SWNOVELS Chapter 25
"And you believe that in doing this you will gain control over your powers?" it is the rude one who responds first. I look at him and hope I can convince him.
"Yes I do believe it will work council." I am not sure at all but I can't let that fear come through my face so I squeeze Patrick's hand bit to steady myself. I see a slight smile come across his face as I do.
"And who is it you have chosen?" the red headed man appears to be looking directly at Patrick with a smirk on his face.
"I am who she chose." Patrick announces as he looks at the screen then over to me with a full smile on his face. The council did not seem shocked in the least instead a smile forms on every face on the screen. I look at Patrick and back at them.
"Yes I have chosen Patrick. I hope that the council understands that I wish to remain free. In order to do that, I have to gain control over my powers. Patrick and I have feelings for each other and this is the only way I can see that the prophecy can be fulfilled." I can feel the urge to break down come into me but I hold myself together even with the fear of not being myself lingering in my head.
"We will give you three days; you must in this time marry Patrick, as well as be able to prove that you can control your powers. In three days we will reconvene first thing in the morning. Until then princess, Patrick good luck." all the screens goes blank at once but the smiling faces seem to linger for a moment after they were all gone. It feels as though they are mocking me as I turn to Patrick who himself has a huge smile on his face.
"Well I guess we should get this underway then." He looks at me as he speaks. I do not smile back at this point. So many doubts, fears and of course the warning echo through my head.
"I think I have some material left that would be suitable, but I am not sure." I don't look up at him I know I am nowhere near ready for this after the dream I had last night. Was I really ready to leave one prison for what could possibly be another?
"It's ok Laoonica. I am sure we can find some white material from the beddings and table clothes that will work." He lifts my chin up as he has done so many times before when I am uncertain of things. The smile on his face usually calms me but not this time. Do I tell him about the part of being a slave? Do I confront him about the dream? So many questions.
"We will have the ceremony in the cafeteria and all the crew will be witnesses." The captain chimes in as it is the largest room on the ship.
With his hand still under my chin and lifting my head up to where his eyes finally met mine. "No matter what happens after, you know that I mean it when I say that I love you." I smile at him finally, more so to try and convince him I am okay so he will let me go.
"I love you." I say still afraid of this step I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I have never felt this way and I am very unsure what it is. I did remember asking my mother one time how she felt the day her and father were married. I remembered she said she was afraid at first but it fades, once you learn to love the one you are chosen to be with the fear subsides. For my father he said he had butterflies in his stomach as well, but that he knew everything would be okay at the end. I hope that this is all this was, butterflies, and that when it came time that I to do it I will know that this is what is right.
He held my hand as we walked out the door together as the captain stays in pressing a button on the computer. The captain announces over the entire ship that tomorrow at noon there was to be a wedding. I am more than a bit embarrassed as we stepped out onto the deck then make our way to the elevator as he continues to announce. "Lieutenant Wolf and Princess Laoonica will be holding their ceremony in the cafeteria tomorrow evening. Everyone that can get away from their station is invited to join in this joyous occasion." Everyone on the deck cheers as I blush. I think at this point it actually hit Patrick because he swallows really hard then waves his hands in the air and more or less pushes me into the elevator.
"Well I didn't expect him to do that." He says breathing a bit heavily as he impatiently and repeatedly pushes the cafeteria button trying to speed up the doors closing which didn't work. The crew is still looking at us cheering, some even stand while clapping.
"Well I guess it's out there now." I almost pass out from holding in all my emotions in the conference room and Patrick caught me. I grip his shirt as he does.
"Are you okay?" he asks as he holds me in his arms. I had not allowed my powers so he seems confused about my reaction.
"I don't know; I am just so confused right now as so many things are rushing through my mind. I guess the stress is catching up with me. That or the fact we skipped breakfast." I say pulling myself back together as he doesn't let go right away to make sure that I have my footing.
"It's going to be okay, I promise." He says he let go with one arm but keeps the other wrapped around me as the doors open and we step out.
"Are you ok?" I asked looking at him. When we got into I could tell he is a little overwhelm as well. He leans against the wall in the hall way for a moment as he looks ahead at the doors to the cafeteria. He looks over at me and smiles.
