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“Mother, Father,” Henry said, nodding stiffly as his parents sat down across from him. “Thank you for meeting with me.”
After finding Alex in the clearing and convincing him to return to the castle, Henry had immediately requested a meeting with his parents to discuss the upcoming wedding. He knew that in order to achieve his final goal of canceling the wedding entirely, he would have to get approval from the queen, but he also knew that it would be much easier to get his parents on his side. And maybe, just maybe, the three of them could convince his grandmother together.
“Of course, darling,” his mother said gently. “What did you want to discuss?”
“Well, you see,” Henry started carefully, “it’s about the wedding.”
His parents looked confused, which was understandable. The wedding was mere weeks away, and there was seemingly nothing he’d need to discuss with just the two of them.
If only they knew.
“It’s just that, well, I’m feeling a bit… hesitant,” Henry said. “I’ve always wanted to marry for love, so I wonder if perhaps this is moving a bit too fast? I haven’t even met this princess yet.” He couldn’t even be bothered to remember her name.
“Oh, she’s lovely, don’t you worry,” his mother replied quickly. “I know it may feel fast, and I understand your uncertainty about marrying someone you don’t know, but I am sure that you will grow to love each other and form a solid partnership, just as many royal couples have done before you.”
Henry vaguely thought to himself that even if Alex wasn’t in the picture, he could never fall in love with a woman, no matter how lovely she was or how much time they had. He didn’t voice that thought.
“I really don’t feel comfortable with it,” he tried again. “I don’t feel ready to get married.” That was a lie, he was ready to marry Alex at any moment, but his parents didn’t need to know that. “I would like the wedding to be called off, or at least indefinitely postponed.”
The disappointed looks on his parents’ faces told him everything he needed to know, but they voiced his worst fears anyway.
“I’m sorry, my dear, but we simply cannot do that,” his mother said. “The plans are too far along. Calling it off would put so much work to waste, and you don’t want that, do you?”
“And it would damage our kingdom’s reputation and create tensions if we broke the agreement,” his father added. “It just can’t be done. The wedding must continue as planned.”
Henry wondered if getting sick all over the altar would finally convince his family to postpone the wedding.
Unlikely, he decided. They would probably force him to say his vows, even covered in vomit.
The soft music suddenly swelled, and Henry looked up from his feet to see his bride enter the great hall. In the blur of all the last minute preparations, he hadn’t met her even after she arrived at the castle.
She was pretty, objectively, but Henry didn’t feel a thing. Everyone else looked like nothing next to Alex, and he wasn’t even there. Henry had quickly granted his request to have the wedding day off, already feeling guilty about not being able to cancel it. He wasn’t about to force the love of his life to watch him marry someone else.
Lost in thoughts of Alex, Henry realized abruptly that the princess whose name he still couldn’t remember had nearly reached him.
And suddenly the possibility of being sick was very, very real.
In a desperate panic, Henry bolted. The gasps of shock and murmurs of confusion were a faint buzz under the rushing of blood in his ears. He ran out of the hall and through the winding corridors, finally reaching the back doors that would lead to the stables. To freedom.
But before he could escape, a line of guards appeared and blocked the doors. Henry sensed more than he saw more guards surrounding him. Trapping him.
“Move,” Henry cried. “Now. That is an order from your prince.”
“We are under orders from the queen, Your Highness,” the nearest guard said. Henry recognized him as one of his grandmother’s inner circle. He felt like he was going to pass out.
“Henry.”
The voice came from behind him, but Henry didn’t need to see the source to know who it was. He had been expecting it, really. He knew he couldn’t run from her forever.
He turned to face the queen, head held high, towering over her with his full height to mask how small he always felt in her presence. She stormed up to him, face completely red.
“How dare you,” she seethed. “How dare you make a scene like that. I order you to return immediately and marry that princess.”
“I’m in love with someone else,” Henry blurted, physically unable to keep the secret any longer. The love he felt for Alex was always simmering under the surface, and now, under pressure, it was exploding.
The queen seemed to grow impossibly more enraged.
“Who is it? You must tell me at once!”
“I won’t,” Henry whispered. “I can’t.”
“Oh, but you will,” the queen snapped. “Is it another princess? Why didn’t you say something before the betrothal? We could have arranged–”
She cut herself off when Henry shook his head.
“Oh no, a common woman then? A servant?”
Again, Henry shook his head, the word woman ringing in his ears. Further confirmation that what he wanted was so far out of the realm of possibility that his grandmother wouldn’t even acknowledge it as an option. It was unspeakable.
“No? Then who?”
Mercifully, Henry’s mother appeared behind the queen, saving him from having to answer.
“Henry, will you be coming back, or can we dismiss everyone from the ceremony?”
