The Kingdom of Belmar

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The audacious, the ridiculous, the tempestuous nerve of that bitch. He dare seduce my brother into his snare of a bedroom, tangle him with an affair of information and espionage. Not only that, but he taunts me so and asks me to abandon my prince to support someone inferior in every possible way. I am Cole's personal knight, it must take some cocky confidence for him to ask that of me while I'm on duty.

Prince Cole. I've almost forgotten about his breakdown earlier today, how I was so desperate to hold him but decided it was too inappropriate. Isn't our whole relationship inappropriate, though? He has his own problems to sort out and think about, and now I have another one of my own. His pride may be wounded, but we both clearly need a shoulder to lean on right now.

As much as I wished to ease him into today's discussion about our political matters, it seems we have even less time to waste now that Tristen knows I'm aware of his plan. Once Queen Rista catches wind that I'm aware, she will surely speed up the process in order to catch me off guard.

We're running out of time.

I didn't notice I was running until I reach the doors to Cole's office completely out of breath.

His eyes were so downcast I couldn't even make out the color of his irises. His normally ruffled hair appears downright unkempt, even more so as one of his hands grips so ferociously on his scalp to the point where I fear that the strands will be ripped out. His pressed white shirt was wrinkled and untucked, and his jacket thrown haphazardly on the floor. There were papers strewn across his desk, but the only feathered pen in the room was stuffed between the cushions of the couch too far out of reach to be of any use. The sun was setting but one could barely tell as the curtains were closed, forcing out any and all light from the room.

Internally he was a mess.

When he heard the door open, he immediately sprang back to his perfect prince posture, and flashed a perfect prince smile. I don't want to see Crown Prince Accolodius right now, I want to see Ace, the boy from the streets.

"How did last night go?" I ask, giving no pause for simple pleasantries. There's the urge, the need, to rush him given the ticking time bomb that is Prince Tristen and Queen Rista's temper.

"About as well as a dead man staying afloat," he forces the corners of his lips upward but there's no humor in his voice, his smile doesn't even brush his eyes. "The majority of nobility have agreed to sponsor and support me as the Crown Prince, but a few on your list made it far too clear that they were still anticipating the formal announcement to be written in my father's will. Despite being given the title more than ten years prior, my father has still neglected putting pen to paper to solidify my place in his kingdom, not that he's very capable of doing so now."

The king's condition seems to worsen as the days continue. He was forced to go to the engagement party last night because it was that of his son and the future princess, but he left not even an hour into the evening, appearing faint and sickly the entire time. The poor man could barely stand, let alone dance with his kin.

I look at the prince in front of me for longer than I realize. My eyes lingering on his sunken cheeks, the dark circles under his eyes. How is the person in front of me right now the same Crown Prince I followed into the alley all those months ago? Despite his imperfections, he looks princely, he looks perfect, and my heart aches to see the light in his eyes slowly fade like a flickering candle. How to make a flame keep burning when the kindling is dried? How to comfort a desert when there's not a cloud in the sky?

Garrison's right. I can't stand seeing him like this, because for how much I've loathed him in the past, for how much he's annoyed me, the most loathsome, annoying part of him is how much it hurts to see his smile erased.