His steps echoes loudly throughout the entry-way of the castle. “Oh my god, he’s coming.”
“I wonder if he’s all that people say he’s cracked up to be.” The university students whisper. Aiden’s heart was beating, each step was agonizingly slow. He’d finally see the person whom his sister had come to care for. The person he now loathed. Aiden’s gaze rakes up the Prince’s body; over his sleek pants and narrow waist, past the suit tie and the curve of his chin. Up and up to his face. “I’ve come.” The Prince announces, his voice bouncing off the walls sadly, his gaze lands on Aiden and his expression reads: “I’m sorry.”
Who Are You?
Kael reaches the end of the stairs and bows to the reporters and journalists before lifting his head and walking towards the bodyguards. One by one he shakes their hands and looks into their eyes as he does so. “I’m grateful for your service.” He says to each and every one of them. He reaches Micah and smiles. “Thank you.” Still holding his hand, he bows. Micah blinks with wide eyes, his words come out in sputters. “N-no need.” Kael raises his head and smiles a while longer before releasing his hand. He turns and he hesitates before stepping in front of Aiden. He takes in a deep breath and forces his smile to stay upon his lips. “Thank you for you—” Aiden knocks Kael’s hand away. “Your majesty!” Janus exclaims, Kael raises a hand telling him to leave them alone. “You piece of shit.” Aiden grits. “You lying piece of shit!” Aiden grips the front of Kael’s shirt and pushes him against the wall. The King shouts for Janus to stop him, but Kael tells them all to shut-up. “Just let him be.” He murmurs as Aiden shoves him harder into the wall. “Were you playing me this entire time? Luring me into your castle so you could kill me like you killed my sister!” Kael shakes his head. “No, I wasn’t trying to do that to you, Aiden.”
“Really now.” Aiden sneers, his eyes gleaming, the veins in his hands pulsing as he clutched Kael’s shirt. “I didn’t know who you were either.”
“HAH! I highly doubt that, you’re the Prince, you should know everything isn’t that right?” Kael grips Aiden’s wrist. “Listen to me.”
“You’re the Prince, Kael, you!” Kael claws Aiden’s hands off of him and shoves him back. “Listen Aiden.”
“I hate the Prince and I like you and now…what am I supposed to do now, Kael!?” Kael steps towards him, extending a hand out to Aiden. “What am I supposed to do?” The King looks between them with a menacing grin, Janus glances at the king and shakes his head with a bitter glare. Aiden loosens his neck tie and takes a deep breath. “Why you of all people?!”
“It’s not like I asked for this either!” Kael shouts back, slamming a hand to his chest. “I didn’t know…I only got my memory back a month or so ago.” Confusion settles on Aiden’s face. “Your…your memory?” The King looks between them and decides to interrupt things there. “It looks like you two have quite the history together, hmm.” He glances at his wife and she does as she always does—laughs. “Ahaha, our Kael has been sneaking off to see this young man, ahaha!” Kael buries his face in his hands and retreats to the kitchen. “My apologies for his misbehavior.” Janus bows his head, ordering Aiden to do the same. “I’m sorry, your majesty.”
“None taken, it’s quite alright. It seems that my son has remembered somethings from his past.” Janus lifts his head and squints at the King as he walks away, his red robe dragging along the carpet behind him like blood. The second the King steps outside, Aiden snaps at Janus. “Kael was the fucking Prince and you didn’t think to tell me that!?” Janus remains calm. “How could I tell you when you had already grown so close to him?”
“Oh I don’t know, you could have pulled me aside and said: AIDEN YOU’RE FALLING FOR THE SAME MAN YOU HATE!” Aiden was hissing now, his teeth clamped together. “You wouldn’t listen to me!” Janus finally snaps. “I couldn’t straight up tell you the Prince’s identity, my job would have been on the line. So instead, I warned you, over and over.” Janus jabs a finger at Aiden’s face. “I warned you countless times.” Aiden shoves his bangs out of his eyes and turns away. He begins to pace up and down. Whenever Skye talked about the Prince, she was talking about Kael and those little remarks Kael made about being isolated or growing up in a castle—they weren’t remarks, they were the truth.
