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"What?"
The Crown Prince of Datiere, Morgan, stared at Sir Alex, his most trusted knight, in disbelief. Alex shuffled under the weight of his gaze, the metal of his armor lightly clinking together. However, it echoed throughout the hushed courtroom.
"Are you meaning to tell me you've been the Prince of Satiere this entire time?" Morgan asked. The whispers that had died down after the initial shock of this revelation restarted amongst the nobles.
The visiting King of Satiere, Frank, cleared his throat, simultaneously drawing attention back to him and silencing the crowd. Morgan's father, King Richard, gestured for him to speak. "I would like to think that I would recognize my only son and heir."
Morgan sprung up from where he was seated and stalked over to where his knight, who was apparently the heir to the kingdom his family was trying to start an alliance with, thus also making him his betrothed, stood. He grabbed the back piece of Alex's cuirass and pulled. Alex stumbled before allowing himself to be dragged from the room, despite the protesting grumbles of the nobles. The damned gossip vultures could find out after this situation was resolved. Look at that, his thoughts were even starting to sound like him.
They made their way out of the courtroom and many of Morgan's paces down the hallway before Alex spoke up. "As much fun as I'm having with this light manhandling, can I walk on my own now?"
Morgan released him and spun around to face Alex. There was a smirk on his face, like the cat that got the cream, and it was not fair. He did not get to look that good while Morgan was mad at him. He reached out to grab the other’s arm.
"A fucking prince?" Morgan whispered harshly, tightening his grip on his arm.
Alex raised one of his eyebrows. And leaned toward Morgan, speaking in his voice that he saved for when he thought that Morgan was being a particularly stubborn idiot. “I think that that fact has been quite established by now.”
Morgan spluttered. “But-but you accepted a knighthood, to serve and protect me .”
He rolled his eyes and straightened back up. "I am aware of that, seeing how I was there."
None of this was making sense in Morgan's head. Alex had a life that was good, and he left all that. And for what's "Why would you do that?"
Alex let out a sigh. "Listen, do you remember how we met? I know it's been a few years, but-"
"Yes, of course I remember," Morgan interjected. "How could I forget? You arrived at the castle, found me, and challenged me to a duel where you declared that the loser would…" his voice trailed off, remembering the stakes that had been raised.
"The loser must serve the other until both parties are satisfied," Alex had declared. At the time, Morgan had thought that it was foolish for this noble to challenge him with such stakes.
He felt his eyes widen in shock, with just a little bit of horror. "Oh god, I made you serve me for a week!"
Alex snapped his fingers in Morgan’s direction. “Hey! No one, not even you, can make me do anything that I don't want to. I chose those stakes because it was what would help us get to know each other.”
Bewildering. If Morgan had to choose one word to describe this evening, that would be the word. “Why would you want that?”
Alex’s shoulders slumped as if someone had just dropped a bag of stones on his shoulders. “Morgan, our families have been planning a marriage for years before we even thought about it. I did this because I wanted to get to know you without all of the expectations and fronts. No chaperones. No hiding behind how you think you'd need to act. A chance to get to know you .”
“So, you what? Ran away from your duties?”
“Of course not.” He waved a hand dismissively, “I told my father I would be back in a few years, but that I’d send letters. And I did. He just didn’t know where I was.”
Morgan took a moment to think about the situation. He knew his father would be livid if he just disappeared one day, only sending letters occasionally. However, from the little interactions he had witnessed between this duo, it seemed as though the King respected Alex’s decision. “So when he outed you today, as his son,”
Alex grimaced. "I knew that delegates would be arriving today, but I didn’t think that he would bother visiting. He probably thought that I had told you if I'm being honest.”
Morgan crossed his arms. Even if the other was also a prince, his betrothed, they were in his kingdom, his land. He let out a deep sigh. "Were you ever going to tell me?"
Alex winced, "Well, I was hoping you would never find out."
Morgan rolled his eyes. While Alex was one of the strongest fighters, he was very much an ‘in the moment’ strategizer. “We are literally betrothed. I would eventually have to meet you. What was your plan for then?”
He looked up with a completely straight face and deadpanned, “Fake my death.”
The absurdity of the situation caught up to him. He burst out laughing and shoved Alex’s arm. “Ugh, you're such an idiot.”
“I didn’t think that far, okay,” Alex whined.
“That’s why I’m the far better strategist.”
“Look, my plan wasn’t to stay and be your knight, but I enjoyed being around you and the opportunity presented itself.”
Morgan felt the heat rush to his ears and he turned his head away. He was pretty sure that if he could see them, they would be glowing bright red. It had been a desperate attempt to keep the visiting noble to stay with him. He cleared his throat. “You stayed because I asked you to be my knight?”
“Well, yeah. And a good thing too, because do you know how many assassination attempts that have happened since I got knighted? Too many. No way I’m leaving.”
His head jerked back to look at Alex. “You’re staying? Even now that everyone knows? You do realize they’re going to expect us to act differently? To actually act like we’re betrothed.”
Alex just shrugged, an indifferent look on his face. “I mean, both of our kingdoms would benefit from our betrothal, so I would always go through with it. And you are the only viable option for it.”
The heat from his ears crept over to his cheeks and down his neck. “Alex!”
“Am I wrong? I would never be able to marry your sister. I've seen how Diego looks at Sir Dodgers, and vice versa. No way I'm getting between that. And besides, his biceps are the size of my head!” Morgan laughed and Alex got a pleased look on his face. He leaned in closer to Morgan“Again, no way I'm getting in the middle of their love fest. Just between you and me, I have my money on them courting by the end of the year. And don’t get me started on Chad.”
Alex dramatically raised his index finger in the air. There were many reasons why Morgan himself would never choose to date someone who was similar to Chad, but he was very interested in what Alex’s reasoning was. “Chad?”
“Never in a million years could you pay me to marry him. Could you imagine? He calls himself the Chadster.” Alex shivered dramatically.
Morgan’s cheeks hurt from how much he had been smiling. “So you’re admitting that I was the best choice?”
Alex paused his dramatics and grabbed onto Morgan’s shoulder, making eye contact with him. Morgan inhaled sharply. “You know what? Even if we weren’t betrothed by our parents, I think I might’ve chosen you.”
Morgan’s mind blanked. Alex had been someone who was off-limits. Feelings that had arisen for him had been thrown out as soon as he registered them. He hadn’t allowed himself to dream about a future together. But now, now things were different. Now, there was a very real future that they were needing to start building. He reached up and grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder and lowered their hands. He looked down at where their hands were connected
“Do you want to maybe go for a walk sometime through the gardens? With me?”
He held his breath in anticipation as Alex’s eye scanned over his face with an unreadable expression. They stayed like that for a moment, Alex still searching and contemplating, before he opened his mouth to respond. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel pressured into this. We can just get married for the alliance and stay as just friends. I don’t want you to get into this if you don’t want to, I just want to be in your life.”
Morgan released the breath he was holding. It was just Alex being a dumbass again. “You know how you said no one could make you do anything?” With Alex’s hesitant nod he continued.“If I didn’t want to try a relationship, I wouldn’t have suggested that. Now, do you want to go on a date with me or not?”
Alex grinned, and Morgan finally acknowledged the fluttering sensation in his stomach for what it was. “Would Tuesday work for you?”