Objective II - Outside in the Garden
Aurelian Veruna
Do not ask. Do not encourage him, Sibylla, she told herself sternly, even as she fought the warmth creeping into her cheeks at the entirely inappropriate direction his thoughts had clearly taken, her own mind racing at thoughts provoked and fueled by her own recent guilty pleasure binge reading of particularly provocative novels...
The objective was simple: exit the gala without spectacle. If Aurelian did not have to speak to anyone, they could maintain the illusion that all was perfectly well. But in his current state, there was no predicting what he might say next -- and worse, she was not entirely confident she could keep from laughing at it.
Aurelian knew her too well. He knew precisely what would make her want to smack him and what would make her laugh despite herself.
By the time he lowered himself onto the bench near the concourse, arms draped across the back as though he had conquered the evening through sheer willpower alone, he tipped his head back and let the loose dark curls of his hair toss away from his face in triumph, Sibylla nearly huffed aloud in exasperation.
He looked absurdly
pleased with himself.
Well at least he could take some air and sober up, she mused, coming to a slow halt beside him, scanning the area while he caught his breath to make certain no one of consequence had followed. One hand slipped into the discreet pocket of her gown and withdrew a slim commlink, snapping it open to deploy a quiet message to the driver to meet them shortly.
"Ah, so she was not exclusively acting as my champion; you managed to offend on multiple fronts," Sibylla remarked dryly as she snapped the comm shut. He had a tendency to be sharp with his words, but not deliberately hurtful to people he considered close. Odds were, Adelle had not found such a joke to be amusing at all, and she could not blame her for it.
Sibylla let out a quiet sigh, now fairly certain that leaving him to make her point had perhaps been a miscalculation.
It had been meant as an example -- if fueled, albeit a bit jealously, by her own desire to play the same attention-grabbing game he'd been playing -- a small demonstration of how it felt to be the one left behind. At the very least, she had left him among people he was beginning to consider friends rather than strangers.
"It was not merely my patience that was tested." That last bit carried a touch more weight, conveying the lingering annoyances at his actions. However, it was what he confessed next in a quieter, less theatrical admission that stilled her.
I do not like other men thinking they can court you. I do not like it one bit.
Oh.
A few seconds passed, and Sibylla was uncertain if she heard him correctly until he emphasized that other men looked at her as if she were available to be courted when she was not. It was then that she bit her lower lip, gnawing at the flesh in a telling habit she rarely indulged in public, but one that surfaced when something struck her deeper than she expected.
Because it bothered her, too.
The suitors and their calculated interest. The way men and women alike looked at her not simply as a woman, but as leverage. A potential alliance. A political advantage wrapped in silk that would elevate them in station and provide connections to House Abrantes. To the elected Voice of Naboo. To perhaps, a potential candidate for Queen in the next election.
She understood the weight of it. Lived with it.
And though Sibylla had recognized that his earlier performance had been a deliberate attempt to provoke her and not as a serious flirtation, it had still unsettled her. Seeing other women openly interested in him. Seeing him receive it so effortlessly.
So when he admitted that it bothered him -- that watching others approach her as though she were available stirred something unpleasant in him -- her thoughts spun.
Was....he jealous?
It was such a shift from the bravado and petulance of moments earlier. Now he was being honest. Introspective. Vulnerable even, through the haze of whiskey.
Sibylla quietly tucked the commlink away and stepped forward, lowering herself to sit beside him. Her skirts rustled softly as she adjusted. Aurelian would feel a gentle tap against his shoulder with her own that signaled that she understood more than she was ready to say outright.
But if she were honest… she wanted to understand it all more clearly. No games, no wordplay.
"Is that why you chose to entertain the Voss sisters so… attentively?" she asked, one brow lifting in a quiet, if searching tone. There was no accusation in it, only inquiry.
Perhaps that made it worse. Because it had not been her fault that Lord Cavill, among others, sought her, believing she was of marriageable age and open to courtship offers.
They were walking this intricate high rope together, trying to balance the duties and responsibilities of their elected position with those of their House, and what they felt personally for each other. Each wore a persona for the public compared to that with their true selves in private. Each was unable to make sudden or overt moves because to do so would invite scrutiny that could potentially put in shambles everything that they had worked for and were working towards.
The last thing they needed was for anyone to state they were in a conflict of interest between what they felt for each other, Naboo, and the Republic as a whole.
So they had come to an agreement on Life Day that they would walk through this on their own timeline, not others, not tethered to others' expectations or House politics on what a courtship should look like or be followed. They loved each other. In that, it had been enough.
But it was certainly a lot more complicated in practice than in theory, wasn't it? Even now, Sibylla couldn't help but think back on how she had acted tonight and what that said of her. And if Adelle noticed, who else had as well?
For her part, Sibylla had done her best to push the requests aside as politely as possible, but it was Adelle who came to assist... while Aurelian merely looked on and decided to chat with the infamous Voss twins, a nimble ballerina and a beautiful painter.
Twins, she was certain, would have stirred Aurelian's interest in the past with their coquetish flirtation.
"You seemed remarkably invested for a man merely fetching a drink," she continued, tilting her head slightly, studying him.
Sibylla Abrantes
