Finding a Prince

Chapter 13

A/N: I'm really sorry I haven't been updating as regularly as I should but exams and stuff. I will upload a lot more frequently when all that shit is over but for the mean time please enjoy!

Phil didn't shout. Sometimes he snapped and raised his voice a little but the last time he had properly shouted was when his brother had abdicated, and that had been a long time ago. Dan had said that he wouldn't abdicate because it would put too much pressure on his younger brother, Phil wished his own brother had had that insight. He had been so angry and sad and scared. He loved his brother but doing something like that was unforgivable. He had said some horrible stuff and the worst part was that he could even apologise anymore. Martyn had left Solmorta with his wife soon after he gave up the crown, leaving Phil to soon take charge of a future nation. Phil couldn't really blame his brother for leaving, he wanted to marry a commoner, something his father at the time would never have agreed to. If he'd only waited a few more weeks that issue would have disappeared completely, he didn't even come to the funeral.

Although he never shouted and saw himself as quite a calm person, Phil was very tempted to start screaming, mainly because of the two women who were screaming at each other across the table in front of him, if anything he thought the negotiations would at least be civil. The Queen of Serultria had arrived the day before. She had pulled her son immediately into a tight hug and started fussing, Phil could see why Dan had acted so spoilt when they'd met, from the sound of it his mother wasn't exactly fond of the idea of him mingling with the common folk.

Even Mrs Lester who was usually so calm and nice was currently ranting on about something the Serultrians did about twenty years ago and something that really should have been forgiven years ago. She wasn't shouting per say but her voice was loud and accusing. She had control of the situation and she knew it so she was able to keep relatively rational. Dan's mother however, had completely lost it. Her face was red and she was shouting so loud that Dan had actually shoved his fingers in his ears to block it out.

"Why do you ever think we'd make peace with you. You were the one who started this in the first place."
"Excuse me, if I remember correctly it was your lot that started this."
"Well then you must be losing your memory you old bitch."
Phil scowled, nobody called his mother an old bitch.
"Excuse me your majesty." Phil said sternly, addressing the Queen of Serultria, "but could you please refrain from using that sort of language in this castle."
Mrs Howell turned to him, a sneer plastered on her face.
"Don't tell me what to do you Solmorta scum."
To which Dan joined in with the insults and the cycle continued. What's worse was that Pieta had showed up as well. Unfortunately for them Dan's mother was completely adamant that her loyal adviser would never do anything to betray her. Talk about a stubborn lady. Phil wasn't sure much more he could take so eventually he just got up and left with Dan in tow.

"You know I really thought this would go well." He said sadly, tuning to Dan.
"Yeah me too."

They were sat on the castle wall overlooking the city. The sun was starting to set behind the mountains and the long road that lead up to them was filled with minors heading back from work. Phil looked down towards the bottom of the castle walls. There were a few rabbits hopping around on the grass, occasionally scattering as a guard walked past. His mother had hated them when Phil was a child. They used to eat all of the snowdrops she planted at the castle gates. Phil had always found them quite funny creatures, he'd owned a fluffy white one called Millie as a child. She was the sweetest things ever, her nose constantly twitching, well that was until his brother's cat had eaten her.

"Phil?" Dan muttered, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah."
"What if we can't get married?" Phil sighed and placed his hand on top of Dan's and squeezed.
"Don't worry Dan, I'll try and figure this out."
"But you can't figure it out can you. You can't convince my mother to agree to us being betrothed and you can't convince her that joining our kingdoms will be a good idea. For fuck sake, we can't even convince her that Pieta is a traitor and the evidence is more than conclusive." Dan snapped, angrily rubbing away the tears that were forming in his eyes.
"You were my backup plan when we met you know."
Phil tuned to him and frowned.
"What?"
"When I ran away I wanted to find someone else to marry so I didn't have to marry this stupid countess my mum wanted me to. You were the first person I ran into and I thought you were pretty handsome so if I couldn't find anyone else I'd marry you." Phil raised his eyebrow at that but let Dan continue.
"But then I found out I'd wandered into my enemy's country and I got stuck with you. I thought I'd just be able to leave when I got the chance but I found myself falling for you and yeah, then I asked you to marry me and we got caught. Now I love you and you're going to be ripped away from me again."
Dan looked down in embarrassment as he mumbled the last part. Phil looked on sadly as Dan started to sniff.
"I wish we could straight up get married now, just so it's official. I'm just sick of all of these changes and setbacks. I feel like we're in some overly dramatic Shakespeare play."
"Tragedy or comedy?" Phil asked curiously earning a dirty yet fond luck from Dan.
"Comedy I hope, as long as neither of us die we won't end up like Romeo and Juliet."
"Which one of us is Juliet?"
"Seriously Phil!" Dan exclaimed loudly, startling a few of the rabbits below them, "You are really not helping." Phil could help but let out a small giggle to which Dan smiled giddily.
"Well now you feel better now don't you." Phil said with a grin. Dan rolled his eyes but leaned in to tackle Phil into a hug. It probably wasn't the best idea as they were sat on top of a wall but luckily, they both fell the right way and ended up on the battlements rather than a red patch on the floor.
"Love you." Dan mumbled quietly, burying his face into Phil's shoulder. Phil smiled as he ran his hand gently through Dan's curly brown hair. They must have looked a little odd, the future king and the prince of the enemy kingdom cuddling in the middle of the castle battlements but today had been emotional.
"Hey Dan." Phil said curiously, shuffling back to lean against the wall.
"Yeah?"
"We could get married now."
Dan turned to his with a puzzled look.
"No we can't Phil. Our parents haven't agreed to it and besides it would take far too much planning just to do it on our own."
"No I meant we can just get it legally done in the church. We're adults we don't have to listen to our parents."
"I never saw you as being a rebellious type."
"Dan I ran away and lived as a florist for five years, I'm not exactly a model child." Dan smiled but looked unsure.
"I'm not sure Phil, they might not take it too well."
"So what if they do? My mum can't do anything and I'll be king in a few weeks. She might not sound like it but I'm sure your mother loves you too. If your brother hasn't gone through training to be king they won't force it on him if the original heir is still around, besides when we're both king we'll end this petty war anyway so really it won't affect anything."
"Yeah and when I'm king Pieta will be a dead man." Dan added on, glaring down at the city gates where the captain sat astride his horse.
"I'd off him now but something tells me that won't help anything." Dan raised his eyebrows.
"I doubt you could." He said laughing. Phil grinned, taking this as a challenge. If course he wouldn't kill Pieta. Even if he hadn't been protected by the queen Phil disliked hurting people so killing someone was something he'd rather avoid, he could still prove his point thought.
He allowed his magic to pool in his arms and flicked his wrist sharply towards the floor by Pieta's horse's feet.

