"Oh hello" I heard Ben say happily as I walked into his office and closed the door behind me. "I didn't expect you to come looking for me" he advised and I started to feel my stomach flutter as I continued to watch his eyes light up as I walked towards him.
"No" I said as I walked around his desk. "Me neither" I added. "Are you busy? I can come back later" I offered as I threw a look over to the big pile of papers that were currently on his desk.
"No" he advised, causing me to look back over to him. "I always have time for you" he smiled as I stood next to him on his right hand side.
"Good" I grinned as I slowly and carefully climbed onto his lap.
"I see" he smirked. "It would appear that you have a one tracked mind Dragon" he teased.
"How so?" I questioned innocently.
"You've come for a cuddle" he accused playfully.
"No" I told him. "I've come to tell you something; a cuddle is a bonus" I explained before pressing a kiss against his right cheek.
"So what have you come to tell me?" he smiled as he put his left hand onto my right knee.
"I have been offered an internship" I announced as I wrapped my left arm around his shoulders.
"What? Really?" he questioned in shock. "Which one?" he quickly asked.
"Doctor Tennant" I advised.
"Wow!" he exclaimed. "I am so proud of you" he said happily as he pulled me into a very tight hug.
"Thank you" I answered.
"How long is it for?" he enquired.
"Three month" I replied. "I would start on the first of September; and it would end just before December" I added.
"I see" he noted.
"Is that ok?" I questioned.
"What do you mean?" he asked as his face dropped.
"Well like your mother said-" I began. "Now that we have returned from the tour and had the trial I need to be more active as your consort" I continued. "And I can't really do all of my royal commitments if I am doing an internship three days a week" I reminded him.
"We can sort something out; it's not like it is forever" he dismissed.
"Are you sure?" I urged.
"Yes Mal" he confirmed. "I want you to do the things that you want to do; yes you still have royal commitments which you will have to still do" he added. "But that doesn't mean that is shouldn't be your only commitment" he finished fondly.
"Thank you" I smiled as I started to feel relief start to ebb throughout my body.
"So I'm guessing that you have accepted" he chuckled.
"Not yet" I said. "He said he wanted me to think about it; as he knows that I already have a lot to do" I smiled at him.
"Are you going to accept it?" he asked.
"I think I always was but I was concerned; but after speaking to you I feel alot better about it" I advised.
"Good" he grinned.
"I love you Ben" I told him lovingly.
"I love you too Mal" he breathed as he brushed his nose against mine. We smiled at each other for a few seconds before Ben pressed his lips against mine; I fell into the kiss automatically however when we heard a knock on the door we quickly broke apart.
"Come in!" Bem called and we both looked over to see the door open and Cogsworth appeared.
"Sorry to interupt your Majesty" he offered as he held the door open slightly. "Dame Faery" he directed to me.
"It's ok Cogsworth" Ben dismissed. "How can we help?" he asked sincerely.
"Queen Elsa is here" he announced. "She wants to see you both; and she will not take no for an answer" he advised. Me and Ben then slowly looked at each other; we had only seen Queen Elsa yesterday so there was no reason why she should be here right now. And this was now making me fall into a panic at what was about to happen, as there was no way in Auradon that this looked good, not good at all.
I quickly climbed out of Ben's lap; as Cogworth went to go and get Queen Elsa and as we waited my stomach continued to burn in unease. However this only got worse when Ben's office door opened and Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, Prince Consort Kristoff, Sir Sven and Sir Olaf walked into the room, with Adam and Belle following them.
"Hello" Ben said politely. "Queen Elsa, this is quite unexpected" he noted. "We only saw you yesterday," he reminded her.
"I know" she said as she stepped up to Ben's desk. "But this can't wait; sorry for this intrusion. But I thought you would want to know" she urged.
"Ok" Ben nodded. "Please be seated" He stated as he gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. I then stood and watched as Queen Elsa and Princess Anna sat down in the seats as Kristoff, Olaf and Sven stood at either side of them as Adam and Belle stood on the left hand side of Ben's desk. "Now how can we help you?" Ben requested.
"This is more how we can help you" Queen Elsa replied.
"Queen Elsa you have me very confused" Ben noted.
"Let me explain" she offered; and Ben nodded at this.
