Algernon Black

(Chapter 47) Personal Costs and Reasons

"Where are we going?" Selice asked, in the hopes their journey would end soon. They had only started their adventure two days ago but that had gone by carriage. This morning started their endless walking and by midafternoon Selice had already exhausted herself. She was the type that liked to be left alone tinkering with her inventions at a desk, and to her, this was crushing and unnecessary work.

"Is there a place you'd like to go?" Loy asked instead.

Selice looked at him with eyes as dry as her patience. "Anywhere I can sit down."

Loy chuckled. "Instead should I ask, is there anything you'd like to explore?" He stepped closer to Selice, trying to draw an idea out of her.

"It's too much money and effort to explore," Selice said dismissing it entirely.

"There is a price to pay when you go against what the world expects of you, but when you're the prince, the cost is never an issue." Loy piped cheerfully.

Selice blew stray hair out of her eyes with her next puff of annoyance. "Even if there was, you're the type that could never be made to act as anything other than yourself."

"Is that a touch of jealousy I hear?" Loy asked.

Selice's coldness shut down his fun. "You're imagining it."

Loy's smile continued, knowing he was probably more right than wrong. "Anyways we'll be at our first destination in a day. I think you'll really be happy with this one."

Selice eyebrows drew together.  "You aren't dragging me across the world to make me happy. So why are you?"

"For personal reasons." Loy said with intentional vagueness.

Selice sulked as her face settled into its habitual pout. Some might say she wasn't good company, but Loy thought that her expressions were the pinnacle of entertainment so long as he was the one provoking them.

"Stop pulling me into your whims. It's exhausting," Selice grumbled, as her fatigue also made her loose-lipped. "I hope Devane scolds you when we get back with a twelve-hour lecture."

"He probably will," Loy brushed off as if he didn't despair Devane's wrath. "Though he usually only reserves those for my worst behaviors. Like when I brought a pride of lions to my father's 60th birthday celebration."

"I remember," Selice muttered through her grogginess. "They jumped up onto all the tables and ate the fish."

"Exactly," Loy said trotting ahead in his thick dark brown poncho. Stitched into the bottom right corner of the jacket, were the feather ends of a peacock. The rest of the bird drew around the back with its head resting on the top left of his shoulder. A chain held it together right below his neck to conveniently conceal his artifact. "In comparison, kidnapping and forcing you on a tour of the continent surely isn't that bad." His smile made it seem a joke but as the exhausting consequences played out in the present, Selice found not a trance of humor in currently anything.

"It wasn't amusing then and it's not amusing now," She replied, stumbling over nothing because of her waning energy.

Loy fondly looked upon her frowning face. "But from what I recall, there was one moment you enjoyed. One of the cubs approached you and you went white with fear. But the baby rubbed its head against your leg and you reached down to pet it." Selice tried to recall it herself but couldn't imagine the scene. "Of every thing that happened that day, your smile stuck with me the longest." It was the hardest reaction to evoke from the girl and by far Loy's favorite. He found it often disappointing that he had to settle for her lesser displays of emotions but at least she was never indifferent.

"It was also when I realized how much you have in common with felines," Loy added ruining the nearly touching sentiment. "Not so much with lions but like house cats, who prefers to be left alone. And when you get startled your eyes's open so wide. And you also hate sporadic movements and unpredictable people."

"Which makes dealing with you impossible," Selice stated, though her pout lessened upon his reflections of her. She never heard Loy be somewhat sentimental or contemplative and wasn't even sure if he could see past his own nose. It made her one-tenth less grumpy.

"Well if your going to make me walk this much, at least stand in front of me to block out the sun," Selice said, positioning herself in Loy's shadow as the poncho over his broad shoulders made for a very wide shield.

"Of course, princess." Loy softly mocked.

"Don't call me that," Selice said. Her stomach lurched at the word but she assured herself it was only a joke as her necklace still masked her gender. "I'm not a princess."

A remediable thing, Loy thought looking back at the chain around her neck. "If that's what you want."