“We will not dismiss them,” the queen said. “Henry will return.”
“No, I won’t,” Henry said, quietly but firmly. He might not be able to have everything he wanted, but he could have this. “I won’t go through with it. I won’t say my vows. I will stand there, silently, for as long as I have to. For as long as it takes for you to give this up.”
The queen glared at him.
“We can tell them that Henry is ill, and that the wedding will no longer occur today,” his mother said gently. “It will only be as big of a deal as you make it.”
A beat. Two. Then–
“Fine,” the queen said. Then she turned to Henry, fire burning in her eyes. “But this conversation is not over.”
Meet me at our spot just after sunset.
- H
When Henry was ordered to meet the queen just an hour before sunset, a sense of dread overtook him.
When he entered the room and saw his messenger, held by guards, next to his grandmother, he realized just how much worse the situation had gotten.
“Of all the ways you could have disgraced this family, I will admit that this is not one I was expecting,” the queen said, glancing down at the note in her hands before looking back up at him. She looked completely and utterly disgusted, sneering at him as if he were less than human. For the second time that day, Henry felt like he could be sick.
“This boy has informed me who this note was intended for,” she continued, nodding her head in the direction of the messenger, who, to his credit, looked miserable. “I assume that this knight is why you refused to marry the princess.”
She spit out the word knight like a disease. The unspeakable had been spoken.
Henry remained silent.
“Well, I am pleased to inform you that Sir Alexander, or, shall I say, just Alexander, has been banished. You will never be tempted by him again, and we are already in the process of patching up relations with our neighboring kingdom and arranging another wedding for you.”
To say Henry was horrified would be an understatement.
He noticed the signs of a panic attack creeping up on him: the short, rapid breathing, the tingling in his hands and feet, the racing heartbeat. And all he could do was run.
The queen’s screaming protests fell on deaf ears.
When Henry reached his room, he locked the door behind him and sank to the floor, vision swimming with tears. He tried to focus on the solid wood against his back and the plush carpet under his fingertips as he struggled to regain control over his breathing.
When he could finally hear his thoughts over the sound of his heartbeat, he evaluated his options.
He could accept his grandmother’s orders. He could let Alex go rebuild his life somewhere far from him, free to live as he wished, free from the gilded cage of the castle that Henry was trapped in. He could marry the princess as he was supposed to, let everyone believe that he really was simply ill during the first wedding, and everything would return to normal. He could live the life he was born for.
Or, he could defy his grandmother’s orders. He could go after Alex, find him before he got too far away. He could bring Alex back to the castle and force the queen to let them marry, and run away together if she refused. He could chase the love and happiness he never thought he’d get to have. He could live the life of his own creation.
The choice was easy.
Henry spent the remaining time he had before the sun went down disguising himself the best he could. Once the sky was dark, he slipped out of his room and into a secret passageway he had found as a child. One that took him directly to the stables.
The stables were deserted except for a single guard outside the main doors, slumped over, asleep. As Henry sneaked past, he sent him a silent apology for whatever punishment he would receive once the queen realized Henry had escaped right under his nose.
Inside, Henry noticed that Alex’s horse was still there, which meant Alex must have been forced to leave on foot. It worried Henry to think about Alex having to walk all the way to another kingdom, but it also gave him hope. Alex couldn’t have gotten far yet. Henry could still catch up.
As quietly as he could, Henry got his horse ready, mounted, and left through the back doors. Then, once he was out of direct view of any guards, he was off, racing to the spot he knew he had to check first.
The clearing was heartbreakingly empty when Henry arrived, but upon looking around, he realized that it hadn’t been empty for long. He noticed that the grass was pressed down in one area near the creek. He could imagine Alex sitting there less than an hour before.
But Alex wasn’t there anymore, so Henry had to keep going. He had to venture into unfamiliar territory.
Guiding his horse out of the clearing, Henry kept searching for other signs of Alex. Footprints, trampled brush, cracked twigs, anything to assure him that he was on the right track.
He didn’t know what he’d do if he couldn’t find Alex.
Henry had no idea how long he had been riding when he heard it.
Quiet sniffles coming from somewhere up ahead. A sound, a voice, he was all too familiar with.
Henry urged his horse forward with renewed hope blooming in his chest. Forward, forward, forward, until he saw him. Alex.
Alex was stumbling, head bent down, shoulders shaking as he cried. He was wearing the closest thing to a potato sack Henry had ever seen, a tunic that hung awkwardly off his frame and trousers that dragged on the ground, a sea of dull, rough fabric that swallowed him up. He tripped, fell to his knees. Soft cries became sobs.
It was the most heartbreaking and most beautiful scene Henry had ever witnessed.
