Breakfast and Butterflies

Maria and Henri walked hand-in-hand through the palace until they had reached the dining room.

Right as Henri reached for the door, Maria remembered something and softly gasped, "Wait!" to stop him before she continued, embarrassed yet giggling, "I forgot I don't have shoes on!"

With that, Henri dropped his hand and immediately looked down at her bare feet before he laughed.

"You go in, I'm going to go get some," she suggested, and before he could protest, she reached up to his face and pulled it down to give him a quick kiss.

Before he had a chance to react or offer to go with her, Maria turned on her heels and jogged down the hall towards her bedroom, a smile still plastered on her face.

She did not realize just how much she had missed Henri.

When she was with him it seemed as if all her worries went away because he had a way of not only making her laugh, but he also made her feel safe and protected with his sincerity.

Maria was used to royalty being more self-involved and proud, much like Arthur, but Henri could not be more different from the others.

She had gone to the gardens this morning in hopes that she would find comfort, and she had definitely found it, just not in the way she had expected.

Even though the gardens had always been her safe-haven, she was glad that it seemed like they were Henri's now, too; it could be something they shared together if they ended up married, Maria thought to herself.

What an exciting thought that was.

She reached her room and ran inside to grab a pair of brown sandals, and then thought to also grab Leonardo's invitation off of the table since their fencing date would be tomorrow.

She suddenly felt guilty because she realized that she had not said one word to Leonardo since their initial meeting the night the suitors arrived.

She had honestly totally forgotten about him.

"Oops," she said with a grimace as she turned and ran back down the hall towards the dining room.

By the time she had made it back, everyone else had already arrived; she was really making a habit of being late.

She put her head down and tried to quietly make her way to the table without causing a scene, but of course her father wouldn't let her get away that easily.

"My child! You've decided to join us all for breakfast today, I'm elated!" the King exclaimed as she took her seat at the table.

"Yes, I have more energy today and thought that since I missed dinner with you all last night that I should join you this morning," she said with a polite smile.

She could feel Jason's eyes on her so she turned and saw that he had a questioning look on his face, asking her if she was doing better.

She gave him a quick nod just as one of the men took a seat next to her and said, "I'm excited for us to bake together today".

Julien's smile was the first thing Maria saw when she turned her head towards him, and she smiled back as she said, "Me too," to not be rude.

In actuality, she was nervous about talking to him about what information he had shared with his brother.

They both turned towards their plates, and everyone started to enjoy the large breakfast before them.

Maria noticed that her cheeks really hurt as she chewed her food and she figured it must have been from all of the smiling and kissing she did that morning.

The butterflies Henri gave her were still fluttering around in her stomach and she felt for the first time as if she really had a good chance at getting not only the power of being the Queen, but the chance at real love too.

She had developed hope after her first date with him, but after this morning, she saw it within her reach like she never had before.

Chit-chat and the sounds of silverware clanking filled the room and Maria did not have a concern in the world, until she felt the uneasiness you feel when someone is staring at you.

She looked up to confirm her suspicions, and saw that Arthur was looking at her quizzically from the other side of the table.

Since she was still embarrassed from their encounter yesterday, she quickly looked back down at her food and took another bite.

Just one look from him caused her happy butterflies to vanish only to be replaced with twisting nerves from remembering how his kisses made her feel, and how she had no idea how to stop it.

Maria pushed the feelings that were starting to come up back down, and tuned out for the rest of the meal.

When breakfast was coming to a close and people started to leave, Maria decided to catch Leonardo before he left so that she could invite him on their date.

She took rushed steps as he had started to make his way to the door, and tapped his arm from behind.

He turned with a confused look on his face but upon seeing the princess, a soft smile graced his lips, "Why hello there," he said with a small bow towards her, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I wanted to invite you on a date tomorrow afternoon, if that's alright," she said as she handed him the parchment.

His smile grew slightly and he took the parchment to read it.

His eyebrows furrowed upon reading it and he looked up at her confused before he asked, "You're going to watch me fence?"

"Um, no, actually," she started, now nervous due to his response, "I was going to fence with you".

"Oh, alright," was all he replied, still with a questioning look on his face. He bowed again and continued, "Tomorrow afternoon, then," and he quickly turned and left.

"I knew fencing was a bad idea," she mumbled to herself right as she felt someone come up behind her.

"Well, well. What was that about?" the deep, familiar voice questioned.

Maria turned to find Arthur was standing behind her with an amused look on his face.

She felt the twists in her stomach come back and she looked to the side of the room before she answered, "I don't think he likes the premise of our date".

"Ungrateful," Arthur replied with a tsk, "If he isn't happy about spending time with you, I'd be happy to take his place".

Now Maria was the one with the confused look on her face.

Did he really still want to spend time with her after her breakdown yesterday?

She figured someone like him would want nothing to do with her after seeing her cry like that.

She pushed her thoughts aside and said, "Excuse me," before she walked away towards Jason.

He was standing with Henri and they were both laughing at whatever one of them had said.

Maria felt bad for interrupting, but she was mad and wanted to let her brother know that she was right in her fears about Leonardo's date.

They saw her approach at the same time, and while Jason could see the anger hidden in her eyes because he knew her well enough, Henri only saw the beautiful woman he had a crush on.

Jason's face fell, sensing he was in trouble, and Henri's smile only grew as she made her way towards them.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you," she said looking only at Henri with a fake, princess smile she had gotten good at applying to her face throughout the years, "But do you mind if I steal my lovely brother from you for a minute or two?" She asked.

"Of course not, I'll see you both later," he said as his heart melted in her presence.

Henri smiled at both of them and turned to walk out of the dining room.

The second he was gone, her fake smile fell and she glared at her brother before she whispered accusingly, "I knew a fencing date would be a bad idea!"

The concern in Jason's face immediately left upon hearing that and instead he chuckled under his breath, which only aggravated Maria more.

"It's not funny!" she said.

"Do you remember what else I told you?" he asked, now slightly more serious. Her face twisted as she tried to remember, but before she could he said, "If he can't handle a woman who is versed in the art of sports, he doesn't deserve you".

Maria felt her anger melt, but didn't want to let him in on the fact that he was right, so she held the front that she was still mad at him before she simply said, "Fine".

"It'll be okay, Mar," he said to her as he could sense that she needed to hear it.

She let out a breath and nodded at him before she turned to make her way out of the dining room and back to her chambers.