in the looming hallway. But her speaking and breaking the silence, hearing her voice, unlocked Finn from his frozen state. In a few steps he was there, right in front of her, flinging his arms around her waist and pulling her to him, holding her tight and never wanting to let go again. After a moment’s hesitation, her hands were on his back, her face nuzzling into his chest.

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