The Lost Princess of Grerin || A Merlin AU

XIII. Come Back... Be Here

~~~

"Gwaine!" A 6' blonde male exclaimed in excitement as he went over to Gwaine.

Gwaine turned as he looked at the blonde male, "Alexander?" He questioned as he looked at the man before him, "I kind of thought you were dead."

"Wait why?" Alexander asked as he tilted his head in confusion.

"I just sort of assumed when Ryia said her father died and that she was alone before coming here that it meant you died too," Gwaine explained with a shrug, "but I'm very glad to hear that you are alive."

"Oh," Alexander said looking down at the ground.

Gwaine put his hand on his shoulder soothingly, "hey I'm sure she had a good reason to not mention you," he told the blonde in a serious and consoling tone, "or she just got caught up in the spur of the moment with Arthur and just forgot to mention you."

"That makes sense," Alexander agreed before looking at the other male, tilting his head in confusion, "wait who's Arthur? And what does he have to do with Ryia?"

"Oh right," Gwaine said as he pointed to Arthur, "the blonde over there, they were supposed to get married and then her grandfather decided to marry her to someone else."

"Why was she going to marry him and not you?" Alexander asked in confusion, not understanding since he knew how much Ryia liked Gwaine.

"Remember how she would brag about being a princess to you?" Gwaine told the other male.

"Yeah, she'd always use it as an excuse to have me do her chores for her," Alexander said with a nod.

"Well he-" Gwaine starts but then cuts off.

"Is a princess too?" Alexander questions as he cuts Gwaine off, being sheltered his whole life had a few side effects. Like not knowing how the world worked.

"Yep, that's exactly what I was going to say," Gwaine agrees with a nod as he tries not to laugh, "you got it instantly."

"That's so cool!" Alexander exclaims before changing subjects, "where is Ryia though?"

"Uh, she left to go back to her grandfather's kingdom," Gwaine told him honestly.

"I thought she didn't ever want to meet him?" Alexander asked confused.

"Trust me Alex, there is nothing more confusing than the mind of a girl and what makes them do the things they do," Gwaine told him, "I don't know much about what happened but I'm sure Arthur can explain it to you. He loves meeting new people."

"Okay, I'll go talk to him," Alexander says before he starts to walk over to Arthur.

~~~

"Excuse me sir," Alex said as he walked up to Arthur who was sitting on the stairs.

Arthur looked up to see another blonde male, "who are you?" the prince asked with a brow raised in confusion as he stood up.

"Oh um, l'm Alexander, I grew up with Ryia and sort of Gwaine," Alexander explained a bit awkwardly.

Arthur rose a brow to this, "you grew up with Ryia?" he questioned, unsure if he believed the other male, "she never mentioned an Alexander."

"I know, Gwaine told me that she failed to mention me," Alexander told the prince as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "but her father took me in as a baby after my mother fell ill."