Chapter 12.

“Yeah, it took me some time but I figured out

How to fix up a heart that I let down…” Where Do Broken Hearts Go - 1D

February, 2137

Eveline

"Hello sweetheart, I thought you forgot about your old Lady here, how have you been?" She asked as she pressed me against her and the familiar scent of lavender that always emanated from her hit my nose and soothed me at the same time.

My grandmother was as little as I was so it was funny to watch her so closely and think she was the former queen, and as she said something about how beautiful I looked I saw her attention shift to something, or rather someone behind me and quickly she let go of me and I turned around seeing that Roman was standing on the steps embarrassed and not knowing what to do, and he looked like a lost child in the park which made me chuckle discreetly while grandma looked him up to down.

"I see you brought company, who is this beautiful boy?" I heard her ask without looking at me, extremely interested in the sight of my bodyguard standing like a fool on the stairs and I stopped beside her watching him intently before answering.

"He's my bodyguard now, Nick got married and I gave him a trip as a gift and I was without anyone for a few weeks until I literally fell into his arms, so I decided to make things easy!" I said laughing and saw him roll his eyes as Grandma nodded curiously watching the guy before turning to me and whispering "What a nice guy you have here, huh?" And I politely asked her to shut up which made her laugh even harder.

“Grandma please!” I said as I mattered so she wouldn't embarrass the guy who seemed increasingly nervous in our presence.

"Stop being boring,” she said “and what's your name, beautiful ?" She asked smiling and he opened his mouth to say something but I saw his cheeks redden and although he kept his expression closed most of the time he was extremely cute when he was embarrassed.

“Roman Williams, it's a pleasure your majesty!" He said and bowed which made my grandmother roll her eyes and walk down the stairs and pull him into a hug.

I noticed when he frowned at her gesture but hugged the little lady back and looked at me embarrassed. I just smiled at him, who seemed to have relaxed a little since we arrived.

My grandmother then released him and pulled him towards the door and I followed them into her house and closed the door behind me as she told us to feel at home as she finished setting the table for something to eat, so I took off my boots and I sat down on the couch pulling my legs up and hugging them afterwards as I watched my guard stop leaning against one of the walls and stand there.

I then looked at him and he noticed my attention directed at his figure, so he stared at me waiting for some order I guess.

“Take off your shoes and leave our stuff on the couch, you don't have to be on guard all the time and Grandma wants you to eat with us,” I say and watch as he nods and leaves our helmets on the coffee table and removes his leather jacket that he's wearing and then I notice the underarm holsters buckled under his arms as he rests his jacket on the arm of the sofa.

But what caught my attention the most was when his turtleneck blouse briefly stood up around his waist as he smoothed his hair and I could see a dark spot there, but contrary to what I thought it was not a bruise but a tattoo.

I couldn't tell what it was because right away he lowered his arms and the design disappeared under the fabric, but I hadn't seen one in years and I knew they had been banned throughout the kingdom, unless he came from outside where several foreigners could get tattooed freely, but it wasn't up to me to ask him that now.

"Come to the kitchen, I made Strudel!" I heard Grandma scream and I got up from the sofa excited to eat one of my favorite deserts and without looking back I walked hurriedly towards the kitchen seeing that she had served the sweet directly on the kitchen island which was beautifully decorated in white marble and the counter was beige in color.

I sat on one of the benches and had my legs dangling as Grandma cut the pieces and served us in three equal portions. But when she placed my plate and Roman's beside me I realized he hadn't followed me and my grandmother looked confused.

"Where's the boy, dear?" She asked as she sat up and smoothed her brown hair that was starting to gray at the roots.

“He must have stayed in the living room, he's probably embarrassed, but I'll get him! Give me a minute!" I said and she nodded as she poured us tea.

I then stand up and go back down the hall very slowly and when I get to the room I don't see him anywhere and for a moment I think he gave up on our deal and went to rat me out and I feel the adrenaline starting to rise but then I calm down when I see that the light from the balcony is lit.

I then opened the door slowly and saw him leaning against the wooden balustrade watching the city center lights in the distance as he smoked a cigarette, so I curled up inside the simple blouse I was wearing and stopped to watch him.

He didn't even seem to notice my presence as he casually puffed smoke off of his mouth, and I let myself go and started to really see him, Roman was a beautiful guy and there was no room for discussion, especially standing there without the uniform, the blouse is a black turtleneck and it’s adjusted his silhouette in the right places and made it very clear to whoever looked at it that his chest and arms were shapely as well as his legs that left the fabric of the jeans stretched to the extreme, and when I wandered my gaze to other regions I realized that really everything was in place.

