The Crown Affair - 3. Chapter 3 - The Prince Comes Home

The fifth day, of the eleventh lumin (Kask-Lumin), of cycle 2025 of the modern calendar:

As Joshua and Mildrea entered the royal palace, the guards around them bowed to the prince. One of the men at arms escorted the prince and the queen’s sister, not to the throne room as Mildrea had expected, but instead he took them to the king and queen’s private chamber. The man at arms knocked loudly on a large wooden door.

“Enter,” said a deep male voice from within.

The man at arms opened the door. “Good afternoon, Your Majesty. Presenting, His Royal Highness Prince Joshua of Salania, and the lady Mildrea.”

King Kenneth rose from the chair he was sitting in, and had barely dismissed the man at arms when Joshua quite literally ran into him, and with tears freely flowing, threw his arms around his father. Kenneth had the same blond hair and blue eyes as his son, but he towered over Josh, being eleven inches taller. Kenneth mused over the fact that Josh appeared to have inherited his height, or rather lack thereof, from his mother’s side of the family, since the males in Kenneth’s family had always been around six feet tall.

Josh heard a small cough behind him, and turned to face his aunt. Although she knew how emotional a moment this must be for her nephew, she wanted to remind him that he needed to start acting like a member of the royal family, and maintain more control over his emotions.

He wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his jumper, then turned back to his father and said, “Forgive me, Your Majesty. I allowed my emotions to overcome my sense of decorum.”

“There is nothing at all to forgive, my son.” Although Kenneth portrayed a calm and emotionless facade, his voice cracked as he said ‘my son’, betraying the depths of emotions that he himself was feeling at seeing his son for the first time since he was born. “Today of all days, you should be allowed to throw decorum to the four corners of the realm. Come, sit with me, and tell me everything I’ve missed of your life. And please, call me ‘Dad’. You only need to address me or your mother as ‘Your Majesty’ at official functions or when we are out in public.”

Before father and son could start talking, Mildrea quietly excused herself and retired to the guest chamber she always occupied when staying at the palace. She was having a far harder time keeping control over her emotions than usual, and didn’t want to start crying in front of Josh and make their last days together even harder than they needed to be.

When she had first been asked to take Josh in and raise him in accordance with custom, she had been very reluctant. For several reasons she had never planned to marry herself nor to ever have children of her own, and she had no idea how a young boy would fit into her world. Now she realised that she would soon be leaving Josh with his parents, that she would be leaving a big part of herself, and her life, at the palace. Only now did she realise just how big of a mistake she had made in her younger days, and now, at the age of thirty eight cycles, she knew that it was sadly far too late to correct that major oversight.

“Dad, how come we are in here and not in the throne room?”

“I thought it would give us the chance to get to know each other in a more relaxed environment, and it would also make our reunion easier on you. I am first and foremost your father. I want to remember that always.”

Father and son sat and talked about literally everything that had happened to Josh throughout his life. Josh talked about his friendships with all of his classmates; though obviously skipping over the details of his highly vigorous sex life with Nate. He told his father about his various sporting achievements, the holidays he had been on with his aunt, which lessons he liked at school and which ones he didn’t. In spite of Josh’s best attempts to skirt around his relationship with Nate, that was the one aspect of his young life that Kenneth was the most interested in.

“Josh, tell me about Nate. How did you two become friends?”

“We have many of the same interests. We both read a lot and we both play the same sports. We were partnered up for a science project during our first week at school, and we ended up spending so much time together working on it that we got friendly. As time went on, we realised that we had more and more in common.”

“Mildrea told us that you only ever stay over with Nate and none of your other friends. It’s not normal for a boy your age to only have one friend, why haven’t you made more?”

Josh began worrying that his dad somehow knew his deepest secret, but that just seemed a ridiculous idea. “I’m just not that close with a lot of the other kids. They’re kind of friends, but most of them are snobby and they think that just because their families are wealthy that somehow that makes them somebody important. They look down on the Plebeian kids in the neighbourhood, and I hate the comments they make about them. I just don’t want to spend more time hanging around kids like that than I have to.”

