Prompt: "I have to tell you something. I'm not who you think I am." - Lieutenant Duckling
Falsities
"I have to tell you something. I'm not who you think I am."
Emma blinks in confusion. Killian is looking at her with wide, earnest eyes, his bicorne hat held in front of his chest, his grip on it tight enough to turn his knuckles white, and those words were the last things she had expected to hear from him.
Considering that he'd shown up outside her bedroom far later than was proper, she had expected something slightly more illicit and exciting.
"Then who are you?" She asks, folding her arms across her chest and unable to muster even a small smile when his gaze, only for a moment, drops to the swell of her breasts.
Until now, their courtship has been very formal - he would have had it no other way - and she enjoys how flustered her night clothes appear to be making him.
Or maybe he's just nervous about whatever truth he's apparently been keeping from her.
"I'm not the captain of the Jewel of the Realm." He admits, twisting his hat in his grip and clearly unsure where to look. He can't meet her eyes, but he also refuses to look anywhere that might be considered inappropriate, and he eventually ends up fixing the room behind her with a look of utter contrition.
"You're not?"
He bites his lip and lets go of his hat with one hand so he can scratch awkwardly behind his ear. "No." He confirms, and Emma gapes at him. Then he swallows, and seems to realise that there is far more to be explained, stumbling over words as he continues to speak. "My brother is. I mean, I still work aboard the vessel but I'm nowhere near the position I led you to believe I was."
"What are you then?"
"A Lieutenant."
Perhaps she should be more concerned, but she knows that what she feels for Killian is nothing to do with his station, and what bothers her more is that he seems to think it matters. "Why did you say otherwise?"
"I wanted you to believe I was worthy of your hand, that my stature was high enough to be considered as someone you could deign to marry." He admits, and she shakes her head in exasperation. "Marrying you has long been my dream, ever since I met you. But now that you have agreed to be with me, I felt you should be aware of all the falsities I told you. Even if it means that our marriage can never be."
She takes a deep breath and then reaches out to take his hat from him, throwing it over her shoulder and into her bedroom, smiling mischievously when he squeaks in surprise. "Did you lie about anything else?" He shakes his head and she beams at him, reaching forward to rest her hand against his heart, her smile widening when she feels his heart beating furiously. "Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"
He exhales in surprise, his eyes even wider and he grabs at her hand, both of his cradling her hand to his chest, his thumb brushing across the thin golden ring he had given her only hours before. "My heart beats for you, Princess." He breathes, painfully sincere, and, as always happens when he speaks so honestly, her eyelashes flutter and her breath hitches and she remembers just how much she loves him. "Don't ever doubt that."
"And mine for you." She replies, leaning close to brush her lips to his and disregarding the way his breath quickens and his eyes fall closed. He always reacts the same way when she's daring enough to kiss him. "Don't worry. I think I'll marry you anyway."
He laughs breathily, brilliantly, and then she curls her fingers around the stiff collar of his uniform and tugs him close, into her bedroom. He's already made it past her guards, wanting her to know the truth, and she feels they should take advantage of their solitude.
And when she kisses him again, his fingers knotting clumsily in the silk of her nightgown, Emma's pretty sure that whatever worries he had are all forgotten.