"When we arrived home yesterday some paperwork was waiting for me in my office; something that affects you and your consort" she announced making me and Ben share a concerned glance before looking back at Queen Elsa and her family. If I was worried before it was nothing compared to what I was feeling now! The way they were all looking at me and Ben was sending me on edge; and I could tell whatever paperwork had been waiting for them it wasn't going to be good for me and Ben. "And given the recent trial this is why me and my family have come straight here; I didn't want to sign it myself until I had your assurances that this paperwork is genuine" she urged.
"Ok" Ben repeated. "Let me see it," he said solemnly. I watched as Queen Elsa nodded before he handed over the paperwork to Ben; I moved closer to Ben to read the paperwork and when I saw what it included I couldn't help but freeze.
PROPOSITION OF THE ROYAL COUNCIL OF THE ROYAL HOUSES OF AURADON
In the name of the founding Kings, Queens and other spokespersons of Auradon, the Royal Council of Royal Houses put forward to His Royal Highness King Benevolent Florian Adams of Auradon and Dame Maleficent Bertha Faery.
In their best interests the Royal Council of Royal Houses believe that the only way to protect both above parties' reputations until their wedding day is for them not to have unsupervised time together. As King and future Queen of Auradon both parties need to be seen as good in the public eye; the pair's purity needs to be protected so they can fairly rule.
If more than ten signatures are signed by the members of the Royal Council of Royal Houses then this proposition will stand until the King and his future Queen's wedding day.
If the above parties choose to act against this proposition; then the Royal Council of Royal Houses will withdraw all support for their marriage. This will also in turn set the wheels in motion for a proposition of the dissolution of their pre-contracts and future plans - making both parties being forced to find other suitors.
Date of starting proposition: 02/07/2018
SIGNATURES:
AURADON CITY:
King Elder Adam Adams:
Queen Elder Belle Adams:
APHELIOTIA:
King Quasimodo Frollo: King Q. Frollo.
Queen Madellanie Frollo: Queen. M. Frollo.
THE BORDERLANDS:
Queen Merida DunBroch: Queen, M. DunBroch.
CAMELOT HEIGHTS:
Prince Edward Marsden: Prince, E. Marsden.
CHARMINGTON/CINDERELLASBERG:
King Prince Charming: King. P. Charming.
Queen Cinderella Charming: Queen. C. Charming.
EAST RIDING:
Sultan Aladdin Ababwa:
Sultana Jasmine Ababwa:
FARAWAY:
Prince Consort, Eugene Fitzherbert: Prince Consort, E. Fitzherbert.
Princess Rapunzel Fitzherbert: Princess, R. Fitzherbert.
ISLE OF THE LOST:
Sir Jay Jafar:
Sir Carlos De Vil:
Dame Evelyn Grimhilde:
Dame Maleficent Faery:
LONE KEEP:
Prince Naveen Campos: Prince, N. Campos.
Princess Tiana Campos: Prince, T. Campos.
NEVERLAND, SKULL ROCK AND HOOK'S BAY:
King Peter Pan: N/A
Queen Tinkerbelle Pan: N/A
Princess Tabatha of the Piccanniny Tribe signed on behalf of this constituency: Princess T. Lily.
NORTH RIDING AND THE SUMMERLANDS:
King Ferdinand Fernando: King, F. Fernando.
Queen Snow White Fernando: Queen, S.W. Fernando.
OLYMPUS:
Zeus: N/A
Hera: N/A
Dame Aphrodite of Olympus signed on behalf of this constituency: Dame, Aphrodite.
SCHWATZWALD:
Queen Elsa:
SEA OF ARIEL:
King Eric Barnes: King, E. Barnes.
Queen Ariel Barnes: Queen, A. Barnes.
SOUTH RIDING
Queen Elder Leah Beauty: Queen Elder, L. Beauty.
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA:
Emperor Li Shang:
Empress Mulan Shang:
TRITON'S BAY:
King Triton: King, Triton.
WESTERLY:
Prince Kuzco: Prince, Kuzco.
Empress Malina: Empress, Malina.
WINTER'S KEEP:
Prince Consort, John Rolfe: Prince Consort, J. Rolfe.
Princess Pocahontas Rolfe: Princess, P. Rolfe.
Notary Public for the United States of Auradon.