“Oh my god…” he exhales, his heart breaking into pieces and then it hits him again and his eyes sting. “Ow…ow…” He huffs, Janus places a hand to his back, but Aiden knocks him away. “I need…a moment—give me a minute.” He stumbles out the front doors, pushing the King out of the way and hurrying down the steps. He felt like throwing up and clawing out his heart. He raises his head and shouts. “Damn it!” He screams, ripping off his tie and running across the yard. He screams despite the judging eyes of the students and the servants, he screams and screams because his heart was breaking. “Jesus, it hurts…” He grips his chest and squeezes until his nails are cutting into his skin. A yellow glow shone down on him from the eye of the moon, it watched him, tilted down as though it were pitying him. The wind whistles past his ear and he follows after its blow, his feet stepping out in front of him unsure as to where he’s going, but following the voice in the wind.
“Listen.” It whispered, so Aiden listened, his heart slowly calming down. Each beat came in a slow tandem. The wind spoke in broken phrases, not a clear sentence coming from its translucent lips. The gate to the garden was swinging open in the wind, each creak piercing Aiden’s ears. Slowly he walks towards the ajar gate and pushes it open to peer inside. His eyes are met with an array of colors—reds, yellows, greens, oranges, and a purple that almost seemed black. He walks inside and the gate slams shut behind him. He jumps and looks around. “Aiden..” The wind whispers again, Aiden spins around, his deep eyes searching frantically. “Kael!?” He calls and the wind brushes against his arm in a caring caress. “Trust me.” He stumbles back, hitting a wall. He places a hand to his chest and takes a deep breath. He closes his eyes and wishes for it all to go away. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, so complicated and intertwined. He was just supposed to show Kael around the campus and start a friendship with him, not a friendship that would lead to such feelings. The wind blows and with it Aiden catches the sweet scent of the flowers, he opens his eyes and looks around.
The garden was quite big with Greek designed columns and rows and rows full of flower beds; Aiden looks down and realizes that he was standing on white stone—kind of like marble. A pinkish-purple flower drifts onto his black shoe, he stares at it for a moment before bending down to pick it up. He holds it between his thumb and forefinger. It was like a grapevine, little flowers budding up and down its 3-inch length in a vibrant pink color. “It’s called a ‘buddleia’, that’s the scientific name anyways.” Aiden’s tempted to ask what its original name is but stops when he realizes who’s speaking. “I’m sorry, Aiden.” He looks up at Kael, but says nothing. Kael bends down and peers at him, he reaches out and takes the flower from him, Aiden allows him to do so, but before Kael took it, he held onto the flower in the subtlest of ways. Kael twirls the flower between his fingers by its stem and he sighs.
“It had to turn out like this, hmm?” He asks rhetorically pinching off the buds one by one. Aiden still says nothing, expecting for Kael to come up with several elaborate excuses, but instead Kael says nothing and they let the wind speak for the both of them. “It’s alright.” It bristled; Kael tosses the flower aside and rises to his feet. “It’s cold outside.” He offers his hand to Aiden, but instead of taking it, Aiden knocks it away. “I don’t want to see you.” He states. Kael’s fingers fold together one by one and the corner of his lips twitch. “I’ll be on my way…” Kael turns away, but Aiden calls out. “It’s because I don’t know you.” Kael halts. “This version of you…you’re a complete stranger...” He adds in a bitter manner. “Your majesty.” Kael swallows, turning on his heel and facing Aiden once again.
“I’d like it if you killed me.” He says in a hushed tone. “I know you
have a gun, shoot me.” Aiden’s eyes widen. Kael rushes over to him and pulls him up by his arm. With practiced ease, he slips the gun out of Aiden’s holster and holds it open in his palm between them. “Do it. You can end it all right now.” Aiden’s eyes flit from Kael’s face to the gun in his hand and then back up to his face. Every contour of Kael’s face twitched with the need, ‘do it’ his eyes screamed. Aiden goes to take a step back, but Kael holds onto him. “Aiden.” He pleads, unlatching the safety and pointing the gun at his chest. Aiden gasps, Kael’s eyebrows furrow. “Come on, kill the man you hate.” He says bitingly, Aiden stares at him and shakes his head. Kael thrusts the gun out towards him. The opportunity to kill the Prince was right in his face, staring him down with a desperate expression. Aiden wondered why Kael was so quick to give his life if he wasn’t the one behind his sister’s death. His shocked expression twists into a glare. “I more than hate you, your majesty.”
