Muscle Memory

Adarian had finally finished with his busy schedule. The past three days he had added to his workload the task of sending those that were loyal to Graciella in his last life away from the castle for a while. He sent them to the west, away from the border that would soon cause trouble. He would evaluate them one by one, and allow only those that remained loyal to him to come back to the castle. They would no longer work closely with him as they had before. He was finally finished with all of that busy work.

Since he was finished with all of his audits, he would be able to keep Olivia company during her lessons in the afternoon. Smiling, he left his office.

He heard Olivia exclaim from outside the door. "Awe! That's so cute! Darie!" He walked in on Olivia and Fredericka giggling. He could feel his face get hotter with his embarrassment.

Olivia saw him sheepishly walk into the room. She saw the look on his face and began to laugh harder.

He closed the door behind him and then went to catch his wife from falling off the chair from her laughter. He looked at Fredericka and said jokingly, "You're not allowed to talk to my wife anymore. ...Telling her embarrassing stories."

Olivia held onto Adarian. She knew she was leaning over a lot from laughing, but she wasn't going to fall off the chair. Not until he came to catch her making her laugh harder. She laughed so hard tears came out. Adarian didn't know what to do. Why was she crying?

Olivia was still laughing as she wiped her tears, "I'm sorry." She looked at Adarian with shining eyes and a big smile on her face. "I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

"Were you laughing at me, wife?" Adarian asked her as he continued to hold onto her.

Olivia tried to stifle a giggle, and seeing Freddie shaking while trying to hold back her laughter was not helping. "Only a bit." Olivia smiled at him. Then she kissed his cheek. "Forgive me?"

"Only if you do that to the other side," Adarian teased.

Olivia rolled her eyes at him and kissed the other side of his face. "Better? She asked while holding his cheeks in her hands.

He nodded.

"You two, as a couple are obnoxiously cute. Do you two plan to flirt like that everywhere?" Fredericka Lowenheim felt like she was an obstacle that the couple hadn't realized was there.

Olivia looked at her like she was crazy. "We aren't cute."

"That's right," Adarian looked at his cousin like he was offended. "My wife is obviously adorable. Cute isn't a strong enouf- worb."

Olivia covered up his mouth on the last two words of his sentence. "Why are you here?"

Adarian held her hands so she would stop covering his mouth and looked smugly at Olivia. "My wife, it is time for you to learn your lessons with me."

Olivia looked at Fredericka in confusion. She tried really hard not to think of the way he made that sound as he said it right in her ear. He was seriously too seductive. If she had been in her old body she would have fainted ages ago.

"Dance lessons," Fredericka saw the way Adarian flirted with Olivia and was impressed. She didn't know her cousin was such a rake. No wonder he said he was the one who seduced Olivia. Olivia seemed to lack awareness of Adarian as a man. She could tell Olivia was trying, but had no clue how to go about it. This was the vixen of their kingdom? Fredericka just couldn't see her as a vixen. There was nothing vixen like about her other than her gaudy clothes. Most of it was very fashionable. Some of it was a little too revealing of her cleavage. But Olivia was never out of the fashion trends.

Fredericka decided to put her next question on hold until her after their dance lesson. She wanted to ask about Olivia's wardrobe.

"Ready to begin?" She asked the royal couple.

Olivia was suddenly excited. When she was younger she, like many other little girls in the world, wanted to be a princess, or a ballerina.

Learning to dance took up too much physical exertion. The doctor's told her she couldn't do it.

That was then.

This is now.

She would finally learn to dance! Even better, she didn't have to worry about having a body too weak to dance, or whether or not she would faint. From what she saw when she was to the ball, the waltz hadn't been invented here. There were unfamiliar dances they were doing, unfortunately she didn't have control over her eyes at that time and couldn't study the dances back then.

Olivia stood up quickly. "I'm ready!"

Adarian was happy to see Olivia so cheerful and excited. Freddy was the best choice of teacher after all. He didn't think any other teacher would be able to get this kind of smile out of Olivia.

While they were dancing Olivia thought it would be just like all those old clichés where the girl learning to dance was clumsy and stepped on the guys toes. But reality was different. This was her very first dance lesson, and it turned out that she was very graceful. Fredericka played the piano while Adarian danced with her. Adarian was able to lead her in their dancing magnificently. She never once stepped on his toes or kicked his shins.

"Wonderful!" Fredericka cried once they were done dancing. "This dance was a dance that everyone in the kingdom knows how to do. The way the man leads his partner is supposed to represent the way the five gods lead people to this land. Lets try one more dance then. This one will require more independent movement, but is very popular at the balls."

Freddie showed her what movements to make while Adarian played the piano. Just like the first dance, she was able to perfectly complete this dance. When the music played, she automatically knew how to move. Then Olivia Carter realized... Muscle memory. Olivia Praxis was the perfect lady. Graciella had made sure of it. So of course Olivia Praxis would have been able to perfectly execute the dance moves. This was also evident in how she walked. Olivia Carter slouched when she walked, and often dragged her feet. Olivia Praxis walked with a sophisticated grace, and stood up properly straight. So far, Olivia Carter was using Olivia Praxis muscle memory. She vaguely wondered if she would be able to use Olivia Praxis' other memories. Or would she only be able to use her muscle memory?

"That will conclude our dance lesson for today," Fredericka was all smiles. She didn't expect Olivia to be able to do the dances so easily. It brought back that small feeling that Olivia could be lying about her memories, or about being from another world.

Before Fredericka could dwell too much on this thread of thought, she saw Adarian taking liberties to touch Olivia's bare shoulder and was reminded once again of Olivia's wardrobe choices.

"Olivia," Fredericka began, "How do you choose your clothing?"

Olivia looked at her, not too sure what to say. So far since she had been in this world, she picked whatever looked easier to put on. She wasn't sure if Freddy was asking about what she was wearing for the day, or what she picked out to wear in the mornings.

She subconsciously looked at Adarian. He picked out her dress this morning. How did he decide?

Fredericka saw Olivia looking at Adarian for confirmation of something. "Am I missing something?"

"She's still never been shopping." Adarian explained. He knew what his cousin was asking. Olivia's dress this morning was rather low cut. As were most of her dresses. But he knew, even the Olivia who had been born into this world, had never chosen any of her own wardrobe. From what he remembered in the Diary, Olivia was to be Graciella's doll. And dolls don't get to choose their own clothing.

"Then perhaps tomorrow, we won't come down for breakfast, but Olivia and I will eat in the queen's Apartments," Fredericka said.

"The Queen's Apartments?" Olivia looked at Adarian knowing he didn't want her too far from him. Across the hall seemed to be his limitation. Would he agree to her being across the castle from him?