Fourteen! There are fourteen signatures on this proposal! Could this stand if some members have signed on behalf of their families? By the look on Ben's face I could tell that he was wondering about this as well; however I watched as something changed in his eyes which made my stomach somersault in absolute panic. By the looks of it me and Ben weren't going to be able to be left on our own until our wedding day; and to be honest I didn't know how I felt about that - as it was eight months away!
"I can't believe this!" Ben exclaimed, thankfully breaking me out of my train of thought.
"What son?" Adam stated as he stepped forward and took the paperwork from Ben.
"It would appear that Lady Leah and her 'Order' still have an ace up their sleeve" Ben grimaced as he balled his fists up and I watched as Adam's face dropped as he read the paperwork before passing it to Belle. "Thank you Queen Elsa" Ben smiled meekly at our guests. "This means a great deal that you would come to me and tell me this" he added happily and I couldn't help but nod at this. At least we were given some warning and it wasn't going to assault me and Ben just like the trial did.
"Well we have loyalty to you" Queen Elsa. "And your consort" she smiled at me as Belle placed the paperwork back on the desk in front of Ben.
"Thank you" me and Ben said together.
"Mother will you get Cogsworth and Chip for me please?" Ben asked his mother.
"Ok" she nodded; and we all watched as she quickly left the room, closing the door behind her.
"I will get Cogsworth and Chip to get you whatever you need," Ben advised. "If you need to stay here this evening then you are more than welcome" he offered.
"No" Queen Elsa stated as she shook her head. "We will return this evening; but could we have a room to freshen up and maybe a bite to eat?" she asked.
"Of course" Ben smiled; and we all then watched as the door opened and Belle, Cogsworth and Chip entered the room."Tell Cogsworth and Chip what you need and they will help you" Ben said.
"Ok" Queen Elsa nodded.
"Let us show you to your rooms" Cogsqworth advised proudly and Chip eagerly nodded at this.
"Thank you" Queen Elsa said to the pair; and the room went silent as me, Ben, Adam and Belle all watched them leave the room. When we heard the door close behind them with a loud snap we all looked away from each other; I really didn't know how to respond to this. I hated that fact that I was potentially going to be kept away from Ben - I really thought we had gone past that!
"Ben" I muttered as I broke the silence as I looked over to him.
"Yes" he muttered back as he slowly looked over to me.
"Will this hold?" I questioned.
"What?" he asked.
"Will this hold? Is this genuine?" I repeated as I nodded down to the paperwork on the desk.
"I don't know" he admitted. "I hope not" he stated hopefully. "But maybe; I'll have to look into it" he advised. As the room began to fall into silence once more I took in Ben's current cool nature; and I could tell that three things were now on his mind. First of all, he was thinking about us being kept apart, second of all how this was going to affect the pair of us and finally he was thinking whether this was actually going to hold.
"Lucifer that woman!" Ben exclaimed as he slammed his right fist down onto the desk suddenly, causing me, Adam and Belle to jump in shock.
"Ben calm down!" I stressed as I stepped closer to him and placed my left hand onto his right shoulder.
"How can I?" he exclaimed again. "I thought after the trial we wouldn't have anything like this" he grimaced as he nodded towards the paperwork. "But no, Lady Leah tries to thwart me at every turn" he added harshly. "I knew I was too lenient on her" he sighed in disbelief. "On the lot of them!" he snapped.
"Ben" I advised as I gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "Ben look at me" I said a few moments later, with him still glaring at the paperwork. Thankfully I didn't need to call out to him a third time, as he slowly looked over to me, with concern in his eyes.
"You did everything right" I told him as our gazes locked. "Don't doubt yourself or your ruling at the trial; this should have been included in the trial" I stated. "I am actually surprised that no one mentioned it" I added as I pulled one brow up in confusion at this.
"Yes" Ben agreed. "Well that is something that I will look into" he added as he grimaced again.
"Ben-" Adam started. "You can't give the council too much hassle over this," he told him.
"Why not!" Ben snapped.
"Because they proposed something similar when we got married; in fact when all the royals got married" Adam explained.
"But it was a different time when we got married" Belle interjected. "We didn't mind having supervised time together as this is what we did in our day" she continued meekly.
"But not now!" Ben stressed.
"I know" Belle replied sadly, which made Ben sigh. "So by the looks of it the council were probably thinking they were following the norm" she added.
