Butterfly Prince

by Britannica Tany

  “The Prince…”

  “Yes.” Francis nods looking towards his brother. “Him—he hurt Jenna, he destroyed the happiness she had built up for all those years.”

  “But Francis, if Jenna wanted she could have done that herself.”

  “Hah!” he laughs, his eyebrows furrowing. “She’s probably forgotten and moved on like any sane human.” Janus blinks catching that his brother had just called himself insane. “Francis.” There’s a single knock on the door and a nurse peeps her head inside. “Someone’s here to see you.” Jenna steps into the room, her hair up in a messy bun and a grocery bag in her hand. “I bought some snacks.” She smiles.

  As they were eating(more like watching Francis eat) Janus discussed what would happen to his job at the castle. “I’ll probably be replaced.”

  “By who?” Jenna questions. “Micah looks to be the likely candidate.” She nods, nibbling on the room temperature cupcake. “Aiden…” Janus begins to say, but stops upon noticing that Francis had stopped eating. Jenna and Janus look to one another, but instead of dropping his name, Janus decides to pouch further. “Aiden came to see you.”

  “Really…”

  “Yes, he still cares about you.”

  “So what?”

  “Well, he never stopped caring about the both of you.” Jenna rolls her eyes knowing where this was going. “You do realize that he’s human, right? He’s not a dummy that you can change to your liking.”

  “Yes, we know Janus.” Jenna deadpans. “Then give him a chance.”

  “A chance to what?” she snaps, but Janus remains calm. “Before you started dating you were friends, that’s all he wants, to be friends with you all again.”

  “Hah, we were never friends.” Francis scoffs, grimacing slightly when his leg began to ache. “Francis, you were mad at Aiden for hurting Jenna, but you sought revenge on Kael.”

  “…yeah…”

  “Because you didn’t want to hurt Aiden, you were only disappointed in him.”

  “….”

  “Why are we even talking about him?” Jenna snaps. “Because he wants to see Francis.” Janus answers Jenna’s question and she fiddles with a loose strand of her hair. “And the Prince…” they both glare at him, but Janus ignores their glares. “Do you think it was his intention to hurt you?” they say nothing. “This was his first year into the real world, he came into it with a pure heart, and he didn’t want to hurt anybody.”

  “But…”

  “He didn’t plan on stealing Aiden away from you. No—he didn’t even steal him—if you want to blame someone blame the society we were placed in.” Francis blinks a look of confusion crossing his features. “A society that condemns feelings towards the same sex, a society that makes us blame someone else for our own problems.” Jenna flinches, her eyes drawing away from Janus’s. “So stop this.” He was scolding Jenna more than anyone, Francis had already suffered enough and had learned part of his lesson the hard way. The room drifts into silence with the then and again sound of Francis chewing his food. “Why blame him anyways?” Janus asks curiously. He wondered too why everyone had blamed Kael. Even Aiden had blamed him for his sister’s death, when later on he realized that he was unconsciously blaming himself. “Why the Prince? Why Kael?” Francis stops chewing and Jenna looks towards Janus again. “I…” she begins to say. “I was being foolish.” She chews on her pink lips. “I saw Aiden falling in love with him and I wanted to blame Kael instead of Aiden, I didn’t want to believe that he had developed feelings for another man.” Janus nods and then turns his attention on Francis. “What do you have to say?”

  “I told you—I fucked up.” Janus blinks and then laughs despite the situation. They all start laughing, their eyes pricking with joyful tears and their breaths coming out short and ragged, but stop just as suddenly as they had begun because Francis started screaming. It was a blood curdling scream and his body began to spasm. Janus’s eyes widen in shock and Jenna chokes on her words. “G-get the nurse.” He tells her and she nods, rushing out of the door. Janus holds Francis down by his arms. His legs kept jerking on the bed, kicking every which way and his face grimaced with pain, his eyes rolling back revealing the milky white of his pupils. “Francis, stop, please.” But Janus knew it was useless. He pleaded just so Francis could know that he had tried. The doctors come rushing into the room. “He’s having a tonic seizure.” They say and Janus looks to them with panicked eyes. “What? Why? He was fine!”

