Blue Blood and Belgium Chocolate

|01| The Crown

PRINCE ADALIZ

The Crown Prince.

THE DAY MY world fell apart began with Daegan and I playing air hockey. The two of us were bent over the table, my fingers were deft and quick with practice, while Daegan was clumsy and careless. I push the puck a little too hard, it veers off course but manages to go home. I laugh relieved.

Daegan doesn't share the same relief. He stands straight up, his face a little red and blotchy, he throws the handle down on the carpeted floor. His brown eyes glare at me.

"I'm out of practice," he says frustrated.

I stop laughing. "You'll get there," I say with the confidence of someone who's winning a game.

Secretly, I'm pleased that I'm better than Daegan in air hockey. Between the two of us, Daegan had been better than me in sports. He was a faster runner, he was stronger, he could run half-marathons, could cycle for miles and his reflexes were other-worldly. When it came to Daegan, I wasn't above cheating to achieve victory.

"I want a rematch," Daegan heads off to pick up the discarded toggle but a palace staff steps forward and hands him the toggle. He stiffens, no one could tell if they didn't notice but I notice the way he tenses, the immediate discomfort and when he turns back to me, there's that stiffness in his face that I recognise. It's the same face he has whenever an attractive girl flirted with him.

He hadn't been like this before. But then again, it's been ten years since he'd left to join the military.

Even I wasn't used to having him around.

"You're on," I say getting the puck back on the game. I serve the puck and he hits it. Instead of heading towards me, he makes a home goal. It illicit's a laugh from me. Daegan scowls, taking the puck off, glaring at it.

I'm still laughing when my fathers page enters the room. "Your Royal Highness Prince Adaliz, your father awaits your presence. He is waiting for you in his Royal Study."

I raise an eyebrow to Daegan, "Follow me?" I ask him, still reeling from the novelty of having him back in the palace. I don't wait for his reply, I turn to the page and tell him, "I'll be there shortly."

The page nods and dashes off.

I turn to Daegan and we both walk to our fathers Royal Study as it's aptly named. Daegan follows my strides easily. I remember him when he left, he'd been shorter than me, he had little facial hair and he certainly didn't limp as much.

Despite the limp, Daegan is slightly taller than me and determined to keep my stride. I marvel at him trying not to make him feel stranger than he had been. Daegan had been here for a month but it felt like it was still days. My brother is home. He's finally home.

It's easy to say Daegan and I are close, we're only two years apart. He's been in my life for as long as I could remember. At first glance, we don't look like siblings. He was the only one among five with dark raven coloured hair like our mother. The rest of us had inherited our father's auburn hair.

"Why do you think he's calling you?" Daegan asks a little uncertain, the uncertainty bugs me more than I'd admit. He'd never been uncertain before.

"Probably something to do with the country," I say nonchalant, "he rarely talks to me about anything else."

Daegan nods. The younger Daegan would have said something to cheer me up. This one, doesn't. Instead he follows my strides all the way to our father's Royal Study.