While You Were Away (A Cruel Prince Fanfiction)

Chapter 2

What a shame. It's been several hours since I sent the letter, but still no response. Was it even delivered to Jude? I go downstairs to ask a palace messenger about it, since most of Faerie is waking up by now, but they don't even recall such a letter. Maybe it was someone else who had it? No matter. I tell them to inform me should any mail from the mortal world come my way.

There is nothing else that I can do about it right now, and so I shall shift my focus on the night ahead of me. If any thoughts about Jude surface, well, I will just push them down. Besides, if I can't be in control of that situation, I can at least look in control of everything else.

Back in my chambers, I open my wardrobe. "Clothes are a way to show the kind of person you are without having to speak," my brother Balekin once said to me. He's dead now, of course, but I keep his words in my mind as I select my outfit for tonight. I put on an extravagant green doublet, pull on a pair of leather pants, and slip my feet into spiked boots. The Blood Crown is perched atop my head, but I move it so that it sits on an angle. I add some golden jewelry to complete the look.

I look at myself through a mirror. At first glance, I truly look like royalty, and I seem to radiate power and regalness.

But, after staring at myself for a bit longer, I despise what I see, for I'm now reminded of the selfish and cruel prince that I have been for so long. The prince who relished in trouble and villainy. The prince who felt entitled to everything, just because he was a prince. The prince who got nearly everything he wanted because of that.

My eyes go to the Crown, and immediately, I remember all the terrible things that people, namely my own brother, have done to obtain it. And how, ironically, it was just handed to me after all that as well.

Of course, that's not the whole story. It also involved me showing up to Dain's coronation horribly late and drunk, dancing with Jude, hiding with Jude, getting kidnapped by Jude, and then... well...

I freeze. I mustn't think about her, or those wonderful and horrible times.

But regardless, I wonder if I'm still that same terrible person. I wonder if I've changed at all, and if I have, for better or for worse.

┈┈┈┈＊┈┈┈┈＊┈┈┈┈

As soon as I exit my chambers, nearby knights salute, all of them attentive and ready to be of service.

I'm not quite used to this yet. Even though people would already treat me as a person of importance as a prince, that was only because I was related to the High King.

Now, I am that High King, the most important person of Elfhame. "At ease," I say to them. They all put their hands down. Then, I head down the hallway and into the council room.

Typically, I wouldn't attend the nightly meetings with the Living Council, but since Jude, I mean my seneschal, isn't here, I figure that I might as well do it myself.

When courtiers open the golden double doors for me, the Council members are still getting settled in their seats.

However, they're all clearly shocked to see me, and they all stop what they're doing. Fala, the Grand Fool, instantly jumps onto the long wooden table to begin a little dance. At least that wasn't unusual.

As he finishes, I take my seat — a tall oak chair carved with hundreds of intricate tiny designs. Since this is the King's chair, it's obvious that the other chairs are a bit shorter and less extravagant, but they're still nice.

Following my example, the other Council members also take their seats, but of course, Madoc isn't there. He's probably scheming with his newfound army in some secret location, and the Council must know it too. They must also think it's my fault that it's happening, since technically, I allowed it, but I suppose they'll never really know why that is so.