Locked Legacies

Chapter XXXVIII: Locked legacies

Along the way, among nightmares and restless sleep, the fine line between dusk and dawn became blurry in Augustus' mind. Having blocked the sunlight by closing the window, he didn't notice the time of day it was. Not that it really mattered to him, for it was a Sunday, and, since he didn't have any obligations to attend to, his only plan was to spend the day in bed. That is why, when Faylinn stormed in, he was taken aback and, honestly, displeased at her proposal.

He was dragged through the palace hallways, complaining each step of the way. At one point, Faylinn's "You will like it" answers ceased to be given to him as she opted to let him whine by himself. "Go ask for a carriage to town," she whispered, swinging the door they had stopped in front of wide open and shoving him inside. Trying to process her petition, he looked around, finding the doorframe completely deserted; Faylinn was nowhere in sight. She had been quick to hide, so as not to get caught, and was standing with her back pressed against the wall behind him. Augustus frowned and finally talked to the puzzled man, who was standing expectantly, waiting to be spoken to before letting out a word.

"Uh... Good afternoon," the prince finally said, his features returning to their previous darkened shade.

"Your Highness," the man bowed, and the other could already perceive the pity in his gaze; either because of the physical manifestation of his emotions, or the recent events, people always reacted the same. Something similar had happened with Ray's death; there were whispers when he walked into a meeting, sorry smiles, and pity looks, and he hated each one of them. He wanted everything to go back to normal, and they were doing the exact opposite of acting like they did before.

"I need a carriage to town," he added, rubbing his tired face as the man jotted something down in a notebook.

"Carriage number four will be ready shortly, expecting you by the entrance."

Augustus sighed and added a rather dry "Thank you," even though the other had nodded politely. He was bothered by his pity, that was true, but if his glass hadn't been a drop away from being full, he would have smiled back at him. He turned on his heels, not stopping in his tracks as he already knew Faylinn would reappear.

And, as a matter of fact, she did catch up swiftly; "So?"

"It will be waiting for us by the entrance in a short while," he replied, already heading towards the meeting spot.

It was, indeed, a very short time that it took, but the couple made the most of it by holding a conversation. There was a single step right by the door, where the two sat for a couple of minutes. The royal, once again, could sense something different in the gaze that lay on him, yet it was not pity, for which he was certainly grateful. Her eyes held something different; worry, a wish to read his racing thoughts. It took him a couple of seconds to be able to look back at her because he knew she had a way to make him more vulnerable; she smiled sweetly after meeting his eyes.

"Hello," she whispered cheerfully, making the man attempt to mirror it. "How are you?"

"Fine," he assured, his eyes darting away for a short second.

Faylinn immediately slapped his arm, shooting him a warning look, "You liar, we are not doing this today."

Even though she really cared about it and didn't consider the topic funny in the slightest, she tried to keep it light. It was better that way, for she understood that he struggled to start talking when things got too serious too quickly. When she saw his eyes wrinkling slightly in comfort and a soft chuckle escaping his lips, she knew she had done the right thing. "You were expecting too much of me if you thought I would tell you the truth the first time—" He started saying, noticing how terrible it sounded when Faylinn raised her eyebrows in the middle of his statement, her mouth agape.