Thorough Breds 1: My Prince(18+)

4- A lesson not learned

Tharn was sitting in the balcony of the palace, the air making him feel more free than he had felt for a long time. He found himself suffocated at odd times, gasping and looking for the open sky.

Seeing the sky would made him feel better; it would look so big and never-ending, and somehow infront of its size his problems would start looking small. He was so insignificant, and so his problems were insignificant too.

With time, this habit of his would get a name; claustrophobia.

The life and responsibilities of the palace will make him crazy, and he will learn that the prince of the country was even worse than a begger. For even beggars had the right to choose their own lives.

People thought being royal born was lucky, if you asked Tharn, it was nothing more than confining. Being royal meant no right to anything, not even your happiness.

This is how his guard found him. Sitting in nothing more than a thin shirt in wind so cold, it could freeze a man's bones.

"Sire, the King and Queen wish for you to join them for dinner"

Not his Mother and Father, the King and Queen.

He heaved in a sigh, wishing he could call them Mae and Por just once.

******

Type was going crazy. He wanted to show Tharn the dung beetle he had finally found and he was nowhere to be found.

He had looked in the kitchen and in his room and under the sofas, and under the tables and beds too. He'd even checked in the scary well just in case.

But Tharn had gone poof.

Grumbling, he was now checking each and every spoon, fork and knife in the kitchen as if Tharn could be hiding under any of them. Over and over he turned them, trying to figure if they were hiding some secret.

"Type? TYPE!!!"

Hr turned around to see his father looking around the mess in the kitchen with a horrified look on his face. Well the pots and pans were all lying on the floor, but what else was he supposed to do. What if Tharn was hiding in cupboards?

"PPPPorrrr... I was just looking for Tharn"

"What!!!!!" That was his mother's shriek. She had stepped in the kitchen right on this sentence.

She raced over to her, an expression of terror frozen on her face. Her hands gripped his arms brutally as she shook him hard.

"What did you just say?!!! Huh? What did you just say?!!!!"

Type looked up at his mother scared, as tears pooled in his eyes.

"Mae-"

"If I ever hear you say the prince's name again Type, I'll cut your tongue out. Because if somebody else finds out they will cut off your head"

Type hiccupped as his mother talked, his eight year old brain not comprehending what be had done so wrong. His father seeing him cry rushed to his rescue.

"Love, he's just a kid. I'm sure he-"

"You think he's a kid. They won't. Kid or not. They will kill him. Oh God. My son!! My Type!"

And then she was hugging Type. Trying to bury her only son inside herself so nobody could ever harm him. The law was clear. Calling any member of the royal family by their name was an insult punishable by death.

"Never again, Type Promise me. You will never call him by his name again. Infact you will never meet him again."

She had started crying now. Strong sobs shaking her whole body.

"But Mae, he is my friend"

His mother looked pained at his statement. Like she had swallowed something really bitter and it was threatning to come back.

"A prince and a servant boy are never friends Type. Princes play with sons of lords and ladies. Never with sons of their servants. Listen to me well love. If the sun and land come to close, nothing happens to the sun, it is the land that burns to ash. If the King and Queen find out, they will scold their son, but they will kill mine. "

She looked at Type, her eyes urging him to understand, her desperation, my rank.

"His life is worth thousands like you. But for me, you are my only son. For your mother, please, don't do anything you shouldn't do"

"Love, why don't you go out for some fresh air, I'll talk to him, all you're doing is scaring him" His father kept trying until she fnally left, after which he hugged Type hard.

Type loved the way his Por smelled, like cookie dough and baked heaven. And he pressed himself in his chest harder, trying to wear that scent as a cloak of comfort around him.

"Type, your mother might be harsh, but every word she said was true. She's scared. She loves you so much"

"But Por-"

"I know, I know, but this can't go on for long. Now, why don't you go to the prince's room and meet him instead of running around like a headless chicken. The dinner plates just came back, and I assume so did the prince."

Type just nodded, and ran out to avoid his fathers worried eyes. Childhood knew no limits, and followed no rules.

He raced to Tharn's room, wanting nothing more to hide in his arms. Tharn was so arrogant, he made Type feel safe; made everything look so easy.

The moment he saw him, Type felt more excited than he felt all day. And so naturally he did what he was any eight year old would have. He shouted his friend's name, all accross the corridor.

"THARN"

In his excitement he didn't see the prince wasn't alone. Didn't see the King and Queen looking at him, one horrified, the other furious.

*********

He missed Type.

The dinner with The King and Queen was going as he had expected it would.

Painfully awkward.

Formalities were everywhere, he spend more time nodding and passing plates, making fake compliments and trying to look as if he was listening.

The little boy he was friends with, was the only thing he thought of. If Type was here with him, this dinner wouldn't be so boring. If Type was here, he would feel comfortable. Unknowingly, Type had become home. The only place he was allowed to be himself without fear of judgement.

This thought accompanied him, all through dinner and to his parents walking him to his room, trying to get more time to talk to him, Tharn was sure.

He was so engrossed in his head, that when his name was shouted, he didn't realize as first. It wasn't until he saw his parents faces that he turned to see Type waving at him from accross the corridor.

And when he did, Tharn felt terror clog his throat and fear start to run through his veins.

 ****
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Ana💕