Into the Depths

Chapter 3

"Tell me again why you had to commander my room for this little intervention of yours?" Ben asked as he looked up from the pages of the book he was reading. It was a rare bit of downtime for him where he didn't need to do anything 'kingly' and yet his best friends felt compelled to include him in their insanity.

Not that he was really complaining, mind you. He couldn't remember the last time he got a chance to just kick back and read a book ever since he became king. And yes, he was aware of the irony of Belle's son not being able to have a chance to read a book.

"Because you don't have a roommate who might be bothered by this," Emir stated, breaking into Ben's thoughts.

"You two room together!"

"And my roommate is bothered by this," Emir chuckled at the disgruntled look on Akiho's face. Ben sighed and shook his head before going back to his book. If he didn't participate, he wouldn't know what was going on. Hopefully.

"Now, are you going to ask Elle to Cotillion?" Emir asked Akiho, turning away from Ben.

"Why would I do that?"

"Oh I don't know? Because she's a nice girl? Because you perk up whenever she's brought up in conversation? Because it's a day of the week ending in 'y'? Pick a reason!"

Akiho shook his head. "Look, even if I were to ask Elle out, it wouldn't work. She's a descendant of the Gods on her mother's side and I'm only half royal."

Ben sighed and put his book down. He knew this argument well. It was the same argument Emir used to give when they gave him grief for not asking out Emma. The poor guy suffered for three years before the viewing had given him the chance to ask the girl out.

"Akiho, Elle doesn't care about that," Ben told him. "Her mother was a mermaid for Gods' sake. Do you really think Elle cares about the royal bloodlines of the human world?"

"Ben, Ariel may have been a mermaid but she was still a princess. Meanwhile my dad was the 'pungent reindeer king' as Olaf liked to call him before his coronation, and before that he was an ice harvester."

"Yeah, that's never going to be normal," Emir muttered, shaking his head "Talking snowmen...?"

"You've been friends with me for twelve years and you're still not used to Olaf?" Akiho chuckled. "That'd be like me still freaking out whenever we sneak out on your dad's magic carpet."

"You do freak out whenever we sneak a ride on dad's magic carpet," Emir said, giving his best friend a look.

"Oh it's not because of the carpet. There's no snow anywhere!"

"Agrabah is located in the desert dude! Where do you think we would get snow?"

Ben rolled his eyes. Once again his friends had managed to go on a completely different tangent than the one they started on.

"Akiho, if you're really worried about it, just ask Elle to go to Cotillion as a friend," Ben suggested, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Take the night and see what happens. I'm sure she'd be thankful for the company."

Akiho sighed. "Yeah well I'm not sure I'm even going to Cotillion so that would just be a waste of time."

"Well that's brand new information that should have been brought up before I commandeered Ben's room!" Emir exclaimed. "What do you mean you're not sure you're going to Cotillion?"

Akiho shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "It's just...you guys know how my mom's about nine months pregnant right?"

"Yeah," Emir nodded. "How that's even possible considering you're almost seventeen still confuses us—"