Princey's Unexpected Journey

CHAPTER XI

Jonathan and I skipped out of the Throne Room. Jonathan was laughing and having a grand old time. I was happy because he was happy. And because his brother had not forbidden our relationship. We skipped and laughed until we were outside of the castle. Once we were outside, and once we were alone, I was greeted with a surprise.

Jonathan had planted a kiss on my cheek.

My face had turned a deep red after he had kissed me. I hid my face as I continued to blush. Jonathan laughed as he pulled my hands away from my face.

"God," he said with a smile, "you are so adorable when you are flustered. Your face turns red and you hide your face in embarrassment. You are so...loveable."

"Jonathan," I whispered back to him, "your compliments are going to make me blush more."

"Good. I like seeing you blush." Jonathan continued to laugh as we walked away from the castle. Yet, our joyous time was greeted by two guards, carrying large swords. I looked at their coat of arms and realized that I was dead.

These guards were from my kingdom.

I stopped in my tracks. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, I could barely breathe. Jonathan noticed that I had stopped. He could tell that something was wrong, I guess, for he grabbed my hand again and squeezed it gently. "Manuel-"

"Prince Manuel," one of the guards proclaimed, "you are under arrest for abandonment and for having homosexual relationships. Please come with us, so that you can have a trial."

Ha-ha, trial. I knew that I was not going to have a freaking trail. If I was to go with them, willingly or not, then I would probably be executed, even though I was the king's son. Abandonment, the act of leaving your "post" or assigned building, would send me to prison for the rest of my life, so I knew that my life was pretty much over at that time. The homosexuality charges on top of that meant certain death.

I was forced away from Jonathan, who was on the verge of tears. The men tied my hands behind my back and led me away from the poor man. As I was forced away, I turned my head and yelled four words, almost the exact same ones that Jonathan had sang to me as he was forced away:

"Jonathan, I love you."

I couldn't see or hear his reaction. My head was forced to look forward and the yelling of all of the townspeople that had gathered nearby had entered my ears faster than whatever John had replied, or if he even replied. I could see the guards from the Groffton Kingdom doing their best to control the crowd, but they were in an outrage. The yelling had gotten so bad that the king himself had to come out to assist the people. Yet, once he saw me, he didn't care about the people anymore. He went up to the guards.

"Let the man go," King Frederick said to them, "no harm has been done."

"The prince left without permission and he has committed an act of almost pure treason!"

"He committed treason for loving someone?"

"Having homosexual relationships is against our laws and beliefs!"

"You didn't answer my freaking question."

"I am pretty sure that we freaking did."

Frederick sighed as he glared at the men. "Look, I am not here to cause trouble, and neither is Manuel. All that he wants is a government and a king that will not oppress him, that will not control how he freaking breathes! And I want the best for him. Manuel is a nice man who has done nothing wrong. So, just let him go, and we will all be fine."

"We cannot let him go. King Joseph of the Lin Kingdom has ordered for us to take Prince Manuel back to his kingdom at any price. He says this in the name of God."

"Well, Manuel is on my grounds, and so are you, meaning that you must abide to my rules. Because of that, I am ordering you to let him go."

"In the name of God, we are not letting him go. That is the final word. If you fail to comply, your entire kingdom will face the wrath of King Joseph."

Frederick looked at me with defeat in his eyes. The king shrugged as the people gasped. The kingdom's brave warrior known as King Frederick had given up, and he given up so easily. He mouthed the words, "I am so sorry" before I was drug away from the castle and placed on a ship that was harboring in the dock. I sighed as I was placed in a dark cell in the middle of the ship. The only light came through the cracks in the floors above. There were no other prisoners on this ship, or at least what I had seen. After looking around for a while, I slid onto the dirty ground and curled myself up in a ball. This was going to be a long ride back, and I was sure of it.

As the ship beat against the waves, all that I could think about was John. This was almost the exact same thing that happened just a few days prior. No, this was not almost the same thing. It was the exact same thing. We were forced to part ways, even though we didn't want to. And this pain was caused by the same kingdom: my kingdom.

The sky was soon darkening and the feeling of sleepiness overwhelmed me. I was soon in a deep sleep, where all of my dreams were about John. I had one dream in particular where John and I got married and my sister had become Queen of the Lin Kingdom. It was a nice dream, until my father ruined our wedding as well. He was set on killing John, but I stopped him before he could lay his hands on him. I was about to be stabbed in the chest when I woke up, drenched in sweat. I couldn't help but silently sob in the dark after that horrible nightmare. The last thing that I wanted was for John to get hurt, even in a dream.

He didn't deserve to get hurt.