“I know.”
“I want to strangle you.” Kael bows his head. “I want to suffocate you in the same way my sister did in those flames.” The crown glimmered atop Kael’s head, Aiden’s glare intensifies and he steps closer to Kael until the back of the gun was pressing against the top of his chest. “Why?” He asks and before Kael can answer Aiden asks again. “Why?” This time his voice was more pained. He knocks the gun out of Kael’s hand and it slides away across the white stone. He grips the front of Kael’s shirt and pulls him forward, his crown topples to the ground. Aiden stares at if for a split second before returning his gaze to Kael. “You were playing me.”
“I wasn’t…”
“It feels that way Kae—” Aiden’s teeth clamp together, he realizes the way in which he’s holding the ‘Prince’ and takes a step back, bowing deeply.
“Don’t do that.” Kael says sadly, Aiden keeps his head down. “Please, don’t do that.” He murmurs and after a while Kael says, “Lift your head.” Aiden does as he’s told and looks at Kael with a hardened gaze. “I’ll ask my father to see if he can give you another position.”
“I don’t want your pity.”
“It’s not pity, Aiden, it’s just…they appointed you to be my personal bodyguard.” Aiden’s eyes widen. “S-seriously.” Kael nods, turning away from him and stepping towards the bed of lilies. “The way things are put together, it doesn’t feel right.” Kael’s voice echoes with the wind. Aiden watches as Kael walks up and down the garden, his hands running along every flower, his robe billowing out from behind him and from where Aiden stood—the moon glowing against Kael’s face—his side profile was simply beautiful, he was beautiful. Aiden takes a deep breath and hurries towards the gate, but the wind blows again. “Stay.” He shivers and turns to look back, Kael was still staring up at the sky and although he wore no crown, he seemed so majestic just standing there. Aiden found himself staring and his heart gave a lurch when Kael suddenly turned to look at him. Their eyes met and Kael smiled.
“You don’t have to stay.” He murmurs. I want to. Aiden’s left foot is turned towards Kael, while his right is directed towards the gate.
“Give me a reason not to kill you.” He asks and Kael shrugs, walking over to his discarded crown and picking it up. He grips the crown in his hand and looks towards Aiden, with a sympathetic tilt of his head, he says. “I have no reason…I’ve even blamed myself for Skye-sister’s death.”
“Sister!? Don’t call her that!” Aiden charges towards Kael. “You have no right!” He spat, Kael’s eyebrows crease downward and his eyes glistened. Aiden suddenly felt sorry for yelling at him, seeing him with such an expression…Aiden takes a step back and shakes his head. “No…I’m not doing this, I can’t.” He turns away and breaks out into a run. Kael stands, holding his crown in his hand and watching as Aiden ran away.
Janus and Micah were talking idly in the hallway as the King and Queen spoke with a few reporters. “What the hell was that about?” Micah asks, referring to Aiden’s reaction towards the Prince. “I was expecting him to be pissed, but that,” Micah shakes his head. “That was hurt—betrayal almost.” Janus folds his hands together and looks to Micah from the corner of his eyes. “I...when I mentioned how Aiden would react if the Prince turned out to be someone close to him…I was referring to Kael.” Micah’s frog-eyes bug-out. “You serious!?” Janus nods. “Well, shit.” Micah shoves a hand through his hair and confesses to Janus what Aiden had told him. “Aiden, he’s crushing on Kael—the Prince.” Janus nods. “I figured…”
“You didn’t try to stop it?” Micah questions causing Janus to clench his teeth together. He was tired of hearing that question. “It’s not like I didn’t try.”
“Then why is Aiden still here?” Janus turns away from Micah’s deep inquiring eyes and looks off into the distance. “There’s just somethings you can’t prevent no matter how hard you may try.”