In fact, Josh had more than once had to hold back from getting into fights with some of the other kids over things they had said about Nate and his family; and that had only been because Nate had made him swear not to do anything that might betray their true relationship.

“I can understand that, Josh. When I was your age, I was far closer to the other Plebeian kids, but that was only because we had more in common. Admittedly, I never made friends among the Patrician kids, and indirectly that was for the same reasons as you.”

“What do you mean, Dad?”

“They just had no interest in being friends with a Plebeian. Even today, it’s rare for a Plebeian and a Patrician to have a true friendship. Either, the Plebeian begins to resent that his friend has more money or a nicer house or servants, or the Patrician can’t relax enough around his friend’s family and other friends or accept that his friend doesn’t have a lot in the way of material possessions.”

“Those kinds of things have just never been an issue for me and Nate. Maybe in five or six cycles’ time, as we approach adulthood, it might become an issue, who knows? But for now, all we know is that we enjoy spending time together.” Josh suddenly realised that he was starting to indirectly talk about the true depth of his relationship with Nate, so he quickly changed tack. “I certainly don’t think he’s uncomfortable with the fact that I have more than he does, and I enjoy spending weekends at his home. His parents are really nice and I like them, and I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised that his home is as nice it is. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I first agreed to stay over, but in many ways it’s a lot like Aunt Mildrea’s home, just smaller.”

“How are you going to deal being without your friend for the next six lumins until your coronation?”

“It’s going to be hard.” Josh simultaneously thought to himself “It going to be fucking hard on Nate as well”. “Aunt Mildrea has always called us each other’s shadow. I don’t think we’ve ever gone more than a week without spending time with each other before. Even though I’m now home with you and Mum, and I’ll have the run of the palace, I think it’s still going to be a lonely time for me. I can’t imagine there are going to be any kids around for me to play with.”

“Only the junior palace staff. Even those members of the staff who have kids, their children generally live outside the palace. There are children who are a few cycles either side of your age among the staff, mainly among the page boys, kitchen boys, and the serving girls.”

“Dad, what is the chance of me making friends among the staff? They know protocol better than I do. They’re not going to want to be familiar with the prince, are they?”

Josh was still struggling with the idea of being the prince; after all, he wasn’t going to actually be crowned for another six lumins, and he had no idea at all how to act, or what to say, or what was even really expected of him. From lessons in school, he knew that his parents governed the kingdom, they oversaw the hierarchy of the clergy, and they welcomed diplomatic visitors from other kingdoms, whilst law enforcement had always been delegated to the Legality. Josh couldn’t imagine what was expected of him other than to study and enjoy living in the lap of luxury. The idea of being a pampered, spoiled, mollycoddled, princeling really didn’t appeal to him.

It had been difficult for King Kenneth when he had come to the palace in the beginning, but he had been lucky in that he had Maria to be with. Additionally, since it was already public knowledge that she was the heir apparent and she had already had her coronation before they had even gotten together, many of her friends were also around the palace on an almost daily basis. Although Kenneth was never overly close to any of Maria’s friends, and even to this day he still wasn’t, at least they were other kids for him to hang around with; he was very much aware that Josh was truly going to be alone until after his coronation.

Although the conversation between father and son continued, Kenneth was deep in thought of ways in which he could at least try to spare his son some of the misery that threatened from six lumins of loneliness. He finally came up with a daring solution, but a solution that he hoped was possible; only time would tell of the success or failure of his plan.

They had been talking for nearly two hours when Josh asked, “Father, where is Mother?”

“Your mother is currently occupied. She is in discussion with the Queen of the Kingdom of Darblo concerning the future prospects of one of her daughters. The queen wishes to marry her younger daughter off to a prince, and she is currently trying to find an eligible candidate. She knows that we have a son who will be of marriageable age in a couple of cycles, and so she has decided to sound us out.”

Josh blanched at the implications of what his father had just told him. He rose to his feet and slammed his hands own on the table in front of him. “You mean to tell me that . . . that . . . Mother is already planning my marriage to a perfect stranger!” As Josh became angrier at what he had been told, his voice cracked and he realised he was nearly in tears. “I was under . . . under the impression . . . that in the Kingdom of Salania, I was free . . . free to marry whom so ever I wish?”

