Villainess From the Stars

12. A Late Apology is Better Than None

Vienna lay out beneath Old One, her eyes closed, enjoying the sunlight that filtered through the branches above her. She reached out a hand and rested it against the base of the trunk. A long sigh escaped her as she relaxed further. The tenseness from the previous night's nightmare melted away as she lay cradled in the embrace of her favorite tree.
Her peace was broken as she heard the clearing of a throat.
"What is it, Frey?" She raised her arms in the air, waiting for one of the now familiar weights of the Rhodons' twins in her arms.
Simple silence met her.
She let out a breath and resisted the urge to open one eye. The warmth of the afternoon was far too inviting, "Well...don't you need me to hold one of the twins?"
Still, no answer came, which was unusual for Frey. She'd at least expect an awkward chuckle.
This time she couldn't stop herself from peeking one of her eyes open. No grinning Ôkren with Elemširdis hair and Terran laughing grass green eyes, nor one of his rambunctious pair of twins jumped upon Vienna.
Vienna sprung up and hid behind the Old One.
The figure that met her eyes was one she hadn't seen in five years. His visage was familiar to a 3d animation that still tickled her at the back of her mind.
"What are you doing here, Your Highness?"
The figure shifted on his feet, and if Vienna didn't know better, she would have thought his face looked unsure.
"I sent letters to apologize."
"What letters?" Her brown eyes narrowed as they peered at the teen prince.
The tall boy with midnight hair and dark gaze came forward with his hands twisting worn riding gloves in his hands. One of his hands came up as if he were approaching a cornered, frightened animal.
Vienna couldn't understand why he was there in front of her. She had been only four back at their first meeting. She was nine and a half now. This marked the end of five years without contact between her and the prince. The two other times she'd visited the fortress since that day, he stumbled through her in the library. Her father or Roark were always beside her. By some chance, she met only Uncle Wolf and Aunt Sev, never their son.
"I submitted several formal requests to your father - expressing my wish to apologize to you - I don't suppose you... no, you do remember... but the Duke always rejected them."
Vienna watched in surprise as the crown prince sat on the ground. He watched her every reaction as if ready to do whatever must be done not to frighten her. His head was bowed as he sat cross-legged at the foot of the Old One.
The prince was different, not like how all 'characters' thus far seemed to be, but he'd changed from how he'd appeared before. He had been so rough with her when he'd been eight, but now his gaze was almost humble. His dark eyes turned down and away from her.
"Why are you here now, your highness?" Vienna stood to the side of the tree, her hand placed on it for reassurance.
The crown prince was thirteen now. His chin looked like it fit his face more than he had grown into his sharper features well. Vienna tilted her head as she considered his raw attractive appeal and the danger that seemed to still cling to the edges of him.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and remain in the present.
The prince rose. He brushed off his tunic before he folded his hands behind his back and bowed towards where Vienna stood behind the tree.
"Please accept my deepest apologies, Lady Vienna Thorne. I treated you with utter disrespect when I first met you. I hurt and scared you. Any other person would have been tried for assaulting another. Due to my privilege, I got away with it."
"You are wrong."
The prince looked up, and a stray black curl fell in front of his wide, blinking black eyes.
"The reason I didn't get you in trouble wasn't due to your identity, Prince Basilius, it was because you were a child." Vienna forced a shrug, "All children make mistakes. That is how we learn."
Vienna wasn't sure why the prince had bothered to come to see her for something that had happened so long ago.
"I have long since forgiven you, your highness." A wave of reassurance flooded her soul. Vienna gazed up at the wide limbs of the Old One in gratitude.
She took a breath before continuing. "Thank you for traveling here. Would you like some tea and biscuits before returning?"
He nodded.
He walked alongside her, shortening his long strides so she could keep up with them as they made their way up the pathway to the manor.
Vienna kept him in the corner of her eye, looking away when he looked towards her. Her heart beat still a bit too fast than normal but she knew she couldn't allow her fear to make her impolite. She was her father's daughter. She would show the royal what it meant to be given hospitality by the Thornes.