Butterfly Prince Read online

  “What I don’t get,”—kick—“Is why we have to protect their son,”—punch—“When we haven’t even seen his face.” Aiden grits, clenching his teeth together as he landed another blow to the punching bag. “You know they’re being cautious since this is their only child.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t even know the guy’s name.” Aiden doubles his attacks by punching the sides of the bag and landing a kick to the middle. “They don’t want their enemies coming out and swooping their heir away.” Micah responds with a half-assed snort, Aiden glares. “We’re going in like blind mice.” He grumbles, Micah chuckles. “This guy could be some perverted asshole or ungrateful,” He huffs. “Son of a bitch.” Whoosh! He swung hard, stumbling back to catch his breath. “We’ll know in a months’ time.” He scowls at Micah’s words. “Whatever.” He walks towards the water fountain, dipping his head down and gulping the water as it flowed out. “Hey, Micah!”

  “Hurry and stretch, we’re going straight into training.” Feet shuffled in and voices rose. Aiden lifts his head and looks back towards the men that had come in. There were a few he recognized. One of them with brown hair lifts his hand to wave. “Yo, Aiden!” Aiden smiles and jogs over to him. He slams a hand down onto his shoulder. “What’s up, Kai.” Kai—20 years old—still pretty young. He started training a few months ago. And then there was Gene. He was small for a man his age, with the looks of a pubescent teen at twenty-one. The King had started recruiting them at a young age. All the low-class, middle-class families or ones who had working ties to the royals in the past were forced to give their son up for the sake of the King and Queen. What selfish bastards.

  “Find your partner from last week and we’ll continue where we left off.” Micah’s voice booms. Aiden squeezes Kai’s shoulder before moving towards his partner—Iron. “Ready?” The slightly younger man grins. “Always.” He says waiting for the word. “I hope you all remember; this is close combat.” Micah continues to direct. “Your partner will come at you with all he’s got; a gun, a knife.” Aiden’s dark eyes gleam with menace. “He cannot slip past you because if he does his target will be the Prince. Got that!” A roar of yes sir’s erupt around the room. “You must protect the Prince that is your duty.” This Prince…what’s so important about him? Why must we go in with masks over our eyes to protect a man we’ve never met? Why must I risk my life for him…?

  ~*~

  Kael stands outside on the steps thinking back on his day. He recalls the boyish way in which Aiden smiled and the sweet way Jenna greeted him. They’re sincere people and Kael felt that it was his first time to encounter such kinds of people. He smiles down at his feet before opening the front door. “Kael!” His mother rushes down the marble stairs and hurries towards him with open arms. She embraces him tightly, closing her eyes and letting out a shaky breath. “Mom.”

  “How was it? Did you make any friends? Were you able to tour the entire campus?” He laughs lightly at her rush of questions. “It was alright, mom.” He gently pushes her back and holds her by her shoulders. She stares up at him, her eyes dancing about his face. “Did anybody discover who you truly are?” Kael shakes his head and brushes past her. “No, nobody did…” He adjusts his bag on his shoulder and bounds up the stairs. He takes them one at a time not looking back. “Kael! Talk to me!” His mother shouts after him, her eyes sad. “Not right now.” He calls glancing back over his shoulder and hurrying down the hall where his butler is waiting. “Welcome back.” Janus greets him with a bow and extends his hand for Kael’s bags. “I can carry this on my own.” He says, flashing Janus a soft smile before hurrying off to his room. He looks up and down the hallway, his eyes darting between the family portraits. A weight presses down on his shoulders and he breathes heavily, his heart rate increasing.