King Kenneth was astounded at the waves of emotion coming off his son. Mildrea had long ago informed Kenneth and Maria that Josh openly displayed his emotions, but this went far beyond anything Kenneth expected; yet he managed to keep control of his own emotions, and his voice was steady. “Calm down Joshua. Neither your mother, nor I, are planning to marry you off.”

Josh took a few deep breaths and sat back down. “Then . . . Then why is Mother even having this discussion with her?”

“Although the succession laws in Darblo are the same as ours, their marriage laws are very different. Her younger daughter will never inherit the throne of Darblo, so the queen is trying to ‘find’ her a throne, as the children of their royal family are not free to marry of their own accord. Usually, they are married off to the child of a prominent member of the clergy or the Ruling Council; however, Queen Josephine has her sight set on a throne for her daughter. Your mother is meeting with her for the very simple reason that she cannot refuse to meet with another queen, no matter how distasteful the subject for discussion.”

“Then why are you not there as well? If the Queen of Darblo is looking for a prince to marry her daughter off to, then surely you should be there as well.”

“If we were seriously going to consider making an introduction, then of course I would be there. However, my very absence from the meeting is what will tell the Queen of Darblo that your mother is merely meeting her out of royal courtesy, and that she has no chance of finding a prince for her daughter here.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Come,” said King Kenneth.

One of the men at arms opened the door, and entered the room. “Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen has concluded the meeting with Her Most Radiant Sovereign the Queen of Darblo, and has requested that I escort Prince Joshua to the botanical gardens.”

“I must say goodbye for now Joshua, but I will see you this evening for dinner.” King Kenneth walked out of the room and headed off to a meeting with the senior palace staff. It was one of many regular meetings he held to ensure the smooth running of the palace, but he also planned to ensure that everything was in place for Josh’s six lumins of near total confinement to the palace, and to discuss his daring idea.

The man at arms escorted Joshua to the botanical gardens.

“May I ask you a question, sir?” asked Josh, as he trotted along trying to keep up with the palace guard.

The man at arms managed to contain a chuckle at being addressed as ‘sir’. “You may ask anything of me Your Highness, and my name is ‘Carrers’, not ‘sir’.”

“Carrers? That’s an odd first name, I don’t believe I’ve heard it before. Where does it come from?”

Again, Carrers had to contain a chuckle. “Carrers is my last name, Your Highness.”

“What is your first name?”

The man at arms looked down at the prince with a stern look on his face. “Your Highness, it would not be appropriate for us to be that familiar.”

“What if I was to command you to reveal your first name?” Josh asked, winking at the startled guard.

“Then of course I would obey, Your Highness.”

“I couldn’t do that to you or anyone,” said Josh, sighing. “If you feel that you would prefer to maintain a distance, then as much as I do not like it, I must respect that.”

The guard was momentarily thrown by the boy’s humility. He had expected the boy to start issuing commands and orders, and to do as he pleased as soon as he set foot in the palace; after all, it was common knowledge among palace staff throughout Relan that princes and princesses before him had done no less.

Carrers came to realise that although the boy was the Prince of Salania, he was also still a child of only fourteen cycles, and a child who seemed to have truly benefited from being raised outside of the palace. He had originally dismissed the story of the prince’s friendship with a Plebeian boy as a story concocted by Their Majesties with the hope of easing the prince’s arrival, but now Carrers felt that based on the prince’s attitudes that that friendship may have been real after all. He felt that if the prince wasn’t going to act like a spoilt brat who felt that just because he was a prince that the realm owed him a living, then he, Carrers, could at least try to be a bit more friendly around Prince Joshua. However, Carrers also knew that while at this age the prince’s humility was quite sweet, it was something that he knew Josh would sadly have to outgrow if he was to one day become King of Salania.

“Although I do not like it, I will address you as Carrers until you ask me otherwise. My question Carrers, is why has my mother asked to meet me in the gardens instead of in the palace?”

“The queen has asked to meet you away from the formality of the palace. She spends what little free time she has in the gardens, and desires to share it with you.”

