A/N: Hi guys! I know this is so terribly late, but forgive me! Thanks for all the reviews!! I LOVE them, they make me feel all warm and squishy inside. :) Hope ya'll enjoy the chapter.
Oh yeah, I'm still answering all your reviews, except I've moved that to the end of the chappie, do you mind?. Read on!
Chapter 7- of soup and yellow roses
Alex strode through the outdoor pathways to his apartment, contented with the way the day had gone. It was late evening and he really needed to get back to his rooms to discuss what needed to be done in preparation for the big day, but Alex simply could not resist slipping into the rose garden, resplendent in the setting sun. Quietly, he picked out a dusky yellow bloom with a heady, intoxicating scent.
Alex's hand, on the way to the dagger in his boot, froze when he heard the voices nearby. They was a muffled through the thick wall, but loud enough that he could hear what was being said.
Silently, he crept to the ivy grown walls and peered through a sizable gap, tensing at what he saw. A man had none other than Aurora clasped into a tight hug. For a minute, all Alex could do was stare at the young woman, she was still dressed in the light green gown from the picnic, the red streaks in her mane of hair glinting in the late afternoon sun, her perfect lips, like two red buds, moving as she spoke. He could just imagine them doing…..Suddenly the words tumbling from her sumptuous mouth registered in his befuddled brain.
" Did you miss me Papa?"
Papa? Who was she talking about? Surely that man could not be Gaius. Alex studied the older man. He was wearing court clothes, his shoulder length brown hair, graying around the temples, was pulled back to rest at the nape of his neck. Just then the man threw back his head and boomed with laughter. Alex grinned and shook his head. That was definitely Gaius. He would recognize that laughter anywhere.
Alex's eyes flitted over another figure. Auntie Sophia, Alex thought to himself, his heart suddenly heavy, remembering days gone by. She looked older, with gray running through her dark hair, pulled back into a bun. She was standing next to Carina in the lengthening shadows, quietly smiling at her husband and daughter.
At the sound of tinkling laughter, Alex's attention was drawn back to the conversation at hand.
"Don't mind your father, Aurora dear," Sophia was saying, "I had to restrain him from galloping over here two days early."
"Nonsense!" Gaius exclaimed indignantly, but with a twinkle quite evident in his eyes, "I just wanted to make sure that you didn't terrorize the girls too much."
"Papa! That was when I was nine years old. Besides they fell into the lake themselves, its not my fault they didn't know how to swim." Aurora groaned.
Gauis chuckled.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about them anymore, Uncle Gaius. She does have it in for the Marquis of Burnham, though. I don't know how the poor guy manages what with Aurora constantly giving him the cold shoulder," Carina piped in with a wink.
She promptly received a death glare from Aurora.
Alex guiltily glanced away from the foursome at the mention of himself. He really had no right to spy on them like that. Alex silently retreated, but not before taking a last glimpse at Aurora's blushing cheeks. Quickly, he pulled out his dagger and snipped the stem of the yellow rose, and then snuck out of the garden.
It took him only a moment to locate the balcony he was looking for. Alex swiftly vaulted himself over the wrought iron railing and crept into the adjacent bedroom. It was quite spacious and decorated similarly to his own rooms except it was in red and gold tones rather than the blues and beiges of his quarters. Alex grinned when he spotted the scarlet rose on a table next to the giant canopied bed. He placed the new addition along side the velvety red one before letting his hands flit over the desk littered with papers.
He could just picture Rose in the room, hunched over the desk, scribbling like mad, her red locks tumbling over her shoulders. Down the hall, a door slammed and the sound of laughter and chattering voices drifted into the room. In a flash, Alex was out on the balcony and halfway over the railing.
"Finally," Aurora groaned to her best friend, before collapsing on the sofa in her rooms, "I thought that picnic would never end."
"Don't be mean, Aurora. You know you had fun," Carina murmured, plopping down next to her
Aurora shot her a dark look and kicked off her slippers, massaging her sore feet. It was true, even though she hated to admit it, today had been a lot of fun.
"Well, maybe a little, but it has nothing to do with that dolt," Aurora finally conceded, knowing full well that Carina would badger her about it for the rest of the evening if she did not own up now.
"You mean, Tristan," Carina frowned, "I still don't understand why you hate him so much. I mean, he's handsome, charming, funny, kind, you saw how he-"
"Okay, okay, I get the picture," Aurora grumbled, cutting her off, and pulling the pins from her hair.
"Dinner's ready!" Noori's voice cheerfully rang out as she entered the room, surveying the two girls in front of her.
"Hello, Noori," Aurora greeted the motherly woman, tiredly.
"Noori!" Carina exclaimed jumping up and enveloping the older woman in a big hug.
"Carina, dear, how are you?" Noori asked, smiling fondly.
"I'm fine, Noori, I missed you." Carina said sniffing the pot of carrot soup appreciatively.
"Missed my food's more like it," Noori griped, though she was secretly pleased.
"That's not true Noori, you know I love you," Carina gave her a second hug. "And I'll love you even more if you let me have a bowl of soup, too," she added with a mischievous grin. Noori swatted her, mock-angry.
"Of course, dear," Noori smiled, dropping the charade, and ladling some of the deliciously fragrant soup into two bowls.
Aurora grinned at the banter, missing the scrutinous look Noori gave her as she dropped into a chair at the table. She was famished; they had been too busy laughing at the picnic to eat much. Carina was already ripping hunks of fresh French bread and dipping it into the piping hot liquid. Aurora joined her and together they quickly polished off their bowls.
"Mmmm….Noori that was positively divine!" Carina murmured, leaning back in a chair.
"Yes, Noori, you have outdone yourself," Aurora said, stretching lazily.
"Hmm…the picnic was a success, I gather?" Noori asked, pretending to be absorbed in her knitting.
