The Mushroom Prince // DNF

15/Forbidden

*TW: drinking and a little bit of violence

The following morning was bleak and gray, sunlight covered by a thick layer of clouds as rain fell, misting the earth below.

Although it felt late, George was still lying in his bed, flat on his back as he stared up at the canopy draped above him. His mind was still reeling from the events of the previous day, his eyes red and puffy from lack of sleep and the amount of tears he had shed throughout the long night.

He knew he should pull himself out of bed, get dressed in clean clothes and maybe even find a way to distract himself. But the ever present weight on his shoulders had only grown heavier overnight, the burden of it keeping him pinned to his mattress, helpless to do anything but lay there and think.

And he had so much to think about; the future he didn't want but couldn't avoid, the princess he was to marry but would never love, and the knight who he had trusted but who had shattered that trust in a matter of hours.

It was overwhelming and the pain he was feeling was all consuming. He was brimming with emotions, loss being one that stuck out over the rest.

But you couldn't lose something that was never truly yours, and Clay had never really been his. George knew he was just a convenient distraction for the blonde, a way for him to have fun while he plotted against the King, George's own father.

The thought was enough to make the brunette's stomach churn, shame and sadness tightening into a knot in the pit of his stomach.

George inhaled a shaky breath, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, threatening to spill over yet again as he squeezed his eyes shut.

He ran a hand over his face, a sudden flash of anger shooting through his body and allowing him to swallow back his tears. His focused in on this feeling, using it to push himself out of bed. He couldn't just lay here all day and wallow in self pity, he wouldn't allow himself to.

George's mind kept coming back to the conversation he had had with Sapnap in the dimly lit kitchen of the unfamiliar home in town. He knew he couldn't keep the information he had learned there to himself, but he wasn't sure exactly how to tell his father.

George might not have gotten along with the King, he might not even like the King most days, but when it came down to it, he would always choose his family above all else. He wasn't willing to let a group of disgruntled townspeople take out their anger by murdering his only living parent, no matter how justified it may seem to them.

He would go to great lengths to protect his family, even if that meant protecting them from Clay.

George pushed himself off of his bed, quickly making his way to his dresser and pulling on a clean outfit. He paced nervously back and forth across the room, running over possible ways to broach the topic with his father.

He finally decided it was best to simply get it over with, tell his father everything he had learned and hear how he intended on handling the situation. He paused at his bedroom door, his hand frozen on the handle as he pictured his father throwing Clay in jail, or worse, sentencing him to death in front of a crowd of curious onlookers.

But he shook the image away as quickly as it had arrived. Clay had made his own choices, and now it was George's turn to do the same.

He pulled the door open, swiftly moving down the hallway and towards the throne room.

As soon as he saw the door to the throne room appear, his heart leaped into his throat, nerves coursing through his body and making his hands tremor. He walked up to the door slowly, his eyes drifting over to the knight who stood guard beside it as he attempted to flash a small smile in his direction.