Butterfly Prince Page 6

  He jogs down the sidewalk, stopping only a couple of times to catch his breath. Playing in his ears now is a mellow song, its soft melody causes him to slow his steps until he’s walking. He listens to the song shaking his legs to get rid of any aches. “You have to stretch like this.” Skye was jogging in place beside him, her ponytail bouncing atop her head. An eleven year old Aiden pouts brushing past his sister. “Come on, don’t be like that.” She calls chasing after him. “You’ll get cramps.” She shouts, Aiden ignores her calls going his own way. “Or worse you’ll get a charley horse.” She catches up to him and ruffles his hair. “You don’t want that now do you!”

  Aiden clenches his fist and kicks the nearest rock, it rolls from the sidewalk and into the street. This Prince, whomever he is, my sister died in your place. It should have been you your mother and father buried, if you had died then maybe—he grits his teeth—maybe my sister would have lived. A car slows to a stop in front of him, he doesn’t look up even though the window to the car is rolling down and a young man with brown hair pops his head out. She went to protect my future so that I wouldn’t have to risk my life for him and yet…It’s like she died for nothing. Aiden hated telling himself that, he hated those thoughts as they slipped into his dreams and disrupted his sleep. He’s thought of killing the Prince but that would put his mother and father’s lives in jeopardy. “Aiden?” He looks up at the voice, his eyes lighten up when he meets gazes with the man in the car. “Kael!” He exclaims out of confusion and glee. Kael ushers for the driver to stop the car so that he can get out. He comes bounding up to Aiden wearing an almost see through white shirt, the sleeves meeting his wrists. His pants on the other hand were a bright red color. “Hey.” He says, shoving his brunette bangs back and smiling. Aiden blinks out of his daze and clears his throat. “I’m starting to think that you’re following me, Kael.”

  “Maybe I am.” Kael responds playfully. Aiden chuckles. “So what are you up to?” Kael asks looking over his shoulder and then down the street. “I’m just jogging.”

  “This early in the morning?” Aiden nods. “Then what about you? What are you doing up so early?” Aiden nudges Kael in his side. Kael laughs nervously, avoiding the question by pulling Aiden’s hoodie back and straightening his ashen hair. “There,” Kael’s hands smooth down his face resting at his cheeks. “You look much better when your face is showing.” He murmurs honestly. Aiden’s eyes widen and his heart was doing this weird, oddly exciting thing.

  “And you say I’m the flirty one, yeah okay.” He gently knocks Kael’s hand away and tugs his hoodie back over his head. Kael scowls. “Hey, if I’m your friend I’m going to want you to look good and this hoodie,” Kael yanks it back with more force. “Is just not doing it.” He moves to tug the zipper down, looming over Aiden as he did so. Aiden had taken note of it, how tall Kael was in comparison to him, but yet there was something about him that felt small. His heart, his soul—his smile? Aiden couldn’t put his finger on it. Kael himself was a mystery. Suddenly appearing out of the blue and not knowing a thing about dating, friendships and loving someone.

  Kael was having trouble getting the zipper down, his eyebrows were furrowed as he kept yanking on it. “Stop, I’ll get it.” Aiden mutters, reaching forward to move Kael’s hand back, but the brunette was persistent. “No, you’ll just zip it back up.” He says, which was what Aiden was planning to do. “You know me so well.” He mumbles causing Kael to laugh. “I just observe...it’s something I’ve been good at since I was young.” Aiden looks up, his eyes meeting Kael’s forehead. He stares at him, his eyes tracing over his nose and then to his lips. Aiden swallows suddenly feeling nervous. This was starting to get uncomfortable. Kael finally manages to get the zipper free and Aiden’s jacket flutters open. He steps back with a relieved sigh. He looks Aiden up and down and nods approvingly. “Jenna has an average boyfriend.” He finally says. Aiden’s blank expression transforms into a scowl. “Average!? Hah! Average!” Kael nods. “If I stuttered, sorry.” He bows his head with a smirk. Aiden walks up and smacks him in his shoulder. Kael stumbles back with a chuckle, the wind blowing through his hair. “You have a really smart mouth.” Aiden grumbles zipping his jacket up but leaving the hoodie off. “You get that way when you’ve read two hundred and twelve books and counting.” Aiden cocks a brow, Kael waves it off retreating to the black Sedan he had arrived in. “It’s nothing.” He opens the car door and slips inside. Aiden takes out his earphones, pausing the song that had started playing, it was a sweet song about falling in love for the first time. It made Aiden’s heart flutter or maybe it was Kael who caused his heart to act all out of place….

