#cherish it everybody. never forget what grand collection gave to us.

[op-grand-collection]

[mind-reader1]

Queen of Hearts (Ch.4)

Drake x MC (Emma Barnes)

TRR AU: What would happen if Emma loved Drake but had to marry Liam?

Catch up here

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2105

Summary: Someone’s learned Emma and Drake’s secret before the court even knows. What will this mean for them? Liam and Emma make an agreement before their announcement to the press and drunk Drake tries to be romantic. 

Note: NSFW coming next chapter!!!!! 

Chapter 4: Adore You (Miley Cyrus)

I love lying next to you

I could do this for eternity,

You and me were meant to be in holy matrimony

God knew exactly what he was doing

When he lead me to you

When you say you love me

Know I love you more

When you say you need me

Know I need you more

Boy, I adore you,

I adore you

Drake's eyes flew open and he sat up to find Maxwell in the doorway. Emma groggily opened her eyes at Drake's sudden movement.

“Shit.” She saw Maxwell's shocked face and realized they were still in their underwear.

“Maxwell. I need you to listen.” He had turned to run but stopped, his hand hovering over the handle.

“It's not what it looks like.” Maxwell kept his back turned while Emma and Drake got dressed.

“Really? It looks like you're naked in bed with Drake even though you're engaged to Liam.” Emma groaned it was exactly what it looked like.

“There's more to it than that Maxwell. I'll tell you everything if you promise to keep it between us.” Maxwell bit his lip and turned around.

“Liam is my friend Emma, but so are you and Drake.”

“I'm going to go,” Drake said awkwardly, slipping out past Maxwell.

“Take a seat, Maxwell.” Emma sighed before recounting the events of New York.

“I'm so sorry I brought you here Emma. I never meant for this to happen.” Emma let out a small chuckle as she wiped stray tears from her eyes. She grabbed Maxwell's hand and squeezed.

“Don't be Maxwell, you couldn't have known. Besides, you introduced me to the greatest love of my life, for that I'll be forever grateful, but maybe you could get into the habit of knocking rather than barging in?” Maxwell gave a small chuckle and pulled her into a hug.

“We're at the palace now. If I can do anything to make it easier let me know.” With that, he left her alone to collect her things.

As she approached the palace, Liam fell into step beside her.

“We should discuss what we're going to tell the court, the press will be here in an hour for a press conference.” Emma nodded.

“Now that my name is cleared we're happy to announce our engagement.” It wouldn't come as much of a shock to anyone, in fact, it had been the question on everyone's mind once her name had been cleared.

“That's perfect.” There was no enthusiasm in his voice though, he was still hurting.

“Olivia is on to us. She cornered me in my room last night.” Liam nodded.

“We do need to make some effort of looking like a happy couple in public.” Emma winced at his icy tone.

“Liam.” She stopped and grabbed his hands. He looked down at her and she saw just how much he was still hurting.

“You're my friend and I care for you deeply. I can't do this if we only pretend to be happy for the cameras. I cherish our friendship and I don't want to drive a wedge between you and Drake, he's going to need a friend.” Liam gave her an apologetic smile.

“You're right. I'm asking a lot of you and Drake, and if all you ask for in return is my friendship, I can definitely do that.” Emma reached up to cup his cheek.

“Thank you, Liam.”

They got everything inside and barely had enough time before the press were ready for them.

“Welcome back your Majesty, Lady Emma.” they both smiled and waved to the press.

“Thank you. It's good to be back home.”

“I'm going to ask the question that's on everybody's mind. You've broken off your engagement to Lady Madeleine, where do you and Lady Emma stand?” Liam looked at Emma who gave him an imperceptible nod. They knew this moment would happen.

“King Liam and I are engaged.” The press was stunned into silence for a moment, once the shock wore off everyone's cameras were flashing and the questions were coming at them rapidly from all directions. Liam held up his hand and the press immediately stopped.

“In addition per Cordonian law, Lady Emma will be the newest duchess of Valtoria!”

“That's quite an honor and a large responsibility. Do you feel you're ready to take on such a roll?” Emma stepped up to the mic and put on the smile she reserved for the press.

“I know that some may have their doubts, but I love Cordonia, I will honor the people and do what is best for them.”

“Well, we certainly look forward to seeing what you do. Thank you, Lady Emma, your Majesty.” With one last wave to the press, they entered the palace.

They had just finished the press conference when Hana and Drake came around the corner, Maxwell in tow.

“I told you we'd find them here,” Drake said.

“What's going on?”

“We're home in Cordonia. What better way to celebrate than by going to a beer garden!” Maxwell was practically bouncing with excitement.

“Hana has been looking at the menu for the past two hours and still hasn't decided.”

“There's just so much to choose from!” Liam chuckled.

“Well, I have meetings the rest of the day. If you wait until this evening I can accompany you.” Liam said.

“I'm sure we can find something to occupy ourselves for a few hours!” Maxwell bounded off to do God knows what and Hana wandered off, continuing to stare at the menu.

“Guess it's just you and me, Barnes.” Drake took a step closer but kept his distance as the palace was buzzing with staff.

“I guess so,” she took another step towards him.

“Lady Emma!” They jumped apart and looked up to see Constantine approaching.

“I was hoping I could borrow some of your time.” Emma gave Drake an apologetic look.

“Of course, King Father.” She followed him to a dining room of the palace where Queen Mother Regina was waiting. He apologized for the scheme against her and discussed her duties as the newest duchess of Cordonia. It was awkward, to say the least, but a necessary evil.

