A Thief's Kiss

2| Research

Chapter 2: Research (Alexander's POV)

I sat on the small couch in my room, flipping through the pages of The Alienist. It's a good book, just a touch boring in between. There was a knock on my door as I turned the page. "Come in!" I called out. 

Our butler, Mr. Carter- but he prefers I call him by his first name, Harry- walked in. I put the book down. "Your father has requested your presence downstairs, sir." 

"What's happened now?" I groaned, catching the amused look on his face. I walked out and he trailed behind me, going his way while I went down to my father's study. I don't quite understand why a king needs a study but... whatever. I suppose it's to document stuff. I couldn't tell you. I knocked before opening the door and going inside, standing behind the two chairs in front of him. "You called for me?" 

He was shuffling through papers. "Yes," he said without glancing up. "I need you to uh... right." He finally looked up. "I need you to go down to Azura market palace," he sighed. 

"What?" I chuckled. 

"Well, this whole weekend you had talked my ear off, whining about your watch being broken. The man your grandfather bought it from is still alive... somehow. So go and get it fixed on your own. Take a few guards with you while you're at it." 

"Why not just send the guards?" I frowned. 

"Consider it research." 

"Research?" 

"You barely leave the palace and know nothing about our people. You're coming of age now, you'll become king soon. It's time you start going out there and interacting with our citizens. To understand them and what's best for them." 

Silence. 

"Oh, you're serious?" I sputtered. 

"Don't be dramatic, get out," he huffed. 

I shrugged, rolling my eyes before leaving. I went back to my room where I grabbed the watch from my nightstand and then we headed out. Upon getting there, I realized I made one little mistake. I didn't ask which stall the watch guy was running. I had two guards that were hovering near me which made this experience even more bizarre. We moved through the sea of people, going from stall to stall, trying to spot that man. 

"Sir." I looked back, catching the guard pointing to one of the smallest stalls. A very old man was running it and was sitting there with nothing to do. He had no customers. He was eating... a cupcake. 

I squeezed my way through the crowd with the guards following me. I instinctively sighed in relief when I made it to his stall, it's the one place I can breathe properly in this crowd. "Uh, excuse me?" 

He looked up at me, his nose scrunching up. He has nothing on his stall. Not even a pencil. It's just an empty table with a black table cloth over it. "What?" he asked, frowning at me. 

"What is it that you do... exactly?" 

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Aren't you the prince?" 

"Maybe," I mumbled. 

"Oh, you're here for the watch, aren't you?" he chuckled, pointing to it. 

"Can you fix it?" 

"No," he shook his head. "I'm not the man for that. Keep going straight, it's the last stall. Gilbert set up only for you, sir," he laughed, getting frosting on his nose. 

"Thank you," I nodded before we continued moving forward. We were nearly at the end when I crashed into someone. "Sorry," I mumbled, continuing to brush past her. I glanced behind me, watching her merge into the crowd. I shrugged it off and we finally made it to the stall for the watches.