Spindle Wood (COMPLETED)

Chapter 21

See you then.

"Where have you been?" Oscar's sharp tone snapped Logan out of his thoughts. Logan gestured to Sampson.

"Take a wild guess." He said. Oscar rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. You're late and your hair is a mess." Oscar snatched Sampson's reins away from Logan. "Also, fix your face. You look like you've just seen an angel and that's not a very Logan look."

"I've met an angel, however." Logan thought, a ghost of a smile crossing his face. "What are we doing?"

This stopped Oscar in his tracks. "How do you expect me to know?" He asked. "You're the time-keeping prince. I'm the actually-gets-the-kingdom prince."

"Oh, ha-ha." Logan said with a roll of his eyes. "I don't want the kingdom anyway."

"You're sure?" Oscar asked. "Cause you certainly don't want to become just some object to be traded around."

"I'm not going to!" Logan snapped. He blinked and smoothed down his waistcoat. "Become just some object, I mean. I already have an elected husband, remember?"

"Yeah, who doesn't even exist." Oscar mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"We don't know that." Logan defended, hunching his shoulders. "He could still be out there, you know. It might all be a big surprise."

Oscar rolled his eyes and sighed. "You don't actually believe that, do you, Lo?" When Logan didn't give a reply, Oscar heaved his shoulders in a shrug and turned away. "I think it's portraits." His words were cut by Logan's annoyed groan. "I'll put Sampson back, you fix your face. Got it? Great."

"I swear, when I become king, I'm banning portraits." Oscar growled as soon as they had been released from the Gold Room. "And I'm banning the Gold Room."

"Oh, it's got the best light." Logan mocked. "What it has is the most uncomfortable seats. I am permanently bruised in places that should not be bruised."

Oscar let out a snort of laughter. "Don't laugh at my pain!" Logan protested. He snapped open his pocket watch. "Right, it is now 1:15. Do not talk to me or even come in a 7 mile radius of me until 2:30 or I'll find some way for you to get disowned."

"Yeah?" Oscar asked. "How?"

Logan considered it for a while. "I'll tell dad why Ax was in such a hurry to be alone with you." He said eventually. Oscar's eyes widened in horror.

"Done." He said quickly. "And remember, the Blue Library's on this floor."

Logan almost smiled. "Thank you."

Logan was curled up in his favourite window seat with his favourite book and he still couldn't concentrate. His mind had been wandering off all day.

At first, the logical explanation had been that he'd been nervous at sneaking away and meeting a near-stranger in the forest. And for a while, that's all he'd thought it was.

But then it hadn't stopped after he'd had a talk with Pat. He'd nearly steered Sampson into three trees because he'd been so lost in his own mind. Eventually, it had taken Sampson throwing him into a pile of (mercifully hedgehog-less) leaves to get him to think properly.

And all through portraits, his mind had wandered. Not that that was surprising, there was nothing to do while you were sat motionless while an old man tried to get the colour of your skin tone correct. But rather than wandering back to a book or story, Logan's mind had wandered back to earlier that day. That wouldn't have been surprising if it hadn't wandered back to just Pat.

Pat nearly falling over, Pat excited to see him, the way Pat's smile took over his whole face, eyes shining and the skin around them crinkling. Pat setting upon odd topics and being absolutely fascinated by them.

Logan shook his head. He needed to get his head out of the clouds. He blinked a couple times, then pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Focus, you idiot." He muttered to himself, trying to translate the words into different voices of authority in his head. Oscar, his dad, sneery politicians, anyone. Nothing could get him to focus, it seemed.

Pat. He was so odd. He knew Logan was a prince and yet treated him with no more or less respect than he would treat anyone. It was odd. Pat was odd.

Maybe Logan liked having a friend like that... Odd.

Ooh, Logan's got a crush!
Imagine that in the most childish voice imaginable because that's it. Simply childish.
Bye,
Blaize