Artemis (previously The Lady Lockhart)

Chapter Nineteen - Part One

A/N Listen to Come What May by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. It represents the sentiment of this chapter very well, and I'm absolutely in love with it. You can find it on Spotify, but I've put what I could find on YouTube in the Media section. :)

LONG AFTER EMMETT AND WILLIAM HAD RETIRED TO THEIR ROOMS, Emmeline and Peter remained in the library. After it had been decided that the foursome would visit the palace the next day to make their case to the King, the would-have-been couple had chosen to stay to talk a while longer in private. Albeit chaperoned by Penelope and one of the butlers of Wellington House for the sake of propriety, they were quite lost in each other's conversation, and both felt like they were the only two in the world. It was quite like when they danced; but without the movement and the music, the depths of the other's personality became easier to see, hear and feel. Peter seemed to smile brighter, and Emmeline's eyes sparkled with more zest. Both parties seemed, to the other, far more beautiful bathed in the light of the library chandelier and surrounded by wood, ink and silence. They spoke of their lives and their love, laughing and smiling, until Peter turned serious.

    "You know, Emmeline, I proposed to you in the letter I sent – the one your brother intercepted."

    "Peter..." Emmeline looked at him with pain in her bright green eyes. He had proposed to her... They could have been engaged and making wedding preparations. Emmeline had never lived a dramatic life. If there was any constancy in it at all she should have been Peter's fiancée and at this time. Instead, she found herself hearing the man she loved tell her that he had attempted a proposal she never received, while she herself was chained to another man whom she did not love, and who did not love her. This was the stuff of a dramatic opera – and while she found a substantial amount of pleasure in visiting the theatre, she did not enjoy her situation one bit.

    Peter opened his mouth to speak again, but she stopped him with a shake of her head and a faint smile that showed not happiness but the ache in her heart. "Not now, my love. You can propose to me properly after I am free from the...issue with Prince Alexander."

    If I am ever free from it, she added inwardly, but those words were the type that she saved for herself to marinate in. Though she longed to confess how worried she was, she kept her words firmly steered away from the undesirable outcomes that very possibly could be realised the next day. She believed that her wonderful, bright-eyed could-have-been husband-to-be did not need to know of her pessimism towards the situation.

    "May at least tell you I love you?"

    Emmeline choked on what would have been laughter, her emerald eyes beginning to shine both with slight amusement and with immense grief. She found herself unable to speak, but managed to nod her permission.

    "I love you, Emmeline."

    More tears rushed forth, and one rolled down her cheek. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she looked away to hastily wipe a runaway tear away with her embroidered handkerchief before meeting his gaze once again and forcing her throat to obey her will.

    "I love you just...just as much, Peter." She paused to take a composing breath. "I will never be willing to marry anyone but you."

    "And you shall never have to," he responded tenderly, resting one of his hands on hers. "Lord Mayfair will make sure of it. Just as he told you – he will do everything within his power to help."

    Emmeline sighed. "I do not doubt his willingness to do so; my only concern is that rescuing me will be quite out of his means."

    "If that truly is the case, Emmeline, we could elope."

    "I'm afraid I don't think could ever bring myself to do so. We would have no prospects left in this land; and while I do speak Italian and Italy is a lovely place, I...I simply cannot leave my father and brother behind. They mean so much to me."

    "I know," he replied, but he sounded discouraged.

    "Peter..." She sounded disinclined to believe that he accepted her choice.

    "I understand," he reassured her, interlacing his fingers with hers. "I do."

    She smiled tightly at him, and the two were silent for a while, just holding hands and being together, before she spoke again.

    "If... Whatever happens tomorrow, if I never see you again—" Emmeline's voice snagged in her throat. "Please remember I love you. Whatever happens, I will only ever love you, Peter."

    She had not meant to speak of that possibility, but the thought of parting without being able to tell him of the magnitude of her love made her heart feel as if it were being crushed by the entirety of St James' Palace, and almost reluctantly she let the words out of her mouth.

    "And I you," he vowed in return, his typically light hazel eyes growing thick with emotion and turning a deep shade of chocolate. "But do not cry, my love. Tomorrow will not be the last time you see me – His Grace will not let it be."

    "I love you." Was all she could respond with, tears streaming down her cheeks, for they were the only words she truly knew to be true. Peter seemed so optimistic about the situation – he seemed to have so much faith in her father. Despite everything she hoped for and longed for to happen, Emmeline was all too aware that even the Duke of Mayfair had things he could not do. The probability of success, however much she did not wish to admit it, was low. Her hazel eyed captain gave her hand a comforting squeeze, though his eyes, while reassuring, conveying that he shared in her sorrow; and her heart broke, for she knew that he might not be hers for much longer.

The first update of 2017 is finally here! Thank you for reading, voting and commenting :D Here's to a better year for everyone!