The Lonely King

Forsaken Children

The king leaned over his desk, focused on the peace treaties in front of him. The man groaned and pushed his pearl blonde hair out of his face. He had been working nonstop for hours, with no breaks. A playful knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts as he turned around. "You may come in." He called out. The door creaked open as his youngest son peeked his head around.

"Hello father, I have a question." The prince hesitated for a second. His father watched the boy's shaky hands tiredly, already knowing what the young child wanted.

"Theo, you know the rules. Now that Mash knows where we are, you are not permitted outside unless you have our guards around." The child whined until his father shot him a glare, as that was no way for a prince to act. Theo quieted down and hung his head.

"Fine.. I'll go ask the guards." He sighed.

"Good boy. Kovas and Romden should be up by the front as normal." The boy nodded and trudged outside. Seraph felt bad for not giving the young prince much freedom, but he knew that they had to be careful, seeing as dangerous creatures were now on the loose. Soon after Theo walked out, the door shut, leaving the king alone with his work.

The moment Theo walked outside of the castle, he heard laughter coming from behind the castle. Recognizing his brother's laughter, he decided to dash over to the secret bench where the others were. The bench was where the children and teens went to get away from the adults. Since nobody ever found the kids back there, they claimed it a secret hideout. Once Theo saw who the voices were, the young prince grinned at the sight of his older brother and their personal guard being relaxed and happy for once. Kovas looked over at the blonde and bowed his head at him with a smile. Warren noticed his brother watching them and coughed, nervously turning away from the guard, realizing he had been caught. "Did you need something your highness?" Kovas asked the young boy.

"I wanted to go hang out with Tobias today. Do you think that you or Romden could come guard me?" Right as Kovas opened his mouth to answer, the older prince chimed in.

"Father already said Kovas could guard me, so go ask Romden. I believe he's over by the garden." Theo groaned, yet reluctantly dragged his feet towards the garden to ask the younger guard. After he left, the older guard turned to his friend.

"War, you and I both know that your father said nothing about me guarding you." Kovas said with a smirk. Warren only rolled his eyes and punched the guard's arm lightly, shaking off his fist.

"Gods, feels like I'm punching a rock." Warren coughed out, rubbing at his sore hand as the guard chuckled at the statement.

"That would be the years of training, buddy." The prince's shoulders sank slightly, too subtle for his friend to notice.

"Romden... where are you?" A small voice whined out. The sound of leaves crunching could be heard from behind the young prince.

"Yes, your majesty? Did you need something?" The young guard bowed. The blonde laughed at his behavior.

"Rome, you know you can just call me by my name. Only my father answers to 'your majesty'." He teased as the guard stood up straight, his hands folded behind his back.

"Right, sorry about that Theodore." The boy groaned at the full name.

"Rome, just call me Theo. No full name please, gods I hate that name. Anyways, I wanted to go hang out with Tobias, could you come guard me?" Romden nodded his head and led them out of the garden, the prince following close behind.

The two boys headed off towards the village, Romden walked closely next to Theo as he made his way to his friend's house. The guard stepped up to the door and knocked. They heard crashing and yelling come from inside as the two looked at each other, worried.