Caught

As they entered the dining room, everyone turned to bow their heads in respect to the King and Queen.

Maria could feel that her face was still red from embarrassment from her parents finding her lip-locked with a man in the hall, and her body was still in a state of wanting from the kiss.

'They could not have had worse timing', she thought to herself, as she still needed Julien to answer her question of if he could happily live his life as the King of Greece.

If he could not, then Maria would have to inform her father immediately because she owed it to the people of Greece to provide them with the most suitable and unwavering ruler.

Not only that, but if she was going to be forced into an arranged marriage, she still wanted it to be one that could foster love and happiness in the future, and she feared that Julien would resent her if she stole away his freedom that he clearly craved.

She was given this life and it was her duty, but the man she would end up with would have to choose it for himself.

Part of her really hoped that he would be willing to choose her, but she did not have the confidence that he would be willing to give up everything for her and for a country that wasn't his.

Everyone joined together at the table and Maria finally started to come back to reality and began to look around the room.

The first thing she noticed was that Arthur was looking intently across the table between her and Julien, but his face was good at hiding his emotions, and didn't seem to give away what he was thinking.

She turned to look at Julien, who was next to her still, and saw that he appeared to be avoiding Arthur's gaze.

For two brothers who admittedly shared everything together, Julien looked like he had something to hide from Arthur, and it did not go unnoticed by him or by Maria.

She turned away, thinking that she could let it be their problem to sort out, and that she would just stay out of whatever it was, before she continued to look around.

Rafael and Leonardo were talking to each other in what looked like a passionate discussion; she wished she knew what they could possibly be discussing.

Henri had taken a seat directly across from Maria, and he was finishing telling Jason about the lake at his castle that has plenty of fish swimming around in it to go fishing for dinner at least once a week.

Like usual, Maria kept to herself as she ate her dinner while occasionally listening in on the conversations around her.

When they were done eating, Dimitris came out with the large baking sheet of now ready baklava that Julien and Maria had made together just a little bit of time ago.

He had cut it into perfect little diamonds so that no one had to go through the hassle of wrestling with the knife to cut their own piece while trying to avoid getting covered in honey.

"Ah, so you two did make dessert after all!" the King exclaimed with a laugh while he looked between her and Julien, and Maria felt her face fire up again.

Arthur looked at the King, confused, as did a few of the others, before he just raised his eyes and shook his head with an amused chuckle.

"Maria, did you make this?" Henri asked as he turned his head to look at her.

"Yes, Julien and I made it together," she said softly.

She saw something flash in Henri's eyes, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared, and he said, "It tastes amazing! Wonderful job!"

"Yeah, Mar, you should make this more often. Who knew you could cook?" Jason said mockingly as he winked at her.

Maria elbowed him under the table but replied, "I think the praise should go straight to Julien because I was covered in honey and broke a bunch of the phyllo dough within seconds. It wouldn't have been a success if he wasn't there".

"You give me too much credit, princess," he said to her with a soft smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

The look that had been on Arthur's face before returned, and he crooked his head to the side before he said in a flat voice, "You two seem to make a great pair," while he focused on Julien to see his reaction.

"One can definitely say that with how we found them entangled in each other in the hall earlier!" the King joked, clearly unaware of the effect his words might have on the suitors.

Silverware immediately clanked as multiple people had dropped them in shock of what the King had just shared.

Jason spit out the wine he had in his mouth and immediately brought up his linen napkin to wipe and cover his mouth.

Maria, on the other hand, completely froze in shock over the fact that her father had just called her out like that. And in front of everyone!

She was used to her dad drinking a lot and becoming looser with his words as the day went on, but he had never, ever said anything embarrassing and revealing like that about Maria.

But then again, he had also never found her pressed against a man in the hallway like that before, either.

She knew he didn't mean any harm by his comment, but it didn't make her any less horrified that he chose to joke about it in front of the other men who were vying for her favor also.

It was one thing to make a joke in front of just their family, but it was something different entirely to make a joke in front of the men she was courting.

Thankfully, Queen Kalli spoke up before anyone else could and she quickly said, "Well, we have enjoyed the wine enough tonight, darling, why don't we retire for the evening?" before she got up and pulled her husband up with her.

Since the King and Queen rose, everyone else at the table did too to show respect, which was a good way to prevent further conversation or exchanged looks.

Maria decided she would also take advantage of the opportunity to leave, and she quickly pushed out her chair and took fast steps out of the dining room and down the hallway to escape to her room before anyone could stop her.