  With each picture he passed, a new weight was added to his shoulders. The weight of becoming the image his father and mother dreamed of him to be. He jogs the rest of the way to his room, but the hall seemed endless. Finally reaching his destination he swings the door open and flings his bag onto the floor. He bounds to his bed and falls face first onto the mattress. His breath escapes him in a single rush of air. He rolls over onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. A beige color seeped into his gaze and he sighs for the umpteenth time that day. Pictures and faces flashed in his mind. He could recall the blue, blue color of the sky and the size of the campus. Then it suddenly hit him how tired he was. He rolls over again, lying flat on his stomach. He pulls out his phone and stares at the numbers on his screen and the name above the numbers: Aiden. He stares at his name dissecting each letter and then murmuring his name aloud. “Ai-d-en.” He says it again. “Aiden…” Kael blinks, shaking away the warm feeling that suddenly burst within his chest like a flowers scent tickling his nose. He rests his head on the satin pillow and recalls Aiden’s face. Bushy eyebrows and tan skin that illuminated his ashen hair. Prominent lips and high cheekbones. Could he be a model? The thought flashed like headlights in Kael’s mind and then he shook it away with a chuckle. “He’s too short…” He murmurs. There’s a soft tmptmp on his room door. He sits up before calling. “It’s open!” The door creaks open and his mother peeks her head into the room with a small smile. “Can we talk?” She asks and Kael nods. “Yeah.” She slips into his room, the door clicking shut behind her. She wore a silk dress that covered the entire length of her legs. It flowed behind her in a purple stream. “You look beautiful.” He blurts suddenly and her eyes widen with pleasant surprise. “Thank you.”

  “Mhmm.” He hums making room for her on his bed. “What did you want to talk about?” He asks and she folds her dress beneath her before sitting. “How was your day? Can you give me all the details?” Kael was reluctant at first, afraid that she wouldn’t approve of the friends he had made. Afraid that he’d be taken back into the castle without his new life having even started. But—with one look into her eyes—he could see that she was purely curious about the new on goings in her sons’ heart. So he opens his mouth and spills to her all the details of his day. He tells her about the campus and the library and about how many books lined the shelves and filled the spaces of the walls. “I bet you could read them all.” She challenges and Kael smiles. “Of course.” Her smile broadens and she snakes her frail arms around his shoulders and pulls him into her side. “I’m so glad…” she murmurs and Kael closes his eyes against her touch. “Me too…” They sit together on his bed, holding one another in the silence.

  ~*~

  Iron stood a few inches apart from Aiden, his hands raised in a fighting posture. Aiden kept his eyes on his opponent counting how many steps he took and the direction of his eyes. “Be sure to keep your eyes on him!” Micah reiterates pacing up and down the room. “Don’t let him get away.” Iron makes a jab at Aiden, one he quickly dodges with a slight smirk. “Are we teasing each other right now?” Aiden jokes, with an undertone of smug in his voice. Iron snorts rolling his neck and rushing towards Aiden. They rock together, their feet locking into place as they stood their ground.

  Aiden figured that the best part about training was making friendships with the other trainees. They all had several things in common, thus securing the trust they have for one another. “Ugh,” Iron huffs as Aiden takes a hold of his shoulder, his fingers pressing hard into the bone. With only a brief pause for breath, Aiden spins himself out of Iron’s grip and flips him onto the cushioned floor. He goes flomping to the ground, the corner of his lips wincing with slight pain. Aiden stares down at him, swallowing as he breathes heavily. “Not bad…” Iron murmurs jumping back up and onto his feet. Aiden beams, his expression shifting childishly. “I’ve been practicing that one.” He announces proudly and Iron rolls his eyes. “Really? Wanna try it on Janus?” At that Aiden’s smile falters and he raises his hands in surrender. “I kinda don’t wanna die yet.” Iron laughs slugging him in his arm and walking off. There were three different class rankings that went from the highest to the lowest. The Lions were the highest, then
the Foxes and lastly the cubs. Micah and Aiden belonged to the category of foxes while Janus was the sole Lion. No one dared to question his authority.

  ~*~

  Aiden stands outside of the RPA having wrapped up his practice. He had a hand placed to the back of his neck and was staring up at the darkened sky. The stars were twinkling with a hope he couldn’t quite grasp for himself. He licks his chapped lips and starts down the sidewalk. His arms swing back and forth beside him, an ache rising up from his overused muscles. He hums a melody his sister used to sing to him when he was younger. It was a song about the stars. It was a soft song, made even softer by the sound of her voice. He stops abruptly and stares down at the ground. I wish you could sing it to me now, sis. The thought comes and goes. Swirling down into the drain of the past. He walks the desolate street, the night having swallowed up all of the city’s inhabitants. A few moments later he was standing in front of his home. It was a little place, not much to see really. With its two windows, the lavender curtains pulled to a close and the front porch that was lined with daisies that weren’t fully bloomed. The lights were off so he figured that his parents were already sleeping. He takes out his keys and they jingle-jangle as he turns the door knob, stepping into the darkness. His steps were soft and his vision adjusted slowly to the dim light that was showing in the corner of the room. The light was coming from a collection of candles. He looks towards the light with a bitter smile. “Good to see you, sis.” He says to the memorial in front of the fireplace, the portrait of his sister surrounded by a crescent of purple flowers.

