The Prince's Curse

Chapter 18 - The Meeting

~Chapter 18~

*The Meeting*

"Come along, Luke, it is time to go," Ashton said, standing up from his seat as the rest of the advisors packed up their things. They waited until Ashton stood and left the long table before leaving themselves.

    They were in what Luke thought was the conference room. There was a long wooden table that sat about 20 people. Ashton sat at the head of the table in a miniature version of a throne. The chair was painted gold (or maybe it was actually made of gold, Luke had to remind himself he was in a castle) and had a high back, red cushions, with a couple of gems at the top of the high back. There were two small windows in the wall behind Ashton and there was an end table to the left of the conference table that had a vase of flowers and a landline phone, which could be used to call the servants if they needed anything.

    "Where are we going?"

    "To the next meeting," Ashton told him.

    Luke groaned, shuffling behind the prince as they traveled to another torture meeting, er, conference meeting.

    It was boring, this was the part of security that Luke hated—the monotonous, stupid parts that had nothing to do with him. Ashton and his advisors were talking about the everyday happenings of their kingdom. Luke paid attention because it was always good to know about where he was--it could potentially help him protect Ashton better--but it was so dull he wanted to smash his face against the stone walls.

    Ashton smiled at his reluctance. He didn't always like all the meetings either.

"This meeting is about security, you might like this one a bit better,"

    Luke shrugged. He might find it a bit more interesting, but it was still another couple hours where he was going to have to stand to the side, watching over Ashton and making sure none of the aristocrats tried anything against him. Luke knew he could never trust anyone.

    "Actually, how would you feel about giving a brief update on what happened whilst in America, and what you plan to do for my security here?"

    Luke raised an eyebrow at Ashton while the two of them walked up a staircase. Ashton was holding a stack of papers, going through something before this next meeting.

    "I mean, I can. It's not going to be very helpful,"

    Ashton glanced up at him in confusion. He smiled sadly at Luke, stopping to put his hand on Luke's arm.

"Do not say that, I am sure you have some very good information. They would find any update helpful, there is no need to be shy," he said genuinely. Luke wanted to roll his eyes, but he couldn't. This man was just too...nice.

    Luke continued walking. "That's not it. I meant...all I'm going to do is protect you from any threat. I will not be giving these people any sort of information they could potentially use against me, against you. There will be no details publicly broadcast to your entire staff."

    "Luke, do you not believe that to be a bit dramatic?" Ashton stopped in front of a door, where a set of guards stood on either side. They opened it up for him, bowing as he passed and closing it behind them. Ashton quickly went to the 'seat of honor' (which is what Luke called his tiny throne chair in his head) and spread a couple files over the table. They were maps. "These people have the same goal as you, to protect me. I do not believe any of them will use your information against us,"

    Luke sighed. He was so naive, it almost hurt.

    "Ash, there's someone out there who's trying to hurt you, so much so that you literally needed to flee your country for a while. Why is it hard for you to believe there might be someone here who could potentially not have your best interests in mind?" explained Luke slowly.