Ro approached Antonio as he looked out at the ocean, holding the railing for support. She didn't know how to start a conversation with him, she'd never felt so comfortable and uncomfortable all at once. Perhaps it was just because he was also human, but she really truly wanted him to like her.
"Antonio?"
He turned around, and oh god, the smile that came over his face when he looked at her was intoxicating. It tickled something in her memory, the same way the Goodnight Song did.
"Ro," he said, holding a hand out to her, still smiling. "Come look."
She took his outstretched hand, unable to keep from smiling back.
"I love watching the sunset from the ocean. It's nothing like it is on land."
"If you sit on the beach on my island, facing inland, the sun lights up the two big hills, and the trees get this really warm look. No one will watch the sunset with me, they all think it's pointless."
"Appreciating beauty isn't pointless."
"Azul thinks himself to be the only beauty who needs appreciation."
"His feathers are quite lovely."
She looked at him, smiling, not knowing how to ask what she wanted to, not knowing how to think when he was still holding her hand.
"Why don't you want to be around your family?"
"What?"
"Is that rude to ask? Sorry, I just- I can't imagine not being around mine. I don't understand why you try to escape yours."
He ducked his head a little.
"My father is a great King. Probably one of the greatest- if not the greatest- in our country's history. And often. . . he chooses the country over his family's happiness."
"What do you mean?"
"Not growing up with my sisters, seeing my mother only on special occasions, Princess Genevieve." He rolled his eyes at the mention of the Princess.
She'd heard that name before. "Who is Princess Genevieve?"
"She's- er- the woman I'm marrying."
Ro suddenly felt a numbness in her fingers.
"You're- you're getting married?"
Antonio met her eyes, and Ro could not understand why she wanted to cry.
"I don't want to marry her."
"But you're going to?"
"I don't know." He ran his thumb over her hand, almost absentmindedly. "I might be able to convince my parents to let me marry someone else."
Why was she willing to beg this man to marry her? They'd barely met, and from what little she remembered from her parents, married people were supposed to know each other a long time before they actually got married.
He continued, "I was supposed to marry her older sister, Princess Rosella." He searched her eyes, gauging her reaction.
"Why didn't you?"
"She died. In a shipwreck, about twelve years ago. Or, that's what everyone believed."
Ro frowned.
"Ro, don't you understand?"
"She's alive?"
"Yes, you are."