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He snorted and opened his mouth to say that berry picking wasn't that important, but closed it and shook his head with a chuckle. "Depends on what you consider important," he said instead, raising his pierced brow in inquiry. He knew that if Lily wanted to do something that he had never really felt like doing, he would do it for her sake.
"Obviously berry picking is on that list." She said, nudging him slightly with a smile. "Lucky for you, it's a pretty short list." Considering there were plenty of things she hadn't done herself, she couldn't make fun of him too much. The list was actually fairly nonexistent at this point.
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He stuck his tongue out at the nudge, then jerked his head in the direction of the greenhouse exit. "C'mon. Let's drop these off in my room and then we can get to your precious berry picking." He looped an arm around her—without actually touching her—to usher her over to the exit. "We've stalled quite a bit already."
"There has been an incredible amount of stalling. I'm blaming you." She said, scrunching up her nose at him as she let him usher her out of the garden. She moved just a tiny bit closer to him, raising an eyebrow playfully. "Do you want me to carry those papers?"
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"Hey," he protested at being blamed for the stalling, "It's not my fault you're irresistible," he added with a smirk and wink. He then dramatically pulled the papers close to his chest in a protective manner. "And I'm perfectly capable of carrying them, thank you very much."
"You aren't helping your case, because I'm definitely not irresistible." She said, her cheeks colored by a slight blush. She shook her head at his theatrics, raising her hands in a submissive gesture. "Alright. I wasn't suggesting you weren't, just offering to help."
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"Mmhmm," he hummed accusingly, but he was smiling at the blush he managed to cause yet again. It was fun, teasing her and giving her compliments that made her blush. He lightly nudged her with an elbow as they headed through the exit and into the palace. "You're irresistible to me, and you can't say otherwise."
She shook her head, her nose scrunching up more in disbelief. Irresistible. He kept doing that, describing her with words that she never really expected to hear pertaining to her. Was she allowed to like it as much as she did? "Are you sure I can't?" She asked, twisting the ring three times as she arched an eyebrow slightly.
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He nodded seriously, then glanced down at her. "Positive. I might be a thief and liar, but I'd never lie to you." He offered a warm smile to add to his promise. He'd never lie to Lily if he could help it, that he knew for certain, and every compliment he gave her or the words he used to describe her were never lies.
"That's quite the promise to make." She said softly, despite the happy swelling of her heart. Her eyes brightened unintentionally, that same hope that Rhydar seemed to easily create shining in them. Lying wasn't always bad, she knew that, and she hoped Rhydar wouldn't assume he had to change just for her. Thief and liar or not, she liked him as is. His promise of honesty was a bonus.
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"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I'll just feel bad if I did lie to you." He shrugged nonchalantly, but he couldn't help his smile when he caught sight of the look in her eyes. It was like his entire day just brightened as he saw that, so it was no surprise that his entire mood soured when he got clipped in the back of the head by a slim hand. He whirled around, mouth open to snap at the person, but stopped short when he saw the blue-haired and blue-eyed woman standing behind them, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face. "Kora?" he said, incredulous.
Lily, startled, found herself reaching to her waist, before stopping short as she remembered that she didn't have a knife there. It was, in fact, in her boot, but Rhydar's apparent familiarity with the woman eased the twisting in her gut, though she still couldn't help the slight hunching of her shoulders out of habit. Kora. That was his brother's fiancee. She blinked once at the sight of the woman's hair, before looking between the two curiously.
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Rhydar glanced over at Lily, eyes softening in slight apology for Kora's antics, before facing the woman. He didn't get a chance to speak, however, before he was being reamed out by her, finger in his face as she scowled up at him. "I come here expecting to be greeted at the ball, and all I get is a rumored fight between you and some drunkard, and then—nothing. No sign of you for days. I expected more from you, Rhydar." She huffed and stepped back from him, then turned to Lily.
She surveyed the girl with a sweep of her ocean-blue eyes, arms folded under her chest once more. Her hair was dyed all sorts of shades of blue, all seamlessly blending into one another with every shift of her body and head. She was neither tall nor short, standing at an average height that she never bothered to figure out, and her slim body was draped with a Navy blue dress that she had specially tailored to her taste. the sleeved were flowy and loose, falling at least a foot down from where they hung from her wrists. Her shoulders were exposed, but the neckline didn't dip too far down. The dress itself hugged her torso but split into two different panels at the hips. The backside of the skirt was long and dragged on the floor behind her, resembling that of an ocean's waves, and the front panel was thin and fell directly between her legs. Her feet bore simple white sandals that laced up her legs and stopped just below her knees.
Lily tucked her hands in her pockets, slightly uncomfortable with the eyes on her. She knew there was nothing malicious about Kora's studying of her, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop comparing it to the way men had studied her before. "That-that's not his fault." She said, her voice soft, but unwavering. "It's mine. He was supposed to be there, but that other man…it's not Rhydar's fault."
