A/N: A recent playthrough of PoR and some of RD brought this piece to mind. It's been a while since I touched these characters, but they're still so charming - I had to give them my usual treatment, a series of childhood through adulthood chronological scenes. This story stops right before the events of PoR, so I may write a sequel following game events and post-game. But I thought this was worthy of standing on its own for now.
Rating is for sex/adult themes in one section during Geoffrey's teenage years.
Words: 6075
Characters: Elincia, Geoffrey, Lucia, King and Queen Crimea, Lord and Lady Delbray, Duke Renning, others
Time: Pre-PoR
Genre: Family, Friendship
Though her arms shook, she took the tiny bundle off cloths from the midwife. Queen Crimea relished the weight, knowing she would rarely, if ever, bear it again. Her tired face broke into a shivering smile at the sight of the pink face against the blankets. Her daughter's delicate eyes were closed tight, and her mouth was open wide so she could cry, a strong healthy cry.
"Oh," the queen breathed, stroking her daughter's cheek with trembling fingers. "Oh, my darling princess."
The door to her confinement chamber burst open, and while the midwives and the queen's most trusted ladies-in-waiting fussed at the impropriety, none could stop King Ramon from seeing his wife and his newborn child. "My queen, she is beautiful," he said as his wife glanced up at him with shining eyes. "She is the most beautiful princess that has ever been born."
"Can she not stay with us in the castle?" the queen begged softly. "My lord, I do not deny your brother's right to the throne. But this is our little girl… A princess…"
"She cannot," Ramon replied. "If the people were to learn of her, some would rise to her banner against my brother. She is my blood, but so is he… We are old, my love. The kingdom will be safer in the hands of a grown man, a beloved knight, than in the weak grip of a babe in the cradle. We must do this, for Crimea's sake – and for hers, so she can grow up away from those who would steal her childhood and turn her into a mere figurehead."
The babe wriggled, tiny arms struggling to escape from the tightly wrapped cloths. King Ramon tenderly kissed his wife's pale forehead, and then for a few glorious moments his eyes were all for his new princess. He smiled widely, hopelessly enchanted by her little wails and her eyes, blinking open at last, a warm brown like his own. "Look at her hands," he whispered. "She has such small fingernails! And she has a strong grip, as strong as any boy's. She could… She would keep a kingdom safe. If the circumstances of her birth had been different, she would have made a proud queen."
"Elincia," the queen said. "She will be called Elincia. Perhaps someday, when we are gone, she will be queen."
King Ramon smiled sadly at the hope. One of Elincia's ladies-in-waiting stepped forward and curtsied low before the king. "Your Grace, I must ask to hold the babe – I am to be her wet nurse, and she cries because she is hungry."
"This is Lady Delbray, my lord," the queen explained as she passed Elincia to her. "She has a daughter barely over a year old, and I have chosen her and her husband to provide the home and care of the princess."
"The queen has given us a great honor," Lady Delbray said, settling Elincia cozily into the crook of her arms. She was a tall, slender woman with a round, young face that belied the maturity of her figure. Her eyes, too, were bright and aware, and from them King Ramon understood that this was a woman who would love the children in her care unconditionally, and at the same time brook no nonsense from them. "Your Grace, the princess will be raised with the utmost care. My own daughter and any future children I might bear will be her close companions. We will hire the best tutors to teach her all matters of state, to ride and defend herself, and to be fair and just, and she will be loved always."
"I thank you," the king said, nodding both to acknowledge her and dismiss her. Lady Delbray retreated politely, and soon Elincia's cries quieted.
"When must she go?" the queen asked, and though she tried her very hardest to still it, her bottom lip quivered.
King Ramon knelt by the bed and stroked his wife's hair, gently pushing the sweaty strands away from her forehead. "You may stay with her here until she is christened and you are churched," he said. "By then she will be strong enough to travel to Delbray. We will see her once a year - we may visit when we are on progress in the summer months, but she cannot come to court at Midwinter as other nobles do. But she will know us as her parents, she will know she is a princess, and we will love her."
His hand fell to her cheek, and there the queen reached up and held it, curling her fingers around his. "I know you have decided that this is for the best. And I know she will still be ours, and she will be raised well. But I grieve, my lord. I grieve because it will not be our hands and our hearts that raise her."
"I know, love. I know. But I am a king before I am a father. You must be a queen before you are a mother."
