the night we met

《caught》

~Henry~
The sunlight woke me up. Shit. Ezra and I should've been in our rooms hours ago. I woke him up and as he realised that it was about 10am he literally ran to the palace. I followed him and we said goodbye on the second floor, where I entered my room. The prince's room was in the third floor but I've never entered it. We'd only met up at our stable.
Only a few minutes after I arrived countess Mary-Anne knocked at my door.
"The prince wants to see you. Follow me please", she said in her usual serious voice and I followed her into a small room on the first floor. Ezra was waiting there but instead of thanking Mary-Anne for leading me here he frowned.
"Why's he here?", he asked.
I was confused.
"I thought you wanted to see me...sir"
It was weird to call him sir.
"Mary-Anne, what is going on here?", he now asked the countess.
"I'm sorry I had to lie to you both but last night I have noticed something I have to discuss with you"
Fuck. I was sure that she'd caught us. Ezra looked at me with a cold pokerface.
"What is it? Speak", he now commanded without showing any emotion.
"Well", Mary-Anne started, "a servant told me a few days ago that he'd seen Mr. Lune sneak out at night. Yesterday I hid in the great hall and at about 9pm this man here sneaked out again and I could see him enter the stable. I waited for about ten minutes to make sure he stayed there before I followed. Prince Ezra, you won't believe what I've seen in there. I could only see silhouettes through the window on the back but I believe Henry Lune became intimate...with another man.
Such behavior would indicate that he is one of these so called homosexuals, I think you've heard of them, sir.
I couldn't really identify the other man but his shadow told me he had dark hair, about as long as yours"
Fuck.

~Ezra~
I tried not to react in any way but I could see Henry looking down at his feet. There was no way I could save or protect him.
"What do you want me to do now?", I asked the countess as unemotional as possible.
"I think we should send him to a clinic. I've been told that there are doctors who try to save those poor souls. It'd be the only way we could keep him here"
Mary-Anne scornfully glanced at Henry.
This decision was probably the worst I ever had to make. Should I send him away to one of those stupid clinics? Or should I risk both of our lives and insist on letting him live his life?
Reluctantly I nodded.
"Fine. How long?"
I could see Henry's heart break as I said these words and immediately felt bad.
"As soon as you chose your wife I'd be able to bring him back to the palace. I just want to make sure that the royal family's continuing existence is secured", Mary-Anne responded.
God this was so messed up. I had to find a wife to get my true love back? Seriously?!
"What do you mean by that?", I asked.
"I think it would be safer for you if there wasn't someone like him near you, especially not while choosing a wife. I mean we don't know what he's thinking, right? Maybe he'd try to turn you into a faggot so that he wouldn't be the only one"
I looked at Henry, who now stared deep into my eyes. He stared at me with such pain in his eyes, it nearly broke me.
"Fine. He'll be sent away after dinner. Now please let me alone. Both of you", I stood up and walked up to Henry.
"You can pack your things now and please check on the horses one last time, I think Angel's wound might need another treatment or it could get infected"
I left the room and as soon as I got to my room I started crying.
What have I done?

~Henry~
I had to pull myself together to not start crying infront of the countess.
Instead I went to my room, completely devastated and packed my things. Tears ran down my face but I ignored them. I couldn't believe how cold and emotionless Ezra had been.
He'd just agreed to sending me away after we'd had sex only a few hours earlier.
I didn't understand this. I thought he'd really love me but maybe I've been too naive in this regard.
This was the very first time I'd thought about death. Even when my ex boyfriend died I didn't consider getting myself into such situation but now I did. What if they couldn't "heal" me in there? Would they just hang me like I've seen them doing it with so many others?
I was tired of thinking about that after a while and went to the stable, where Angel, Midnight, Caramel and 3 other horses were waiting for me.
I treated her wound as someone else entered. That person closed the door and as I turned around I could see Ezra walking towards me.
He fell into my arms and tears started running down his face. We hugged before he started speaking.
"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry, Henry"

-905 words