"Sorry I didn't realize the captain was going to make such a big deal out of all this. And a little worried about my father I haven't heard anything since yesterday. It's just a lot to take in right now. I am really nervous right now that's all." He looks at the doors again knowing that if it is crowded there will be a lot of commotion over the announcement.
"You look like you don't want to go in there." I look at the doors as well. He is not the only one who is not really into the publicity of our marriage.
"I am just preparing myself for the amount of fuss that will made by the entire crew after all I have been extremely adamant about being opposed to it." This makes me laugh as he stands back up takes a long deep breath. He holds his arm out and I take it as together we walk towards the cafeteria. We both move slowly.
"I am nervous as well Patrick." I blurt out, I know he has already figured that out, but I just felt like I should say something so he doesn't feel so alone. We walk into the cafeteria which thankfully is not crowded as most of the crew has already had breakfast and has went back to work.
"I know." He says as he holds both of our trays in his hands as we walk up to the line. The workers are all smiles as they hand us our food but they didn't say anything. They do not say anything but they seem overly happy. More so than Patrick and myself.
"I do not know what else to do, and there is the fact that this may not work. I don't know if this is what the prophecy actually means and it scares me. I am afraid that if I cannot prove that I have control over my powers then I will still be stuck in a cage. I know my father doesn't approve of this at all he would be so disappointed. Then I have to make a proper dress all by tomorrow night. I didn't realize it would all feel so rushed." I am babbling like a crazy person speaking so fast I am not sure if he understands all that I am saying. He doesn't catch the act that I said doesn't as if my father was still alive and for that I am a bit grateful as he might question such knowledge.
"Wow and I thought that I was bad about worrying." He smiles as he carries both trays to a table to the side trying to avoid most eyes but his attempt fails miserably. "I hope it works as well as I hope you don't decide that you want to leave afterwards." I don't know how he knows I am thinking about doing that if I didn't gain control.
"I am not sure what I will do. Everything is still up in the air at this point as we haven't even begun the wedding itself." I try to conceal that he is so close to the truth of what will happen if it doesn't work. Of course now that I have to demonstrate my power control to the council that is not as much of an option as it had been. I love Patrick and don't want to hurt him, but it will be far better to break his heart then it would be to accidently kill him. I feel as though any more loss of live at my hand may indeed drive me out of my mind.
"Congratulations you two." A woman says as she and a friend walked past.
"Bout time someone caught you Lieutenant." Her friend said as they just smiled and walked out of the room. I haven't really seen these people before or any of the rest that continued to cascade by us with the same or close to the same phrase and goofy smiles across their faces.
"This is going to be a long meal." I say as the polite thing to do each time is to swallow my bite and respond with a thank you. I do this with each and every person who takes the time to congratulate us. It feels like breakfast takes more than an hour with the interruptions finally coming to a halt as the food line closes to prepare for lunch.
"Are you finished?" Patrick asks laughing as I eat much faster than normal trying to get as many bites in as possible between interruptions.
"Yes finally." I say after momentarily holding my hand at my mouth to finish off my last bite. When we stand up and leave the cafeteria. He takes my hand and leads me past the elevator. I look at the doors as we pass the elevator, then at him. "Where are we going?" I have never been down this way and I am a tad confused. I had thought we would have been heading up to the room, so I could get busy on my dress and such. So where could he be taking me?
"Sorry, I guess I should have told you, I am taking you to the storage rooms to see if you can find something to make a dress out of." I look at him. He is trying to rush through things so fast that he forgot that about telling me anything. He was also walking way ahead of me at this point.
"You can slow down a bit I can barely keep up." I say laughing. He pauses and turns to me with a blush on his cheeks. I guess he was a s nervous as myself even if it was for completely different reasons.
"Sorry." He says as he comes back to my side placing his arm around me and slowing down to my pace. We walk past several of the doors down the hallway before we finally stop. When he opens the door I am a bit overwhelmed. There are boxes in stacks on either side of a small walkway. I look at all of stuff shoved into this small room. It is neatly stacked but it is still amazing that so much can fit in such a small space.