They reached the edge of the gardens and Carrers opened a wrought iron gate. He stepped through it with Josh fast on his heels. They proceeded to the centre of the garden, and Josh took his first proper look at his mother. Of course, he had seen the portraits of her that adorned the Royal Museum and the numerous open squares that were dotted around Rasunal, but to get his first look at his mother in real life was truly overwhelming. He had thought of nothing but this moment for the past three lumins, and as much as he had imagined how he would feel, he felt so much more. He felt so many different emotions at once, not all of them pleasant. Each one vied for supremacy, so he had no idea what he was feeling.

The man at arms excused himself and left the prince and the queen alone.

Unexpectedly, the queen ran to her son and hugged him. Josh, in spite of what he was feeling, wrapped his arms around his mother and returned her hug.

“You do not need to feel ashamed for feeling what you feel, Joshua,” the queen whispered to him.

“What do you mean, Mother?” Josh asked as he backed away, wondering how the queen could possibly read his thoughts.

“You forget that I once stood where you are. I know how much love you feel for me, and how much love you feel for your father, but I also know you are now feeling a growing hate and anger. You are wondering how we could have left you to live with my sister, and have absolutely no contact with you for fourteen cycles. Although you have probably never wanted for anything, you hate us for having deprived you of your parent’s love. Knowing that I had been treated in the same way by my parents as a child, you ask yourself how I could do it to you. You are feeling so conflicted, that you don’t know what you should be feeling.”

“I am feeling conflicted, Mother. But I assure you, that no matter what else I may or may not be feeling, please know that I could never feel hate towards you or Father.”

The queen wrapped Josh in a hug, and then kissed him on the forehead.

“I have missed you, my son.”

“And I have missed you too, Mother.”

Mother and son spent the rest of the afternoon in the gardens getting to know one another. Only when the sun began to set, and the evening breeze came, which made the air too chilly for them to remain outside, did they move back into the palace

Dinner passed quietly and with little conversation, however, Josh felt more and more uncomfortable as the meal progressed.

The first course was brought out by the serving girls, with each serving girl waiting on one particular member of the family. Water was served by the butler, who then dismissed the serving girls.

As soon as the family had finished eating the first course, the serving girls were summoned to clear away the dishes and they brought out the second course. The same process was then repeated with the main course and the dessert.

Even though Mildrea had her two servants, Josh and his aunt had always served themselves at meal times. It was uncomfortable enough for him to be being waited on hand and foot, but what made him even more uncomfortable was the fact that the serving girls were around his own age.

He had attempted to engage the girl serving him in polite conversation a few times throughout the evening, but without success; he even caused the poor girl to blush all evening long as he continued to thank her throughout the meal. Once dinner was finally finished, it was hard to know who was more relieved, Joshua or the serving girl.

The servants returned to the kitchen as the family began talking about anything, everything, and nothing.

Down in the kitchens, the girl who had been serving the prince approached the head butler. “Mr Flowers, may I speak my mind about the family?”

“Sally, we are all servants here. You may speak as freely as you desire.”

“The prince makes me very uncomfortable. I would ask you to assign him someone else to serve him at meal times.”

“How does he make you uncomfortable? Has he said anything to offend you?”

“Of course not, Mr Flowers! However, he tries to treat me as an equal. He spent the evening thanking me for serving him. He tried to engage me in casual conversation. He does not appear to be comfortable with being waited on. I am concerned that if I were to respond to his familiarity in front of Their Majesties that it could bring trouble my way.”

Although Mr Flowers was a figure of authority as head butler, he watched over the serving girls as if they were his own daughters. It was well known amongst the staff that the easiest way to incur the personal wrath of Mr Flowers was to upset one of his girls, especially Sally Fargas.

He was particularly fond of Sally and, unbeknownst to her, he planned to promote her to the position of Lady of the Meals, when the current Lady turned sixteen cycles and would no longer be able to hold the post. Lady of the Meals was usually the first supervisory post that girls would hold at the palace, and was a very fancy title for what was essentially someone who would supervise the other serving girls at meal times, under the ever watchful eye of Mr Flowers.

Although most female servants never have the opportunity to hold the post of Lady of the Meals, they still go on to hold senior posts at the palace. However, having been Lady had always carried a certain distinction as far as the Housekeeper and Head Butler were concerned, and former Ladies usually climbed the servant hierarchy faster than most. In fact, the current Lady was slated to start straight as a parlour maid, a position usually requiring five years of service as an ordinary maid.