He slid off his horse and ran the rest of the distance to Alex. He desperately wanted to collapse on top of him, to snatch him up and hold him close and never let go, but he resisted. He didn’t want to startle Alex, especially when he was in such a state. Instead, he walked around his trembling form and knelt down in front of him.
“Alex,” he whispered. “Can you hear me?”
Alex’s head snapped up at the first syllable out of Henry’s lips. He hastily wiped away his tears, eyes darting around frantically.
“Am I dreaming?”
“No, love.” Henry finally allowed himself to touch Alex, bringing his hand up to gently caress his cheek. “I’m here.”
A strangled sob escaped Alex’s throat as he threw himself at Henry, who caught him easily. They stayed there, crouched in the grass, for as long as it took Alex’s cries to subside. Henry held him the whole time, whispering sweet nothings into his ear, thanking every power in the universe for letting him have this.
Eventually, Alex pulled back to look Henry in the eyes, still holding on to him as if he could vanish at any moment.
“What happened?” Alex mumbled, voice hoarse from the crying. “One minute you’re getting married, the next the queen is telling me I’m banished?”
“I’m sorry, love,” Henry said. “She found out about you. I refused to marry the princess and told her I was in love with someone else.”
The way Alex’s eyes sparkled at his words gave Henry the strength to tell the whole story, recounting every detail of the disastrous night. He didn’t even try to fight back his own tears, just relished in the feeling of Alex’s hands brushing them away. When he finished, Alex kissed him, and all the pain melted away, if just for a moment.
“I can’t believe you literally ran from the altar,” Alex laughed when they broke apart. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”
Henry’s heart swelled. “You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad? This morning I woke up thinking the man I loved was going to marry someone else, and now you’re here with me, unmarried, after you stood up to everyone who tried to keep us apart.”
“But you lost your knighthood,” Henry said, swallowing hard. “You were banished because of me. I ruined your life.”
“Baby, you saved it,” Alex said softly but firmly. “I don’t want to keep serving that horrid woman anyway. And you came after me, so I’m kind of assuming that you’re either taking me back or coming with me?”
“That’s a correct assumption.” Henry couldn’t help but smile. Alex would always be able to make him smile. “I won’t return to the castle unless my family agrees to our demands.”
“And what are those demands, exactly?”
“My wedding to princess what’s-her-face being canceled once and for all. You being un-banished and your knighthood being reinstated, if you wish. And us being able to get married, of course.”
Alex’s smile grew with each item Henry listed. After the last one, grabbed Henry’s face and kissed him senseless.
When they had to break apart for air, Henry leaned his forehead against Alex’s and whispered, “I promised you I would protect you from the crown, and I intend to keep that promise.”
As they drifted off to sleep, curled up in each others’ arms on the forest floor, Henry thought to himself that it felt better than any royal bed.
“Prince Henry?”
The two light sleepers startled awake, still wrapped up in each other, bodies stiff but hearts full. When they opened their eyes, they were met with the sight of Sir Shaan and a group of knights standing over them.
Scrambling to his feet, Alex’s hand flew to the one dagger he had been able to smuggle out of the castle, purely on instinct. He relaxed when Henry stood up beside him and placed a gentle hand on the small of his back.
“Your Highness, it’s good to see you safe,” Sir Shaan said. Then he nodded at Alex with a fond smile. “You too, Alexander. There has been a kingdom-wide search for both of you.”
“I won’t return to the castle with you,” Henry said. “Not without Alex. And not without his safety being assured or my engagement ended.”
“I believe your sudden departure made the crown realize the seriousness of this matter, as they prepared an offer for you,” Sir Shaan replied calmly. “In exchange for your return, the currently planned wedding will be canceled, and Alexander will not be harmed.”
Henry mulled it over, growing more and more paranoid by the second. Yes, the offer technically included everything he asked for, but he could see the loopholes his family, or specifically his grandmother, could use against them. Just because this wedding was canceled didn’t mean he wouldn’t be forced to marry another woman later. Just because Alex wouldn’t be harmed didn’t mean he wouldn’t be banished again.
But then Alex leaned into him slightly and looked up at him. “I can hear you thinking over here,” he said lightly. “We should just go. I know it’s not everything we want, but it’s enough to allow us to negotiate for more.”
Henry sighed, still feeling conflicted. But if Alex felt safe returning, if he was brave enough to face the crown, then Henry would be brave for them too.
“Alright,” Henry said to Sir Shaan. “We will return to the castle. But I swear that I will leave with Alex again if the crown refuses to listen.”
As they approached the castle, Henry turned to Sir Shaan. “I would like to meet with my parents privately when we arrive. Please keep Alex safe and inside the castle until I am finished.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
When they rode up to the stables, Henry squeezed Alex’s hand once before he was whisked away by Sir Shaan. Henry took a deep breath before starting towards the castle.
