Satin is Not Silk

6 | LOVELY

Alex quietly stared out the window of their brilliant golden carriage as he tried as much as humanly possible to avoid staring at the atrocity before him.

Prince Ezra Maris of Ferrum sat cross legged, chin buried in the palm of his hand as he too stared out of the obnoxious moving vehicle. Except, while Alex faced forward, able to witness fresh landscape that had yet to come but soon would, Ezra faced directly opposite, unable to see anything until it had already passed, and stuck facing the same stagnant sight for what felt like an eternity. Alex wondered how he hadn't been driven mad from boredom already.

Whatever, he figured, I'd rather he watch the stupid landscape than recognize me.

Alex then turned to his stone-faced father, who had been avoiding his questions like the plague ever since they left the palace earlier that day. To be quite frank, he was sick of this. He was sick of constantly being left in the dark and told to follow whatever he was told like some pretty prince puppet.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked. He then gestured towards Ezra. "And why is he here? Tell me, father." It would seem that the first Prince of Aurum had just snapped.

His father scowled. "Don't be rude, Alex."

"What is he now? If I recall he was the prince of a kingdom we hadn't been truly peaceful with in decades. Now he's our special guest?" From the corner of his eye Alex noticed the man across from him flinch. It was incredibly minuscule. In fact, he'd hardly consider it a reaction at all, but it was also the most he'd seen out of Ezra all day.

Suddenly he felt like he shouldn't continue—this wasn't how this confrontation was supposed to go at all. So he softened. "Does...does Anastasia know about this?"

"Not yet. I have...things I need to discuss with her first."

"What things? That's what I've been asking about this entire time. I'm sick of being left in-"

"Marriage." Ezra's low voice was as expressionless as the gaze he used to stare out the window.

Ah. His stomach shouldn't have sunk so far upon hearing the eight letter word. But it did. Oh, it did. "She'll hate you for this."

"Then so be it."

No one said anything for the rest of the ride.

♬

Alex watched as not one, but several royal guards took to escorting Ezra a few steps from the carriage to the front entrance of his home. It was humorously excessive to say the least. He noticed it earlier too: extra precautions were taken in order to ensure his safety. He scoffed at the thought of the notorious war hero prince being in any sort of danger.

Entering the palace, he braced himself for the burning hot mess that had yet to appear. He expected screaming, maybe even some crying, perhaps the sound of a ceramic vase shattering after it soared like a wingless bird across the room. He was shocked when he heard absolutely nothing of the sort, but that was when he remembered that Anastasia said she had a charity event to attend and that she was probably out doing just that.

Sly bastard, he thought, referring to the fact that his father just so happened to bring home public menace number one in Anastasia's eyes when she wasn't even home. Coincidence? He thought not.

Down the hall, Alex heard his father call and order Ivan to show their guest to his room. He groaned internally when he watched tour-guide-Ivan turn right instead of left at the fork atop of their staircase, leading Ezra to their private wing. Of course he wouldn't be staying in the guest corridors. Of course was staying in one of their special rooms that they only really reserved for family members. And, of course, these special rooms just so happened to be a few paces away from his own.