It was true, but truth did not soothe the dull pain that had settled in her chest the moment she handed her baby away.
"Lucia, look here," Lady Delbray cooed at her toddling daughter. "Meet your new friend, your milk-sister. This is Princess Elincia. You must be very gentle with her, for she is still just a babe."
Lucia looked with wide eyes at the new and unusual thing in her mother's arms. She immediately stretched out a bold hand, but after her mother's gentle reprimand, slowed her reach and curled her fingers so she only barely brushed the baby's skin.
"Good," Lady Delbray said with a smile. "You will be such a fine sister, Lucia. And you musn't tell your father, darling, but perhaps you will be sister to another baby before too long!"
Though Lucia couldn't understand the words, she clearly understood the warmth and joy in her mother's voice. Her gurgling laugh lit up her face, and even baby Elincia smiled in response to the happiness around her.
In the nursery, Lady Lucia and Princess Elincia waited with their gray-haired, buxom nursemaid for news of the new Delbray child. Lucia showed the younger child doll after doll, then grew bored and tossed them away in favor a play sword and a play pony, waving them cheerily in front of Elincia until she giggled and grasped at them. Elincia's eyes were wide with admiration for Lucia, and she attempted on her stubby infant legs to imitate everything the older girl did.
The door to the nursery slammed open, startling Elinica into a stumble. Two-year-old Lucia rushed to her aid before the nursemaid even got to her feet. "Shame on you, scaring the princess," the maid scolded the girl who had burst in so loudly.
"A boy," the girl gasped. "Lady Delbray has borne a boy! A healthy baby boy. He's to be called Geoffrey."
"Ashera's blessing!" the nursemaid cried out. "M'lady, did you hear? You've a brother now!"
"I've a sister and a brother now," Lucia said with all the dignity she could muster when she still couldn't quite pronounce her r's. The nursemaid laughed and hauled both her and the princess into her arms.
"Right you are," she said. "Let's go see the new little lord."
He was nothing more than a bundle of swaddling clothes, but the two little girls could see a tuft of blue hair the same color as Lucia's. He was quiet, but wriggly, blinking up at his surroundings.
"We're all gonna be best friends," Lucia stated firmly. Elincia could only nod in happy agreement. "All three of us. Always!"
Only on the sunniest, warmest days did the Delbrays let their children play outside – Ashera forbid that the princess caught cold. Thankfully, many days at Castle Delbray were warm and sunny, and the three children quickly learned every corner of castle's gardens and grounds. Six-year-old Lucia led the way proudly, and Elinica held Geoffrey's hand whenever they needed to run and he could hardly keep up on his four-year-old's legs.
"Look, look here!" Lucia exclaimed. "There's a break in the wall behind these bushes. Follow me!"
Fearlessly Lucia dove into the dirt under a hedge, her muddy feet disappearing behind the thick foliage. Elincia pulled a hesitant Geoffrey forward. "It'll be fun! Come on!"
Branches scraped her back, but Elincia didn't care; she was too excited to discover what Lucia wanted to show her.
"We made it!"
Squeezing through a crack in the wall barely wider than her shoulders, Elincia gasped at the sight before her. Rolling hills dotted with trees larger than she'd ever seen in the garden, a stream glittering in the distance, and more space and sky than she could have ever imagined.
"Wow! Geoffrey, Geoffrey, look!"
Elincia tugged Geoffrey's arms until he made it through the gap too, but he immediately shrunk back against the wall. "I'm scared. We should go home!"
"We are home," said Lucia smartly. "All of this land belongs to Delbray. Since we're gonna rule it someday, we should know every inch of it!" With that, she dashed off, laughing as she raced over the grassy hills. Elincia followed at once, keeping an eye on the cautious Geoffrey behind her. When Lucia had stopped to smell a patch a wildflowers, Elincia quickly knelt down beside the scared little boy.
"Geoff, I'm a little scared too," she whispered. "But that's okay! Lucy'll keep up safe. We're having an adventure! Will you stay with me?"
"Okay," he murmured shyly.
Following Lucia's fearless lead, they wandered into a rushing creekbed. It was lined by large mossy rocks, and the water in the middle looked shallow but fast and cold. Immediately Lucia came up with a game.
"We're going to jump from rock to rock, only on the green parts," she stated. "So no plain rocks, just green ones! And if you miss then you're out!"