“I understand what you are saying, Sally, but you need to give him time. King Kenneth was no different when he was first brought into the palace as a young boy. In fact, as I recall, he was even worse.”

“With all due respect to His Majesty, King Kenneth was of Plebeian heritage, Prince Joshua is not.”

“I know you are uncomfortable Sally, but I ask that you continue to serve the prince, at least for the next one lumin, to give him a chance to become acclimated to royal life. We can then address the situation if you still have these same reservations.”

“Okay Mr Flowers. I’ll give him one lumin. I suppose it is the least I can do.”

“Thank you, Sally.”

The family had finished their discussions and as the time was approaching the twenty third hour they all retired for the evening. Mildrea walked Josh to his bedchamber and wished him goodnight. There was a knock on his door a few minutes later, and the Master of the Bedchambers entered Josh’s room, followed by a boy who appeared to be around Josh’s age.

“Good evening, Your Highness. My name is Faxon, and I am Master of the Bedchambers.” Joshua made a mental note of his name, but this time did not enquire as to its origin, assuming it must be the servant’s last name.

“Good evening, Faxon.” To his credit, Josh managed to at least sound comfortable addressing the adult by his last name; he really did sometimes damn his aunt for raising him to be so respectful of adults.

“I attend to your father’s needs, and ensure the smooth running of his housekeeping staff. This is Max Jacobs.” The large man indicated the cute, brown haired, gray eyed, boy standing next to him, who, in spite of being nearly three inches taller than the prince, was actually a little over a cycle younger.

“Jacobs is one of our senior page boys, and will be one of Your Highness’ personal aides. Although he is one of the youngest members of the palace staff, he is one of the very best. He will assist you with anything you need, and he will oversee the maintenance of your rooms. Any problems you have, you should inform Jacobs, and he will rectify the situation. Now if Your Highness will excuse me, I must attend to your father.”

Josh dismissed Faxon, and thought to himself “Just what I need! Another fucking servant! When will this day end? I just want to get to bed and sleep”. As soon as the door was closed, he said to the page boy, “So, Max, what happens now?”

The page boy was absolutely floored at being addressed by his proper name in such a casual offhand manner by the prince, something that did not go unnoticed by Joshua.

“My apologies,” said the prince. “I am still adjusting to this whole idea of not being overly familiar with the staff. How should I address you? Jacobs?” Josh resisted the urge to try to make a joke of how at least he had remembered enough to at least address Faxon correctly; joking with the staff probably counted as ‘being overly familiar’.

“Your Highness has nothing to apologise for. When I am off duty you may call me Jacobs if you so wish, however, it is customary to address me as ‘Page’ whilst I am on duty.”

It was in situations like this that Josh wished he could be as arrogant as some of the kids in his school had been. In order to prepare him in some small way for life at the palace, he had been schooled on the master and servant relationship by his aunt, but that didn’t mean for one minute that it was a relationship dynamic he had to like.

He had always been comfortable around his aunt’s two servants, perhaps precisely because they were his aunt’s servants and not his; but what he was feeling after only half a day at the palace with his own servants, was something far from comfort. He had already been informed that he would have the same serving girl wait on him at all meal times (something he really wasn’t looking forward to), and now he had been introduced to a servant to help him get ready for bed and help him get up in the morning. He dreaded to think what facet of his independence his next servant would be tasked with taking away from him.

“Ma-” Josh managed to stop himself, and sighed deeply. “Page. What happens now?”

“Now, it is my duty to ready you for bed. Usually, it just involves me laying out your nightwear, and then taking your clothes down to the laundry to be washed. Unless Your Highness has any other demands of my time?”

In spite of the late hour and his growing tiredness, Joshua was tempted to ask Max to spend some time with him, maybe have a chat and get to know one another, play a board game or two, or perhaps even a few hands of Relanist Cribbage; but he knew that any of that would have been far too familiar for the page’s liking.

“No, Page. That will be more than sufficient.”