  Faces of a Blooming Friendship

  Kael sits in his first class of the day, glancing around the room at all of the people he didn’t know. There was a girl with red hair and just as red lipstick, her small eyes made smaller by the thick eyeliner she wore and the heavy amount of silver eyeshadow shading the curve of her eyelids, sitting next to her was a pretty male, his black bangs shielding his eyes. He looked somewhat familiar. Although Kael didn’t know why, but he did. There were many other people; laughing, joking, complaining and then there was the professor. She wore her glasses with a vibrant smile. Her name was Mrs. Browning. “Okay!” She slams her hand down on the wooden desk in front of her, calling for the attention of her students. “Being that this is a math class; I expect you all to be paying attention.”

  Mumbles erupt around the room. Math wasn’t Kael’s greatest subject, but he could understand the majority of it. “I suck at math.” A voice says from behind him, Kael looks back. It was the pretty male that had spoken. Mrs. Browning heaves a sigh. “You always say this, just try to learn something.” She mutters. And the male snickers, Kael continues to stare at him, trying to configure where he had seen him before. The beach? Or was it the garden? He couldn’t have gotten onto the land owned by the castle…could he? Returning back to the present, Kael nearly jumps out of his skin. The pretty male was staring right back at him. His eyes were dark, intense. Kael swallows, flashing a shaky smile. The guy winks at Kael before turning towards his friends. Kael turns away, running a hand down his face. This was going to be a rough day. The class progressed slowly and when the professor dismissed it with a wave of her hand, Kael shot out of his seat. “Hey, wait up.” A voice calls from next to him. Kael pauses and looks back. It was the pretty male; he was beaming, his white teeth shining. “I caught you staring earlier.” He says, Kael laughs nervously. “Yeah…”

  “Was there something on my face?” Kael’s eyes widen. “No…” He didn’t know where this was going. “Then why were you staring?”

  “You just…looked familiar.” The male raises an eyebrow before shrugging it off. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around.” Kael nods heading towards the door. “This is my second day here.”

  “Ah.” He hurries out of the door, but the guy was still following after him. “What’s your name?” He found him to be slightly annoying. “It’s Kael.”

  “Kael?”

  “Yeah…” He nods as though he was thinking the name over. “My name’s Francis.” Kael nods, fixing his gaze in front of him. “Looks like you don’t want to be bothered,” Francis starts slowly. “I’ll back off for now.” He says with a grin. Kael doesn’t bother glancing back as Francis walks away, he just keeps his eyes in front of him. There were certain people he didn’t know how to handle and Francis was turning out to be one of those people. He peers up and down the hallway, peeking into classrooms for his next class. It was supposed to be held in the theater. “Where’s the theater…” He wonders aloud, standing in the hall to gather himself. Was it to the left or am I supposed to turn a corner and keep going forward? “Damn it.” He cusses. He sighs, flipping out his phone and staring at Aiden’s number. What if he’s not here today? Or worse, “Fine, but when I’m out on a date and you want company,” Aiden leans forward. “I’ll be too busy to entertain you.” Kael thought about this and then shrugged it off with a grin. I’ll call him anyways. Kael places the phone to his ear, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. Aiden answers on the third ring, his voice somewhat groggy. “Hello?”

  “Aiden? Hey, it’s Kael.” There’s a pause and then a shuffle on his end. “Kael?”

  “Yeah, you took me on a tour of the school the other day.”