"What if we fall in?" Geoffrey asked, and even Elincia was a little concerned, but she wasn't going to let Lucia know that.
"Well, don't," the older girl said cheerfully. "Come on!"
She crouched, wiggled her bottom, and gave a great flying leap onto the first rock, scrabbling for a handhold. Quickly she steadied herself and turned around to wave her siblings on.
"I'll go first," Elinica said, though the gap looked like it was getting wider and wider, and Lucia further and further away. Closing her eyes, Elinica gave herself no time to hesitate and simply jumped for it. A jolt shook her knees and her eyes snapped open in shock when she realized she had made it, catching herself just in time by scraping her hands against the mossy surface. "It's okay, Geoff!" she gasped. "You can do it!"
The little boy on the riverbank couldn't lose face in front of the big girls. Visibly he squared his shoulders, set his mouth, and gave a great running leap - and Elincia gasped because his foot fell short of her rock, and he shrieked as he tumbled into the shallow stream.
"Ouch!" he cried, sitting helplessly in the pebbly river. "It's cold, it's cold – m-my foot - "
"Lucy, help!" Elincia shouted, and before she could think of anything else to do, she slid into the water beside Geoffrey and hauled him to his feet. He shrieked in pain again when she tried to let him stand on his own.
"It hurts…" he mumbled, clinging to her. "My foot hurts really bad…"
Elincia's soaked skirt clung to her skinny, shaking legs. "It'll be okay," she said by instinct. "We'll get you back, and my lord and lady will fix you up all right. They can fix everything!"
With strength she didn't even know she had, Elincia dragged Geoffrey back onto the riverbank, careless of the mud that soon coated most of her body. By this time, Lucia and scrambled back and gasped in horror at the sight of the two of them. Immediately she rushed to help them, wrapping her arms around Geoffrey's middle to pull him up the muddy slope.
Between the two of them, they hauled Geoffrey across the hills and back under the crack in the wall. Elincia's heart raced, but it wasn't until they emerged in Castle Delbray's courtyard to a flurry of distressed maids that she burst into terrified, distressed tears. Lady Delbray was apparently searching for them herself too, because there was dirt on the bottom of her skirts and on her hands when she ran over to her injured son.
"You'll be all right, darling," she soothed him as he clung to her, crying. "Your brave sisters helped you. I don't know why you were outside the castle, but you will be all right, Geoffrey. Come now. Healing first, talking later. Girls – my lord husband will talk to you. He's in the antechamber – I sent a servant to tell him we found you."
Lucia and Elincia trading terrified looks, wondering what sort of trouble they had gotten themselves into. Lucia grabbed the younger girl's hand and they headed toward the antechamber together, Elincia glancing back over her shoulder at Geoffrey in his mother's arms. He attempted a tremulous smile that she tried to return in kind, wishing she could be with him instead, after all she had been through to help him.
Lucia's father waited somberly for them, and Elincia's legs were trembling again when they stepped into the antechamber. But after a heart-stopping moment of silence, the gray-haired man swept the two shivering, muddy girls into his arms and held them tight to his heart, muffling their sudden tears in his chest. "My girls," he said quietly. "We were so worried. Please, do not scare us like that again. We love you more than you can know. Elincia, think of what your mother and father would say, if they knew you had gone missing!"
"I'm sorry, Father," Lucia promised. "It was m-my fault, I'm sorry, I - "
"None of that," he scolded. "Let's get you two cleaned and warmed up, my daughter and my princess."
Dutifully they nodded and followed him, each gripping one of his large warm hands. The initial shock of the whole ordeal wearing off, Elincia couldn't wait to do three things: bathe, sleep, and hug Geoffrey.
"Look! Look!" Geoffrey sprinted up to his sisters, waving a wooden stick in their face. "I got my first sword!"
"It's wooden," Lucia said with imperial disdain.
He held it up proudly nevertheless. "Yeah, but it's mine," he said. "And Father says if I get really good with it, I can get a real one and then get a pony and then a horse and then a lance and then be a knight in service of the King!"
"Wow," Elincia said. "That's amazing, Geoff!"
Lucia just shrugged, but the pink in her cheeks told Elincia that the older girl was jealous. "Father let me hold his real sword already."
"I wanna be a knight," Elincia said in awe.
"You can't be a knight, you're a princess!" Geoffrey exclaimed. "Princesses can't fight!"
