Chapter Text
Chapter One
Dave followed Rose closely as she strode down the hall. She pointedly kept her eyes forward, not glancing back at him even as she spoke.
“I know it is quite the rewarding position, but really, would it have killed you to think before acquiescing? It’s not that I don’t trust you or your skills, but this is a lot of responsibility,” she said, irritably picking at the hem of her cloak sleeve. “Do you really understand what you’re getting yourself into here?”
“Well for starters I can leave my shitty home and move into a giant castle,” Dave said drily. “And then there’s the royal paycheck. I’m basically being pampered to follow some spoiled brat around, right?”
Rose turned around sharply, lips pursed as if she were considered some choice expletives to unload on him. She took a forceful deep breath, closing her eyes to try and center herself. “First of all, you’re going to be protecting the heir to the entire kingdom. Didn’t it occur to you that you might come up against assassins? Or heretics? They don’t meticulously test the entire guard so they can have one of their best swordsmen playing babysitter.”
Dave paused, a swell of pride in his chest. “I’m not the best, Rose, I’m pretty shitty. My bro could wipe the floor with me. Hell, he could wipe the entire castle, clean up all that unsightly shit ‘til it was reflective as a gold trimmed mirror.”
“Well they didn’t offer the position to him, did they?” Rose said. She tried to hide her smile beneath the frustration. “I am of course, thrilled with your success, but one thing at a time.”
She shook her head, starting down the long corridor again, her bare feet nearly silent compared to the heavy clicking of Dave’s boots. “What was I talking about? Right, correcting your mistakes again—Prince John isn’t a spoiled brat. We’ve spoken a few times while the king consulted with my mother. He’s not spoiled. More. . . clueless. Distractible. Kind, but not particularly attentive.”
“So he’s stupid.”
Rose shot Dave a glare. “I don’t know why I let you pester me like this. Maybe I should have let you wander the castle alone, trying to find your post, showing up late to your first day of duty. Couldn’t you at least pretend to be the least bit anxious about this massive shift in your life?”
As they spoke, they turned a corner. Halfway down the hall, two guards stood outside a pair of towering wooden doors. They were silent and stiff, weapons already in hand as they watched the corridor for the slightest hint of a threat.
Dave grabbed Rose’s wrist, dropping his voice low so only she could here. “I’m sorry I’m being so shitty, okay? It’s just. . . anything has to be better than where I came from. You know?”
Sighing, Rose pulled him close, wrapping him up in a hug. “I’m glad you’ll be living here now, I really am. I don’t want you to get in over your head.”
They both stepped away. Dave forced a smile, straightening his sword sheath. “Trust me, this whole personal knight thing? It’s going to be a breeze. I’ve got this shit on lockdown.”
Rose frowned disbelievingly, pulling the hood of her seer garb up, casting a shadow over her face. “Can you please attempt a respectful demeanor? You may be able to pull off your usual bullshit at the lower ranks, but your duty will have you constantly interacting with royalty. The stakes have changed drastically.”
“I know, I know,” Dave said. “Don’t you have to go have a lesson with your mom?” He paused. “Sorry, I mean, the ‘Royal Seer.’”
“Royal Seer of Void and Shadow,” Rose corrected, grimacing. “Technically, yes. I’ve been showing up earlier lately, so she keeps passive–aggressively leaving passages of text out for me to study while she returns from her consultations.”
Dave raised an eyebrow hesitantly. “I’m not gonna ask about that. We’ll be able to meet up tonight, right? I can tell you how things went with Prince Egbert, and you can tell me about this ongoing cold war with your mom.”
Rose nodded, the relaxing slightly. “I’ll need to cut my reading short to be in the dining hall at the same time as you, but I’ve been growing bored with my newest tome anyway. You promise you’re going to be alright?”
“Damn Lalonde, I’m not a lost toddler wandering through the woods with a shitty toy bear and a broken ankle. I’m gonna be fine, alright?” Dave said, offering her a smile.
After a moment’s consideration, Rose hesitantly agreed. “Alright. See you tonight.”
Dave waved as she turned to head down the hall. “See you tonight!” He was lucky to have a half-sister like her, even if she was the most uptight person to ever live. He just hoped her concerns were unfounded. But she was an apprentice seer–who could tell what was unnecessary formalities and what was prophetic instinct? There was really only one way to tell, right?
He nodded to the guards standing outside the prince’s chamber. They let him pass between them without any fuss, instantly recognizing the lavish uniform of the heir’s newly appointed personal knight. Without so much as a pause, he pushed the doors open, and strode into the heir’s chamber.
Dave Strider was not going to be fine.
“Uh, hello?”
The young prince turned around, offering a buck toothed smile. “Oh, hi!” he said eagerly, as if he weren’t half undressed. He stretched, biting back a yawn. The sunlight dripped through the windows, giving his skin a soft warm glow. “You must be Sir Strider, right? I’m John. You probably already knew that, right?”