And then I remembered the kiss we had shared earlier and I felt my face and body tingle with the simple memory of his touch and I found myself wanting to feel him again but soon I would be married and I could never play with anyone's feelings, it wasn't correct, but that didn't erase the fact that the kisses we exchanged were for the best.

I lifted my gaze to his face and noticed that his eyes were closed as he slowly exhaled the smoke and then put the cigarette back between his pretty pink plump lips which made me bite mine in reflex, his jaw was even more prominent in the dim light of the balcony which accentuated the rest of his features, lighting his high cheekbones, darkening his hair and casting the shadow of his long eyelashes over his cheeks.

It was an extremely beautiful image that I would love to paint soon, but now I needed to get back to the real world and take it inside.

So I left my refuge and walked to him feeling the night ice through the socks that wrapped my feet, when I stopped beside him and watched his face I noticed that he had opened his eyes and his green irises were practically invisible since his pupils had dilated, the cigarette hung in his mouth near to the end and I took a deep breath before talking to him.

“Grandma asked me to take you inside so you can eat with us,” I said watching the lights in the distance and my own feet before looking at him and seeing him deny and mumble in a different dialect before I started to talk again “why not ?" I asked curiously and turned my face to him.

"I'm not allowed to sit with you at the table Miss, much less with your grandmother, it's not right, above all I'm just an employee and I can be punished for breaking the protocol" he said truly sad and I sighed tired of so many protocols in the royal family, so I took him by the hand and tried to pull him in but I forgot he was twice my size which made me look like a fly trying to push a spoon.

I ended up off balance and he held me for the second time since we arrived, his hands firm on my waist and this time I could feel them against my skin where the fabric of the my blouse rise up, they were hot which made me shiver and look at him, he then take his hands away from me and walked away while I composed myself.

“What's going on here?" I heard Grandma say and I turned back to see her standing in the doorway with a suspicious look on her face.

I tried my best to say something but soon Roman pulled away from me and looked seriously at my grandmother before starting to say "I appreciate the invitation to sit with you but I can't break the protocol, Majesty," I hear him say and see Grandma sigh deep before taking him by the hand and leading him inside and I followed them laughing as I heard Granny leg lecturing on the way to the kitchen.

"It's not because I was once queen and you take care of my granddaughter's safety that you won't be able to sit with us, it's been over twenty years since I've followed protocol boy, it won't be now that I'm going to complicate someone's life,” I heard her say seriously and look at him who just nodded and thanked her softly.

We then arrived in the kitchen and sat down to eat the candy, Roman didn't need to jump in the chair like I did since he had long legs which earned good comments from my grandmother about how tall and handsome he was.

So grandma started a good conversation with him and I just listened to them carefully, Roman says he almost like his father into his height but that he was more like his mother, so grandma asked where he came from and about his family, I found out that he was from De'Ath and I understood why he mumbled in a different language and that he had come to try to earn more so that he could help his mother study his sister since his father had died a few years ago in an accident at work.

He says that his father was a builder and his mother was a seamstress and that his sister wanted to be a stylist and be able to study at one of the local colleges, and when I saw him talk about his family I could see how much he loved them and wished that in my family we had a bit of that since every day we looked like predators and prey about to attack and be attacked by each other.

"That's very nice honey, how old is your sister?" I heard Grandma ask and he smiled slightly at the thought of his sister and stared at my grandmother as he took a sip of tea before answering her.

“She is fifteen but she designs beautiful dresses, I would like to give her that opportunity at some point,” he says and my grandmother smiles and congratulates him on being a good brother, he thanks her and continues to eat in silence.

And in the meantime I have a little idea.

“Roman?" I call him by name and see him jumpy a little, and realize this is the first time I call him by name and he sounds perfectly in my mouth, so I look up at him and see he expects me to continue, I then I take a deep breath and start twirling a strand of my huge hair that hits my lower back between my fingers before speaking again “Tell your sister that whenever she wants she can come to the castle to meet our stylists and I'll be happy to help. She'll study fashion when she's the right age to go to college,” I say and smile but see he just frowned and nodded a little confused at my offer and looked back at his candy.

I then looked at Grandma who looked confused too, but I left to talk to him more calmly after we left.

So as soon as we're done eating Roman silently excuses himself and leaves me alone with my grandma with the excuse of going to check the bike, grandma then looks at me and I already know something is coming.

“Honey your intention was good but I think the guy is a little haughty and from time to time I think he doesn't expect a lot of things from other people, but he's a good guy,” she says and I nod while smiling.

I then talk to her a bit about the adjustments and marriage. Grandma says the citizens approved the measures despite protests in the other countries of the union, and when I asked her about my marriage and asked her opinion she just laughed sarcastically.