  “You never answered my question,” Aiden begins gripping the door handle so that Kael couldn’t close it. “Where are you going so early in the morning?” Kael peeks his head out and meets Aiden’s eyes with a mischievous grin. His soft eyes appearing fierce. Aiden’s heart gave a kick. “It’s a secret.” Kael places a finger to his lips before closing the door shut. Aiden steps back as the car takes off placing a hand to his ashen hair. “You’re more of a secret, Kael.” He mutters, his phone vibrating in his pocket. Kael leans back sinking into the leather cushion of the seat. He lets out a sigh, placing a hand to his heart. The driver looks in the mirror at Kael. “Something wrong, your majesty?” Kael shakes his head. “Nothing…”

  “Well, we’ll be arriving at the green house shortly.” Kael nods, turning his head to peer out the window. The street passes by in a blink; streetlights and stop signs, the sun was rising high up in the sky now, the morning sapped away by time. Kael closes his eyes resting his head against the window. The greenhouse was kind of like his haven. His parents had bought it a while back not questioning why their twelve year old son had a sudden interest in flowers and plants nor did they tell him whom they had bought it from. “It’s because.” He said to them staring at the ground. Kael didn’t understand either why he liked flowers…they held onto something, but that something he couldn’t remember. “Turn here?” The driver asks, “Yes.” Kael didn’t even have to look up, this road was imprinted in his memory. Every turn and loop, every sign and stop. The car drives smoothly, cruising down the street and lulling Kael to sleep.

  ~*~

  Aiden stands in front of Jenna’s house, his foot tapping anxiously. He needed to see her, to hug and kiss her because this wasn’t right. It felt right, but it wasn’t. When Kael had driven away and Aiden’s phone vibrated he wasn’t expecting it to be from Kael who just left, but when he opened the message and saw the sender he was confused. Kael: You looked pretty upset before I stopped in front of you—Aiden paces back and forth waiting for Jenna to appear—I only said those things to get you a little riled up  you look above average when you smile~

  Aiden wasn’t getting it, he had only just befriended the guy, it wasn’t even a month into their friendship and he was feeling…odd. He should have signed out when Jenna introduced them, he shouldn’t have continued on with this. This better be a fucking bromance in the works and not something…something—the door finally opens, Jenna was standing on the porch her hair strewn atop her head. “Aiden?” She yawns; she woke up late on somedays. His head snaps up and he rushes to her, knocking her back as he embraces her. “Huh? What’s wrong?” her tone shifts softly.

  “I just needed to hold you.” His voice was a whisper. He snakes his hands around her waist and holds tightly onto her. Confused and taken aback, her hands settle on his back and she pats his shoulders. “It’ll be okay…” She murmurs, closing her eyes and leaning her head against his. Aiden squeezes his eyes shut and tries not to think about what it’d be like to hug Kael. What he’d smell like, how he’d feel. He tries not to think about it and ends up doing the exact opposite. Who are you Kael? Aiden didn’t understand—he’s had a number of guy friends as playful and smart-mouthed as Kael—he clutches Jenna tighter, burying his nose in her shoulder. She smiles softly, patting his back and murmuring something about how his cuteness wasn’t going to
get him anything. “That’s fine, I just need to hold you.” He wanted to add: Because I’m not sure of these feelings, but he restrained from doing so. Kael was just another guy, another friend Aiden was beginning to develop a connection with. That’s all it is—a friendship, a connection.

  ~*~

  The Queen paces back and forth across the length of their shared bedroom. “Where did he go?” She asks her husband, he responds with a sigh and a squeeze to her shoulder. “Calm down, dear, he just went out.” He places his other hand to her other shoulder. “You know how he became after the burning.” Her head snaps around and she glares at her husband. “Don’t you dare speak those words again!” He takes a step back. “Don’t ever say them in front of me or Kael,” She wraps her arms around her body. “Especially in front of Kael…” The King’s eyes were wide and then they settled into a detached stare. “Eventually he’ll recover his memories.” He states to which she scoffs in reply. “He won’t.”

