The Selection (Troyler AU)

♔Part III♔

Tyler POV

"You know what you have to say, right?" my mother, whom I rarely got to see anymore, told me as she straightened my tie.

I nodded, knowing that my father wouldn't have ever let me go through with this without memorizing the entire announcement word for word. "I did," I said, smiling easily since I knew I didn't have to keep any facades up in front of my mother. As far as I know, she didn't know exactly what my father put me through - and I wasn't going to worry her over it, either - but she didn't do anything ever intimidate me, or assert any amount of forced authority over me. She cared for me, cherished my existence, genuinely loved me, unlike anyone else, except maybe Hannah or Korey. Still, neither of those two held a candle to the bright star that was my mother. My mother, Queen Jacquelyn Oakley of Íllea, the only person I'm absolutely certain I love (( REFERENCE )).

"Good," she said, letting out a small sigh of relief. She kept fiddling with my tie, her nimble fingers adjusting it ( even though it was perfectly straight ) and she continues on another subject,"Tyler, are you sure you want to go through with all of this? Right now?"

No. I don't want this at all. But I couldn't tell her that; I knew that my father had security cameras installed practically everywhere, monitoring our every movement. Even in my own bedroom, as I discovered once when I snuck into the security room, a few years ago. In fact, the only places he doesn't have them are the maids' and servants' quarters. Well, at least the ones that he's in no way suspicious of; however, he raises alarm over the silliest things, such as looking at him weirdly, or bowing too low, etc.

It was the reason that I was so icy to the replacement servant, Troye Sivan, earlier this morning when he replaced his supervisor to help me get ready. I knew my father had access to all surveillance equipment, audio and video-wise, and if he knew that I was treating servants, well, decently, he'd never let me hear the end of it. Servants are meant to be utilized as tools, nothing more, nothing less. At least, that's what he always drilled into my head. I never believed him, ever since I became friends with Hannah. Well, I didn't necessarily believe it much before, but I definitely rejected that way of thinking once I met Hannah.

I couldn't get Troye out of my head though, to the point that it was becoming concerning. I wasn't sure why he was stuck on my mind, like a fly getting stuck on flypaper, but I wasn't making any moves to remove him from my thoughts anytime soon. It wasn't often that I got to experience change in my monotonous life, and even if it was a small difference - like a new servant taking Connor Franta's place for the day - it was a significant one in my eyes.

Not to mention what an intriguing character he was to me. There were a couple moments where I saw a flash something in his eyes, a light of annoyance or frustration towards me, but he always pushed it away, simp,y getting back to the task at hand. There was a certain amount of restraint there that I had to admire: my life is based around needing restraint when it comes to authority figures.

I guess that's why it stuck in my head - maybe he and I, the servant and the Prince, weren't so different after all.

It was different than when it was Connor, too; Connor always did what he was told, no questions asked, like it was his birthright to do what was told of him. He was the perfect mold of a model servant, and I knew that he would be a perfect right-hand man for my father, if the task were ever set upon him. I never had any problems with him, and he seemed like a decent enough human being, but he was kind of just there. He was there, in my presence, but he didn't seem like a real person anymore. I could be downright evil to him, and he'd still bow down and kiss my feet, if I requested it.

Troye, however, had a certain amount of contained anger pent of inside of him, like an insistent smolder that wouldn't quite become a flame, but was always teeming to break free and ignite. He was holding back exactly how he really feels about everything. In fact, I suspected that he wouldn't even choose to be here, if it wasn't his only choice - once orphans are transferred to the palace, if they have no other family, then that's it: there's no going back.