Somehow, Josh managed to keep the despondency he felt out of his voice. He had been at the palace for less than twelve hours and it already felt like a lifetime; how in the Ten Hells was he going to survive the next four thousand three hundred and eighty nine hours until he could be properly reunited with Nate.

The only other kids in the palace were the serving girls, the pages and the kitchen boys, and Josh knew full well that he had little hope of befriending any of them. He had already failed miserably with his assigned serving girl, Max seemed to be too rigidly adherent to protocol that he didn’t think he was going to get very far there, and he seriously doubted he would get anywhere with the kitchen boys; the next six lumins promised to be unutterably miserable.

Max took out Josh’s pyjamas and then, while Josh changed from his clothes into his nightwear, Max removed the heating pan from underneath Josh’s bed linen. The nights that far north were currently cold enough that bits could fall off on a boy, and he’d never realise anything was amiss until he looked down there the next morning. Josh was just thankful that the snowfall had been uncharacteristically light this cycle.

Max then picked up Josh’s clothes and after being told that nothing else was required of him, Max left the bedchamber. He dropped Josh’s clothes off in the laundry, and then just as he was about to retire himself, Mr Flowers called him over.

“Max, can I have a quick word before you go to bed please?”

“Certainly Mr Flowers, what’s up?” The fact that Mr Flowers had addressed him as ‘Max’ instead of the more customary ‘Page’ told Max two things. Firstly, that this was not going to be a run of the mill request, and secondly, that Mr Flowers did not want Max to interpret this as an order.

“As you know, the prince will have to be confined to the palace for the next six lumins until after his coronation, that’s going to take its toll on him. King Kenneth had a discussion with myself and the rest of the senior staff earlier today, and I have something to ask of you. What we have to ask is very unusual, but we’d like you to be his . . . his friend.”

“Mr Flowers, you can’t be serious!” Max’s voice echoed below stairs, and Mr Flowers glared at him. “Please don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that the prince is a nice boy, but you know protocol. You are asking me to forego everything that I have been taught about maintaining a formal relationship with those we serve, and to simply throw protocol out of the window. That does not seem like a good thing to me.”

“Max, I know this is very unusual. Prince Joshua has been far more accepting of other kids than many princes and princesses in the past. He is one of the few who had actually made a relatively normal life for themselves growing up. He had friends his own age, he was very sociable, and I have been told he was very close to one Plebeian boy in particular, which I think is why he is so uncomfortable around the servants at the moment.”

Max found it bizarre that Josh was friends with a Plebeian. He knew that there were a few Patricians who were friends with Plebeians, but none of them were amongst the highest ranking Patricians, and certainly none of them were members of any of the royal families.

Princes and princesses who had just had their Coming of Age had a certain reputation amongst palace staff, they were rude, arrogant, and churlish, and those were the more pleasant heirs apparent.

Max was however forced to ashamedly admit to himself that he was judging Joshua based solely on those stories, and on how other Patricians had acted towards him and others on the palace staff. It was the one thing above all others that Max detested in people. Although he was only a few weeks away from being thirteen cycles old, he hated being judged by others based solely on their opinion of other Plebeians, and yet here he was guilty of doing near enough the same thing to the prince.

Mr Flowers continued. “The prince will not be able to have any of his friends over until after his coronation and his true identity is announced to the kingdom, so his next six lumins here will be miserable for him. He has already shown that he is possibly open to being friends with the staff, and that in of itself is a rarity. For many of us, that makes us uncomfortable, given that we are also in the service of the king and queen. You are one of the few members of staff who are around his own age and you have now been assigned personally to him, and have been relieved of your responsibilities to Their Majesties. You, Max, are therefore in the unique position of being able to serve him, but still be able to be his friend. We are not going to demand you to make friends with the prince, but if he tries to make friends with you, we would like you not to discourage him.”

“Are you asking me Mr Flowers, or is it His Majesty King Kenneth asking?”

“It was the king’s suggestion, but it is I who am asking this of you.”

Max thought it over very carefully before saying, “I will think on it Mr Flowers, but I cannot promise you one way or the other. I will need to play this one by ear. If we do become friends, then I will let you know.”

“Thank you, Max. Good night.”

“Good night Mr Flowers.”