"Can't we?" Elincia retorted. She whipped out a hand to cuff him across the head. Lucia laughed at his miffed expression and ruffled hair.
"I'll be a knight too!" said Lucia. "We'll beat you, Geoffrey!"
"I won't be beaten by girls!" he exclaimed. "And besides, Father will never let you fight!"
"What, you scared?" teased Elincia.
"No! I'll show you!"
And with that, the three children raced to Lord Delbray's chambers and all begged for the same thing: that they could all receive training to fight, that they could all practice together, because they had to know who was the best. Soon they were sparring in every free hour. Lucia preferred to practice alone with their swordmaster, but Elincia and Geoffrey preferred practice fights with each other.
With all her strength, Elincia thrust her wooden sword at Geoffrey, who parried it immediately. Frustrated, she swung again, only to open herself up to his quick dodge and jab at her side, tapping her before drawing back again. The boy grinned arrogantly, which made Elincia's cheeks burn. Wildly she threw the most vicious whack toward that conceited grin – and to her utmost surprise, she heard a loud crack as wood connected with bone, and an oof as Geoffrey spat in pain.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Elincia said immediately, dropping her practice sword. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard - "
Geoffrey was staring at something in his hand, a bruise already darkening on his cheek. "My tooth," he said in shock.
"What?"
He held up a small white tooth, then grinned – not arrogantly – but proudly now, a gaping dark hole in the front of his smile. "You knocked out my loose tooth! I lost my first tooth!"
Elincia giggled at the sight of him, waving is tooth excitedly in front of her face. "Well, you're welcome! You'll start getting your grown-up teeth now!"
"Don't think this means you won!" he said, slipping his tooth into his pocket and settling into the ready stance again. "You cheated by hitting my head! Let's go again!"
"I can win without cheating, I was just angry!"
"I don't believe you," he said in a sing-song voice. They whacked at each other again and again, forgetting about everything but their own excitement.
They all passed similar landmarks at similar times as they grew up: first real sword, first pony, first gowns for the girls and doublet and hose for Geoffrey. And of course, there was one other very important first for a young child not yet thirteen: first kiss.
"Have you ever kissed a girl, Geoffrey?" Lucia asked aggressively, smirking at her baby brother. At eleven, he was hardly a baby anymore, but she was still taller.
"N-no!" he said, a blush spreading from his cheeks to his neck and collar. Elincia giggled. "Well, have you ever kissed a boy?" he shot back, his mouth a tight downward pout.
Lucia drew herself up to her full – and considerable – height. "Yes, I have," she said without even a hint of shame.
"Who?!" both Geoffrey and Elincia gasped at once. This was news even to Elincia, and she and Lucia were bedfellows; she thought they had told each other everything!
But I haven't told her that sometimes, I get nervous when Geoffrey is around, or I blush when he smiles at me, she thought. But that's just me being silly, it's not important. Kissing a boy is important, though – why didn't she tell me?!
United in their utter shock at Lucia's proclamation, Geoffrey and Elincia stood side by side and crossed their arms in unison. "You can't leave this room till you tell us who," Geoffrey said firmly.
"Yeah," said Elinica. "I can't believe you didn't tell me this already! Lucia, who?!"
Her cheeks were tinged the slightest bit pink. "I'll tell you on one condition," she said smartly.
"What?"
She clapped her hands together and took on an expression that they both immediately recognized. It was the same one she got whenever she was planning a devious rule-breaking adventure that was sure to get them all in lots of trouble – and also be lots of fun. "I'll tell you if you kiss each other."
Elincia didn't think it was possible for her mouth to fall open any wider, but it did. She felt a burn on her face so fierce she thought the whole room must have suddenly caught fire. She threw quick glance at Geoffrey, who looked as shocked as she felt, but dropped her gaze quickly.
"You're crazy," Geoffrey scoffed at his sister. Beneath her utter embarrassment, Elincia felt a surge of annoyance. What, you don't want to kiss me?
"That's the deal," Lucia said. "Take it or leave it!"
Now Elincia fixed Geoffrey with a fierce stare. She saw him gulp, the red of his face a sharp contrast with his messy azure hair. Wordlessly she raised one eyebrow, but he continued to look terrified. "Oh, come on," she said at last, and despite her heart ramming against her chest so hard she was sure it would burst right out, Elincia grabbed his face and pressed her lips firmly to his, holding him there for a good five seconds before letting him go again.