“So now you’re preaching like some old man.” Micah jibes, Janus’s too exhausted to reply. Kai peers down the row of bodyguards at them and a question forms on his face. “I know the Prince isn’t that well liked because of his father,” Caleb begins to speak. “But was such a reaction necessary?” Kai turns to Caleb and shrugs. Gene was looking up at him with a rather blank expression, his full lips pursed as though he had something to say. After a moment he takes the mid of Kai’s arm and pulls him down. “What is it?”
“You know what happened between Aiden and the Prince?” Kai shakes his head. “I’ve only heard tid-bits here and there, something about a fire.” Gene nods. “That’s all it was…a fire.” Kai tilts his head at the ominous tone Gene had suddenly gained in his voice. “There wasn’t something more?” Gene thinks for a moment and then says. “In my honest opinion, Aiden is pitiable.” Kai’s eyes widen. “Wh-why?”
“Blaming the Prince who was only ten at the time, for his sister’s death. It’s unreasonable, senseless and foolish.”
“Woah…” Kai exhales at the harsh change in Gene’s voice. “Do you…have a grudge against Aiden or something?” Gene blinks. “No, he’s a really nice guy, just…too sensitive.”
“Aaah.” Kai nods as though he understood, but for some reason he thought of Francis. “I know a guy who won’t admit it, but he’s pretty sensitive himself…” Gene cocks a brow and Kai smiles to himself. “Does he train with us?” Kai shakes his head. “He works at a lousy gas station.” Gene’s eyes light up with recollection. He snaps his fingers. “Francis!”
“Yeah or little shit.” They both laugh attracting the attention of Janus and Micah. They shut up, regaining their erect posture and straight faces.
When night came Aiden lay awake in his bed. He places his hands behind his head and stares up at the ceiling. The plaster was beginning to peel away and crinkle onto the carpet. His bookshelf was lined with Skye’s books; some were opened, some closed having never been looked through in the first place. Aiden turns on his side and stares at the wall. The night had ended rather solemnly. Aiden saw Kael one last time as he was standing at the top of the staircase and smiling a tight lipped smile. His mother was holding onto his arm and his father holding onto his wife. Aiden thought they looked picture perfect, the type of family you’d only read about in children’s books. A family that had no problems, was almost perfect except for the arguments they had here and there. And Kael, smack dab in the middle of it, was charming and as captivating as he’s always been. Aiden couldn’t tear his gaze away, he hated him and yet he was intrigued by him.
He wanted to know what Kael meant by his memory returning, how long he blamed himself and why he never told Aiden. Kael….as a Prince…the thought stirred in Aiden emotions he’s never felt before. A yearning to uncover the real Kael, a desire to protect him and make him feel all sorts of wonderful things. And yet there was the need to shoot him in the heart and watch him burn, to break him into tiny little pieces, put him back together to only break him again. He stares down at his hand, opening and closing his palm, looking at the lines that made up his hand and then sighing. “I wanted to
touch his hand at least once…” He murmurs, his voice blending with the cold rain that fell that night.
The rain did not just fall, it slammed against his window and streaked down the glass. It made Kael’s reflection appear marred and twisted. The rain fell like bullets, each one booming louder than the first. The thunder would rumble lowly and the lightning would flash, shining down into his empty room. Kael was quite used to thunderstorms and getting through them alone, he did not fear them, but the feelings they brought with them. When the rain hit against his window his heart would lurch and with the lightning, flashed an old memory. He sat huddled in a corner of his room, his body shaking, and fingers cold. He wore nothing but a fleece pair of black pajamas and a night cap in which he tucked his hair. He felt the surge of a panic attack, but willed himself to gather enough courage and push through it. But each time the thunder roared, he would squeeze his eyes shut and a memory would reoccur, either from today or in the past. “You lying piece of shit!” Aiden’s voice—Kael could hear the infliction of hurt when he said those words—Kael hated himself in that moment. He wanted to explain to him what had happened, but how could he when he himself didn’t even have a clear idea. I’ll ask father or mother, maybe even Janus knows more than I do. The rain picks up, coming down in sheets. Kael rises to his feet and although he was trembling, he trudges over to the window. He rests his head against the glass, it was cool against his cheek. His breath fogs up the window.
Butterfly Prince Page 23
