Set the Stars Alight

Chapter 2

A/N: Well, hello there! I realize now that I totally forgot to explain myself in the last author's note and that none of you have any clue what I'm thinking with this one yet! So here it is: I got the idea in early March and was totally, shamelessly inspired by a post I'd seen from that OTP blog on tumblr, involving an interrupted execution. The rest spun from there.

On to some disclaimers (because honestly, you never know how nit-picky a reader might be ;D): While this is set in the medieval era, don't expect historical accuracy. Aint nobody got time for that research when I've got FtA to work on too (why do I do this to myself? *cries*). Locations, characters and events will be completely fictional, but the story won't be a fairytale or fantasy, either... Think King Arthur or Robin Hood, and you're on the right track :)

I already like how it's turning out and I hope you guys do too. It's a slow process but pretty fun to write, because elaborate words and old-fashioned ways of saying things don't look out of place here. I love that. Enjoy!

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Troye silently watched the milling crowds in the courtyard below from his seat in the covered stall, carefully keeping a stoic expression on his face. He didn't enjoy these events at all, even if he knew that he was expected to. Actually, he hated them. There was and never would be anything remotely thrilling about watching another person become deprived of their life, no matter what crimes they were guilty of.

Troye had never really been much of a god fearing boy, but if there was such a thing as a God like the one that most people believed in, then wasn't it a bit blasphemous to assume that one could speak on behalf of them? Or a bit hypocritical to pass judgment when the holy scriptures said that only God could judge a person's deeds? In the end, making these public executions into something meant to entertain the masses was more than tasteless and, frankly, quite sick in Troye's opinion.

But his opinion carried little, if any, weight these days. Glancing sideways at the man who sat in the higher, more ornate chair on his left, Troye wondered what had become of his father. For the man sitting beside him wasn't the father that he had once known; he merely wore his appearance.

His mother had long ago stopped attending public functions and it was her deliberate seclusion that had slowly but surely changed her husband from a warm, kindhearted man into someone even his own children no longer recognized. Yet Laurelle wasn't to blame for the current situation; her illness was merely the catalyst tinder that made sorrow spread like a wildfire to singe and ruin everything that had once been bright and joyful.

The arrival of a tall man with a slightly sunken face lifted Troye from his brooding thoughts and his eyes followed the man as he walked up the steps of their private stall and stood at the king's side. Troye's hands turned into fists as he watched Jeremy bend slightly to whisper something in his father's ear, all at once angered by his presence in their lives and curious about to what corrupting drivel he might be spewing today.

At Shaun's nod, Jeremy stood back up, his gaze landing on Troye for a moment. The old man looked mighty pleased. Of course he would find pleasure in the proceedings, Troye scoffed silently; there was a hanging about to take place after all, and it looked like the king had just given Jeremy clearance to collect the poor soul from the dungeons.

Troye narrowed his eyes while returning the stare and Jeremy aimed a barely visible smirk at him before heading down into the courtyard once more.

No, his mother had little to do with how things were now, Troye thought as he watched Jeremy signal a few guards to follow him into the prison hold.

It was the questionable men that surrounded King Shaun every day, the ones that were supposed to aid and advice their king on how best to rule his kingdom, that made Troye weary. Some of them were wise and virtuous, of course, but there were one or two that seemed to always see things in a gloomy light, as if distrustful of everything they came upon in life.