"So there," Elincia said, turning back to Lucia before she had the chance to look at Geoffrey properly after that. She would probably faint with embarrassment if she did. "Now tell us!"
Lucia looked utterly agog now. "W-well – I didn't think you'd actually kiss him!"
"Wait, you mean you haven't kissed a boy?" Geoffrey said. "You lied?"
"I – I…" Lucia's eyes were wide, and Elincia could almost see the her mind whirling behind them as she raced to come up with a way to save face. Then she blinked, and the mischievous gleam was back. "Sure I have," she said wickedly. "In fact…"
She strode over to Geoffrey and kissed him full on the mouth. "I've kissed a boy…" She turned to Elincia, grabbed her cheeks, and kissed her boldly, too. "And a girl!" she finished triumphantly. "Beat that!"
"Lucy!" Geoffrey and Elincia said in equal exasperation. But Lucia only laughed victoriously and dashed off. Trading one glance, all embarrassment forgotten, Elincia and Geoffrey grinned and chased after her, all thoughts of kissing vanished in the joy of childlike play.
Though Elincia knew that all knights served at the castle – my parents' castle, she reminded herself – she had not really realized that it meant that one day, Geoffrey, too, must leave Delbray and serve at the Crimean court to earn his full knighthood. He was already proving outstanding in the training he was receiving at Delbray Castle, so Lord and Lady Delbray had decided to send him to court early.
"You have the chance to rise through the ranks of the Crimean Royal Knights very quickly," Lord Delbray told Geoffrey in his study, while Elincia and Lucia listened at the door. "You must remember, however – never breathe a word of Princess Elincia. The king, queen, and your commander Duke Renning know of her existence, but I highly doubt an opportunity for a conversation about her would ever arise, so mention nothing. Do you understand?"
"Yes, my lord father," Geoffrey said promptly. His voice cracked – it only did that occasionally now, and Elincia was still getting used to its new deep timbre along with all the other changes in him. He towered over her now, his shoulders broad and his muscles hard and defined.
The young women at the keyhole had to scramble out of the way when Lord Delbray and Geoffrey emerged. Lord Delbray strode on, but Geoffrey paused. "I know you're there. You can come out now."
They peeked their heads around the open door. He grinned. "Why am I not surprised?"
"We just wanted to know when you leaving," Lucia said. Elincia looked at the ground. That word, leaving, was an icy claw clenched around her heart.
"Tomorrow," Geoffrey said. "I'll ride with Father and the others to the palace, and stay there for the next four years, at the very least."
"Four years?" gasped Elincia. "But… but…"
Blushing slightly, he rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, as if leaving for so long was no real concern of his. "I'll be training. I'll probably earn my knighthood in a year, they told me. But I'll… I'll be able to live here for the summers when the court is on progress."
"Oh, good," said Elincia, a little bit of the terrible weight of impending loneliness lifting from her shoulders. "I do love summers."
The three of them stayed up till dawn that night, even though they kept halfheartedly reminding Geoffrey he should sleep, he had a long journey tomorrow. He refused every time, and they couldn't bring themselves to squander their last few precious moments together as children. In the morning, the girls helped him saddle his horse and polish his weapons until it was time to go.
He led the procession at the right side of Lord Delbray. With Lucia and Elincia dressed up in their best gowns to see him off, he mounted his horse and looked back over his shoulder at them. Biting her lip to stop it trembling, Elincia raised a delicate hand and gave him her best princess's wave.
At that, he grinned, imitating her dainty wave back at her. Lucia elbowed Elincia, who shrieked, and the three of them laughed in unison. The girls jumped up and down, all decorum forgotten. "Bye, Geoff!" they shouted. "We'll see you in the summer!"
"Bye, Lucy! Bye, Elincia!"
And then, he turned toward the road, spurring his horse into a canter. A cloud rose from the the horses' hooves to cover the Delbray riders, and when it cleared, Lucia and Elincia stood hand-in-hand staring at an empty horizon, their gowns and faces brown with dust.
Booming laughter and the sweet smell of mead filled the small room as the Crimean Royal Knights welcomed Geoffrey into their ranks. He grinned sheepishly, pleased despite himself at all the fuss they were making. They passed him the largest mug, overflowing with sweet whiskey.
"To Sir Geoffrey," Duke Renning raised his glass. "Only sixteen years old, but as fine a knight as any I have ever trained. Sir Geoffrey!" Every knight in the room echoed the cry.