By the time the meeting was over, her friends were ready to go to the beer garden. They all laughed and drank, it felt like old times, they were able to forget their troubles. Everyone was dancing on tables, Emma even got Drake to dance with her. It was a rare sight but Emma had never had so much fun in her life. It was late when they returned to the palace, Emma didn't have too much to drink but Drake clearly had.

“Psst, Barnes.” Drake stumbled up to Emma as they walked in. Emma couldn't help but smile, he was trying to whisper but failed completely.

“How about I give you a tour of the palace?”

“I've seen it, Drake. We all live here.”

“No, no. A secret tour.” Emma stifled a laugh.

“What does a secret tour entail exactly?”

“I can't tell you because then it wouldn't be a secret.” Emma playfully rolled her eyes, it felt good to have fun after everything that had happened in New York.

“Okay, Drake. I'll go on this secret palace tour with you.” He grinned and laced his fingers with hers.

“Follow me.” Everyone went to their rooms while Emma and Drake snuck off to the Grand Ballroom. Drake pointed out a small difference in the molding then revealed a childhood story. As Drake recalled the story Emma could see it so clearly, baby Drake getting competitive with his friend. He tried to lean against the wall but misjudged and began falling, he caught himself and tried to play it off but he looked ridiculous. Emma smiled shaking her head, she would have so much fun giving him shit for this later.

“This way.” He slipped out into the hall and Emma followed confused when he stopped halfway.

“It's a hallway.”

“That's not what I wanted to show you. Look!” Drake dragged her to the window and pointed out. It was a view of the palace wall, not even a pretty fountain, it was literally just a wall.

“This is the best, best view in the palace.”

Emma suppressed a giggle and nodded.

“It really is something Drake.”

“It's just so beautiful and it reminds me of you because Emma...uh Barnes, you're beautiful.”

“I like drunk Drake, your inner poet comes out.”

“I'm not drunk, Barnes. You're just blurry.” Emma rolled her eyes.

“Thank you for taking me to this romantic spot Drake, I'm glad it makes you think of me.”

“I've wanted to show you this since I realized I had feelings for you, Barnes.”

“You're pretty sweet when you want to be Drake.”

“I'm glad you think so.” Suddenly Drake frowned.

“Wait. Shit. This wasn't the right window. It's this one.” Drake grabbed Emma's hand and tugged her down to a different window that had an equally boring view.

“Not to sound ungrateful, but was this the secret? I didn't think windows could be a secret.” Drake frowned shaking his head.

“No...no. There's more.” he looked around and then his eyes lit up, it was like a lightbulb had gone off in his brain.

“Over here.” He stopped outside of a door.

“This is Kiara's room.”

“Why do you know where Kiara's room is? Why are we here in the middle of the night?” A hint of jealousy crept into Emma's voice. Drake grinned.

“You're cute when you're jealous.” he tapped her nose.

“We're not here to talk to Kiara though, we're here to prank her.” Emma's jealousy melted away into amusement.

“This is a whole other side of you. Drunk Drake needs to make an appearance more often.”

“C’mon, Barnes.” Drake snuck into her room and then stood there.

“Okay, what's the plan here?” Drake shrugged.

“You brought me here without a plan?”

“I didn't plan this far ahead. What should we do?” Emma whispered into Drake's ear and a grin broke out on his face.

“That's a great idea, Barnes!” They got to work flipping over every piece of furniture they could, a harmless little prank.

“Let's get out of here before we get caught.” They slipped out of the room and moved on with the tour. Drake brought her into a grand library, books in every direction, old frescos painted on the ceiling.

“Wow.” Emma slowly rotated and took in the full beauty of the room. Drake strolled along the shelves, running his hand over the spines. Drake's shoulder bumped a pillar and Emma began to hear a series of clicks and whirs before a panel in the wall swung open.

“This way Barnes.” He led her into an old stone passage.

“Where does this lead to?”

“Nowhere. I used it as my secret hideout as a kid. Whenever I wanted some time to myself I would come here. Nobody knows about it, not even Liam.”

“Why show me then? Why not keep it your little secret?”

“I figured with everything going on, you might want a break. You can come hideout here whenever you want Emma.”

“You called me Emma again.”

“I guess I did,” his eyes lit up again, “that was the secret! Your name. This is cooler though.” He gestured at the passage around them.

“You should still tell me the secret though. You call everyone by their first names but me. Why call me, Barnes?”

Drake sat down, his eyes kind of staring off into space.

“I didn't want to like you, I didn't want to get close to you when you first got here. You're you though, after that, I was trying to hide how I felt about you. It just kind of stuck I guess, now it's our thing. Reserved for you and me. It feels weird calling you Emma.” He chuckled.

“Thank you for telling me, Drake.” He grinned.

“Thank you for coming on the exclusive Drake Walker secret tour, this concludes it.”

“I'd give it two stars,” Drake looked genuinely hurt, “I'm teasing Drake. Five stars. It was perfect.” Drake bowed and lead her out of the passage, making sure to close the door behind them. He escorted her to her room and stopped, swaying slightly.

“Maybe next time I can give you a tour of my room. An exclusive tour.” Drake's eyes widened as the realization of what she meant hit him.

“Why not right now?” He leaned in and Emma could clearly smell the whiskey on his breath.

“You're drunk Drake. You're the one who said you wanted our first time to be special, we should hold off.” She gently put her hands on his chest. Drake sighed.

“You're right. I'll see you tomorrow, Barnes.” He gave her a soft kiss and stumbled away to his own room.

Emma was exhausted as she collapsed onto her familiar bed at the palace. Despite everything that had happened on the train, Emma had a nice end to her night.

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