Atlas (A Selection/Hat Films Fanfiction)

~ Twenty One ~

"Your majesty, lady Atlas, we've arrived," Simon said over his shoulder, rousing the prince and I both awake. I pushed myself up from where I had slouched against the window to sleep and saw that we were entering through the castle gates at one of the smaller entrances meant for service vehicles and deliveries.

There was an inner wall that lead to the gardens, and I felt my anxiety spike me awake as I noticed Prince Ross standing at one of the gates. His arms were crossed, and he was pressing himself up against the wall, looking around nervously.

I turned my head to look at Alexandre, but he already had an answer for me. "I had to tell someone, Atlas," he explained, "in case something happened, and we needed a cover up. He's my brother, and he would never do something to put you in danger."

I didn't argue with him, glad that he had thought that through before we left because we were well past when I had planned to be back here. I looked back at Ross as we got closer and he straightened, looking nervous, but as soon as he recognized us in the back of the car as we pulled up, his face filled with relief and he jogged over to us.

I didn't waste any time, pushing the door open and rushing into his arms as he held them out for me. I was too tired to think about our fight, instead welcoming his embrace wholeheartedly as he wrapped his arms around my waist, twisting me around to avoid being knocked over. It felt like it had been a week since he confronted me about Sjin, but with everything that happened in the past 48 hours, I felt nothing but relief to see him. I instantly relaxed, happy to know that we were on the same side again.

"Fuckin' hell," he swore after a moment, keeping our hips connected with his hands on my back as he pulled away to look at me, "I am so glad to see you guys. I thought you said you would be back before sunrise?"

I followed Ross's gaze to look back at Alexandre, but he didn't seem nearly as happy to be back as I expected him to. He watched us for a moment, face expressionless, and then nodded over his shoulder at the car. Ross let go of me to stride over and wrap his brother in a hug, patting his back. "Glad to see you are okay, mate," he said quietly.

Wordlessly, Lewis and Simon left, presumably to return the car and get to their guard posts before anyone missed them. I was nervous wondering about how we had gotten back into the castle with how many guard posts we would have had to go through, but if Lewis or Simon hadn't said anything about it, I hoped that meant we were in the clear.

"Come on, let us go into the gardens," he continued when Alex still didn't say anything, motioning with his head to the gate, "We will have more privacy in there." He grabbed onto one of the metal bars, pushing it open and making sure I had caught it before continuing into the garden.

"How much did Alex tell you?" I asked, running to catch up with him and taking his hand in mine; it felt natural, and he threaded our fingers together without any other reaction. He was walking fast, and I had to jog to keep up with him, but it put space between us and his brother.

"Alex?" he repeated as soon as I said it, slowing to look at me in confusion and knitting his eyebrows together, "Do you call him that to his face?"

I didn't know how to answer, and when he saw my discomfort he quickly, "It is none of my business." He led me into a tight corridor between two rows of hedges and spun to face me, grabbing my other hand.

"It was enough," he answered finally in a low voice, "We can talk about it later, but are you okay? Were you successful with what you needed to get done?"

That didn't give me any indication of how much he knew, so I tried to keep it vague for now. "I'm fine," I assured, squeezing his hands. "We're all safe. There are some things we need to address, but they're not pressing, and Prince Alexandre is in no condition to talk about it right now. Try not to push him too hard," I continued, make sure to use Alexandre's full title this time.