"Sir Geoffrey! Sir Geoffrey!"
Before too much of the night had passed, however, Duke Renning and some of the older, married knights took their leave. "The night belongs to you now, young men," he said, with a knowing glint in his eye. "Take advantage, but do not forget that you represent the Crimean royal family when your wear your uniform – and when you don't."
The men chuckled at that, though Geoffrey didn't really understand why. He smiled along, an image of Elincia floating through his mind at the mention of the Crimean Royal Family. His head buzzed pleasantly as he took another swig of his drink. He wished she were here right now. It would be nice if she could see him so honored, the center of attention… she always teased him for being shy, but here he was, the star of the night… If she were here, he'd wrap his arms around her slender waist and spin her in the air as if they were the only ones in the room…
One of the other young knights clapped Geoffrey on the shoulder, shaking him out of his pleasant reverie. "You ever been with a woman, Geoff?" he said quietly.
The man's use of his childhood nickname jarred him. Geoffrey blushed. "I – uh – well, I've - "
"No? No better way to celebrate!" the knight said. The other men cheered and catcalled. "We know where to find the prettiest women. And they work until dawn! They know us, see, they like when the knights come to visit – their best customers, we are. Come on, Geoffrey – you're a knight now, so it's high time you became a man!"
Wrapped up in the glory of the moment and the mead, Geoffrey allowed himself to be led out of the mess hall and into the streets, shoving his initial hesitancy to a dark, unexamined corner of his mind. He was a knight now, after all, and he couldn't lose the respect of the others by leaving now. He ignored the weight settling in his stomach like a stone and the way his heart seemed unable to pump enough blood to his brain; the city ahead appeared blurred as if by rain or fog.
"Here we are," his friend said, nodding towards an alleyway Geoffrey had never noticed before. Lanterns illuminated ramshackle doors in murky puddles of orange light. It was the kind of place that would make his sister scowl if she knew he had ever been here. Out of one door peered a young woman with mussed hair, red-stained lips, and eyes lined heavily with kohl. She smiled when she saw them and stepped into the alley.
She wore a simple shift that bore far more leg than Geoffrey had seen since he was child playing games with Elincia and Lucia in the garden. The skirt barely covered her knees. A tightly bound corset slimmed her waist and pushed her breasts forward so that they seemed like they were about to spill out completely when she leaned forward, extended a slender arm, and beckoned the men forward with a crooked finger and a wink.
"Good t'see those faces again," she said, her voice a low, accented purr, unfamiliar enough to Geoffrey's ears to be astonishingly seductive. "Wot brings you my way t'night, boys?"
"Celebration of this one's knighthood!" A hand slapped Geoffrey's back, sending him stumbling forward. The men laughed and the woman's red mouth twitched. Geoffrey gulped, his heart skipping a beat. "It's his first time 'round these parts, miss, if you catch my meaning."
When the woman stepped forward, her hips swayed back and forth and her breasts jiggled, creamy skin glowing in the thin light from the lanterns above. Geoffrey couldn't take his eyes off her. Delicate fingers tapped his cheek, then slowly drifted down his neck, his collar, his chest. He wondered if she could feel his heart racing beneath her hand – if not, then she could probably hear it; to him, it sounded as loud as a war drum.
"Well, aren't you handsome," she said. "I'd rather like you t' come with me, young man."
"Go on, Geoffrey. It's on us!"
Vaguely, Geoffrey heard more catcalls and shouts from his fellow knights as the woman led him inside. He knew his friends must be following, but his eyes and his thoughts were completely focused on the temptress before him, so much so that he stumbled over a carpet when she threw her head back to give him a wink. Other women peeked out from behind cracked doors, all equally glamoured and seductive. Geoffrey barely spared them a glance. He didn't even blink until he heard the sound of a door shutting and a key turning in a lock.
"I – um, hello," he said dully, when he realized he hadn't even spoken a word to her yet. "I'm, uh – your name, what's - ?"
She paused for a moment, a finger placed thoughtfully on her chin. "Kate," she said. "Call me Kate."
"K-Kate," he said, gulping again. The finger was between her lips now. As she walked toward him, he couldn't help but stare at her swaying figure, mouth slightly open.
"Don't be nervous," she said, taking his hands. Gently she placed them on her breasts, sliding them down to her waist, her hips, and under her skirt.