  “If he keeps going to that greenhouse he’ll remember something.” The Queen collapses into a leather chair, placing a hand to her temple.

  The King continues to speak, his eyes steady on his wife. “If he keeps hanging around Aiden, that womans brother, then—”

  “Enough!” She shouts, the brown of her eyes glazing over. “That’s enough of that.”

  The King sighs. “This is why you kept him locked away.” He counters, the Queen laughs out her repsonse. “It was to protect him from the world and the past.”

  “Dear, he’s better off out there than locked away here where the past lurks, her death lurks.” The King snaps.

  The Queen sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and crosses her legs. “Can’t you leave me be?” Her voice was strained.

  “He’s going to find out.” The King says his parting words as he leaves the Queen to herself.

  ……

  “You went to the castle again?” Aiden asks his older sister with a pout. The young woman smiles, pinching her brothers’ cheek. “Yes I did.” He slaps her hand away. “You’re always spending your time with that Prince.” She blinks, shocked and then she smiles. “Is my little brother jealous?” He shakes his head turning away from her. “Hardly.” He grumbles out, storming away and into his room. Skye stands up straight and heaves a sigh. The castle was becoming more cautious these past few days, there were a lot of close calls and cases of betrayal within the bodyguards at the castle. The Prince was now held under more serious security precautions, limiting his outside access and access to others besides the King and Queen. Skye was seeing less and less of him as the days went by. She runs a hand through her brown locks of hair and calls after her brother. “I think you’d both get along!” There’s silence. She drops her gaze to her feet and she felt like crying—a rush had come at her—it was a lot of work. She was only writing this book so that she could get Aiden out of the position he was in. He’d become one of the Princes bodyguards and she didn’t want that for him.

  “If you butter up to the Prince and his parents then your brother, fiancée, father, whoever! Won’t have to serve them.” A friend told her this bit of information and she took to it like gnats to fruit. But…she had gotten close to the Prince, very close, he was like a brother to her…almost. She marches up the steps and stands outside of Aiden’s room, she raises her hand to the door but does not knock. Instead she waits, letting the silence sink in before knocking twice. “My adorable brother.” She calls sweetly. “Don’t you want to talk to your adorable sister?” There’s not a reply. “Come on, don’t be like that.” Still nothing. She sighs dramatically. “You’re forcing me to pull out the nicknames.” She presses her ear to the door; feet shuffling could be heard. “My puppy are you hiding~?” She smiles softly as the doorknob begins to twist. It opens and there Aiden was staring up at her. She automatically drops to her knees, taking his arms and pulling him into her chest. “I love you.” She exclaims gently. Aiden molds into her embrace, closing his eyes and nodding. “I love you, Aiden.”

  “I know, Skye.” She smiles against the top of his head. “Then you must also know that I’m doing this for you.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense.” He states, leaning back and looking in her eyes. She smiles sadly. “Nothing makes sense, does it?” She places a hand to the top of his head. “If I write this book, they’ll find someone else to be the Prince’s bodyguard.” Aiden sticks out his bottom lip. “It’s not fair, this prince is greedy and selfish.” Skye laughs lightly. “It’s not the Prince’s fault.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “Then…how old is he?” Skye pinches her brother’s cheek. “All I can say is that you two would get along well.”

  ….

  Aiden was poking Kael in his side as he held Jenna’s hand. They were walking together to the university as this day progressed and Aiden was finding every last thing to annoy Kael. “Quit it.” Kael warns, edging away from Aiden’s explorative finger. “Is Kael getting mad now?” he tests, Jenna laughs, slipping her hand out of Aiden’s and standing in front of them. “Listen up!” She shouts and both men blink. “What is it?” Aiden questions his girlfriend; she responds with a wink. “Starting from today we are to rely on one another.” Aiden and Kael share a look. “No man left behind, no woman forgotten.”

