Forbidden

-Chapter Thirteen: The Two Weeks That Followed-

The morning after the ball, Ace woke up with a pounding headache from all the wine he forced down his throat to ignore the laughter and pointless begging of the bachelorettes. Ace smiled as he looked at the note in his hand, looking over the words 'your ally, Jack Sterling'. "Sterling. Sterling. Sterling." Ace whispered to himself while getting up. Ace knew he had woken up a little too early than anticipated considering the sun was just rising. Quickly he stumbled over to the washroom to wash himself, staring at his complexion that was untouched by labour and punishments. He thought of himself as selfish and greedy for not having a single scar on him or a tan from staying in the sun. Ace wanted to know what it was like to work and having to break a sweat. His father didn't even allow him to do any training, even though King Oliver went into battles at Ace's age. Going to meetings with the council and the Elites did not count as work. It shouldn't take more than one brain cell to sign a piece of paper of invitees to come to the next ball, but apparently in Findara it does.

Once fully clothed Ace locked the door to his washroom, walked over to his wardrobe, and opened the doors carefully. He stood for a moment in case anyone walked into his room, but when five minutes passed Ace pushed aside his shirts, crawled in, and closed the doors behind him. "Knock, knock." Ace said as he waited for the back of the wardrobe to open, revealing a slide that goes down to Chester's room.

"ACE!" Sebastian yelled as he threw the sheets over himself and Chester at the sudden appearance of the prince sliding out from the wall.

"WHY ARE YOU TWO DOING THIS AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING?!" Ace exclaimed as he quickly covered his eyes from the two lovers.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING USING THE SLIDE AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING!?" Sebastian yelled as Chester laughed covering his face with a pillow.

"Ace could you please go to Clara's room?" Chester asked as Ace quickly started to walk towards the door, only to run into the wall before uncovering his eyes and leaving.

"Cock blocker." Sebastian huffed as he and Chester got dressed. Ace carefully peeked his head out from the small corner that led to Chester's room and examined the basement to make sure there was no one there. Carefully he entered Clara's room who was meditating with Rhoma. Ace knew better to not interrupt so he sat patiently on Clara's bed as he breathed in the herbal scented room.

"Thank you for not interrupting Ace." Rhoma said as she helped Clara pack up their mats and crystals.

"Yeah, no problem. I understand how important meditating is for the both of you." Ace said as Clara looked at him with a smirk.

"You saw them doing it, again didn't you?" Clara asked.

"I just don't understand why they can't go to Sebastian's house and do it there!" Ace groaned as he held his head in his hands. One thing the wandering traveler should understand is that the kings of Findara are not 99.9% inhumane. King Frederick did not like how people sleeping on the streets in The Slums looked. When building the castle, he had the basement designed so it would house the homeless in return for labour (with the occasional outlier of a servant, gardener, guard, and other staff that was bought off of their parents when they were young).

"You know they would have a greater chance of getting caught that way, the guards living in The Slums are ruthless." Rhoma pointed out as Clara nodded her head. The Slums are mainly home for the guards and the King's favourites. It's been known that the guards in The Slums will hang anyone from the roof of their house if they have a slight suspicion of any witchcraft or homosexuals living there.

"Yeah, I should have known better." Ace said as Clara sat next to him.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Rhoma asked as she wore her uniform.