Despite the joviality, and even ease with which Claire and Eliot were now conversing there upon the huge bed, the tension was soon replaced only minutes later. However that tension was actually from a source other than any taboo subject matter. That was when at least one of them became aware of multiple footsteps beginning to move down the hall towards the chambers they were shown to there in his father’s palace for the night.

“Now you’re suddenly shy?” Eliot teased as he smiled down at her, still waiting for her to continue their previous conversation.

“People coming” Claire stated quietly as she looked toward the door where the footsteps were indeed still coming nearer.

“Why am I not surprised?” Eliot stated, his bitterness toward his family returning almost immediately as he too looked toward the door as his less superior hearing was now finally able to catch the sound as well.

“You know who and why those people are on their way to our chambers?” Claire asked, her voice dropping to a quiet whisper.

“I hoped that meeting you and seeing us together tonight would have been enough to make them believe... this” Eliot decided on, “but apparently not.”

“Explain, quickly” Claire prodded urgently, yet still quietly.

“I’m guessing that my father is insisting on a bedding” he nearly growled the words to cover his own very real panic then at having to try and fake his way through that much more intense, and intimate situation than simply pretending to be enamored with each other, as they had done throughout most of their evening there at the palace already.

“A bedding?” Claire swallowed, “explain... even more quickly” she added desperately.

But before Eliot even could respond to her question, the heavy chamber doors were pushed open as a small group of French noblemen of the court offered polite smiles and bows as they stepped into the room.

Eliot scoffed loudly at their arrival, his aggression easily intensified by his very real fear of what he had a strong feeling was about to be expected of them. He and Claire both sat up stiffly atop the bed they were previously lounging upon together throughout their previous conversation, before the men of the court so rudely interrupted.

“You could have at least knocked” he nearly spat out , deliberately starting the conversation in English so that Claire would be able to follow along, as he was obviously not aware that she could understand their own language, if not speak it very well herself.

“Apologies, my lord. We were already late making our way to your chambers. We thought you would not want any further delays” the eldest of them responded.

“Or you mean, my father didn’t want any further delays” Eliot returned, his disdain not even veiled at that point.

“Please, my lord, we would like to end our night as well and return to our own beds, so we will not stay any longer than necessary.”

“Necessary?” Eliot scoffed, “since when does it require six men to see to a bride on her wedding night?” he returned sarcastically as Claire’s eyes widened.

“My lord, we are only here to witness the... consummation” another man decided to enter the conversation to try to alleviate his own discomfort at being chosen to take part in the ceremony that night as well.

“Really?” Eliot returned with further sarcasm and a roll of his eyes, “I’m well aware that none of you are here to actually help me bed my wife. But I’m sure you’re also aware that I don’t need help from any of you in doing so!”

The eldest man then spoke again, “please, my lord, your father does insist. So if we could all get through this as quickly as possible...” he began.

“Now that sounds romantic” Eliot interrupted coolly.

“It’s fine Eliot” Claire finally intervened, though quietly.

Eliot quickly turned to look back at her, his own eyes widening at that point. “Pardon?” he asked through nearly gritted teeth.

“I want them gone as quickly as possible too, so if that’s what it takes to give them the peace to leave us alone again...” she forced a smile.

“You’re agreeing to this?” he asked with further disbelief.

Claire tried to give him a silent reassurance of some kind with her eyes, though his own anger and fear made it difficult for him to even notice it. She then forced a smile to the other men present and waiting, “will you all at least step back to the edge of the room and give us at least a little more privacy? It would be rather even more uncomfortable if you were too close, after all” she attempted to keep her voice soft and sweet despite her own upset at this turn of events, which she was hiding much better than Eliot at this point.

“Of course, my lady” the eldest man agreed as they all stepped back against the wall before each offering her another awkward smile and bow.

Eliot gave her another look of panic and confusion at the idea that she was indeed seeming to agree to a part of the lie that he himself had not even planned for, unfortunately. She then offered the nobles one more sweet, if forced, smile, and got to her knees atop the mattress where she moved to quickly begin pulling the bed’s canopy fully shut around them as the nobles craned their necks slightly to try and continue watching through any creases in the material for their ‘performance’ to begin.

“Claire?” Eliot stated her name in a way that conveyed all of his own panic right then with just one simple word.

“Trust, remember?” she attempted quietly as she offered him another sad smile before trying to think of how they could best get through the next several moments, as Eliot was not thinking clearly enough to do so at all, for obvious reasons.

Claire then squared her shoulders and began undoing her corset, which only caused Eliot’s eyes to widen. She simply nodded to him to begin undressing as well.

“Seriously?” Eliot returned with disbelief, while still trying to keep his voice too low to be heard by their unwanted guests still stationed at the other side of the room.