  “Hmm? Oh, oh yeah.” There’s more shuffling and it sounded as though something had been hit. “Are you alright?” Kael questions. “Yeah, I just hit my toe on the corner of a wa—what’s up? Is something wrong?” Kael pushes off of the wall and continues down the hallway. “I’m kind of lost.” He mutters regrettably. Aiden laughs. “I knew it.”

  “Shut-up and just direct me to the theater.” Kael replies somewhat snappily, growing rather impatient with Aiden’s banter. His chuckles ring deeply into Kael’s left ear. “Where are you now?” Kael looks around spotting a sign that read HALL 12. He quickly tells Aiden because if he didn’t hurry he was going to be late. He jogs the rest of the way to his class as Aiden rambles out to him the directions and tosses out a breathless thank you to Aiden before hanging up.

  ~*~

  Aiden stares at his phone with an amused grin, replaying Kael’s ‘thank you’ over and over in his mind. “I should probably go and help him…” He thought about this for a moment and then about the relaxed way in which Kael had called him. The way he spoke, momentarily perplexed him. He was lost and risking the chance of running late, but yet he wasn’t freaking out. And then a wicked idea occurred to Aiden. He laughs loudly rising up from his bed and bouncing onto his feet. He stumbles to his closet and strips out of his clothes. He was slightly sore from the training session yesterday; he rolls his neck and stretches his arms above his head. He takes a t-shirt and slips into a torn pair of jeans. He checks his phone for anything from Jenna. There was a single message: You didn’t text me back last night. He forgot about that. Quickly he dials her number placing her on speaker as he finished getting dressed. When she answers he quickly apologizes. “Sorry about that.” She doesn’t say anything. “There’s no excuses I just—”

  “Did you rest well?” Her voice cuts in softly. He pauses and a small smile breaks out across his face. “Yeah, I did.”

  “What did you dream about?” He pushes his ashen bangs back swiping up his phone and hurrying out of the door. “What did I dream about?” He repeats her question, thinking it over. To be honest he didn’t dream about anything….more like had a nightmare. It was the harrowing memory of his sister’s death. “I didn’t dream of anything.” He lies, bursting out into the sunlight. “Really?”

  “Yeah…” There’s a pause in their conversation. He blinks several times trying to adjust to the light. “Where are you going?” Jenna finally asks. “Huh?”

  “I can hear the cars passing you on your end.” Aiden laughs lightly. “I’m going to my job today.”

  “Job?” Her tone shifts with curiosity and shock. “Yep. As of today, Aiden Kim is Kael Lennon’s personal tour guide.” There’s silence and then she bursts
out into a fit of giggles. “You as a tour guide.”

  “Don’t act surprised.” He steps out onto the edge of the street waving his hand to call for a taxi. “The guy trusts me enough to call me early this morning.”

  “He called you?”

  “Yeah, we exchanged numbers…somewhat.” A taxi slows in front of him, he swings the door open and slides inside. “Sande-Rose University, please.”

  “You’re going there now?” Jenna asks and Aiden responds with a soft mmm. The taxi drives off and she had gone silent on the other end, Aiden could hear her breath—inhaling and exhaling next to his ear. “You’ve never done this before for a new student.”

  “Well, I’ve never taken an interest in any of the new students. Until now that is.” Aiden looks out of the window recalling Kael’s face and the black car he slid so easily into. “He just…interests me…”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Don’t get jealous now.” He teases and he envisions her rolling her eyes as she sat up on her bed. “I’ll call you later.” He says as the taxi slows in front of the campus. “Mm, bye.” He waits until she hangs up to open the taxi door. The driver clears his throat. “Oh right.” Aiden forks over twenty dollars before taking off across the sidewalk.

  ~*~

  Kael sits up straight in his seat because this was something he actually had an interest in. The professor was currently discussing the importance of learning another language and the worlds geography; different cultures that existed and the plethora of languages that came with them. Kael had read so many books about those places. He’s flipped through the pages and dissected the pictures. But he’s never once seen them himself. Travel. I want to travel. That was currently at the top of his list of things he wants to do now that he’s no longer locked away in the castle. “Are there any questions?” The professor asks, his brown eyes scanning the array of students. Kael looks between the other people in the class—no one seemed interested. Not thinking much about what he was going to ask, Kael raises his hand into the air. “Ah, yes?”