  “You’re going to have to leave the room.”

  “But, my brother, he—“

  “You have to leave. We’ll take care of him.” The doctor removes Janus’s hands from Francis’s arms and nudges him towards the door. Janus stumbles out of the door, his eyes latching onto Francis’s shaking figure. He looked like a rag doll caught in a lightning storm. Dancing to the flashes.

  ~*~

  The King looks to his son with squinted and amused eyes. As though there were an inside joke between them, but one that he only knew the punchline to. “Your butler, Janus,” the King begins to say. “Yes? What about him?” Kael kept his tone flat. “His brother is the one who caused such a ruckus the other day, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes…”

  “He tried to shoot my wife, your mother.”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “And so you know what I’ll have to do.” Kael nods slowly. “Janus will no longer be able to have access to the castle, meaning that he will no longer be able to look after you.”

  “I know, why are you telling me all that I’ve already concluded.” His voice was nearing the edge. “Well…in case you didn’t know.” Kael scoffs, rolling his eyes. “What is it that you really want to say? You bring me here to what? Harass me? Degrade me?” The King stops pacing the room to look his son square in the eye. Kael doesn’t break the contact, instead he leans forward, resting his elbows on the oak table. “I know what you did.” He says and the King’s eyebrows furrow. “I bet mom knows too. But you’ve warped her mind, haven’t you?” He glares right back at his father. “Manipulated her, hypnotized her, seduced her, just like…” he stops himself. Now wasn’t the time. “You’re a farce. You wear a mask and I guess that’s the only thing you passed down to me.” Kael rises to his feet, stepping up to his father and looking him down. “I bet you didn’t realize how fast the years went and how much I’ve grown.” He laughs to himself, it was a deep, all knowing laugh. “You should stop worrying about your secrets and go see how your wife is doing.” He looks to his father, shaking his head and brushing past him. He opens the door and steps out into the hallway. “Kael!” his father calls after him but he ignores his shouts wanting to check in on his mother. He strides down the hallway, keeping his gaze ahead of him, his fists clenched at his sides. If he was going to take over this castle, if he was to be King—he’d be the best King this country has ever seen. He wouldn’t just be the best, he’d be humble and strong and honest. He’d take off his mask and show them who he really was. He wouldn’t lie to his people or his children or his lover. They were all people he cared for, so the least he could do for them was be honest. Something his father never did.

  He reaches his mothers bedroom and knocks lightly on the door before pushing it open. “Vincent is that you?” she asks in a faint voice. “No, it’s me, Kael.”

  “Oh, my son.” He bows and she waves him over. He sits on the edge of the bed beside her and takes her hand. He swipes a strand of hair out of her eyes and smiles meekly. She looked as though she had aged ten years from the trauma of almost being shot at. “How are you feeling? He asks caressing the back of her hand. “Mm, it’s not like I was shot.” She laughs shakily. “Has father come to see you?”

  “Only when he thinks I’m sleeping.” A sweet smile graces her thin lips and then she sighs. “We’re getting old Kael.”

  “You’re only in your mid-forties.” She laughs some more. “Then I guess it’s because of who we are.”

  “Most likely.” They sink into a
comfortable silence before she begins to talk again about Kael’s memories when he was younger. But they were far different from how she described them. “You never came out of your room, I thought you were in love with the place. Maybe it was the new décor.” No I was trapped in there, you wouldn’t let me come out. “You were so independent.” That’s because you wouldn’t let me be dependent. He continues to listen to her version of his memories, growing tired as each word was spoken and eventually he fell asleep.

  ~*~

  “I’m home!” Aiden calls, closing the front door as he steps into his house. “Ah, Aiden.” His mother calls sweetly and he goes to embrace her. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been around much.” She pats his back. “Oh boy, my son, that’s quite alright.”

