Butterfly Reign

6. Follow Through With Your Promises

It’s unfair. That Tommy got yelled at – and that this argument was the longest his father had spoken to him in the last month. He can handle the loneliness scraping him inside out, but this feeling, burning and tight and overwhelming – is completely new. Just remembering Ranboo’s face makes Tommy shudder with anger, and his jaw, clenched shut tightly, is the only thing preventing a growl escaping from his throat.

‘Don’t you have the slightest ounce of sympathy?’, the Emperor’s voice echoes in his mind. In that moment, it’s as though lightning strikes Tommy, and he knows that the answer is a firm, outward no .

Tommy drops his head, keeping his gaze trained firmly on the ground. They are alone in this part of the gardens, save for the guards keeping respectful distance and motionless as stone statues. Not far away is an arched entrance to the Northern wing. The Emperor interprets the crown-prince’s long pause as repentance, and turns around, as if preparing to leave.

“I’ve told you everything that I wanted to,” he says, taking a measured step, "By the end of this walk, I expect you to return to Wilbur’s party and to publicly apologize to Ranboo-"

“No.”

The Emperor stops. He turns around half-way back, frowning, “No?”

Tommy tilts his chin up. His eyes, narrowed down to sharp slits, stare at the Emperor with stubborn defiance. "I will not make myself a laughingstock for Your Majesty's whim."

"It's an order. And as a prince, you are obliged to comply."

"The crown-prince has no obligation to apologize to a lowborn pest,” Tommy cuts in, “and he is not someone to be disrespected, even by His Majesty.”

Normally, Tommy would’ve backed away at this point – or never spoke back to his father in the first place. He feels like he had stepped on a brittle bridge – but the fear isn’t enough to fight off his anger, one that twists his lips into a snarl and tightens his throat until the air gets in and out in harsh whistles.

Two pairs of blue eyes lock on each other. Tommy refuses to be the first one to look away, and watches the expression on the Emperor’s face morph from irritation to surprise and to something grim and complicated. His father looks like a person who was bitten by their docile, loyal dog: not angry, not yet, but the deep teeth mark on their hand make them question, for the first time, if the animal they had taken in was as harmless as they thought it is.

"Why did you change so much?” the Emperor says.

He stays right where he is, yet Tommy feels like a slap lands on his face. Just like that, all of his anger and courage is gone, and all that is left of him is his trembling, weak form, and stinging in his eyes.

Tears are a weakness, and not to be spilled in front of other people, so Tommy whirls around on his heels and runs.

***

Deep in the palace gardens, there is a section that Tommy never brings other people to, hidden away from a stray glance with high walls of woven branches. Thorny shrubs, splattered with dull green leaves, seem to soften and part slightly to let the crown-prince through.

In the clearing, a small building stands. It’s an orangery made from dull, white-tinted glass that looks almost orange in the light of the evening sun. Tommy has been visiting this place almost every other day for over six years now, but never has it become less painful to see a silhouette of a person moving inside. Straight, elegant stature, splendid dark curls and black pearls of a woman’s eyes all seem real, up until he opens the door and finds the orangery empty.

Empress Kristin has commissioned the build. Tommy isn’t sure if even the Emperor is aware of its existence, but as long as he remembers, he was the only one Mother ever brought here. Tommy liked it that way; to have a little secret between them that Wilbur and Techno weren’t included into. Over the years, Tommy will grow to have many secrets from his siblings, and they will no longer be fun to keep, but at the time it made him feel special.