The King's Daughter

19 The Night Before

Finally back at the mansion, Louis and I were sitting by ourselves in the van after the other men had gotten out. I was waiting for him to unlock my handcuffs, but he was just sitting there staring at the house.

"Louis?" I spoke up hesitantly, wondering what he was thinking about.

"I made him mad." Louis said.

"Who?"

"My father. I brought you with me, I outsmarted him." He looked quite troubled as he explained.

Now I knew why he seemed so reluctant to leave the van. He didn't want to have to deal with Mason's crap. I found myself feeling sympathy for him, since I knew how horrible the older man could be so I tried to reassure him. "But you're the leader. You're in charge and he can't do anything about it right?"

Louis frowned, pondering my words as he kept his eyes on the front door. Then he took a deep breath, nervously chuckling and turning to me. "You're right. I'm in charge."

He swiftly unlocked the fluffy handcuffs and then stuffed them in his pocket. We left the van and then entered the mansion, being greeted by a few guards who nodded respectfully to Louis. He reached over and grasped my hand, which I tried to pull out of his grip, but he held me firmly and pulled me up the grand staircase. We walked down the hall toward my bedroom and he stopped me once we reached my door.

"May I ask you a personal question?" Louis asked, keeping his hand motionless on the doorknob.

"Only if I can ask one in return." I replied.

He shrugged with a small smile. "Fair enough. My question is this: is there anything about marriage that frightens you?"

Surprised by his question, and curious about why he asked it, I thought for a moment. "Marriage in general? Or marriage to you? Because they are very different things."

"In general." He answered, crossing his arms.

"Well... I suppose I'm a little frightened of the prospect of...intimacy. My parents never talked about it with me and my tutors made it sound unpleasant." I said with a blush as I glanced to the side uncomfortably.

"Hm. That explains a lot." He mused, watching me closely. "And your question?"

Relieved at moving the attention away from me, I asked, "When was the last time you cried?"

I could see him putting up a wall as his stance turned defensive. "I don't remember."

"Louis, I gave you a very honest answer. I expect the same." I scolded seriously.

"I don't cry, so I don't remember." He insisted, opening the door and gesturing for me to go inside.

I reached up and grasped his chin, moving his face down so he would look me in the eye. "I'm not going to judge you or make fun of you. I genuinely am curious to know. You have to have some sort of vulnerability inside of you."

He gripped my wrist, stopping me from holding his jaw and he scowled, clearly unhappy with my nosy question. But he finally sighed deeply and looked at the floor. "It was a few months ago."

"What made you cry?" I murmured quietly.

But he shook his head. "You're only allowed one question, sweetheart."

"But I'm curious." I prodded.

He shook his head and nudged me into my room. "You don't get to know the answer to that question. Now freshen up, put on a new dress. Quinn will be in soon to take you down to dinner. And afterwards, perhaps I'll allow you to see your bodyguard."