The summer of the exchange - Stucky au

- 1

Everyone busied around the gold crusted room as the Queen mother shouted her orders. Even with all the help they still couldn't quite keep up with the demands.

And away from the rush, James sat in an over-extravagant chair nestled in the corner. He was the king, and his presence made people uneasy. But not of him, of his mother. If she wasn't around, they probably wouldn't even notice him hiding at the edge of it all.

"Have you polished the kings crown! He hasn't got it, where is it? Give it to him!"

James was just trying to mind his own business, but because of his mother servants kept coming up to him and altering his crown, or checking his colour, or buffing his shoes again and again. He did nothing but sit there and let them. His mind thinking everything he would never get to say. Half of it included telling everyone to leave him alone so he could enjoy his peace, and the other half consisted of shaking everyone's hand and thanking them for everything they've done and continue to do for his family.

But that wont happen, so he sits, and looks ahead, and lets these people do whatever it is they've been told to do. This is what his life has been like and it isn't going to change. His mother would never allow it but even after shes gone no one would want to know. No one wants a broken king.

"James!"

Ugh, only one person calls him that.

"James, dearest. Are you listening to me?" His mother says. "Today we will thank the farmers on the east first, they give the most".

No. They grow the food for us, he thought as she spoke. This entire day is going to be spent thanking the farmers who work to feed this country, all because they're struggling. James knew they were struggling to keep up with demand and people were going hungry. And now he had to stand up in the local town square and thank them for it. He has all this wealth around him, all these servants and extra food, and empty rooms, and all he is going to do is thank them. No, not even that. He's going to stand there in silence and his mother is going to speak for him, from a script she wrote with his name emblazoned on the bottom.

"And then we'll leave the fields in the mid-west last..." she carried on.

But again, he thought, the mid-west feeds the local poor families, the ones living so close together in tiny houses they're almost huts. This isn't right, he has the power to stop it, but he cant.

"Are you ready, your majesty?" One of them asks.

"— he's ready", his mother butted in with her overly posh drawl.

Her greying hair flattened on top with her smaller crown, the red stones an insult to everyone they will speak with today. He linked her arm in his and they began walking out the room, following many people who opened doors and lowered their heads as they passed.

"You remember, don't you?"

He remained quiet but glanced at her with nothing but ice and upset in his eyes. Of course he remembered.

"I'm only doing this to help you", she said in the same way she always does.

But he stopped believing her long ago.

Their carriage waited outside, the horses sniffing and shaking their heads in the slight wind. The beautiful feathering on the bottoms of their legs bristled. But James's favourite would always be the large mare in their stables he affectionately called Penny. The red chestnut horse with three white socks and a perfect diamond between her eyes.

He got in first like the rules dictated and his mother sat opposite, their knees not touching but still too close for his liking, and they set off for the nearest village. For once they were travelling outside of the rich area and heading into the slightly busier, poorer part of the city.