  “Where’s dad?”

  “He’s somewhere down there.” He steps back and looks into her eyes. “Have you been sleeping?”

  “Just a little.” He sighs. “Mom, you have to rest…”

  “How can I rest when my only child is out and about risking his life for someone else?” He smiles sadly at her, squeezing her shoulders. “What about dad? Is he still…” his eyes flick over to the bottles on the table and she shakes her head. “He’s getting better, we’ve been talking.”

  “That’s good…” he hugs her again before brushing past her and calling over his shoulder. “I’ll cook tonight.” He stops in front of Skye’s memorial. “You? Cooking? Waaah, your sister would die of laughter.” He grins. “I’ve gotten better.”

  “Well show us tonight.” He glances back at her and smiles. He looks towards the picture of his sister and smiles softly. “I miss you.”

  ~*~

  Kai walks the streets aimlessly, his feet scraping across the ground and his hair blowing in the wind. His phone kept ringing with calls and messages from Gene. He left messages asking where Kai was. How are you? Are you alright? Why won’t you pick up? But he didn’t plan on answering any of them. He just wanted to be alone. To suffer and to remain silent. He stops walking, facing the street and the cars that came rushing by. He watches them go and in the back of his mind there was a ticklish whisper telling him to step out into the street. “You don’t deserve to live.” He steps forward. “You should just die.” A car comes racing by and it blows wind into Kai’s face, he doesn’t blink. “You shot the man you loved and now he can’t dance.” He places his foot out into the street and looks down at his hand. “You shot him with that hand.”

  “I did.” Another car passes him but this time it goes by slower as though to see what was wrong. The driver even rolls down the window to yell out to him. “You’re too close to the street man!” But Kai pretends not to hear him, instead he takes another step forward, both his feet planted in the street. The cars begin to honk at him, but the voice in his head was louder. “You shot him and now he can’t dance. You shot him and now he can’t dance. You shot him and now he can’t danc—”

  “KAI!” he snaps out of his daze, his arm being yanked back and his body pulled out of the street as another car came blazing by. Gene holds tightly onto him, his heart racing, his breath coming out raspy and uneven. “What the hell were you thinking?!” he shouts, shaking Kai and slapping him across the face to knock some sense into him. “Get it together!” He looks to Gene, his lips parting but no words come out. Seeing that he couldn’t speak for whatever reason, Gene takes his hand in his and they begin to walk down the sidewalk. But Kai kept glancing back wondering what would have happened in the future if he was hit.

  White Knight

  “Toss that over here.” Kael calls to Aiden who was busy digging out the weeds in the dirt. “Huh, this?” he points to a gardening shovel lying beside him and Kael nods. He picks it up tossing it to Kael with a smile. “We’re going to have to shower big time after this.” He comments. “Yeah, but it’ll be worth it.” Kael replies. It was early morning and they had finally decided to completely finish the greenhouse before winter was to start. “The shower or the greenhouse? Because you know each time shower we end up—“ Kael kicks dirt over at Aiden to shut him up. “Just use those muscles of yours to pull out the weeds.” He says with a roll of his eyes and Aiden glares, swiping off the dirt on his t-shirt. Kael goes back to sorting out the pots and the seedlings and eyeing the greenhouse and their progress. Thus far they had gotten rid of all the dying and decaying plants and shattered pots. They had also gone out to buy new gardening equipment and glass cleaner. Aiden had suggested that instead of spraying the glass and wiping it with a towel why not buy a big mop and wipe it like that? Kael thought the suggestion was cute but it would backfire in the long run. “She never once hinted about this place…” Aiden says softly and Kael glances over at him. “She was keeping it as a surprise.”

  “Yeah…” Kael places the pot in his hand down, directing his full attention towards Aiden. “Have you been thinking about her again?”

  “When do I not think about her?” Aiden questions, his gaze dropping onto Kael sadly. Kael smiles gently. “It only makes sense…you’re her sister.”

