[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YGxzxVR.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/wA3P0IB.gif[/img][/center] [color=D0B4EC]Time:[/color] Evening [color=D0B4EC]Location:[/color] Ballroom [color=D0B4EC]Attire:[/color] [url=https://i.imgur.com/XgrtOQU.png]Outfit[/url] [color=D0B4EC]Interaction:[/color] [@Potter] [color=#8FBC8B]Olivia[/color] [@Oso] [color=lightsteelblue]Cassius[/color] [@Remram] Nolan [hr] [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSuk9-0IT1s[/youtube][/center] [color=lightsteelblue]“You’ve got these too tight.”[/color] Charlotte’s attention drifted downward, pulled from the labyrinth of her mind by the sound of that gentle voice of his. Until that moment, her mind had been everywhere at once. With Lorenzo, with the king, with every terrible possibility that had bloomed from one moment into ten more. She had needed to take the time to think. She had needed to sort through what had just happened, what Lorenzo had done, what Edin had said, what it meant, whether she should go to Lorenzo, whether she should scold him, comfort him, drag him home by the sleeve, or simply sit very still until her mind stopped feeling so loud. But then she heard that voice... and looked down and saw Cassius Damien kneeling there. The world seemed to blur so completely that the ballroom might have been painted around them—all except for Cassius. Charlotte stared at him as he adjusted the strap of her shoe, her eyes falling first to his hands. Those hands had known violence. There were scars over his knuckles and roughness along his fingers, remnants of days of blades and fists and survival, and yet they handled her with such careful attention that for a moment she felt [i]precious[/i]. As if this small discomfort was not too small for him to notice. As if her pain did not have to be grand or bloody or tragic to deserve his care. And somehow that undid her more than any grand declaration could have. Her gaze lingered there, watching his fingers work with patience. Then her eyes climbed, slowly, to his face. Strands of black and silver had fallen forward, nearly veiling him from her, but there was no hiding a face like Cassius Damien’s. The light found him anyway, catching along his cheek, the bridge of his nose, the shadow of his lashes. He was painfully beautiful, and she had always thought so. Charlotte could see his eyes through the loose fall of his hair, storm-gray and dark beneath the lashes, focused on her. [sub]Only her.[/sub] The realization moved through her in such a way that it hurt, though it was gentle all the same. For days, there had been a voice in the back of her mind warning her to be sensible. To remember that a man's touch did not always mean safety, that wanting something did not make it hers, that a heart had a way of ignoring the signs if it was lonely enough. She had told herself not to let him become a place she returned to when everything else felt unbearable. But he had become that anyway, hadn’t he? And he kept coming back to her, too. He could have gone anywhere in that ballroom at this point. He could have leaned against a wall with that wicked smirk he did and found a woman eager to be ruined by him before the night was done. He could have smiled once, spoken in some sultry tone, and had half the room wondering what it would be like to be chosen by him. And yet here he was, kneeling in front of her, before his father, before them all, and he was fixing her shoes. There should have been fear in that moment: fear of consequence, fear of danger, fear of what it meant to look at him and feel something so vast and strange blooming beneath her ribs that she scarcely knew how her body could hold it. But fear did not come. Charlotte’s lips parted, her eyes soft and tender compared to just moments ago. She felt her eyes sting, but a smile formed on her lips as a single thought crossed her mind. [color=D0B4EC][i]Oh, there you are.[/i][/color] She knew his mouth was moving. She saw the shape of words, saw the way his gaze shifted toward Lorenzo, saw him rise and bring his chair nearer. She felt him offer his hand beneath the table, and her fingers found his. [color=lightsteelblue]“...Whatever you need…I’m right here, Lottie.”[/color] Her palm came to rest against his face with a gentleness that surprised even her, her thumb brushing along his cheek as her eyes narrowed with the full focus of everything she felt as she whispered to him. [color=D0B4EC]“I was right about you… You know.”[/color] Her voice was soft, almost wondering, as if she had just discovered this grand truth. But she had always known. No matter what had happened between them... She had known. She let go of his hand only so she could cup his face with both hands as her expression crumbled, an ache in her eyes that she had not quite shown Cassius before. [color=D0B4EC]“About what I said in Rosegate…”[/color] For a moment, she simply kept looking at him like that. The ballroom could have burned down around them, and Charlotte was not sure she would have noticed right away. [color=#8FBC8B]”Seems like you’re in good hands...Are you okay?”[/color] Charlotte held Cassius’s gaze a moment longer, her smile lingering as if some part of her had not yet woken out of a deep sleep, as if the man before her had somehow captured her in a dream. Then, slowly, she let her hands slip away from his face and turned toward Olivia, blinking as though she had only just realized the world had continued without her. [color=D0B4EC]“Hm?”[/color] Her voice was softer than she realized, still caught somewhere else. Then her eyes focused, and she seemed to remember herself... [i]though not entirely[/i]. [color=D0B4EC]“Oh… yes. I think…”[/color] Her gaze flickered briefly back to Cassius, helplessly, before returning to Olivia. [color=D0B4EC]“I think I am.”[/color] She thanked her for the wine in a low tone and a smile her way, absentmindedly taking hold of one and taking a sip. Then a hand fell on her shoulder and she immediately turned her head to glance as a familiar voice reached her ears. [color=#B3EBC0]"Looks like the night sky is missing a star...Lottie, it's been too long." [/color] Lottie matched his smile with one that was fonder, if such was possible, and she immediately rose to throw her arms around the young man behind her. [color=D0B4EC]"Nolan!"[/color] She drew him close with the sort of affection that had no room for restraint, as if he were truly her family. One hand slipped up into his hair, just like she used to, and she guided his head against her shoulder and pressed a tender kiss to the top of it. [color=D0B4EC]“Oh, sweet Nolan…”[/color] she murmured, holding him there a moment longer than he may have liked, but precisely as long as her heart required. [i][color=D0B4EC]“How I have missed you.”[/color][/i] Her hand smoothed over his hair once before she loosened her embrace enough to look at him properly, though her hands remained on his arms. [color=D0B4EC]“Look at you,”[/color] she said softly, her eyes moving over his face with fondness. [color=D0B4EC]“Still appearing precisely when I need you.”[/color] Her smile turned warmer. [color=D0B4EC]“How has the university been treating you? Are they appreciating you properly, or must I write them a very stern letter on your behalf?”[/color] She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. [color=D0B4EC]“I heard you were back in town, and I have been so terribly excited to see you. I meant to find you sooner, truly, but…”[/color] Her words faded on her tongue as Charlotte's gaze shifted back toward the other side of the ballroom, toward Lorenzo, to find that Calbert was leaving his side. Relief struck her so much soo that she forgot to finish her sentence. For a moment, she simply stared, her fingers still resting against Nolan’s sleeve. Only when Calbert slipped away from Lorenzo’s side did Charlotte feel as though she could truly breathe. [/color]