Separate Crowns of One Heart

Thırty-Sėvėn

The Prince's shouts float out into the hall as I glance down at the letter in my hand. Before I can change my mind, I open the door, barging into the office. I've been waiting all day for the Prince to return to the suite but it's been hours so having lost my patience, I showed up at his favorite east wing office.

The Prince stops mid-sentence and turns to look at me as do the staff and advisor he was just shouting orders at. "Clear the room." I hold the Prince's gaze as everyone else begins bustling around and exiting the office with weak "Your Highness"s.

The Prince's eyes flit away from me when we're alone, his head bowing slightly. "Your Highness." Without a word, I toss the letter onto the table before him. The thick eyebrows that shadow his eyes lift in surprise before looking up at me. "You... You read it?"

"No." The hopeful expression he wears falls away. "I wanted to hear it directly from you." Though I was so tempted to unfold the letter and read it– to maybe get answers to my questions, finally.

"Oh." He strokes at the light stubble that coats his jaw. "A-alright. Do you... Why don't you take a seat?" I stand, waiting for him to begin his explanation. When he sees that I have no intention of sitting, he takes a seat in his chair behind the large kidney-shaped desk. "It was all a misunderstanding– well, on the tabloid's part; that was because of the King."

"I did spend time with Camille, I will not deny that, but I didn't do it because I enjoy her company or because I still have feelings for her– I don't," he claims. "I was with her for the King. He... After so many decades in service of the King, the Ambass– Camille's father has gathered much intel and secrets and he and his family threaten to expose them if the King does not do what he wants.

"The King's solution to the problem is to make the Katrons... nonexistent." He means to kill them. "But the Queen does not like the idea– it's this sort of thing that got him in this situation with the Katrons in the first place and yet.. So instead, they decided that they would have me spend time with Camille so that–" He rubs his face and glances at the small window to the side. "So that I might be able to trick the Katrons into thinking that I might still have an interest in Camille to distract them while they devise an actual plan.

"But then the King hired journalists to photograph and write about us in the tabloids." A vein throbs in his neck as the muscles in his jaw tighten. "He did that in hopes that if Camille's father did decide to expose his secrets, the shock from my supposed infidelity might overshadow them– without any consideration for your feelings, forget mine."

I can't stop the scoff that escapes me. "Are you surprised? His Majesty hates me."

"He does not hate you." He's so quick to deny.

I cross my arms and stare down at him. "I thought you didn't lie."

"I do lie," he admits. "Just not to you."

"Then how can you sit there and tell me your father does not hate me?"

"Alright, fine." He averts his gaze. "Perhaps you are not his favorite person."

As I thought. I move to lean against the table and stare down at him, trying to decide what to make of his story. He holds my gaze as I consider everything he's told me. Between our bond and my feelings, I can tell he's being truthful. "You know, all of this could have been avoided if–"

"I just told you what was going on from the beginning," he finishes my sentence. "I know. And I wanted to but–"

"The King." He nods his head. Sighing, I twist my onyx ring around my finger. "I understand that the King is not the best of people and you technically have to do what he says as his son and his subject but he's not the one I'm upset with. The King owes me nothing so I honestly couldn't care less what he does, but you... You owe me loyalty and the truth– no matter what."