There definitely was not enough blood going to his brain now; it was all pumping in the opposite direction. She stood on her toes and tucked her hips forward until they rubbed against him, up and down. He closed his eyes, shocked at how good the pressure and the friction felt. The woman's hands were pulling at the ties of his breeches now. She knelt; her face was so close to his skin that he could feel her soft breaths. With his eyes closed, her face disappeared from his memory, replaced instead by a much more familiar face, with wide, loving eyes and green hair tumbling over naked shoulders…
Had he been thinking straight, had he been sober, had he been miles away from the woman's deft fingers and lips, perhaps he would have stopped right there, mortified at the realization that it was Elincia, his almost-sister and his princess, who he dreamed of in this way. As it was, however, he was enraptured nearly as much by the vision in his mind's eye as he was by the woman's talented ministrations. Surely he deserved one night to indulge, one night of pleasure, before reason trapped him in the world of honor once more.
Blindly he let the woman guide him to the bed.
Summers had always been Elincia's favorite season because it had meant a few precious days to meet her real parents, but now she looked forward to them for another reason. Every year she saw Geoffrey, he seemed to have grown a whole head taller. He looked stronger, too, and he had lost the gangly awkwardness of a boy not yet grown into a man's body. Every year he was more graceful, and while Elincia knew she had grown into a woman's body too, she couldn't help but be awed by the man she met every summer, so very different from the boy she had known.
And yet when they were beyond the eyes of the lords and ladies of Delbray, when she threw her arms around his shoulders and his encircled her waist, lifting her off the ground as he spun her around, she felt in her heart that it was the same Geoffrey, always the same Geoffrey. He hugged his sister too, and the three of them talked until late into the night, and fell asleep together in a messy pile on the floor of Elincia and Lucia's rooms. They could only get away with that on rare occasions, now that they were all grown.
"It is so hard I am sometimes asleep before my head hits the pillow," Geoffrey said. His voice slowly lost the formal lilt as he fell back into familiar childhood patterns. "But I was the youngest person in Crimean history to earn full knighthood, and I'm Duke Renning's second-in-command already."
"Wow," Elincia breathed. "Geoffrey, that's amazing."
He shrugged. "It's all for you, Elincia. No, really," he said when she laughed. "We train and fight to serve the Crimean Royal Family. My sword and my life are yours. I'm fighting for you!"
"You had better be," Lucia said. "You know we'd hit you if you were fighting for any other girl!"
Geoffrey blushed deeply. "Even if you weren't a princess, I'd fight for you. You too, sister dearest."
Heat rose to Elincia's cheeks, too, but it was a pleasurable feeling; she had decided that it was no use being embarrassed around Geoffrey because it was Geoffrey. In the back of her mind, she wondered what it meant that she had to catch her breath every time she saw him; or that her skin tingled when he practiced in the yard and stripped his tunic off, his muscles glistening with the sweat of his labor; or that she could listen to the sound of his deep voice endlessly regardless of what he was saying. But none of that mattered, not when he was here, because here he was just her Geoffrey.
For too many months, though, he wasn't at her side anymore. Elincia missed him with a quiet, physical pain in her heart, and Lucia's presence was the only effective balm. However, too soon Lucia received summons to Crimea Castle: both to be presented to society and to serve alongside the knights. Knowledge of her prowess with the sword finally reached the ears of Duke Renning, commander of the royal forces.
Elincia clung to her foster sister as if the strength of her arms could prevent Lucia from ever leaving. "How am I to live without you by my side?"
"I will always be by your side," Lucia murmured, embracing her just as fiercely. "In your heart, Elincia, I will always be there. You're my sister, and nothing can part us."
"Pass my greetings to Geoffrey," Elincia said. Slowly she released her friend, her sister, and wiped her eyes. "And come back to me as soon as you can."
Lucia kissed her on the cheek. "It is a just a simple trip to court, Elincia. Were you not the princess, you'd be coming with me. I will be presented, I will serve with the knights for some time, then I will return. We are a peaceful nation. I will be back before you know it."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise," Lucia said. "Until then, sister."
"Until then," Elincia said, nodding firmly as she stepped back, holding back her tears, determined to remain queenly in front of Lucia's entourage to the castle. This time, when the dust settled, Elincia had no hand to hold. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pictured her friends' faces in her mind's eye, holding them there in perfect happiness until she could see them again.