“Well, we can’t exactly do this clothed, can we?” she returned in the same quiet tone as she continued undressing, still trying to assure him, silently, that she did have a plan.

“Seriously?” he repeated, struggling now to keep his voice low, especially when she finished with the laces and began pulling the dress away from the sheer dressing gown she wore underneath, which did little to hide her body beneath the thin material.

“Just undress” she told him with another look, “trust me” she repeated again.

Eliot just shook his head and took another deep shaky breath as he watched as she reached through the tiny gap in the draped canopy and dropped the deep purple velvet dress to the floor next to the bed, before pulling her arm back inside.

He took yet another breath that was more than a bit unsure, but finally gave into trusting whatever plan Claire seemed to think would actually work to get through this extremely tense situation. He then moved shaking hands to begin pulling his own shirt away as well.

After forcing himself through the next few moments with more than a bit of anxiety, Eliot did finally remove all but his own undergarment, dropping the since removed clothing to the floor outside the canopy as well, just as she had done already.

That was when Claire further took the lead, at first confusing him even more as she suddenly let out a few coy giggles. Raising his brow at her sudden merriment, Eliot continued to sit there atop the bed with her, watching her with growing curiosity just barely poking through his very real fears about the entire situation.

Though she then closed her eyes to make it easier on herself to continue one of best performances of her rather short career as an actress without having to see his own reactions and risk breaking character, so to speak. She then let those coy giggles take a turn as they slowly became soft moans, which grew louder and louder, therefore departing from anything but coy as her act continued. All the while, refusing to even let herself open her eyes again to see the very real reaction that Eliot must have been having to seeing behind the curtain, quite literally.

When Claire allowed that final loud gasp to escape her lips several moments later, even Eliot, who was simply watching a girl sitting on a bed in a dressing gown at the moment, had trouble believing that she hadn’t actually been brought to orgasm right then by a very skilled lover.

Finally opening her eyes once more after her closing act, Claire still couldn’t look over at him right away. She seemed like she did actually need a moment to recover right then, despite the fact that he hadn’t actually touched her at all during that very convincing performance. When she did finally let herself look over at where he stared back at her in open-mouthed awe and even admiration, and possibly even a bit of desire of his own, well-hidden as it might have been, Claire did allow a sheepish smile upon seeing his reaction at last.

But before either could say anything at all to one another, the eldest man spoke up with obvious discomfort, if not arousal of his own, “very well, my lord and lady. The servants will be in shortly to gather the bedding and leave you in peace. Congratulations on your... nuptials... once again” he managed before herding the other equally distracted men from the chambers with him at last.

When the door closed and their footsteps departed, Eliot couldn’t help another wave of worry despite his reaction to what Claire had just done for him, “gather the bedding?” Eliot asked her with worry returning just as quickly, fearing that even after that performance of hers, it might still be all for naught.

Claire thought another moment, not sure how much time they had before those servants arrived to gather further proof of how real their marriage truly was. After all, they supposedly married in secret that morning, or so the tale had been told, which she assumed meant that the emperor had even more doubts about the legitimacy of the marriage at all, as he was now going above and beyond to assure that she actually was his daughter by law, in every way possible.

“It’s fine” she assured once again as she looked around them a moment.

“How is it fine? They want physical proof beyond... what you just did” he settled on, “you’re obviously not a virgin and I obviously didn’t just deflower you moments ago!” his panic increasing.

“It’s fine” she repeated. She then took another moment before coming up with the first plan she thought of, as risky as it was, considering she still had a secret to keep from Eliot, and not just everyone else in that damn palace.

On that assurance, Claire reached down to hike up the hem of her dressing gown, nearly exposing all of herself to him, despite how little was even still hidden beneath the translucent material. She then moved rather long nails to the pale skin of her thigh, just below where he had supposedly been only moments earlier himself. She then clawed a rather deep gash into her inner thigh with a slight wince, her strength easily breaking the delicate skin and drawing quite a lot of blood as well.

“What on earth...?” Eliot stammered, not even sure of how to finish his sentence as he watched her blood trickling from her pale skin to begin staining the sheets below her.

“I’m fixing this. Like I said, it’s fine” she couldn’t help taking another moment to look down at where her blood continued to pool beneath her thigh. She then forced another small smile as she looked back up at him, somehow now glad that she had not eaten yet that night, as it would take that gash even longer to heal then. After all, explaining that other oddity about her very being would cause an entirely different set of problems, this time for her, rather than him.

Eliot shook his head in further disbelief, though wore a small smile of his own, despite the whole of the evening. “You’re literally shedding blood for me?” he couldn’t believe the words himself, even whilst speaking them.

“Isn’t it what all brides do for their husbands on their wedding night?” she returned wryly.

He shook his head again, “you are truly a strange, strange girl, Claire” he then smiled once more, “strange, and amazing.”