Satin is Not Silk

8 | TRUTH

"Can you keep a secret?"

Alex stood dumbfound, unsure about how one was supposed to respond in a situation like this. If he answered no, then he might miss an important opportunity. If he answered yes, well, then the possibilities were endless. While, at the same time, there was something else he was afraid of: the threat of knowing too much.

The result of his hesitance was what felt like several minutes of pure, agonizing silence. Alex staring at Ezra. Ezra staring back at Alex. Neither one with enough courage to push forward, both of them too weak to look away. Ezra slowly opened his lips.

"Lalala!" Alex quickly retracted his hand and covered his ears. "I can't hear you and you probably shouldn't tell me anyway because you might incriminate yourself! Lala!"

Ezra had a look of shock on his face as if he could hardly believe the man before him was a royal prince. Alex recognized it right away, having seen said look on numerous others.

The quicker you feel disappointed in me the better. Biting down on the inside of his lip, Alex turned sheepishly. Please don't have so much faith in me. I'm hopeless, I already know.

When Alex looked back at him he saw the corners of the man's lips twitch. Soon, he burst into a fit of laughter, rolling on the grass like a kid. Alex frowned. It almost looked as if he hadn't laughed this intensely in ages.

"What's so funny?' he questioned.

"Nothing, nothing." Ezra wiped tears at the corners of his eyes as he failed to regain his composure. "Incriminate," he chuckled one last time.

"I thought you were going to tell me a big secret? Sounded...illegal."

The enemy prince smiled sweetly and cocked his head to the side. "My dear, if I've done something illegal why would I tell you? You think I want you to lock me up?"

Alex shrugged half-heartedly. "You got so serious."

At last, Ezra sighed and calmed down. Running his fingers through thin blades of grass he said, "Looking back, I suppose I might've been overthinking this. It's typical angst regarding princely duties--marriage and all that jazz. Hesitance for moral reasons. Hesitance for more...selfish reasons. Although, I suppose you wouldn't relate to that part." Deeming the grass uninteresting, he eyed Alex once more. In his gaze was a suggestiveness that made Alex tremble. "Unless...you do?"

Hesitance for selfish reasons? What does that even mean-

Alex's eyes widened. He felt like his knees were going to give out on the spot. "I...I might...maybe..." he whispered, so quietly that Ezra had to lean in to hear.

Ezra smirked, plucking a soft white dandelion from the ground and blowing gently on it. In an even lower, raspier tone he teased, "You might..."

In an attempt to avoid eye contact at all costs, Alex watched pieces of fuzz drifted through the air. It was as if they were free for only a brief second, before lamely crashing back into the ground. How sad it was that from their first sprout up until the moment of death, they never once left this place.

♬

Alex was in his room sewing a skirt when he was interrupted by light taps on the door. Quickly, he shoved all of his materials under his bed before rearranging himself at his desk to nonchalantly ask, "Who is it?"

"It's me," answered a gentle, feminine voice.

Oh.

"Can we talk?"

Alex felt flustered. He hadn't properly spoken with Anastasia since their big fight. "Uh, sure."

She walked wearing a somber demeanor and holding a wrapped box. She held it out. "For you."