He was quickly stopped by a jester.
“My prince! Oh, thank goodness you’re safe!” Pez cried, sarcastic but fond, throwing his arms around Henry. The knights flanking the prince allowed it, fully aware of the close friendship between the two.
“It’s good to see you too, Pez,” Henry said, returning the hug gratefully as an idea popped into his head. “Would you be willing to do me a favor?”
“Anything for you, Highness,” Pez said, bowing dramatically. “What’ll it be this time?”
“I need you to make sure the queen stays away from Alex and Sir Shaan.”
Pez grin grew impossibly wider. “You’ve come to the right man.”
When Henry stepped into the private meeting room, he was immediately met by hugs from both his parents. He didn’t return them.
“Henry, dear, we’re so glad to have you back,” his mother said, smiling despite her son brushing her off.
“I won’t stay unless I can marry Alex,” Henry said. He saw no reason for pleasantries.
His parents were clearly taken aback.
“I’m in love with him,” Henry continued, hiding his nerves behind a hard stare. “I will continue to refuse to marry anyone else.”
“Darling, I understand your plight, but there are other options,” his mother said. “I’m sure we can convince your grandmother to allow Alexander to stay in the kingdom, even reinstate his knighthood. And I know that eventually we’ll find a princess–”
“I am not, and never will be, interested in women,” Henry deadpanned.
In any other situation, his parents’ expressions would be quite comical. Now they just filled Henry with dread. He knew he needed to try a different approach.
“There would be many benefits of Alex joining the royal family. He has vast knowledge of our kingdom’s laws and military strategy. He has good rapport with all the castle servants, and his family is involved in many cities’ local politics, so he is well known and liked across the kingdom.”
“But we can’t forget about the issues of heirs,” his father cut in.
“But if you think about it, it really isn’t an issue, is it?” Henry was prepared for this question. He had been thinking about it since he first fell in love with Alex, back when even the thought of having this conversation was laughable. He still liked to dream about it. “After grandmother, you will ascend the throne. And after you, it will be Phillip, or if he can’t, Bea. I’m the spare to the spare, so any children I might have would be far down the line of succession. But if it truly matters so much, then we can adopt. It’s been done before by royal couples with fertility issues, so it’s certainly not unprecedented.”
Henry knew his history. He could probably find the exact books in the library that contained the evidence he needed. He knew he had his parents cornered, and he could see that they knew that, but most importantly, he could see that they didn’t want to fight him anymore.
His mother sighed and gave him a soft smile. “Let’s try to convince the queen, shall we?”
“Absolutely not.”
Henry didn’t even try to resist the urge to roll his eyes. The queen’s response was far from surprising, but still frustrating after he gave her an even more thorough list of reasons why Alex should be his husband than he gave his parents.
What did surprise him, though, was his parents stepping in.
“Mother, while I know that no one in our family history has married a person of the same sex, there are plenty of instances of royals marrying non-royals, or even non-nobles,” his mother said to the queen. “A knight is a fine suitor for a royal.”
“Also, many royals have had lovers of the same sex,” his father added, which shocked Henry. He knew that, of course he did, but he would’ve never guessed that his father would.
“Exactly,” his mother continued. “And if it’s image you’re worried about, Henry formally marrying a knight would look much better than either scenario.”
The queen was red in the face. Henry swore he could see her trembling. “But it would look horrible compared to marrying a princess like he’s supposed to!”
“I’ll abdicate,” Henry said simply. “I will leave with Alex again. We’ll elope in another kingdom and you will never see either of us again.”
“You will not,” the queen growled. “I forbid you.”
Henry looked into her cold eyes and smiled. “I’d like to see you try to stop me.”
The room fell silent, and Henry could see it in those eyes that he’d won.
Sir Shaan,
Thank you for looking after Alex. Everything has been sorted out. Please tell him to meet me. He’ll know where.
-Prince Henry
Henry was pacing in the clearing. Not with nerves, but with excitement. Anticipation.
His horse whinnied from where it was tied up nearby. Henry stopped and turned to see Alex, his Alex, approaching on horseback, looking every inch the knight he was.
Alex didn’t bother tying up his horse as he slid from the saddle and sprinted towards Henry, who caught him and held him close.
“We did it, love,” Henry whispered into Alex’s curls.
Alex turned his head up and pressed a soft kiss against Henry’s lips. “I love you. I’m so in love with you, Henry.”
Reaching into his pocket, Henry pulled out a ring and started to kneel. But before he could even open his mouth to ask, Alex was grabbing his face and dragging him up and kissing him hard and murmuring yes, yes, yes against his lips.
As he pulled back just long enough to slide the ring on Alex’s finger, Henry felt dizzy with the realization that nothing could keep them apart anymore. That they were forever.