an unfortunate change in genre

Part 16

Does a person really need a reason to start developing feelings for another?

There were dozens of post hoc rationalizations that humans were infamous for in a misguided attempt to explain the unexplainable.

Feelings just happened, good reasons or bad reasons be damned. When the justification for love was 'they just make me happy', how did one explain it when there wasn't any happiness remaining but the love still burned?

Love was nebulous and complicated and it sparked into a flame without any heed for what the individuals involved wanted.

Love was a word that Cale reserved only for family.

That was the only love that he would allow to burn him up from the inside out, causing him to break down into misery as he lost those precious beings and fought with every last bit of his strength to protect them.

Cale had decided when he was a child that all of his love was reserved for that simple commitment of his family. Forty years had not done anything to change his determination about this.

He was a stubborn man, through and through, and once he'd decided upon something he did not easily change his mind.

He saved some affection for companions and friends, but no amount of love was ever available outside of the sphere of people whom Cale considered 'family'.

So it was an undeniable fact, given all of the above information, that Cale did not love Crown Prince Alberu. He'd never fallen in love with the man and he never would.

Alberu was not his family, not even his friend, he was a man whom Cale had shared an unfortunate connection to for many years.

A frustrating and annoying person who Cale would actually report to disliking.

And if you believe that, you probably also believe that Roksu was a lazy person.

Regardless of the emotions hidden between the invisible line that connected Cale and the first prince of the Roan kingdom, there was indeed a connection.

That connection was why Cale was avoiding returning back to the carriage and loitering at the edge of the campsite. The silent carriage ride had become intolerable a few hours ago and now Cale would do just about anything to not be contained within the same space as Alberu.

He was really tempted to tell the prince to go sleep in the dirt while Cale monopolized the carriage. If he was still acting like trash, he would have done just that while accentuating the request with a broken wine bottle thrown at Alberu's stupid perfect face.

Cale frowned at the campfire. The deputy butler attending to him while Ron was occupied with Roksu, Hans, had fluttered by a few times to ask if he needed anything and Cale was ready to snap at him too.

His temper was flaring up in ways it hadn't in years.

He'd lived his second life in a relatively peaceful state of being, embracing his actual interests and maintaining his dignity.

There were just some things that were easier to do when you were trash. One of those things was getting out of uncomfortable situations with people who pissed you off.

...not that he'd been very good at keeping Alberu out of his life even back then.

The bar was jovial, pleasant. Cale couldn't actually remember the last time he'd entered a drinking establishment that didn't result in all the patrons and employees eyeing him with anxious apprehension over what he might do.

It made sense though. No one knew him here.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. What a strange freedom it was to be a stranger.