Harem

Nine

A/N: First off, thanks for being patient. I know I'm a bit late, and I appreciate you guys waiting!!

A little heads up: this chapter will cover three different points of view, sort of like three mini chapters. (Mini is not the right word. This chapter is huge.) I'll make the transitions as obvious as possible.

Oh, and thank you for your comments and tweets on this fic. I'm so glad you all like it!!

*****

((Avi))

"You're going to give yourself whiplash if you keep looking back at the clock every forty-five seconds!" Emmelia scolded. She and Avi were the only ones in the kitchen, as the rest of the staff always had the better part of Sunday off after a big dinner party. Truth be told, the two of them didn't necessarily need to be kneading bread dough at this exact moment, but habits were hard to break, and they enjoyed the quiet time together. Usually.

Avi was distracted. Very distracted. Ever since Mitch had arrived at the palace, things felt a little out of balance. It wasn't a bad feeling, just different. He had been so sure when he fell for Emmelia that she was the last love he would chase, the one that he would fall back on once the Prince no longer needed him. She was perfect for him, and made him feel special and wanted. It was nice to be someone's only love. Not that the arrangement with Scott wasn't nice, but as accepting as Avi was of the situation, he had no illusions that it would last much longer.

He'd been feeling confident about the direction of his life, and then Mitch had come along. All of his talk of not chasing someone new went right out the window when he saw those dimples. The kid was sweet and smart and hardworking, and a whole other slew of adjectives that made him easy to love, and then there was the obvious physical attraction they shared. Of course that could all be in his head.

Yes, Mitch had commented on his beauty, but Avi realized belatedly that all of Mitch's flirty moments could have been awkward shyness that Avi had interpreted wrong. When he had taken the high road and not assaulted Mitch in the hidden passageway, Avi knew that was the right thing to do, but did Mitch even want to be assaulted? Doubt made Avi wonder whether he'd exaggerated their connection in his mind, going so far as to spend several sleepless hours last night wondering why he would do such a thing.

He didn't dare sleep since another side effect of Mitch's presence was that his interest in Avi's past...connection with Alex had dredged up a host of utterly scandalous dreams. He had awoken after only a few hours, drenched in sweat, and shamelessly thirsting after those memories of Alex that he usually did his best to keep locked away. He wasn't ashamed of them exactly, but...he and Alex had agreed not to talk about it if it could be avoided.

Only Mitch could make everyone toss all of their rules out the window. Avi couldn't say why this was the case, but it hadn't even been a week yet, and his whole life felt like it had been upended by that boy. Without totally meaning to, he looked over his shoulder and checked the clock again.

"Avi!" Emmelia laughed.

"Sorry," Avi mumbled, punching down the lump of dough in front of him.

"Do you have an appointment or something?" she asked sweetly. "Or are you waiting for someone?"

He looked over at her sheepishly and she gave a slow nod. "Why am I certain that this has something to do with Mitch?"

"I couldn't say," Avi replied vaguely, and she laughed in response.

"You like him," Emmelia said simply.