“We didn’t sleep much either,” said Louis, shooting a wicked glance at Harry.
“You want to tell us why you’re the most wanted person in Alluria right now?” Liam asked him.
In between bites of bread, Louis pieced together the whole story, tactfully skimming over the racier bits. Harry remained silent, until it came time to narrate his side of the story after Louis’s capture, at which point Louis was just as interested as the other two to hear about how he and Niall broke into the dungeons. Liam and Zayn listened with increasing incredulity, eyes flickering between Harry and Louis.
“… I figured that Paul’s was the safest place for us to pass the night, so here we are now,” finished Louis.
There was a moment of silence while Liam and Zayn absorbed everything.
“I still can’t believe that you’re the prince who’s been hidden from the world for eighteen years,” said Liam in amazement.
“But you’re so normal,” observed Zayn, staring at Harry.
“Well, I never really thought of myself as a prince,” Harry began modestly.
“—more like a princess,” added Louis. Harry jabbed him in the ribs, putting his newfound reflexes to good use.
“Ow!” cried Louis, but there was an approving glint in his eyes. “That’s all right, you’re myprincess,” he cooed. With that, he brushed a bread crumb from the corner of Harry’s mouth and kissed him thoroughly, until Liam coughed pointedly and Harry learned that it was not, in fact, generally acceptable behavior to hump one’s lover at the breakfast table.
“What about you two?” Harry asked, eager to know more about Liam and Zayn. “Are you Paul’s assistants?”
“You could say that,” replied Zayn. “Paul likes to call us his lost boys.”
“Why? Are you lost?” Harry asked, befuddled.
Liam laughed. “Zayn and I both used to work inside the castle as apprentices: I to a cook, and Zayn was apprenticed to the court magician. That was, until we committed unforgivable offenses that resulted in our banishment from the castle.”
“What did you do?” Harry inquired, intrigued.
“I was doing my rounds one day, delivering potions and remedies for my master, when I accidentally swapped Lord Asperger’s cough medicine for Essence of Toad,” Zayn recounted. “You can imagine that the croaking didn’t help the Lord’s social ineptitude. He insisted on my banishment.”
“I made the mistake of teaching myself to read and write. I wanted to be a scribe, you see, but that wasn’t allowed for a lowly kitchen boy. When my master found out, he reported me to the king,” Liam said bitterly.
“That’s hardly fair!” Harry bristled. “So now you work for Paul?”
“Being banished means that not only were we forced to leave the castle, but we were also blacklisted in the royal archives so that no master or establishment would ever hire us,” explained Zayn, “but Louis persuaded Paul to take us in. He finds odd jobs for us – the occasional commoner who needs a letter read or an infection treated – and he provides us room and board.”
“And a family,” Liam smiled at Zayn.
“How about you, Louis?” Harry asked curiously. “How do you know Paul?”
“My parents passed away when I was a baby. Paul took me in and looked after me until I was old enough to find a job in the royal stables. Still looks after me,” said Louis, eyes overly bright. “He’s a good man, one of the best I’ve known.”
YOU ARE READING
Harpunzel || L.S. ✔️
Fanfiction"In most fairy tales, princes and stable boys don't usually have much to do with each other, and in the kingdom of Alluria, that was no exception. Once upon a time, however, a particular prince and a certain stable boy did meet, and here is their st...
4/4: Happily Ever After
Start from the beginning
