Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

18. Stables

August walked across the grounds with his hands in his pockets. He saw the sun approaching the horizon and began to hurry in the direction of the horse paddocks. As he looked across the fields it reminded him of when he'd first arrived at Hillerska.

When his father died, August was mourning, but his mother treated him like an inconvenience because she was busy pursuing a new relationship just a few months later.

He only had her to help him through the loss he'd just experienced at sixteen, and she'd sent him away.

August was expected to uphold his father's legacy alone at sixteen.

His mother had no wealth of her own to help him maintain Årnäs and she soon decided to marry a high-powered lawyer who somehow couldn't help making terrible investments that had left him broke.

August had to portray an image of someone who was physically perfect, wealthy and powerful in order to preserve his father's legacy. When he was alive his father had made him understand that anything less was unacceptable.

That's why he'd believed he had to be with someone like Felice who could improve his status and add to his wealth.

But he'd really liked Sara, then loved her, and it had nothing to do with status or money. It felt more real than any other relationship he'd ever had.

He didn't like Sara because of what she could offer him in superficial terms.  He liked for who she was, and the way she made him feel about himself.

Sara didn't pretend or play games. She just said what she thought so he was never unsure of where he stood with her.

Normally he spent all of his time keeping up appearances, but she was the only person he'd allowed to see who he really was.

He knew when she'd genuinely loved and cared for him and it made him more self-assured than he'd ever been to know he had someone on his side, until he didn't anymore...

He'd wanted to be better for her, to be the person she believed he could be, but he was too scared.

And now he knew that she probably hated him, but he hoped that she might still have some kind of love or affection remaining, and he needed to know.

———————-

They walked slowly chatting about the songs they would be singing and the different arrangements they had to learn.

They went their separate ways once they reached the Manor House and Felice left to join Madison and the other girls nearby.

"Vi ses i morgon!" (See you tomorrow) Felice said goodbye as she went to join the girls. He watched the other students mulling about for a moment then headed down the hill toward the stables.

Simon didn't like being on the bus or out in public on his own much anymore.

He tried not to think about it but he was really tired of people whispering about him and staring everywhere he went, so he'd started to just go to and from school.

If he met up with Rosh and Ayub, he'd get a ride from Linda or they'd come to his place, just to avoid all of the people everywhere who didn't seem to understand boundaries or care how it would feel to be gossiped about and pointed at everwhere you went.

He tried to tell himself that they were just noticing him because the Crown Prince was in love with him, which he wouldn't have minded, but once a group of teenage boys on the bus had pulled up the sex tape on one of their phones and turned it so that the screen was visible from where he was sitting with Sara, and then they all began to point and laugh at him, making a scene on the bus.