crown me 👑 ts + jb

twelve.

-flashback three years ago-

troye looked at himself in the mirror as rose and a few other servants were getting the young prince read for his dad's arrival. honestly that last thing on his mind was his father returning. 

he kept replaying his kiss with jacob. it slipped in his mind when he wasn't trying to think about it. did he really like him like his mother said, maybe even love him? even if he did it's not like they could be together... that could get jacob hanged and that's the last thing that troye wants.

 he knew that his mother wasn't going to say word to his father. she never broke a promise and there was no reason for her to now. 

but his father could tell when something was sitting right with troye. there were times when troye like that about his father... this was not one of them. 

"something on your mind your highness," rose said as she handed troye his crown. 

troye looked down at it, for something that was so nice it seemed like a symbol of prison. "a lot of things rose," troye said as he put his crown on. "i really wish i could just throw all of this away."

she puts her hands on his shoulder, smoothing out the lapels of his top. "may i speak freely."

he always hated when people asked him that. "you're always free with me rose." 

"i feel sorry for you, truly," she says. "you should never have to feel like a prisoner in here and i wish there was something i could do."

troye smiles. "thank you rose," he then sighs. "everyone want to be royals but they don't know the darkness of it."

he then turns around to face rose and smiles. "how does it look," he says referencing his smile. "enough to fool everyone?"

rose frowned slightly but nodded. "fools everyone but me." she says. 

the sound of a trumpet blaring breaks the silence that was beginning to form. troye looked out the window and saw a ship in the distance. 

"looks like that's my cue." troye said before heading towards the courtyard."

x

"now presenting his royal highness shaun mellet!" a greeter says as shaun gets off the ship.

both troye and laurelle smile, both of them being fake. shaun does a gleaming smiles as he waves and smiles at all of the common people. his smile was the brightest when he caught eyes with troye. 

"my son," shaun said as he walked up towards him. 

troye bowed his head a little. "father," he said. "how was your trip."

"beautiful," he said. "france is always a favorite," he then looks over at laurelle. "laurelle." he said.

"shaun."

the shared a weird eye exchange before shaun turned towards the crowd of common people. he waved and smiled before looking at troye. 

"you see that," he said. "all of this will be yours one day."

troye looked at everyone in the crowd. as he did he caught eye of jacob. the taller boy did a sheepish smile as he waved slightly. not trusting what his face was saying, he turned away and looked back at his father who was already looking at him.

"amazing isn't it?"

troye stiffly nodded his head. "of course."

x

it was nighttime now, the buzz of shaun returning faded and everyone went back to their normal routines. troye was dusting his mirror when he heard his door open. 

"i never understood why you and your mother insist on cleaning your own room."

troye didn't say anything as he put the piece of cloth on his bed and turned to his father. "good evening."

shaun smiled. "always so formal," he said. "i wanted to tell you. when i went to france i think i got an alliance between you and it's princess. she's fourteen but they are already more then happy to accept. after we go over some things of course."

shaun saw troye's distaste and wringed his hands. "she's very mature for her age." 

"you just can't give it a break can you," troye said. "i'm sixteen father, there are several royals who aren't in alliances. why must you push this."

shaun raised an eyebrow. "our country is dying troye, an alliance wil-."

"to hell with our country, when has it done anything for me except pain."

shaun clenched his jaw as he slapped troye hard across the face. troye gripped the side of his face as he held himself up on the bed. 

"if they accept our offer you will make an alliance with france," shaun said. "it's not an option."

he quickly left slamming the door behind him. troye stood up as he walked over to his mirror and looked at his face. there was a red handprint on the side of it. troye took a deep breath before punching the mirror. he looked down at his bloody knuckles as he dropped to the floor. 

"oh my god," rose says walking in and dropping to the floor. "i was walking by and i heard the noise. tro- your  highness, what did you do?"

troye looked up, color was drained from his face and he looked dead in the eyes. rose frowned as she pulled out a piece of cloth and  tried to clean up troye's hand. 

"he hit me." troye said. 

rose looked up. "what."

"i told him how i felt and he slapped me,"  he then looked at rose. "and you know what else i did."

he took a beat .

"i kissed  jacob, that common boy for town," he looked down at the floor as if he was lost in thought. "and when i did, for the first time i felt normal."

rose lifted up troye's face so that he was looking at her and wiped his face. "your highness-."

"it's troye," he said. "enough people call me that ridiculous  name, i don't need it from you too."

"troye," she said, it sounded foreign to her. "a time will come where you'll be okay, despite the torment you are in now, there will be a better time." 

troye smiled a little. " a better time." he repeated. 

x

a/n: little back story on troye and his "relationship" with his dad. what do ya'll think of rose, hm. i think she's p cool.