"It was-"
"Wonderful," Carina, piped in.
Aurora scowled at her.
"Wonderful?" Noori questioned with a raised brow.
"Yes and did you know that we have guests from Burnham?" Carina asked, and then continued, prompted by Noori shaking her head, "Well, we do. His name is Tristan and he is the Marquis. A very young Marquis."
Noori put down her knitting needles and leaned forward.
"You know how royalty can be such snobs sometimes? Well, he is not like that at all. He is so funny and absolutely dashing. He spent almost the whole time with us, and I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a Royal picnic of all things."
"Oh?" Noori encouraged. Aurora rolled her eyes, they were acting as though this were some big gossip thing. And Noori had always been the one to disapprove of such things, too!
"Yes, and you know Madame Tomil's daughters, Sirene and Fluor? Well, they were practically green with jealousy! It was hilarious…And then when Lord Tyron stood to say his usual two hour long speech, Tristan stood there the whole time and imitated him! Aurora and I practically broke a few ribs holding in our laughter when we had to greet his wife later on," Carina finished with in a rush.
"He sounds like an interesting young man, Carina. You both seem quite taken with him."
Aurora couldn't help but snort at this. 'Taken' was a definite overstatement, despised maybe, but definitely not taken.
"Party-pooper," Carina pouted, sticking out her tongue at Aurora, "Oh Noori, you have to meet him. I'm going to bring him here tomorrow. He is going to go riding with Aurora and me tomorrow. I can't wait! I have no idea why you hate him, Aurora," Carina exclaimed, finishing off her tirade.
"I don't hate him, I just strongly dislike him, is all. I mean he's completely arrogant and an absolute dolt," Aurora said defensively.
"Okay, give me one example," Carina countered.
"Well…he- he-" Aurora sputtered.
"Teased you? Made you laugh? What?" Carina smirked.
"Umm…he…" Aurora stopped, dumbfounded, and grudgingly admitting to herself, at least, that she had no reason to not like the man.
"I just don't, that's it," she said stubbornly, at last.
"Gosh, Aurora, you're so hard-headed," Carina rolled her eyes and grinned at her friend.
Before Noori could comment, there was a knock on the door.
"Must be the servants," Noori muttered, as she hurriedly gathered the dirty dishes back on the tray and left.
"That reminds me," Carina got up, yawning, "My father wants me home early tonight. I better go."
"Good night," Aurora murmured, hugging her friend.
"Good night, Aurora, and don't forget, we are going riding tomorrow morning and you are coming whether you like it or not," Carina said warningly, as she returned the hug.
"Yes, mother," Aurora grumbled.
"Well, someone has to keep you in line," Carina laughed on her way out the door.
Aurora trouped into her room, grumbling and ready to collapse after a long day on her feet.
"Riding tomorrow with Carina and…." she whispered dropping onto her bed, instinctively she turned to look at the red rose in the vase next to her bed. Aurora did a double take mid-fall and ended up with her butt on the floor.
"Graceful, Aurora, very graceful," she muttered, pulling herself up to inspect the golden blossom, "Now how did you get here?"
Gingerly, she fingered the velvety petals, picturing someone creeping into her room to put the rose there. She felt goose bumps rise on her arms.
Who was it?
Its sweet scent washed over her and immediately Aurora's mind went to a certain Duke and a pair of golden brown eyes. She shivered softly, but strangely she felt no fear.
"I have to stop thinking like this. He is nothing, he is annoying and a dolt," Aurora ordered herself, purposely turning her back on the roses.
Aurora marched across the room, trying to occupy herself with changing into her nightdress and get ready to bed, careful not to look at the roses.
Finally, Aurora climbed into bed and found herself face to face with them. They seemed to stare at her calmly and innocently, wishing her sweet dreams, secrets folded away within their flowery depths.
Reviews (YAY!) NOTE: PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!
Horn-head – Hellooo! Thanks so much! I went to Dallas for the last week so I haven't been able to read any stories : ( But I did look under plenty of park benches for that baton!
7UPYOURS – THANKS! THANKS! THANKS! THANKS! Thanks for reviewing, hee, hee! Fear not, Alex's hair is definitely the kind long-short kind…the kind that falls into his eyes every once in a while...sighs dreamily…I agree with you for the most part, except there is one guy with long hair who is hot, Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.
Hey – Your name is so pretty! Do you mind if I use it? I used my sister's name backwards as the queen of Ayortha's name. You're English, cool! I think I have some family that lives there. P.S. I don't mind about that whole bike thing. It was cute ;)
Galasriniel – Scrumpdidlyuptiousness! I love weirdness! I'm the queen of Wierdness! You live in Texas too, wow! I live in Sugar Land, right outside of Houston. By the way, those psycho schizophrenic squirrels ate up all the wiring on my computer! Now, they're grinning evilly and heading to the kitchen…NOOOO, NOT THE COOKIES!!!
Turwen – Awww…that was so nice, I loved your review. It was so sweet! Thanks for reading! Please come back!
Fairypixie3 – I'm glad you like Rose! Adding a little feistiness to the usual damsel in distress makes things much more interesting. I loved your character Alanna, too. She has girl power!
Lady Gwen – 'Tis a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, m'lady. Thanks for the review! I can't wait until Alex reveals his identity, too! I have it all planned out! Look for it within the next chapter or so. : )
Watrfairie – You are an awesome and faithful reviewer. I LOVE you!!...sobs hysterically for a moment…wipes tears and composes self...Thank you so much. I totally agree with you though, this site rocks! I couldn't believe it when I discovered. The only problem is that you have to wait for the next chapter to come out and sometimes the writer takes awhile…oops...I'm guilty! Sorry! : )
Bridget – Thanks for the great review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review again!