"Where are we headed, milady?"
"Just around this corner, and you shall see."
Constance released his elbow and stepped around the corner of the hallway to a closed set of doors. Reaching out, bending slightly at the waist to grab them, she seized the gilded handles and pulled the doors open simultaneously.
Inside was a sizable room filled with an assortment of various trinkets and antiques. Impressed, Elijah stepped reverently into the room, casting his eyes over the miscellany inside.
There were muskets, long unused and no longer viable in combat, along one wall. Spears and swords and shields, also unused but well cared for, hung along another wall. Within the room itself, there lay a variety of pedestals of varying heights and widths supporting a wide hodgepodge of royal historical items. Ancient crowns, hewn out of crude metals, set on pillows beneath glass covers. Intriguing to him also were the stacks of scrolls near the walls. Books, ancient in binding but meticulously cared for, were stacked on shelves along another wall. Their spines marked royal archives dating back centuries, and Elijah's chest heaved with amazement and interest.
The room was a priceless conglomeration of royal artifacts, holding a rich and valuable history unlike any he'd seen in his five centuries of life.
Turning to Constance, he smiled genuinely, his dark eyes shining in a way she hadn't yet seen. "The Royal Archive Room. I thought you may like it," she noted with a pleasant smile.
He released an appreciative breath. "I do. This is magnificent. Thank you."
She nodded, pleased that she had accomplished her goal. Taking a cautious step toward him, drawing his attention as she grew closer, she took a breath.
"You don't have to apologize about your family, Elijah." She spoke his name with a touch of reverence, appreciating the rare chance to use a gentleman's first name in conversation. "We shall be married. Your family will be mine, and I don't wish for you to spend the rest of our lives excusing yourself because of them.
"I can handle more than I may look like I can," she noted with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.
Elijah looked her in the eye, listening to the steady beating of her heart. There was the slightest flutter of nervousness in her heart - he assumed because she was being more forward with a man than she had ever been trained to be - but he knew she was being sincere. He wished the same thing for her, but he was simultaneously filled with a latent sorrow. Part of him wished she knew exactly how much she would have to handle as his wife. Another part of him hoped in vain that she would never find out. He was characteristically a pragmatic man, and he knew it wasn't likely that her life as his wife would ever ben normal. Her very humanity hung on the line just because of her betrothal to him. Her life would hang in the balance more often than not. For now, his siblings seemed content to leave her be, but they were a mercurial lot. Kol's behavior in the garden was a testament to that.
The twitch of a smile caught the corner of his mouth and he reached forward to take her hand. Lifting her knuckles to his lips, he kissed the back of her hand before covering it with his fingers.
"I will do as you wish, milady," he assured her. His word was his bond, and he would try for her benefit more than she would ever know.
Spontaneously, perhaps brazenly for a woman of her status and age, Constance leaned forward and gently touched her lips to his cheek. With their engagement only just announced today, the simple act served to surprise him. She gave him a small smile before she politely stepped back and gave him a slight nod which made her maroon curls roll around the sides of her neck and back over her shoulders again.
Elijah recovered quickly from his surprise. "I do believe it will be dejeuner soon. Shall we?" He released her hand and held his elbow out to her so they could be on their way.