PeaceMaker

Her escape came quicker than expected when Adria came to their table. Her arm was in Theodore's and they looked at each other with bright loving eyes. They walked over to Annabeth's table and immediately all at the table stood up to greet their presence.

"Greetings, your royal highness Theodore," Mr. Crowly greeted with a bow, his wife copying his bow. His kids followed, taking their own bows after their parent's. 

"Greetings Your royal highness Theodore and his betrothed, princess Adria," Justin greeted, his siblings taking a bow after him.

"Greetings Lord Crowly and Lady Crowly. Nice to meet your off-springs," Theodore smiled. His smile was like a bright flashlight, flashing in their face. In combination with Adria they were basically blinding. 

"Greetings Lord Crowly and Lady Crowly. Nice to meet your offsprings," Adria repeated, exchanging a smile with Theodore. 

Mr. Crowly and his family bowed. What may we have the pleasure of holding your presence?" 

"I came to have rounds around the performer's families. As we all know, special females from this meeting shall be chosen to become lady-in-training. They will be working under me, looking after me so I definitely needed to look at the family stated at the participants come from before making my decision," Adria smiled, "parental and background affects a huge slice of a child's personality and mindset."

"Ah…" Mr. Crowly's head turned from Theodore to Adria. He hadn't expected her to speak in place of her husband as the woman didn't really have that allowance. "I suppose that it is understandable and acceptable."

"I was going to do it anyway even if it wasn't seen as rational," Adria smiled. There was this eeriness that emitted from that sentence.

It wasn't like she was trying to be rude to him but her tone sounded so threatening in the most subtle way. Like a sniff of smoke sneaking in to stifle its victim to death, her voice had seemed a bit edged at Mr. Crowly. 

It was understandable, maybe only to Annabeth. His tone to her had been condescending. Like he, a marquess, not even close to being on the same level as her mother, the queen of her kingdom was questioning the credibility of her actions. 

Of course, she would be mad. Annabeth found her ways unexpected and fun, graceful and elegant yet stubborn and adventurous. Adria was extremely free-spirited and minded. She didn't care who was looking for whether they were wrong or right as in the end, her words were close to law. 

"Would you mind introducing your daughters to us?" Theodore spoke up after clearing his throat. 

"Of course not, your Royal Highness," Mr. Crowly bowed his head. He turned to the side of the table where his offsprings were standing and directed his hands at them.

"Specifically the females," Adria added.

The question immediately transferred to Jena and she handled it well. "Greets your royal highness Theodore and his betrothed, princess Adria." She bowed her head and gave a brief courtesy. "It's a pleasure to be in the presence of his Royal Highness and Princess Adria."

Adria smiled when she looked at Jena. "Nice to meet you, Lady Jena," Adria greeted back. When she didn't hear her fiance's voice right after, she elbowed him.

"N-nice to meet you, Lady Jena," Theodore huffed out, flinching from the pain from Adria's hit. 

Mrs. Crowly looked at them with wide eyes. It seemed like the roles were reversed or Adria just had a lot of power. Theodore didn't seem like the one in charge of the relationship but rather Adria with her controlling aura. 

Mrs. crowly's eyes looked down at their hands that were holding each other then looked back up to the couple. It was either that or there was an equal share of power in the family. 

Mrs. Crowly stared at them for a moment before looking away. 'No… It's impossible," Mrs. Crowly thought to herself. An equal share of power was something that wasn't seen that much in the families and as one of the biggest and most powerful couple in the kingdom, Adria and Theodore could not have an equal sharing of power. 

'It's impossible…' Mrs. Crowly thought to herself. She looked down at their hands, tightly in each other. 'At least.. It's supposed to be impossible." She looked up at them again. She couldn't even remember the last time she held her husband's hand willingly. It was saddening but at the same time a big realization that it took her a while to realize. 'Do I even love him anymore?'

"Next to her please," Adria continued. 

Maria immediately bowed her head and gave a courtesy. "Nice to meet you, his Royal Highness Prince Theodore and Princess Adria."

Adria simply gave a nod. She cocked her head at Maria warranting the need for Maria to look at her. "You don't mind if I simply nodded right? You can't believe how tiring it is to be repeating the same lines over and over." Adria turned to Theodore shooting him a targeted gaze. "You'd think a kingdom that has been here for hundreds of years will have worked on and added new greetings to say."