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Kora rose a brow, which was a light blonde—betraying her true hair color—and glanced between Lily and Rhydar, before settling on Lily once more. The corner of her lips curved up and she dipped her chin in a barely discernable bow. "Koralia Hertstone, but soon to be Gryffard. I'm Magnus's fiancé and an old friend of your precious moron over there." She hooked a thumb towards Rhydar. He scoffed and muttered something about her being a grumpy old lady, and she smoothly said, still talking to Lily, "He has no respect for his elders, as you can see."
That drew a huffed breath from Lily, a sound close to a laugh. The tension in her shoulders relaxed a bit, though they stayed somewhat hunched. "Lily. It's nice to meet you." She lifted one of her hands in a sort-of wave as she ducked her head in greeting. Her cheeks had darkened a bit in response to Kora referring to Rhydar as 'your precious moron', but the blush itself was mostly unnoticeable.
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Rhydar, with his free hand, gently hooked two fingers around her wrist to comfort her in a discreet way. Kora was good at picking up little things, and he didn't want her making a huge deal out of…whatever this was. "We were actually on our way out. Could you tell my brother I said hello, and that I'm sorry about being so absent?" Kora's smile grew just a tiny bit, and she looked between the two of them for a second before nodding and waving a dismissive hand. "Hurry along, then. I mustn't keep you from your date." She smiled wickedly and walked off before either one of them could react. Rhydar narrowed his eyes at the spot where she disappeared.
Lily blinked, her blush definitely noticeable now as her cheeks turned red. Of course, it probably was a date. That didn't mean she hadn't just figured that out, though. Despite the fact that Kora was already gone, her lips parted as though she was about to say something, before she paused. Shaking off the embarrassment the best she could, she looked up at Rhydar, brows furrowed in question. "Is-is this a date?"
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Rhydar opened his mouth, his cheeks blooming with a slight reddish tint as he let go of her wrist and rubbed the back of his neck. "No–Well, I mean–Technically, but–Maybe?" He sighed and shifted, glancing over at Lily before casting his gaze down towards the floor, now very much aware of the flower he had yet to remove.
Lily tilted her head, a small smile flickering over her lips. Something about the flower still behind his ear, paired with his slightly flustered demeanor, made him that much more endearing. "Rhydar, do you want this to be a date?" She asked, reaching out and tapping his wrist in an attempt to get him to look at her.
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He did look at her, though he was slow to do so. His emerald green eyes flicked around her face for a silent second, thinking over his answer carefully. He opened his mouth, sucking in a breath to say something, then closed it and just offered a small, shy smile and a guilty look, lifting his shoulders some.
Yes. It wasn't said, but it didn't have to be. Her smile brightened, becoming a more definite fixture on her face as she stepped closer. She stood on her toes, pressing a kiss to his cheek before settling once more, fiddling with the ring. "I should probably let you know that if this is a date, it's officially my first."
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"I should set a good precedent, then," he said, finally finding his voice after fighting back the tiny blush. He smiled down at her and gestured for her to follow him as he turned back around and started for his room once again. "C'mon, it'll be dark before we actually get to berry picking."
"Berry picking at night isn't the worst thing. It can be fun." She said, catching up easily and falling into step beside him. Her smile was almost goofily happy, though just a bit more soft, and the blush didn't seem in any hurry to leave. "Lightning bugs and strawberries."
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He chuckled and glanced over at her, seeming to study her face for a bit before looking back ahead of him. "Remind me to add that to the list," he said, his smile growing slightly. Her happiness was contagious, and he couldn't help but smile. A date…
"Which list is that?" She asked, looking up at him. Happy colors swirled around her eyes again, matching the smile and light on her face. Even just a week ago, she wouldn't have thought any of this possible. And yet, here she was on a date. Like she was living somebody else's life.
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"The list of things to do with you," he said, looking back down at her as if he could feel her gaze. In a slight act of spontaneousness, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of Lily's head. "That I want to do with you," he clarified as he pulled back, still smiling.
"I'm not the only one keeping lists, then?" She said, nose scrunched up happily in response to the kiss to the top of her head. "Do you have much on that list?" It was still kind of hard to wrap her head around the fact that he wanted to do even one thing with her, let alone enough to warrant a list.
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He smiled at seeing her nose scrunching up. He had figured out that she did then when he did something she liked, so he made a point to do that more in the future. "Not at the moment, as you haven't given me much to work with, but I'll get there." They reached an area of crossing halls and beckoned to Lily as he turned left into the hall containing the siblings' and Lily's chambers.
"As long as I'm with you, almost anything seems enjoyable." She said, honesty clear in her voice as she turned her gaze to the hallway. It was an incredibly sweet thing to say, and she didn't even seem to realize it at all. She reached up, undoing the poor excuse for a bun she'd put her hair into and making a face as she tried to get it back under control.
