Zavian
He slept soundlessly, his body spread out on the reasonably sized body, however he managed to make it seem smaller than it actually was. I chuckled as I finished getting dressed. I'd let him sleep.
"Someone had fun last night." I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes wide as I shut the door behind me. Fendrel smirked, leaning against the side of my door.
"I don't know what you mean." I cleared my throat.
"I heard him come in. Very impressive climb he must have had to endure." I felt like ice poured over my body and I turned to my best friend with a scowl.
"Mins your business." He raised his hands and laughed.
"That is my specialty, now breakfast?"
Marius joined up a few minutes after breakfast had begun, bowing politely and blushing. He went to stand in the corner and I gave him a look, narrowing my eyes at his behavior. While he could easily remember the norm in society, how slaves and servants ate separately from their masters. I was not his master and the Tudors were never suggesting in any of the inhumane traditions of a person of lower class.
"Marius," I warned and he walked over, I patted his seat and he sat with a blush, staring at his lap.
"Please do be comfortable, Marius," Tudors wife addressed him politely, a genuine smile on her face and he glanced up at her then me confused I chuckled and shook my head.
I realised then how I hardly visited the Tudor's, despite having their son as my best friend. I could understand then, that while I made sure he knew he was free, my actions were not guaranteed by everyone else, not until we got to know them together and separately.
We began to eat then, slowly becoming comfortable as Marius was asked about his own passions, treated as a human being by people not including myself or my sister. I saw the surprise on his own face as he was asked and felt a dull ache in my chest. While this was something I wanted to normalize not only for him but everyone of my people in this kingdom, it had yet to be fully recognized, it was deep rooted enough that at one point of another we began expecting it, and to avoid negative backlashes, we conformed to it.
I watched Marius then, hoping that one day, even in a home where their manners were rather poor, he could see himself as truly free enough not to act the way expected of him, but the way he wanted, out of his own accord.
"So, your Highness," I looked up at the smiling lord, "I have a proposal, if you will, to raise more funding for the widowed and orphaned people of Ellingwel and other parts."
"Go on,"
"I've organized a fundraisers ball for tomorrow, while people would be encouraged to give what they can, I propose an auction."
My brows furrowed in interest.
"Instead of objects such as fine jewels and land or any of that, how about dates?" He smirked mischievously and Fendrel laughed.
"Mixing pleasure with business, how crude."
"It could be fun, I have quite a few bachelors and bachelorettes already excited for the matter."
YOU ARE READING
The Dragon and His Prince{ManxMan}
General Fiction{BOOK 1^^} Being a future king was hard. One had to set an example, be the man they wanted to see in every one of their subjects. Zavian didn't know how hard that would be, living up to his own image of what a good ruler was and he hadn't expected h...