"Yeah" Ben agreed. "I really can't believe this!" he muttered in disbelief before quickly looking at me. "Mal I will make this better, I promise" he vowed.
"I know you will" I smiled meekly. "But I think we may have to follow this" I stated as I pursed my lips together. "I don't really fancy finding another suitor" I finished pulling a disgruntled face at him.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. "It will never come to that" He dismissed.
"Better not Beastie" I winked at him, in a bid to try and reassure him. I watched as a meek smile spread across his face so I reached over and pressed a kiss against his right cheek. "So I guess I'll have to move my things again" I sighed at the prospect of moving my things...again!
"No"he advised. "We can still be in the same suite, can't we?" he asked as he looked over to his parents.
"No" Adam answered. "Because behind closed doors you could damage each other's reputations" he added.
"Even though we are well past that point" I stated.
"Yes Mal" Adam confirmed.
"Right" I nodded. "How about this? I move into the right wing" I suggested.
"What?" Ben said in shock. "No!" he exclaimed. "You don't need to do that" he insisted.
"I think I do Ben" I replied. "It is the only way that until this mess is sorted out that isn't going to risk anything Ben" I advised sadly. "I can't lose you" I urged as my voice broke as I started to think about losing Ben due to this new development.
"Hey!" he cooed. "Come here" he advised and I climbed back into his lap. I rested my head against his left shoulder; and I couldn't help but sigh at being back in his arms. "You are not going to lose me" he promised as he cupped the left hand side of my face. "I promise" he vowed as he locked his eyes with me. I meekly nodded at this and I managed to smile at him before he pressed a brief kiss against my lips.
"So what can we do about this?" he asked as he looked over to his parents. "I don't dispute what you have said about what the council put to you and the other leaders; but this is another time" Ben continued as he tightened his arms around me. "And some of the signatures have been done for the leaders; this shouldn't stand!" he stressed.
"But until it can be investigated it does" Belle advised.
"I hate this!" he exclaimed. "I hate that we always have to go through things like this" he sighed sadly.
"I know" I replied as I cupped the right hand side of his face with my left hand. "But we will get through it" I smiled.
"Of course" he answered as he brushed his nose against mine. "But I am going to start putting the wheels in motion right now" he advised as he pulled his right arm away from me and he pulled his phone out.
"Who are you ringing?" I asked in confusion.
"Aurora" he answered.
"Why?" I questioned as he put his phone to his ear; I watched as his mouth opened to speak but stopped when we both heard Aurora answer the phone.
"Hello your Majesty" she answered sweetly down the phone.
"Hello Queen Aurora" Ben answered polietly as he cuddled me tightly to him.
"How can I help you?" she enquired.
"I am just ringing to tell you that I am on my way to your castle now; I didn't want to just attend without you knowing" Ben advised and my stomach started to burn. By the looks of it Ben fully intended to confront Lady Leah; this only made me feel more nervous - given my last conversation with her.
"Oh" she muttered. "Ok" we heard her say. "Is something wrong?" she enquired.
"Yes" Ben sighed. "We need to speak to your mother," he advised.
"What has she done now?" she sighed.
"I'll tell you when we get to you" Ben answered.
"Ok" she repeated.
"And can I ask you to do me a favour?" Ben enquired.
"Of course Your Majesty" she said sincerely.
"Don't let on that you have spoken to me; and most definitely don't tell her that I am on my way" he requested.
"Of course" I heard her say. "See you soon," she added.
"See you soon" Ben answered before quickly hanging the phone up. I then watched as he threw the phone down onto the desk in front of us before he wrapped his arms tightly around me once more. The room fell into silence once more and I continued to digest mine and Ben's situation. I hated that me and Ben were always faced with situations like this - but I knew one thing for definite - no matter what was put in mine and Ben's way we would get through it. And even though this was giving me reassurance it still didn't get rid of the sinking feeling of the confrontation we were about to have with Lady Leah.
Hey guys, I know you are probably going to hate me for leaving it like this. But you should know me by now, I post in bits. I am now going to move onto another one of my stories so I don't know when I will get the next chapters of this particular story - all I can promise is soon. Keep an eye on my page to see what stories I am currently working on. I really hope you enjoy where I am going with this; see you all soon. Much love as always, RSD xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.
P.S. I hope you all are keeping yourselves safe in this very unsafe time.