Theodore groaned. It wasn't the first time he'd heard this from Adria and it certainly won't be his last. He could tell by her eyes, she was going to push for this until there was an actual change in the system. There was this little lightning storm in her eyes, her perseverance showing right in the storm. He smiled, ruffling Adria's hair. That was what he found cute about her, her rightful needed stubbornness.

"Yes, yes, love," Theodore smiled, his hand continuing to ruffle her hair, "I'll start working on it when we get back."

"Really?!" Adria exclaimed, a bright smile forming on her face as she looked up at Theodore. 

Theodore's heart raced. She was so beautiful it was scary to him. Like after looking at those blue eyes, he was expected to maintain composure, to not snap and carry her away at this every moment. The creases under her eyes were so beautiful to look at. He had been growing impatient as their wedding day neared. He certainly needed to work on the customs in the kingdom. The act that he had to wait until they were married was ridiculous.

"Yes," Theodore grinned, patting her head before putting his hand down.

"That's good," Adria grinned, her face switching to a frown in the next second. "And why do you still want to mess up my hair! I told you this bef-"

"Ahem!" Theodore coughed, dragging Adria's attention back to the table and the Crowly family who was staring at them with adoring eyes.

"Ah.. sorry about that," Adria bowed her head in apology. 

Theodore stifled a chuckle. 

Adria hit him with her hips. He pretended to flinch in pain but in fact, it did the opposite. It just made him more frustrated.

"Please continue with the greetings," Adria cleared her throat.

Annabeth did a brief bow before a courtesy. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance your royal highness Prince Theodore and Princess Adria."

Adria and Annabeth made eye contact for a moment before Adria looked away, turning to her parents. 

'Ah…' Annabeth thought to herself. She bowed her head and stood up straight. 

Adria smiled and looked at the girls up and down. "It's a sin to have hidden such beautiful for so long Lord Crowly," Adria teased. 

"Ah, my apologies," Mr. Crowly bowed, taking her joke seriously. He never knew how to guess sarcasm in someone's voice. It was troublesome to look at. 

Annabeth looked away in annoyance. She masked it with simple shyness, acting like she was shy in the presence of Adria and Theodore.

"Not to mention your son, how did you manage to keep him shielded for so long?" Adria grinned, walking closer to the table standing in front of Justin as she unlinked her arm from Theodore's.

Theodore flinched from her movement.

Adria was close to the same height as Justin, barely millimeters off. She stood with him on the same eye level and stared into his eyes. There was little chaos in them for a moment when they met with Adria's eyes. The chaos seemed to be begging him to look away.

Her eyes were cold, icy blue reflecting nothing more than a stare. They were like mirrors, breaching into his mind but not even daring to do more. It was the stare someone you hated would give you but it was much more toned and calm, her concentration showing through. After a second, he grew more calm and composed, staring into Adria's eyes with less difficulty than before. 

Adria smiled slightly and Justin flinched, his comfort level looking into her eyes depleting and his gaze wavering. Adria chuckled and Justin shivered. Theodore watched from behind, his fist slightly clenched.

"He'd make a fine soldier," Adria grinned, turning to his parents. "He has resilience." She eyed Justin up and down. "Even though he needs to work on it a bit more, he'd be good at least to start training."

"Thank you, Princess," Mr. Crowly bowed his head. 

Theodore's fist was still clenched. He grabbed Adria's hand into his and pulled her closer to him. 

"What are-" she began.

"It was a pleasure to indulge in a conversation with you and your family, Lord Crowly," Theodore smiled.

"It's an honor to be in your presence," Mr. Crowly bowed. The rest of his kids followed through with the hug.

"We'll be leaving now," Theodore grinned. He tightened his grip on Adria's hands before she could retaliate. She stood quietly after, knowing where she had gone wrong. 

"Goodbye, your highnesses," Mr. Crowly announced. 

Theodore quickly turned around dragging Adria with him. She had a smile on her face when she turned around. Annabeth slowly sat down in sync with her family. It hurt a bit, having to be treated that way by Adria, but she was ok.

Just a tad bit jealous.