“Darling, your posture in the face of this chaos is wonderful, but in the end the heart always speaks louder, I speak from experience," she says and I look at her confused and she sits down beside me and takes my hands in hers and I look at her deep in her eyes "I didn't want to marry your grandfather because I didn't support the monarchy and I swore to him that I would never do that but in the end I couldn't live without him, I loved him!" She says and I am shocked.

“I didn't expect you not to support the monarchy, but I'm glad you can experience what love is, my fiance is due to arrive soon, and I have a interview tomorrow and probably by the end of this year I will be a married woman and queen of the URMR ,” I said and saw Grandma smile softly and a little sad as she understood the weight of the title as well as I did.

“Honey don't rely too much on making plans, fate is great at playing with us, you can still be surprised,” she said and I nodded doubting that this was true as I will spend the last few months looking for someone and not find anyone.

It couldn't be now that this would happen.

So after that we talked a little more and seeing that it was already past 2 in the morning I decided to leave and I said goodbye to grandma and she asked me to come back soon and I promised I would come.

So I put on my boots and put my leather jacket back on and gave her a goodbye kiss before heading back outside and feeling the cool dawn air envelop my body, I noticed that my guard was sitting on the bike fiddling with a similar device with the old cell phones that were more sophisticated, he had his jacket on but our helmets were on the seat of the bike.

He saw me and put the device away and mounted the bike while wearing one of the helmets and signaling towards the other for me to do the same, I was surprised at his silence but I obeyed and climbed on the bike and circled his waist with my arms and hugged him from behind feeling relief that her body was warm in the cold night.

The return trip is fast and on the way only fluorescent lights were visible, the sounds of the city were dead hours ago and just a few people passed through the center at that time of dawn.

He then made the way as fast as he could and we arrived at the palace and he turned off the bike to avoid getting caught, I then got off the vehicle and took off my helmet giving him then realizing he was still silent what was killing me, but when I thought about saying something to him I saw that he had already got up and was walking far away from me.

I then took my shoes off in a hurry and ran with them in hand in the direction where Roman disappeared to try to catch him, but due to the size difference it was a difficult task, when he turned towards the main guard corridor I heard footsteps coming from there and pulled him back towards the passage I will use earlier seeing his confused and annoyed look, I then motioned for him to be quiet and pressed the wall mechanism listening to the footsteps approaching, so when the passage became visible I pushed him inside and followed him, closing the wall just in time.

I then tried to catch my breath and realized that his body was glued to mine and my breath was somehow mingling with his so I carefully dropped my shoes to the floor and pulled my hair into a bun and tried to concentrate before saying anything to him.

“What is going on here, Your Highness? If you don't need me I'd like to go to sleep,” he said in a dry, almost professional manner which made me bite my lip frustrated at how difficult he could be and haughty too.

"It was me saving us both from having to explain to our superiors what the hell we are doing here in this hour and I would like to apologize for earlier, I didn't want to offend you by offering help to your sister, I did it from the heart as I would for any child and as I want to do, but Forgive me Roman, I just wanted to help,” I said sincerely and looked in the direction I assumed was his face and heard him sigh deeply, then felt his hand reach for mine and felt him squeeze it and I waited anxiously for his answer.

“It's you who should forgive me Your Highness, I reacted abruptly to your offer, but I didn't expect that you would just want to help me as we barely know each other and I generally don't accept anyone's help, but your offer would be very welcome, my sister loves you,” he said and I laughed and heard him laugh too.

“It will be a pleasure to help you Roman, let her know about the visit and I will make sure to send a formal invitation to her," I said and he confirmed with a simple 'yes'.

So we were a few minutes in silence until he broke it with a question I had been expecting.

“Where are we?"

“In the property's secret tunnels, I'll take you to your room but don't tell anyone about them, okay?" I say and he nods, then I take his hand and grab my shoes and start guiding him to the next level.

I assume he looks impressed as we walk around in the dark as at every turn I hear him mumble something which makes me laugh.

"How did you learn to walk here?" He asks curiously and I smile as we climb the flights of the main stairs to the guard dorms.

“It's been months of mapping and fleeing the dead end tunnels but I finally managed to walk around here without getting lost,” I say and he mumbles something to himself as we turn into the last hallway and I see this is the same hallway I used a few days ago to get to Nick's room.

So as soon as I find the right wall I press the mechanism and it opens and I ask him to wait before leaving, when I don't hear voices I open the door and he leaves, I then look at him one last time and smile, he does the same.

“Thank you so much Roman!" I say and he just bows and disappears down the hall and I close the door behind me and head back up the main staircase to get to my room.

As I walk through the walls, I feel that the strength I needed to face the interview and the announcement of my marriage was successfully regained, I now have to go on and hold my head high and stop my father from trying to control my marriage and my life.