Who We Used to Be
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a little while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- I did some research for this one and it was inconclusive about whether an American would have to renounce her citizenship to become queen of a foreign land. There are precedents both way, but the most recent case involved the woman giving up her citizenship, so that’s what I went with. The prompt for this was the line “do you ever think about who we used to be” and Liam and Eleanor’s first fight. Thanks for the request.
Pairing- Liam/MC
Rating- PG-13
Summary- Liam and Eleanor have a fight and then reconcile in the maze garden.
Words-906
“I thought I’d find you here.”
I didn’t turn around at the sound of the familiar voice, I just kept gazing at the fountain at the center of the maze. I heard a sigh and then a “Ellie, look at me.”
The pleading note in Liam’s voice was impossible to resist. Slowly I turned to face him. He was standing a few feet away from me his hands in his pocket, his expression apologetic.
“Please don’t,” I said, cutting him off when he went to speak. We had been through this several times already.
He sighed again, “Eleanor…”
“Don’t call me unreasonable,” I warned him, “Liam, the council is asking, no demanding that I give up who I am.”
I could see Liam fighting to control his temper. “No,” he said after a moment, “you’ll still be you, Eleanor. You’ll still be smart and witty and incredibly kind and compassionate. You just won’t be an American citizen anymore.”
“How would you feel if you had to give up your Cordonian citizenship to be with me?” I countered though I knew it wasn’t entirely fair.
“I was willing to walk away from Cordonia to be with you,” he reminded me in a quiet voice, referring to the desperate offer made when we thought the traitor wouldn’t be revealed in time and that he would have to marry Madeleine.
I sighed, some of my anger evaporating. “You’re right.” I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me close.
“It was just a shock,” I admitted. “To get this far and then be told ‘oh yeah, you have to give up your citizenship before the wedding’.”
“I honestly thought the Beaumonts had prepared you,” Liam told me apologetically, “or I would have brought it up.”
I laughed, “I’m sure Maxwell thought he did and I think Bertrand assumed Maxwell did and at first, he probably didn’t think it mattered.” It had come quite as a shock to learn from the Council that before I could become Queen of Cordonia I would have to renounce my American citizenship and I probably hadn’t taken it as well as I could have.
“Do you ever think about who we used to be?” I asked suddenly, “before that night in New York?”
Several months had passed since that August night when Liam had walked into my bar and changed both our lives forever.
“I do,” Liam answered, “I think about empty and colorless my life was. How I thought about duty and responsibility, not about love or happiness. You changed all that, Eleanor. You brought color and joy into my life.”
I smiled at his words, resting my head against his shoulder.
“What about you?” Liam asked softly and I could hear a touch of insecurity in his voice, “do you think about who you used to be?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted, “it feels like it was a whole other life. One day I was Eleanor Sloane, regular American girl who was trying to remind herself and now in a few days, I’ll be Queen Eleanor of Cordonia. Everything in my life has changed.”
I couldn’t just go home even if I wanted to. Trips to the States would be state affairs. My cousin Evie was getting next year and the arrangements for the visit had already begun. I was told that my insistence on being the maid of honor was creating a “headache” for the State Department. It felt like everything I knew had changed and I think that was why I took the news about the citizenship so poorly.
“Would you go back to being just Eleanor?” Liam asked me carefully, staring intently into my eyes.
“No,” I answered instantly. “I love you, Liam Rys, and I will love you for the rest of my life. I will always choose you.” I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his. Liam returned the kiss eagerly, pulling me tight against him.
“Good,” he said against my lips, “because I don’t think I can ever let you go. I love you too much.”
He deepened the kiss and I could feel his need and desire. I responded eagerly. We kept kissing until we were both flushed and gasping for breath.
“Let’s go inside,” Liam suggested in a low voice.
I grinned mischievously, “why?”
Liam groaned, “Ellie…” He pulled me towards him for another kiss and then lifted me off the ground and into his arms. He laid me gently down on the ground, but before he could straighten, presumably to remove his clothes, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down with me.
“This is who I want to be,” I said against his lips, “I want to be that couple that are so desperately in love and want each other so badly that they’ll make love anywhere they can.”
“Is that so,” Liam replied, his breath hot in my hear, “well, I think that can be arranged.”
He kissed me again as he lay tangled on the ground, our kisses becoming more and more heated. A part of me was still upset about what was being asked of me but I knew it was a small price to pay for a lifetime with Liam. I might not be the old Eleanor anymore and that was still taking some getting used to but my future looked pretty bright.
- End
