[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/WKs4WNh.png[/img]
[color=#9E664C][b]Time:[/b] Evening of Ignis 10[/color] 
[color=#9E664C][b]Location:[/b] Danrose Castle[/color]
[color=#9E664C][b]Interactions: Marina [@princess], Lucian [@HylianRose], Mina [@Tae], Nolan [@Remram][/b][/color][/center]

[color=silver]

[color=slategray]"Ambrose, thank you for getting her here safely as always."[/color]

Lucian’s words came out even and appreciative, but Ambrose was no fool. This man, this prince was doing his best to hide just how uncomfortable Ambrose’s presence made him, but his best… unfortunately for both of them… was not enough to conceal the discomfort fully. 

[color=#9E664C]“Of course, my Prince.”[/color] Ambrose replied with a similar tone. Despite the resentment that even now in this moment bubbled underneath, Ambrose could not deny the ping of melancholy that accompanied his anger when around the man he once felt so close to. 

But that was before the prince had failed their beloved Sophia. Ambrose’s sister was gone, and fair or not it was Prince Lucian Camilia that had borne the weight of a brother’s rage in mourning. Ambrose’s even tone of voice as he answered the Prince did not disguise the look of contempt in his bronze eyes. He then turned to continue his vigilant observation of the room, leaving the siblings to talk as they may. As their voices lowered into whisper, the knight assumed the topic of conversation had switched to him, but it was not his place to know… Nor did knowing change the fact that despite his feelings, he was first and foremost there as their sworn protector. No amount of anger, no grudge nor animosity would see him falter in his mission. 

Lost in his thoughts, but mostly in the task at hand to keep the siblings safe, Ambrose let the greater sounds of the ballroom fade and diminish into the background of his mind as he scanned the various people of the room with a knight’s acute awareness. As his watchful eyes were locked elsewhere in the room, he was completely caught off guard by the collision at his back. He turned defensively to face his collider, mind already considering potential conflicts, already switching into action. But what he saw, or rather [i]who[/i] he saw once he turned only caught him off guard even more. 

[color=#758173]"Ambrose,"[/color]

Mina. 

[color=#758173]"I... I apologize. I wasn't looking where I was going. This crowd is... overwhelming."[/color]

Somehow, in his vigil, as he had let the sounds and voices of the nobility fade away, he had missed her introduction. Yet here she was, inches from him, when the last time the two had met eyes she was doing everything she could to pull away. Ambrose’s eyes took her in for the first time since the day she had broken his heart. 

[color=#9E664C]“Lady Blackwood…”[/color] He muttered, voice losing the knightly confidence that was usually on display. [color=#9E664C]“I…”[/color] Ambrose began but stopped as he realized the woman could not look him in the eyes. 

Had she been that ashamed of him? Was he such a loathsome thing to her that she could not even bear to look at him? There had been no real closure, no [i]true[/i] healing of the wounds between them, yet he had not even realized to what degree until this very moment. It was as though he were back there in the instant of the very heartbreak itself. He looked to her here tonight, dressed in midnight blue and gold, the colors rich enough to make the candlelight linger on her. Silk clung close before falling away into a train, and golden roses had been worked into the vision of her like a declaration. Beautiful. Painfully so, but not peacefully beautiful. Not tonight. 

Perhaps it was the way Lucian had been made so clearly uncomfortable by his presence staining his perception, but Mina’s own discomfort read to Ambrose as nothing but disgust for him. The wounds in his heart painted it as a hatred for him and how he would never have been good enough for her. The knight then watched those eyes of hers, the ones that could not fathom meeting his own, slip past him toward the very Prince he could not help but resent. 

Lucian. 

It lasted only a moment, and perhaps he imagined the way they softened. Perhaps not. Either way, the damage was done, and the fingers of his left hand twitched at his side as he swallowed down the feeling of seeing it in real time. That glance toward Lucian, brief as it may have been, was how those stormy-blue eyes once looked at Ambrose. For a moment, he was broken all over again. 


[color=#9E664C]“Do not worry, my lady… The fault was mine for being in your way.”[/color]

For the space of a breath, Ambrose was trapped there with her, with the scent of rosewater and silk, with the golden roses at her gown, with the taste of her still caught somewhere behind his tongue.

Then another voice entered the space between them. It was a mercy that Ambrose could only thank the gods for. 

[color=#B3EBC0]"Um, hello there. My apologies if we are interrupting."[/color]

Ambrose turned his head toward the speaker to see two young lords approach.  The Edwards sons, if memory served. The knight said nothing. It was not his place to greet them before the royals had done so. Instead, he gave the pair a measured nod, enough to acknowledge their presence without surrendering his post.

The younger one continued, polite despite the obvious nerves.

[color=#B3EBC0]"We offer our humblest greetings and respect to the royal family of Varian. My name is Nolan Edwards, youngest child of Duke and Duchess Edwards of Soralia, and this is my brother, Drake Edwards, eldest child and heir. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."[/color]

Then Lord Nolan’s gaze shifted to Marina, and an entirely different emotion pinged inside of Ambrose. One he was not very fond of. 

[color=#B3EBC0]"It's great to see you again, Princess Camilla. You look..."[/color]

Ambrose watched the pause. It was small and harmless, perhaps, but his jaw clenched all the same as he watched the boy fawn over his princess. He wasn't sure exactly what brought about the physical reaction. With Mina's sudden arrival and the way it had frayed the threads of his composure, there was less clarity about his own thoughts and feelings than the man was used to. All he new is that something about it all made him tense.   

[color=#B3EBC0]"You look lovely tonight,"[/color] Nolan managed, his smile warming with an honesty that made it worse. [color=#B3EBC0]"Very lovely."[/color]


The young lord recovered quickly, or tried to at least. 

[color=#B3EBC0]"I, uh, I hope this night has found everyone well so far. Have you all been able to enjoy your stay in Caesonia?"[/color]

Ambrose folded his hands behind his back and let the royals answer, his expression settling back into the carved stillness expected of him. Though his eyes did shift briefly to Mina, and then to Lucian, and finally to Marnie as the knight forced his emotions down and wished to be anywhere in the world other than this room.  [/color]