Locked Legacies

Chapter XX: History won't repeat itself

Though the temperature might have been pleasant, with a cool breeze blowing at dusk, Elias was sweating. With every hour he spent restoring the vegetable garden, his pores widened. It was, most definitely, not willingly nor pleasant but his father had been merciful enough when he heard about the catastrophe; he wasn't going to fix the mess for him too. And that is how he ended up shoveling, planting, watering, and repeating.

The prince returned from his training with a gloomy expression, his head completely lost in the words he had read from the letter the previous night; he would have to talk to Joel and assume a responsibility that he was unsure if he could take on.

It was the young boy who noticed the prince's presence first from afar; he looked up at him, scoffed at the thought of him hanging out with Faylinn, and kept on working the rake. Unexpected was when the prince addressed him; "Why are you working on this so late?" He questioned.

Elias looked up at him, wide-eyed, and attempting a bow. "Your Highness, I-I'm sorry."

"Oh, no," he chuckled, "I didn't mean it in that sense. You should be resting; it is dark outside already."

The boy looked up at the sky; he could even see the stars at this point, even though he had started in the afternoon. He let out a sigh, knowing that he would wake up exhausted and sore the next day, and then explained: "My father will not let me come in until I have finished, it's my fault that it was destroyed, you see?"

He nodded in understanding before jumping over the fence and rolling up his sleeves, "Fetch me the shovel." 

The boy stood stiff, forgetting to move as his mind went blank until the prince insisted, He doubtfully reached for the tool, offering it with a puzzled expression, "You don't need to do this."

"But this is far more entertaining than the task I have to do today," a mischievous smile was drawn on his face as he dropped his armor's helmet on the ground, right by the wooden paling. "So, tell me, who is this father who is making you work so much?"

"Hector is his name," he informed unsurely; not because he doubted if that was correct, but because he was worried for his relative's well-being. The prince could get whomever he wanted fired in the blink of an eye, even without apparent reason, and that was not what Elias was hoping for. "It was my responsibility, so he is right for making me do this."

The name took Augustus' mind into a distant memory, from a couple of months ago; "Wait, Langdon?"

"Yes," he agreed without a hint of surprise, unlike Faylinn, who had been shocked to hear he knew her surname. Now it was obvious that he would; his sister was actually close with the prince.

"You must be Elias, then. I've heard a lot about you," he said with certain excitement; it was rewarding to finally connect the name to a face. It was mid-thought that he realized that he was not being very subtle, "Uhm, from your mother. I've heard a lot about you from your mother. She works in the wardrobe, and we sometimes get to have conversations."

"Mh, right," he chuckled, amused by his attempt to cover their tracks. "You know my sister too," he continued, guiltily enjoying his expression being tinted by panic.

The distress was clear in his features, yet he denied everything. His drama skills were, surprisingly, decent—or so he thought— "You have a sister?"

Elias laughed at his attempt to hide it; "I know you are friends, or whatever you are."

"Wait, she told you?"

"Of course not. I just saw you talking in the woods that one time with Ruby."

He groaned, disappointed that they weren't as secretive as they thought, yet relieved that only her brother had found out instead of her parents, or worse, the king.