Dave swallowed, looking pointedly away. The rest of the castle was unbearably chilly–so why was he feeling so overheated? “Uh, yeah. Your Highness, don’t you think a servant should be helping you?” Maybe then he’d have a shirt on sooner.
“Just John,” he said dismissively, picking up a silky blue tunic he’d left on the bed. “It gets kinda weird having so many people in the room. I usually just dress myself.”
Dave tried to close his eyes, clenching his hands into fists to try and keep himself steady. He’d always thought it was weird of royalty to have servants dress them, but this was somehow weirder. “Sure,” he said. “You do that.”
“I never really had a personal knight before,” John said, sliding the tunic on over his smooth freckled skin. It was perfectly tailored to fit, of course. When he moved, it rippled, as though stirred by a sudden breeze.
“I’ve never really been a personal knight before,” Dave retorted flatly. This was weird. Were they just having a conversation now? Was he allowed to do that with royalty? Damn, this job was going to have an adjustment period.
John laughed slightly, picking up a pair of boots, wiggling his bare toes. “My dad told me about you. You got the position because you were super heroic and cool, right? You drove off, like, a whole flock of bandits.”
“Isn’t a group of bandits called a herd?” Dave asked drily, posting up against the door. His eyes swept the room, doing his best to take it all in. He was going to need to be familiar with this place.
John bit his lip, considering the question as he pulled on his left boot. “Wait, no, that’s sheep. Maybe it’s a gaggle? A gaggle of bandits?”
Dave bit back a smile. So this was what Rose meant when she’d been talking about the prince. He was a totally gorgeous dork.
Goofy. He meant goofy.
“Yeah, I guess. I dealt with a gaggle of shitty bandits. It wasn’t anything heroic, they were just harassing some kids out on the edge of town.” It had reminded him of his own childhood. It actually wasn’t half bad as a means of catharsis.
“I bet those kids thought it was heroic!” John said brightly, lacing up his boots. “Anyway, my tutor is sick, my friends are all busy, and my dad has to spend the afternoon listening to appeals, so we can basically do anything.”
Dave hesitated. “We? I mean, aren’t I just, like, your bodyguard or something?”
John glanced up, his smile fading slightly. “I mean, you don’t have to do any of it, I just thought it would be fun, and we could get to know each other better and stuff.”
Shit, was that offensive to royalty? “I’m up for whatever,” Dave said quickly. He tried not to smile when John’s expression brightened.
“Great!” John paused for a moment. “After the shaving cream and chili pepper incident, I’m not allowed to do any pranks for a week—”
“Wait, the /what/ incident?”
“—And the pianos are getting tuned today. We could go down to the stable,” John said thoughtfully, hopping off the bed and crossing over to the door. “Oh! I could introduce you to my horse Casey. Have you seen the field where we have tournaments? I wanna compete, but Dad says I’m not old enough, and also I’m really really bad at it,” John rambled, hurrying out into the hall. He waved at the two guards, then shot a quick glance back to make sure Dave was following.
Dave tucked his thumbs through the loops of the belt. “My bro does the tournaments. He’s probably the best at fencing. And jousting. Hell, he might just be the best, period.”
“Never heard of him,” John said, brightly. “Anyway, I’d rather hear about you!”
Really? That was kind of a first. Usually when he mentioned his bro, that was all anyone wanted to talk about. “Well, I guess I like swords,” Dave said, following John through the halls. “Is that what you want to hear?”
“Makes sense, since you’re a knight,” John said, giving him a quizzical look. “Anything you like that isn’t your job?”
For some reason, the first thing that popped into his mind was John’s freckles, earlier. Trying not to think on it too much, he shrugged nonchalantly. “A lot of stuff, I guess. I do some music. And I like dead stuff.”
“Dead stuff?” John stopped, frowning at Dave with a mix of concern and curiosity. Dammit, that probably sounded weird.
“Like, I dunno, archeology, or paleontology, or whatever one that falls under. And art. But not fancy art. More of a commentary on fancy art via the medium of extremely shitty art that tells ironically shitty stories that make you think ‘hey, is this junk really art? Is that log art? Is my dick art? What the hell even is art anyway?’ But then there’s this whole layer to it you just have to ‘get,’ and you can’t really explain it.”
John grinned. “I think I understood about half of that garbage. You’re kind of a dork, you know that?”
“Says the guy with glasses and buckteeth.” He knew Rose would smack him for that, and in other countries, he could get executed, but he wasn’t all that surprised when John laughed.
“I think it’s gonna be great hanging out with you,” he said. He paused in front of a window, the afternoon sun giving him a golden backlight. The sky seemed pale and faded behind his smile. Maybe it was the compliment, or something in the air, or those stupid little dimples. Maybe it was the excitement of moving into a castle, an ironic gesture to spite Rose, or that perfect electric smile.
Dave’s heart pounded in his chest, a deep feeling to complicated to name sweeping through his bones. He forced himself to nod. “Yeah. It’s gonna be pretty cool.”