A shard of ice shot down towards the ground and buried itself in the earth. Pieta's horse neighed loudly and bolted causing Pieta to slip out of the saddle and slam into the floor.

Dan howled with laughter as the Captain pulled himself out of the mud and started chasing his panic-stricken horse, his armour clanking heavily as he tried to run. Pretty soon Phil also began laughing and Pieta must have heard because he looked up towards the castle wall with a look of disgust on his face. Dan smiled and he gave him the finger whilst Phil started wheezing next to him. The captain shot them one last dirty look before storming into the castle, leaving a trail of mud behind him. His horse was long gone and he had been defeated so he would do what any decent head of the military would, run and whine to the Queen. Dan was right when he said Pieta was a little pathetic.
"Why don't you use your magic that often?" Dan asked, leaning his shoulder against Phil's. Phil shrugged casually but he looked uncomfortable.
"I don't know, I just never had anyone to properly teach it to me. Magic died out in my family generations ago."
"How did you get it then?"
"My Grandma probably. She wasn't very powerful but she always said she could read peoples future, she always refused to do mine though." He replied sadly, "I do miss her though."
Dan leaned in and wrapped his arms around Phil in a rather awkward sideways hug.
"Well think your magic is really cool, I bet you could do loads more if you tried."
Phil sighed and turned to look back towards the castle.
"I'm not really sure I want to try Dan. What I can do hurts people, I don't want to do that. I could lose control and what if I go the way of forced magic users, I don't want to end up like that." Phil shuddered as he remembered the yellow papery skin of the old royal family who gave in to temptation.

His parents had been smart enough to leave it alone but some of his more distant relatives had given in to the temptation. His uncle was executed after he used forced magic to kill someone and he'd been made to watch as a warning. Of course, he later found out he had natural magic and it wouldn't really affect him but it scared the shit out of his brother. Dan wrapped his arms around Phil in a rather awkward but comforting side hug.
"That's ok, it's your choice." He said gently, slowly running his fingers through Phil's hair. Phil sighed and looked back down at the city.

The sun had mostly gone down by now and all that was left visible of the mountains were there immense jagged outline standing out against the grey sky. The streets of Perinea were empty, only lit up by the flickering torches that lined the bottom of the castle walls. There was a dog barking by the gates, a stray probably and a cat yowled from further into the city. The city cathedral was silent, it's bells remaining still until mass in the morning when they would ring through the city. Lights still shone through the stained glass as it did always. The church was a shelter for the homeless of perinea, a place of sanctuary for the needy and helpless so it bustled through the night. Dan must have caught his gaze because he followed it before turning back to Phil.
"You know what you said about getting married? We could do that."

Phil looked over to Dan, startled by his outburst.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's only piece of paper anyway and then we're stuck together forever." Dan grinned with a shrug, "do you want to?"

"Yes of course I do!" He replied happily pulling Dan into an even tighter hug, "Love you." He mumbled into his shoulder.

Said laughing, "Now are we going or what?" Suddenly Phil looked unsure.

"This is a big thing to do, are you sure?" Dan rolled his eyes and pulled Phil to his feet.

"Yes I'm sure, now come on, I don't want y mum coming to look for me." Phil smiled and shook his head as Dan dragged him along.

"Ok then future Mr Lester let's go!" Dan rolled his eyes fondly and Phil before setting off at a jog, Phil following close behind him. This time they were actually going to get married and Dan certainly wasn't going to let anything get in the way this time.