  “But what if…what if something happened to you?” Kael blinks his eyes widening. “Me?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Why Me?” Aiden shrugs. “I don’t know…you forget that you’re a Prince Kael.”

  “No I don’t.”

  “Yes,” He rises up to his feet. “You do.” Kael stares at him trying to understand what he was getting at. “You go about acting as though you don’t have a hitman mark on you. As though you’re not royalty when you are and what worries me…” he looks to the ground briefly before looking back up at Kael. “Is that your parents will want to whisk you away to someplace else. Whether it’s to marry a princess or for safety precautions.” Aiden sighs and Kael shakes his head, placing a loving hand to Aiden’s arm. “Have you been thinking about this the entire time?” he asks. “Somewhat…” Kael smiles, shoving a pack of sunflower seeds into Aiden’s chest. “Well, stop it. I being royalty is something that you can’t change, that I can’t change no matter how hard I believe I can.” Aiden clutches the pack in his hands. “I’m slowly coming to embrace it because I want to be a better King than my father.”

  “Hah, I can see it, you’d look really good in that robe.”

  “Thank you.” Kael bows. “But you can’t go about doing this.”

  “Doing what?” Kael asks, tilting his head and Aiden takes his hand in his. Bringing the back of Kael’s hand up to his lips and kissing it. He keeps his eyes on Kael’s face, smiling when he saw that the younger was blushing. “That.”

  “But…that’s a custom.”

  “Trash it, people will fall for you too easily.” Aiden places Kael’s hand back by his side. Aiden turns his back to Kael, bending down and continuing his work. With a soft chuckle Kael calls, “Is that what happened to you? Did you fall for me after that?” Aiden pulls out a weed, the muscles in his arms flexing and sweat collecting above his brow. “No…”

  “Really? I always wondered though when it was you started liking me.” Aiden tosses the weed aside, heading for another. “Maybe it was on the first day when you introduced yourself or the time you had a panic attack and called me in the middle of night. Maybe it was when we went to the gas station together and ate that icecream.” Aiden smiles towards the ground. “I think, the day I showed you around the campus and you left in your car I thought “wow, he’s really grand.”” He glances back at Kael and says sweetly. “That was my straight way of calling you beautiful.” He smiles sheepishly before turning away. Kael stares at Aiden, dumbfounded and completely in love. With an unbelieving laugh he throws a pair of gloves at Aiden’s back. “Use those,” Aiden turns to look at the new pair. “You have a few cuts on your hands.”

  “Oh, thanks.” Aiden flashes Kael a quick smile before returning to his work. Kael stares at his back watching the way his shoulder blades moved with each tug and flex. “You know,” Aiden begins. “What?”

  “When did you start liking me?” Kael grins, packing
dirt into a medium sized pot. “Well, I never had the chance to explore my sexuality and I never dated.”

  “Right.”

  “So when I saw you and Jenna, my eyes went to you first. I looked at you as though I found you attractive, which I did.”

  “Oh really? What caught your attention first?” Aiden asks smugly and Kael rolls his eyes. “You’ll have to figure that out on your own.”

  “On my own? How am I supposed—”

  “Just listen.” Kael shushes him and continues on to say. “I always liked you, because I didn’t know it was wrong to like you, so I let my feelings grow and grow and so…here we are.” He gestures around the greenhouse as though to include Skye in his revelation. Aiden smiles bouncing to his feet and spinning towards Kael. “Let’s go out and get something to drink, I’m pretty thirsty.” Kael raises a brow at him, swept away by his sudden excitement. “Okay, sure.”

  “Maybe we could get an ice-cream pop on the way.”

  “What’s with you?” Kael asks, walking towards the door, Aiden shrugs, placing the remaining weeds in a bag and gliding over to Kael. “It made me happy to hear why you like me.” Aiden slaps Kael’s butt causing the younger to jolt, his eyes widening. “Let’s go!”