Until We Meet Again

Day 6

"Ace" Deuce called after he knocked at the door of the former king. Of course, he didn't have a response, like always when he had to come wake up Ace.

Ace was still sleeping despite the sun illuminating the room, and he hadn't closed the curtains of the canopy bed.

Deuce called Ace again, this time shaking him gently. Ace groaned but woke up. He opened his eyes, looked at Deuce, and closed them back.

"You know, the perk of not being king anymore is to not have to wake up at dawn." He sighed.

Deuce put the tray with Ace's breakfast on the table beside the bed "It's not dawn anymore, lunch would be served in less than one hour. And we received a message from Sir Rayleigh" He added "The delegation from Moby will arrive this afternoon"

"Did he write who was in the delegation?"

"I'm afraid not"

"Shame, would have been useful" Ace remarked standing up "You can go. I'll wash up a bit, then I will join everyone for lunch."

Deuce bowed before him, then left. Ace sighed, Deuce was his companion since his childhood, and despite having asked him multiple times, he insisted on following protocol to the letter.

Ace took off his nightgown, to wash up his face and body. In the mirror, above the basin of water, shined the phoenix pendant of his necklace. Ace was always wearing it, the only time he hadn't, was during his wedding day.

Ace put a shirt on, to stop his train of thoughts. He didn't want to think about the blue eyes, the weird haircut and the deep that were still haunting him for thirty years. 'We will meet again, I promise' Ace shook his head and then left his room.

After the lunch he had with his son, the now king of Raftel, Charles and his daughter-in-law, Victoria. His other son, Hippolyte was already there looking after the horses.

"Hi dad. You are going for a ride?"

"Hi, Hip. Yeah, I thought about going at the lake today"

"You can take Striker, I already prepared him"

Striker had been Ace's last birthday gift from his children. The beautiful black stallion was spirited and had his own temper, but he really adored Ace.

The lake was the place Ace always went when he needed to think and be alone. And today was one of those days.

It was maybe stupid to still think about Marco. It had been thirty years since he left but his absence was still felt. Oh, of course Ace had been with other men through the years after Marco's departure. The sex had been great, not wonderful, but great enough. It was the afterward that was more the problem. Instead of feeling satisfied, there was always a void that settled in him instead.

He had stopped having sex with random men after he adopted Hippolyte with his wife; taking care of his children had helped him fill the void. It was still there but more tuned that before, it only missed a piece for it to be silent.

Ace returned to the castle, the delegation should be arriving soon. It was stupid but for once more, he hoped that it was Marco who would stepped out of the carriage. He was giving Striker a threat after he had removed the saddle and brushed him.

"Hey dad, are you ready to go?" Hippolyte said "Deuce is going to have a stroke soon if you don't came"

"What's the hurry?"

"The Moby's delegation arrived an hour ago, and Charles was occupied with the council, so nobody was there to officially welcome them."

"Deuce needs to calm down, Moby had a protocol less uptight than ours. They won't take offense, it's actually a mark of respect to offer their guests to rest before they obliged them to interact with others" Ace explained to his son, while leaving the barn.

"How do you know that?"

"Someone taught me a long time ago" Ace responded, his hand going to his necklace.

Hippolyte observed his father while they were traversing the garden to return to the castle. Some courtesans passed past them, Hippolyte saw one of them making big doe eyes, smiling at Ace when she passed by. Since his wife died eight years ago, Ace had been proposed multiple times. He had rejected every offer.

Everyone thought it was because Ace was still thinking about his wife; but Hippolyte knew that his parents never loved each other, they cared deeply for each other but there were more friends than anything else.

Hippolyte still remembered the time he asked his dad how he had known that his mother was the one. His parents had looked at each other and then explained to him that circumstances brought them together, that even if they both cared about each other they weren't in love. After that, Hippolyte had asked his father if he had been in love before.

Ace's eyes had clouded, he forced himself to smile and had said "Once. We chose our duty before love." Hippolyte had remarked how tight his father was gripping at his necklace.

His father knew what it meant to give up on someone you loved because of your duty, that was why Ace made it a point of honor to let his children marry for love.

"Do you know him?" A courtesan asked her group of friends. They were observing someone who was sitting on a bench, reading a book.

Hippolyte continued walking, but not his father, he turned to look at him and Ace was staring at the man.

"Dad" Hippolyte called him.

Ace didn't hear his son calling him, how focused on Marco reading his book. He hadn't changed, his hair was turning white, and he was wearing glasses, but except that he was still the same that thirty years ago, there were no mistakes, it was Marco.

Before he knew it, Ace began to walk toward him.

"Marco!"

When he heard his name, Marco turned his head to see Ace walking toward. Marco stood up and walked toward him too. They didn't run too afraid that one or the other would disappear. When they finally met, they didn't speak. Marco took Ace in his arms, they were so squeezed against each other that air couldn't pass between them.

"We meet again." Marco whispered.

"You could have hurry up," Ace replied.

Marco smiled and put his hand against the phoenix pendant Ace was wearing, Ace did the same with his.

Ace had finally his missed piece back.