Slowly Burning

Bath Time

Of course, the king was appalled that the two even went so far out of the castle's walls and became absolutely filthy. King Rota ordered that the pair were to clean themselves immediately. The maids off and took away Prince Val, leaving Zeke to take care of himself.

The tired former prince slowly made his way off to his room, it was one of the larger rooms in the castle, certainly not originally purposed for a lowly butler, more so a caretaker of the prince even though they were practically the same age, Zeke being a year older at 23. He climbed in to his private bath, taking his time for once as he was feeling quite saddle sore, on top of all of the sweat he had accumulated from having to stop the prince from making a fool of himself. He closed his eyes for a bit, finally feeling the day of exercise wash off of him. He knew that tomorrow probably wouldn't be as stressful as today, well, at the very least he hoped so, so that he could simply be there for the prince's every whim. Like he was supposed to.

Zeke smiled a little bit, seeing as now he could probably visit the villages outdoor cats. He still wasn't very good at navigating on his own to purchase groceries for the royal family but the villagers always tended to be kind to him. It was nicer here than it was back in his former kingdom, even though he lost the title to heir, he was surprisingly happy and relaxed. Zeke pulled himself out of the water and got in to his evening wear, not his night clothes, but a separate outfit for the princes nightly activities that should be mostly indoors. This suit was intended to be more so for normal caretaker times, rather than say, sprinting around the castle to remove that pesky wild cat that keeps finding its way indoors. Besides, today was a very important day, at least for Zeke. This was one of the few times he had gotten the kings permission, weeks in advance, to visit his father in the prison.

Of course the last few times he had visited his father, Brutus wasn't exactly the kindest, yelling all sorts of things at his son. But Zeke remained forever faithful that one day his father will see him not as a political pawn, but his son, and then his equal. He knew that he was upset with him for not joining in the killing of the royal family, and instead turning him in, but Zeke was closer with Val who had captured him than his father, even though he was the only son he had. Brutus had a wife who had sadly passed away after child birth, Zeke having two older sisters that were both trained assassins. Those two would probably pose a bigger threat later on if one of them wasn't already detained and the other being on the run from stealing from the neighbouring kingdom of Caros. They clearly weren't as fortunate as Zeke, even though he already knew that his family name was destroyed so he decided to avoid mentioning it as much as possible.

Val knows about Zeke and his past, along with the fact that he doesn't like his last name being said, so instead of addressing him by that last name, he decided to be nice enough to his new friend to just refer to him as Zeke, and only use the last name when he was upset. Val was currently soaking in lavender water, wondering on how the other was doing, seeing as well, it must've been quite the shock to move from prince to butler, but he seemed to be adjusting to it well. This only concerned Val as he was worried that he was going to follow his father's footsteps. Even though it was very unlikely, Val would still be, for the first time, sneaking down to the meeting where Zeke speaks to former king Brutus. He had always wondered what it was like for Zeke, but mostly it was so that he could insure his fathers and his own safety. Of course, when the knock on the door came, he answered with a quick "Unless you wanna see me change, wait a few seconds." 

He climbed out of the bath, getting in to a bath towel. Zeke was on the other side of the door, he was waiting for him to be ready so they could go down to dinner. He was forever thankful that he was made a caretaker and not one of those food testers seeing as they die a lot faster than he liked. In all honesty, Zeke's ability to smell the poison from his fathers training was the main reason that a lot of food testers were still alive. Zeke had grown up around assassins, smelling the poisons was almost like a weird form of nostalgia for him. 

Val got dressed by himself, putting on some on the tighter end white pants and a dress top. "Alright Zeke, its safe for you to come in, you won't be blinded." He joked to the closed door. The butler opened the door slowly, before stepping inside and closing the door behind him.  

"I see you didn't require any assistants with your buttons this time. Would you like me to put your crown on?" Zeke asked, teasing Val about how when they first met, buttons were still a much more difficult task for Val than he'd like to admit. Buttons were one of their very few inside jokes, and what Val hoped what he wouldn't be remembered for when he became king. Becoming King was still a very scary thought to both Val and Zeke, seeing as it was a title so prominent in both of their lives.

"Oh you are such a bully Zeke. I should have you to be beheaded after dinner!" Val declared dramatically, falling backwards on to his fluffy bed with a grin plastered across his face, "but yes you may crown me."

He moved to carefully place the golden crown on top of Val's fluffy hair, before quietly going, "Val do you have a longer name or is it just Val?" He had always wanted to know why the prince's name was so short, like it was just a nickname everyone adapted to or was he legitimately named Val? 

"Well I'm the second son of the king and the third child, so I got three letters for my name of course. And my parents named me Val because they thought I could interpret it in to my own meaning. Valorant, Vanguard, Valentine, all fun Val-like words that I could fit in to if I became king. Unfortunately that position would currently go to my big brother Rae, named after the god of spring and summers." He explained, going in to detail (and very much so oversharing), about his family and why he was given his name. He wasn't named after any god like his brother was, because he was just an extra, a back up plan if his older brother either didn't want to become king or had died before he himself could have a heir ready for the throne. The reason why women were not put in to positions of king is that they were usually turned in to Queens, but Linx (named after the goddess of war), has already declined all lines to the throne as she wants to continue her work in the realm of magic. She loved magic and it was always very important to her, seeing as her mother knew magic and was extraordinary at it. It was the thing that sparked her interest and now it was the fuel to keep her going, being constantly motivated to learn more and always recheck her facts before announcing her findings to the public. Even though she is often referred to as the "nutty" of the royal family, her work in the magics have proven useful as the country is now stronger than ever. 

"Well then, let us get some dinner, no your majesty?" Zeke asked, pulling Val up from the bed.