duty. (boyxboy)

chapter 6.

"Both are fine, I really don't care. Is there anything else?"

Aywin sighed dramatically and folded her arms.

"You are really not helping me right now, you know that? But it's fine, go, do whatever it is that you need to do."

For a brief moment, Forven felt sorry for her. He wasn't the only one suffering.

"Thank you." Forven took her hand and squeezed lightly as to say sorry. "I am sure that whatever you choose will look great."

This caused Aywin to smile. Forven was glad that she was still able to, as he found it increasingly hard to do so as the wedding grew nearer.

"Go on then, I am sure you have very important stuff to do."

Forven then took off on his quest of finding Alre, who could literally be anywhere on the palace grounds. Still, Alre hadn't had the chance to really explore, so Forven doubted he would have strayed far from his quarters.

~

Finding Alre proved more difficult that Forven had anticipated. He had looked everywhere around his quarters and even in the gardens where they had walked together several times. Forven was quickly running out of places to look.

That was, until he bumped head-first into king Jonas, who was also walking through the gardens, several books in his hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry, your majesty, I wasn't looking where I was going." Forven bowed his head.

"That's quite alright, kid. What's got your mind so occupied, if I may ask?"

The king's voice was like butter, so smooth Forven was sure he could fall asleep listening to him talk. If only he had been fifteen years older, he was sure he would have fallen for him.

"Well, it's just, you see, do you happen to know where Alre is? I have been looking for him."

"Alre? I last saw him walking in the direction of the stables, so you might want to look there."

Did king Jonas suspect anything? If he did, he wasn't showing it. No, Forven was just being paranoid.

"I will go there, then. Thank you, your majesty." Forven bowed again and swiftly walked away. Despite the king's friendliness, there was something about him that made Forven jittery.

Alre was indeed in the stables. Forven was observing him from a safe distance, hidden behind a wall, not ready to make his presence known quite yet. Alre seemed to be deep in thought taking care of the little foals, so Forven didn't want to disturb him. He looked surprisingly fine.

Then he got up and started walking in Forven's direction, though. Not having enough time to hide himself, he was discovered.

"Your highness, I thought I was alone."

The coldness in Alre's tone sent shivers down Forven's spine. He had messed up so badly and he didn't really know how to make it right.

"I," He began, nervously tucking his hair behind his ear. There were so many things he wanted to say but none of them seemed appropriate. "I wanted to talk to you."

Alre snorted, though not in a funny way.

"What do you want to talk about, your highness?"

"Forven. Call me Forven. Why are you calling me that all of a sudden?" Forven knew his tone was overly dramatic, but he had to get through to Alre somehow.

"Your highness, with all due respect, but I believe we don't have anything to talk about," Alre started, completely ignoring Forven's request, "I confessed my love for you and you can't reciprocate my love. What could there possibly be to talk about?"