A Kingdom of Untold Truths || Dreamnotfound

13

Clay's POV

George gave him a small, hopeful smile. "I'm so proud of you Clay. You can make it through this."

Clay's chest squeezed. There was so much emotion in the Prince's voice, so much care. Clay searched George's expression for something else. He couldn't tell if it was there.

"I'm so sorry, Dream. I shouldn't have done that," Bad said from behind George.

The Prince frowned at the interruption. He stood up and offered his hand to Clay. Clay took it and smiled gratefully.

He turned to Bad. "No need to apologize, Bad, it's alright. You didn't know."

"No need to apologize?! He almost gave you a panic attack!" George said incredulously.

"I'm fine. See?" Clay dusted himself off and gave the Prince an unconvincing grin.

George scoffed, making Bad flinch. Clay approached him and put his hands on Bad's shoulders.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Bad. I shouldn't have gotten distracted, it's my fault okay?" Clay said.

"It is not your fault." George said loudly from behind him.

Clay ignored him and continued, "I'm good now, you can go back to what you were doing before. Sorry to have disturbed your schedule."

Bad hugged him tightly and said, "I'm sorry again. I miss him too."

Clay stiffened and said nothing.

Bad stepped out of the hug. "I'll see you later."

Clay nodded and watched Bad walk off. He turned around to face George who was giving him a stubborn glare. Clay furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

"You need to stop being so hard on yourself, Clay."

Clay pressed his lips together. "I'm not being hard on myself."

The Prince narrowed his eyes. "Yeah righ—"

"I don't wanna talk about this," Clay interrupted.

"Fine."

Clay looked at him in surprise. "Fine?"

"Fine. If you don't want to talk about it, then I won't push you to." George looked unhappy, but he gave Clay a soft look.

"Thank you."

George nodded. Clay was going to apologize for wasting the Prince's time, but he stopped himself. He didn't want anymore arguing about himself.

"What now?" Clay asked.

"Well tomorrow we are touring the Princess," George sighed, "I wanna think about something else. Let's go into town."

"Okay," Clay replied.

It had been a while since he'd been in town just to walk around.

"Let's go then," George said excitedly.

"Just us?"

"Yeah, just us." George grinned.

"We shouldn't go into town alone, George. There's too many unknown threats and I'm just one guard."

"You aren't my Royal Guard for nothing Clay. We'll be fine. I trust you."

Clay paused at the last sentence but continued, "Won't you be afraid of people swarming you?"

"I'll change. I'll take off my crown. You can take off your armor and we'll go as two regular men."

Clay stiffened. "I'm not taking off my armor. It's too dangerous."

George let out a frustrated groan. "Since when is Emberfall dangerous? Besides it's not like there's posters of you or I in town. And you can keep your sword."

Clay sighed reluctantly, "Fine."

George smiled excitedly. They went into the castle and changed into clothing that townspeople wore. Clay still kept his sword and daggers on him, but he found a plain sheath that wouldn't draw many eyes. People would just see him as a guard in town for the day. He didn't know what they'd see the Prince as. George wore brown pants and a black shirt, as well as leather boots. He ditched the crown and cape. Clay paused, he looked like the average man, but still his pretty self.

They snuck out of the castle and walked to the streets of Emberfall. Clay and George walked through the market. All sorts of smells greeted his nose. He gave George a rare grin, which made George stumble a step. Clay grinned wider, which made George blush. Clay snickered at the brown-haired Prince.

"Oh shut up," George mumbled, a blush still dusting his cheeks.

Clay looked away, still grinning. He lightly bumped his hip purposefully into George's. George let out a cute giggle. Clay's stomach fluttered. God, I am in some deep shit. Clay glanced at the Prince who was staring at Clay with happiness in his eyes and something else Clay couldn't quite read.

"Where do you wanna go?" Clay asked.

"Hmm. Let's go over here."

Clay followed George, it had been a while since he'd been to this place in the town. They stopped in front of a flower shop. George grinned playfully at Clay. Clay raised his eyebrow and let George do the talking.

"Hello?" George called into the shop.

"I'll be right out!" A female voice called from inside.

A woman stepped out and glanced at them.

"What can I get you two tod—" She paused and eyed Clay, "Why hello there."

Clay nodded in greeting, but said nothing.

"Can we get two cornflowers?" George asked, his voice suddenly cold.

Clay looked at George confused as to the shift in his mood. George was glaring at the woman, who was ignoring him.

"Of course darling." She purred, still not taking her eyes off Clay.

She looked him up and down, and Clay realized why George's mood had changed. Clay cleared his throat and the woman smirked at him. He frowned, but said nothing.

"Two cornflowers please," George said loudly.

She glared at George and went in the back. They waited in silence for a minute. The woman came back out and handed the flowers to Clay, her fingers lingering a moment.

"On the house." She winked at Clay.

"Thanks," Clay muttered, annoyed at her behavior.

"Anytime. Feel free to stop by again," the woman said through lowered lashes.

"No thank you." Clay said, trying to be polite.

He turned and grabbed George's arm. They walked out of the shop. Once outside, Clay faced George.

"Why did you let her talk to you like that?" George whispered.

"I didn't want to be rude," Clay replied, studying George.

"Did you like it?"

"Like what?"

"The way she talked to you." George said.

Clay lightly gripped George's chin. "No George," Clay smiled softly at the Prince, "besides she's not my type."

George blushed and Clay put a flower behind his ear, making him blush even more. George grabbed the second flower and put it behind Clay's ear. They stared into each other's eyes.

"Let's go back," George whispered.

Clay nodded. They walked back to the castle, their fingers brushing against each other as they walked.