  “What’s with this sudden burst of inspiration?” Aiden questions, Jenna giggles, her entire expression bursting with light. Aiden thought she looked beautiful, but he found his gaze wandering over to Kael who was staring at Jenna. He had this gentle look in his eyes, it wasn’t love, more along the lines of admiration, and a simple smile curled his lips. Aiden stares at him, the sunlight glinting in his eyes as he gazes at Kael and he didn’t realize it, but he had started smiling and unknowingly he had taken a step closer to Kael. Jenna looks between them and her smile slowly begins to fade. What’s going on…? The question was bitter on her tongue.

  The Lee’s

  Francis stares across the kitchen table at his older brother, he was chewing his dinner with a raised eyebrow. Francis waits for him to finish chewing before posing his question. “Do they not feed you over there?” His older brother shakes his head with a smile. “It’s rude to eat in front of them.” Francis scoffs, his nose turned up. His older brother was the butler at the Lennon Castle—Janus Lee. “They’re such hoity-toity assholes.” Francis spat causing Janus to chuckle, he dabs around his mouth before stating. “They’re actually not all that bad.” Francis pulls a face, stuffing a piece of steak in his mouth.

  “You’re just saying that ‘cause you work for them.” He says with his mouth full. His words rung true. Janus didn’t feel much for the King and Queen, he instead was intrigued by the Prince. The Little unknowing Prince. He rises up from his seat and walks towards his brother. “What if I told you a secret?” He whispers to Francis, Francis swallows looking up with dark and curious eyes. “A secret?”

  “Mhmm.” Janus places a finger to his lips and holds his brothers gaze before opening his mouth to divulge his secret. “The Prince,”

  “Yes?” Janus pauses, letting the silence settle in the air and draw out the tension. “The Prince, he….” Francis nods, gesturing for Janus to hurry on with it, the light haired brunette cracks a smile and finally says. “He goes to the same university as you.” Francis blinks and when the words finally register he kicks his brother in his ankle. “I thought you were going to say something serious.” Janus falls back with a silent laugh, his mouth open but not a sound was coming out. Francis flashes him a glare before standing up and dashing off into his room. “Francis, wait, I have another secret!” He calls. “This one concerns the king!” Francis doesn’t stop to further entertain his older brother, there were more important things to be done such as calling up Kai so he could help him study for his English course and maybe practice a few more jazz spins. He collapses on his bed with a flomp, letting out a sigh and kicking off his sneakers. He runs a hand through his hair before
dialing Kai’s number.

  Janus was still downstairs cleaning up the dishes off of the table and dumping them in the sink. He did have a secret or two, one about the King and one about himself. He turns the knob on the faucet until the water runs hot. He stares at it in a daze watching as the sink fills, slowly covering the dishes. The king was a salacious man, he shared his crude jokes with Janus thinking that the butler found them amusing or relatable. Even though the King never talked about his wife in a degrading manner. Whenever Janus mentioned her, the King would laugh it off and say that she was a beautiful woman, but there was no depth to his words. Janus turns the water off, mixing the orange fish soap into the sink until foamy bubbles appear. It happened years ago, when Janus had only begun to work at the castle and when Skye appeared. He found her attractive in a pure way. She’d walk around the castle with a smile and would always meet Janus’s gaze with a bright expression and respectful bow even though he was a mere butler, a servant of higher class. He runs the water down a glass plate, watching as it trickles down the floral design. She was truly a wonderful woman—a woman’s figure disappears into the Kings bedroom, but it couldn’t have been the queen since she was travelling abroad for a gala as her duty as queen. Janus thought it to be rather strange that a woman would be going into the king’s bedroom at this time of night. Could it be an assassin? A spy? Chills course down his spine and already possessing the necessary tactical skills, he decides to follow after the shadow. The hall felt ominously small, shrinking with each step he took and then finally he was standing in front of the king’s bedroom. He reaches a hand up to knock on the door, but it opens on its own. There was shuffling coming from behind the door. He reaches in his back pocket for his gun, pulling it out and taking aim. The gun was focused into the dark, a woman’s voice echoes softly in the bedroom. Janus’s aim falters. The woman sighs and the bed creaks. Janus’s eyebrows furrow and he opens the door a little wider to get a better look inside and he uncovers who the shadowed woman was—Skye. The king was on top of her and with each of his movements the bed would strain.