*ON HOLD* Solangelo Royalty AU

Fourteen

Nico di Angelo felt the tears running down his cheeks as Will told the story of Isaac Phillips, the servant that he had fallen in love with.

Once Will had finished, Nico attempted to stop crying and wiped away the tears that stained Will's cheeks. "You didn't have to tell me that, but thank you," Nico said, kissing Will on the cheek. Will just offered him a smile through his tears.

The two princes sat in silence, Nico holding Will as he sobbed.

Eventually, Will ran out of tears to cry so Nico reluctantly stood from his position on Will's lap, left the blond haired prince in the armchair and fetched him a glass of water. Will smiled his thanks and downed the whole glass before opening his arms, silently asking Nico to sit back on his lap and cuddle him.

Now that they had stopped crying, the boys sat, enjoying each others company and valuing their relationship - whatever that was.

"Will, we need to talk." Looking at Will's scared expression made Nico reconsider his words. "That was a bad way to phrase that." He laughed nervously before continuing. "I just wanted to ask..." He trailed off, too scared to carry on.

"What is it?"

"WhatAmIToYou?" Nico asked, too quickly for Will to decipher. He took a deep breath before repeating himself. "What am I to you?"

Will took so long to respond to him that Nico got scared and began to stand up, to leave, but Will wrapped his arms around Nico's waist, pulling him back down. "I'm scared, Nico. I'm engaged to your sister. I wish I wasn't-" Nico knew his facial expression, the anger in his eyes, made Will elaborate. "-I wish it was you but my father is adamant. I can't marry a man, no matter how much I love him, how much I love you." Nico felt the smile tug at his lips and the blush stain his cheeks pink. "I don't want to label you as my boyfriend because I'll never truly be able to be with you, not after I marry Bianca."

Sighing, Nico moved his head to look up at Will. "I get it. My father hasn't spoken to me about marriage yet, he's too busy trying to get my sisters to marry so that he can fix his money problems but I know he wants me to marry a princess. But what's the worst thing that could happen if, instead of announcing to your kingdom that you're marrying Bianca, you said you would marry me?"

"Nico! Think about it. That would drag your sister's name through the dirty. All the other royal families know that I'm engaged to Bianca. She'd never find a husband if I publically humiliated her like that."

Head drooped, Nico bit his lip. Will was thinking this through. He knew that Will would make a brilliant king, unlike himself. How could Nico be so reckless? Of course a decision like that would affect others. He was being selfish.

"You're right." He muttered.

"But we have now," Will said. "If we're careful about it, we have until I get married to be together. We just can't let anyone know because that will reflect badly on Bianca as well." Nico nodded in agreement.

~ time lapse ~

Nico and his family accompanied Bianca and Will, along with Will's family, on the balcony to address the citizens of the capital city of Soleil, Ilios. Will, Bianca's arm linked through his, stood facing his people, announcing his engagement to the princess of Pègre.

King Apollo and King Hades shook hands and did their own speeches about how delighted they were that their kingdoms would be joined by marriage. Hades seemed more enthusiastic, a hungry, crazed look in his eye considering how wealthy Soleil was and how much that would benefit Pègre.

Nico paid little attention. When he wasn't surveying the crowd gathered to watch the speeches, he was staring at Will and his sister. They were playing the part excellently, so much so that Nico had to keep reminding himself that Will wasn't really in love with Bianca.

Everything was going great. The crowd was ecstatic, overjoyed that Prince William and Princess Bianca would be married.

However, Nico couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Despite the noise the crowd was making, he felt like they were holding back, acting thrilled instead of truly being happy. But why? Nico remembered when his father married Persephone - everyone in Pègre loved the royal wedding. Drank up all the festivities. So why should Soleil be any different?

Paranoid, Nico scanned the crowd, checking all the guards were in their correct positions. They were.

There's nothing to worry about - Nico thought - you're being ridiculous.

Just as he thought that, he caught sight of an arrow being loosed from an bow in his peripheral vision. Before he could shout to alert the people standing beside him, he heard the arrow clatter against the stone wall, and then the floor. Nico spun round to see where it landed - only an inch to the left of Lady Artemis' head.

The guards stationed on the balcony grabbed the royal family of Soleil and escorted them to safety. Nico, ignoring his father, blinking in shock, grabbed his sisters by the elbows and hurried them to their rooms.

As they rushed through the halls filled with panicked servants and nobles alike, Nico sifted through his thoughts. Will had mentioned a rumoured rebel movement in Ilios but they had never attacked the royal family or the castle before today.

After closing the door to Bianca's room (which had searched thoroughly before leaving his sisters in there) Nico couldn't help but think about how Octavian hadn't been on the balcony with his father and step-mother.

**********

a/n

yes, Ilios is Greek for Sun. fight me. Will's kingdom is called Sun and the capital city is Sun. this is my fic so idgaf.

I'm not going to apologise for not updating this since the beginning of the month - you're all used to my lack of a schedule by now. but i want to thank you all for sticking with me and support this fic. it means the world to me.

also, I took down my mermaid au because I wasn't happy with it but I will be rewriting it and it shall be back up soon.

vote/comment
thanks,
~Em

[ word count: 942 ]