All Around You (Troyler AU)

Chapter 5: Out on the Town

Troye’s P.O.V

I could feel the hours of the day slipping by excruciatingly slowly as I flipped the next dusty, yellow page of my book. My eyes had already begun to droop as I tried to translate the Latin sentences written on the very first page. I was entirely aware that my room was becoming dimmer as the sun moved around the castle, but I couldn’t even be bothered to get up and light a candle. Everything right now was so dull.

After breakfast was over I had made my way back to my room and waited patiently for my tutor to come. He came right on time, which didn’t surprise me because he has never been late for a tutoring session. He claimed that tardiness was extremely unprofessional and crude; especially for a member of the royal family (so naturally, I was never late for our lessons. Ever. I didn’t want him to yell at me). Right from the very beginning, he was nagging me. Like always. I was never a bad pupil because I never had the nerve to speak up once to him in my life, so I had always followed his instructions and learned whatever he had to teach me. Why he felt the need to nag me on top of that, I had no clue. He probably thought his nagging was the reason I was so successful in my subjects. It was typical of him to take the credit for my success, especially in front of my father. However, the lesson went by quickly today. Today was one of those days where he would be teaching me Latin and, surprisingly enough, Latin was one of my best subjects. Having spent most of my life hidden away in my room, I found a special love for reading and writing. The fact that I was slowly learning how to read and write a different language as well felt like such an accomplishment. I feel like I’d be able to enjoy it even more had my tutor been literally anyone else. When our lesson was finally finished, my tutor picked up all of his belongings and handed me a book. He said it would benefit me if I read it, and made it perfectly clear that it wasn’t an assignment; it was a suggestion. Well, I had nothing else to do today and I figured the knights would be done with their training rather soon and there’d be no point going out there, so I decided to read the book.

By this time it was afternoon. The sounds of lively birds were coming from outside, the usual bustle and noise of the meal preparations were coming from outside my door, and I was sitting in my dim room reading one of the most boring books in existence.

I sighed in defeat as I set the book down in front of me, holding my head in my hands and groaning.

There was a knock at my door. I turned towards it, thinking it was going to be one of the pages calling me down for the mid-day meal. The door opened so slightly, drawing a sliver of light onto the floor. “Troye?” It was my father’s voice. My head shot up quickly and I tried to sit even straighter out of nerves. A million different scenarios ran through my mind of all the things he would say to me just then, none of them seemed good. Of course I had to expect the worst; my father never usually comes to my room.

“I’ve got some good news for you!” He said, this time fully opening the door. The light from the corridor’s hallways flooded into my room abruptly, causing me to squint at the silhouetted figures in front of me. I tried to get a look at their faces. One of them was obviously my father, who was grinning widely and staring at me, and the other one was-

Tyler.

I stared at him, absolutely bewildered. When we finally made eye contact, I couldn’t help but gasp. Why was he here? What “good news” did my dad have that involved Tyler?

“What’s going on?” I asked. My voice was surprisingly strong and grounded despite how confused I felt at that moment. I looked back at Tyler, who smiled at me when I looked his way. My father patted Tyler’s shoulder and pushed him forward into the room.

“I’ve hired Tyler for a special job,” said my father proudly. He waited a moment, staring at my confused face expectantly before clearing his throat and continuing, “He’s going to be your own personal knight and bodyguard. He’ll be here to protect you and guard you. Isn’t that great?”