Once I arrived in the kitchen I saw something that I hadn’t seen before. Marcel, in the kitchen. “What are you doing here?” I asked him as I opened the cooler and pulled out the glass jug of orange juice and a plate of cookies. I moved over to the cabinet and felt his eyes follow me. “Do you mind?” I grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured my orange juice.

“I don’t mind at all.” Marcele said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes, “please let me be, it is too early for this.”

I glanced over and saw Marcel arch his eyebrow, “can I not watch my future wife? I love your effortless movements.”

I groaned, “please stop calling me that.”

“You are my future wife.”

Not willingly bastard.

“Yes, but you do not have to call me every chance you get. I do have a name and that is Maria.” I sat down to enjoy a couple of cookies as I watched Marcel get a glass of water and sit across from me.

“Alright. I will try to just call you Maria from here on out.” He sounded defeated but I hoped he got what I meant.

“I appreciate that.” I dared to look him in the eye as I feared his magic. The necklace that Theo had the enchantress make would be complete tomorrow so I had to avoid eye contact with him until then.

“While I got you here, can we discuss our wedding?”

That surprised me. Marcel was never eager when it came to planning the wedding. So his change in behavior surprised me.

“Sure.” I said, “what do you want to discuss? We have a lot of it planned already. Flowers and my dress are taken care of, and you got your suit fitted, right?"

"Right."

"Good. And we agreed on a costume theme, right?" I thought back on all the wedding planning and what we may have discussed so far. He nodded. “We also got the colors down," I reminded him. “We can hire someone to decorate based on our flower choice and what minor decorations we choose to have."

His face lit up. "Hire someone?"

"Yes…" I sighed. "Only to decorate, though. We also need a few musicians. We can hire those out as well."

"Do you have any musicians in mind?" He asked, pulling out a piece of paper and a quill.

I thought back to all of my parents' past events and all the musicians they hired. " There are a few. I think my parents may have a list somewhere around here. I can find that, and I will get the word out to a few of them to see if they are available during that week."

"Would you dance?" Marcel asked, catching me a bit off guard again.

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"Dance?" How did he know I could dance?

"The first time I saw you was at an event a few years back, and you danced beautifully."

I looked at him, confused. I could not recall any event where he had been present. I would have remembered his appearance, let alone his smell of brimstone. "What event?"

“It was Winterfall's Annual Winter Ball, I believe. The annual ball your parents used to throw. This was shortly after I had gained the crown of Summer Crest. I didn't stay too long, as I did not want to draw attention to myself, but your mother invited me to the event."

I thought back long and hard to that event. I remembered what I wore that day: a well-fitted green dress that hugged my body just right.

I thought his scent was familiar, Théoden said through the bond. But he had left the event before I could approach him and question him. He recalled the event, showing me a flashback to him approaching a figure that looked like Marcel in the back of the crowded great hall.

"Why didn't you introduce yourself?"

"I was nervous. I had just taken the throne, and I did not want to draw attention to myself," he admitted. “Regardless, would you be willing to perform yourself at our wedding?"

I thought about it briefly. "Sure, though I don't typically do duets, so it will be performed solo." Part of that was a lie, but I only wanted to dance with Théoden.

"Fair enough, but we will have a dance, right? I have been told that the bride and groom share a dance?"

I sighed. "Yes, that is correct, but we can keep that simple. We don't need to learn anything fancy for our first dance."

"Very well. That’s probably for the best, as I cannot dance to save my life."

"Now I almost want to put you through that torture..." I said with a smile. The thought of him failing to learn a complicated dance amused me, especially knowing how many years of practice I was put through.

"Please don't; it will be an embarrassment to both of us," he said, urging me against that decision.

"Very well, so we have ideas for hiring musicians, decorations, and a dance solo. This is a very good start." I thought for a moment. "I can reach out to the decorators my parents also used, as they were top-notch."

"Good. If you need help with that, let me know." He stood up from his seat and put his now empty glass in the sink. “I have to check in on things with Crimson and how Summer Crest is going without me there. I'll chat with you later, darling." He left me alone in the kitchen once again.

Once he left I couldn’t help but reflect on the conversations I had today. First, King Alaric’s warning I held onto strongly. I knew that there was something off with Sybil and his foresight into the council confirmed it. And then there was my chat with Queen Eleanor, who surprised me and was open with siding with me in my fight against Marcel. Then Marcel, who surprised me and took initiative in surprising me with jumping on the topic of wedding planning. Huh, times have changed indeed.

Maria? Theoden’s voice echoed through the bond, are you alright?

Yeah, I believe so. Just a lot has happened in a short amount of time. Why do you ask?

Your emotions have been all over the place. Anger. Hate. Love. Sadness. Literally everything.

Huh, must have been all of the conversations.

How charged is your ring love?

I glanced down at the ring, decently charged. A handful of the gems seem to be fully charged, others partially charged. And that was the truth, as as the ring's power was used yesterday, the gems hadn’t had time to replenish the power that was used.

Regardless if they are partially charged or not, we should still practice tonight. Keeping them down might be the best for the both of us.

I sighed, so another round of magic training tonight?

Yes, even if it will hurt like hell.