The Prince Ch. 07

"No, you didn't belong there next to him. You should never be next to such a person."

Amber felt tears welling up in her eyes as Marissa said this. However, she managed to ask this next question with the same calm that a hero faces certain death. "Do youreallymean that Marissa?"

"Of course I do."

Hearing those words may as well have been a strike to her face. How could she have expected anything different? She had been right in thinking that she did not deserve to be there and Marissa had just confirmed it.

"Thank you." They were the two most solemn sounding words that anyone could ever hear. Amber forced herself to appear more cheerful and said, "Let's go, get dressed and have breakfast before we get in trouble for being late."

Marissa had a hard time trusting the change she had seen, but ended up replying, "All right let's go."

Amber looked all right on the outside, but she was in pain. Her entire body ached and she felt as though she was going to fall to the floor and cry because of it at any moment. It hurt. It hurt to know she did not belong there and she knew that it was true.

She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry it hurt so bad, but she forced herself to appear normal and no one could tell from the way she spoke how upset she was. It was going to be one of the longest days of Amber's life.

***

He dreamed that night. He dreamed that a ship was coming and he had to decide whether or not to get on it. He did not know why, but he could sense that the choice was a critical one; not only critical, but defining. The choice was his to make, but it was difficult.

Which decision was the right one was unclear, as were the consequences. He wanted to know more before he made a decision, but the ship had nearly arrived and time was running out. There was a crowd around him and he was having to fight his way through them. He was going to speak to the portmaster and find out where the ship was going.

However, the more he tried to get to the port master the harder the crowd fought against his movements. When he finally made it to the portmaster it was time to make a choice. He had to decide without knowing what each choice meant.

At that moment the Prince's eyes shot open and he sat up wide awake. He had had that same dream many times over the past few weeks. This was the furthest he had ever made it in the dream before waking. The other times, he just known that he had to make a choice and soon, but this time was different. This time he had nearly had to make his choice.

The meaning of the dream was not clear, but that was not what disturbed him. If he had believed in some of the more fantastic ideas about dreams, he would have thought that this was a prophetic one. However, he did not think that dreams had any connection with reality. What disturbed him about the dream was that he kept having the same one.

He had never had an experience such as this and it did make him wonder if there was some significance to the dream. His love of sailing could not explain the dream as the dream had left him with a sense that the ship would take him somewhere and that he would not be able to return. Nothing else jumped to his mind as a possible explanation.

A moment passed where he continued to consider the issue, but his mind paused as he realized that something was wrong. He quickly deduced that the source of his disturbance was that Amber was gone. She must have left him when he was sleeping, but he found it surprising that she could have left without interrupting his rest.

This was surprising because he often had difficulty sleeping and always woke up extremely early. He saw by looking at his window that this was clearly not the case as it looked to be around eight in the morning which was far later than usual. There were things that he needed to do, far from the least of which was announcing that he had returned.

It bothered him only slightly that Amber was not there. He thought that he should have had a stronger emotional response that was in the direction of anger, but instead felt a much more hollow sensation that was difficult to identify. He rapidly decided that he would have to chastise her in some way when he saw her next. He did not take the time to decide what that punishment would be because he knew that he could easily improvise her punishment and have it be far more effective than planning it out.

He moved out of bed and dressed himself with a casual indifference. The suit that he dressed in was one of great formality and had a military feel, but was of a completely different color pattern than the navy blue and white one worn by traditional officers. The Prince's suit consisted of deep shade of purple for the dominant color and burgundy for the trim.

This suit did not overwhelm him and appear to large as it would for nearly any other man that wore it. Both he and the suit appeared to match each other in greatness. This was a sight to behold. The Prince only wore this outfit if he was planning on sending every person around him into a state of awe. The tactic had never failed him and he planned to make use of it today.

As he headed toward the palace, many of the servants stopped in there work to gawk at him. His appearance was too great and unexpected for them to do otherwise. However, anyone that met his eyes directly would quickly turn away and attempt to return to work; they usually succeeded in only making themselves more obvious in their indiscretion.

Doors were opened in surprise and word quickly spread of his arrival. By the time that he made it to the king's chambers, his father was waiting for him. Henry had already dismissed the servants from the room and stood watching the Prince.

"Good day to you, my liege," the Prince said whilst stepping into a low bow. The formality was unnecessary in this case and was presented only to irritate his father. He held the position and waited.

"Stand up. I have no time to waste on your foolish antics," the king said with obvious anger in his voice.

"I see not how this auspicious display of my humility can be perceived as such. I am only doing the duty required to serve the great ruler of this land," the Prince said with a mocking tone as he stood up to his full height.

His father's eyes bulged at this proclamation and left him in a truly detestable mood. He did not take the bait this time though and instead asked, "Where have you been?"

The Prince locked his eyes after the question was finished. "You know what my answer will be before you ask the question."

"That does not mean that I will not ask it," his voice filled with venom. "Since you are back and standing in such a nonchalant manner, I expect that you believe that I can do nothing to you."

"Why, no, I would never make such a claim unless Iknewit to be true," the Prince said in a very casual tone. "I simply believe that any punishment you could give me would be impossible for you to enforce; seeing that I could always vanish again."

"You will not leave your rightful place!"

"I never said that I had any intention to, I simply was stating a fact that I have no doubt was obvious to you."

The king stared at him with an obvious anger coursing through him. No one could infuriate him as his son could. He looked for any weaknesses in his son, but could see none. Through gritted teeth he said, "Today you shall resume your neglected duties. There is much work to be done and I shall not see you shirking from it."

The Prince stood looking at his nails as his father spoke. "What task would you like me to perform today."

The king took pleasure in informing him of the duties and people he would need to speak to. The list was long and the Prince did not appear to pay attention or take a single note on the list of things that would be required of him. This frustrated the king as it always had, but he knew that his son would not forget a word that he had said and that everything would be performed to perfection.

The only satisfaction that was derived from giving him these jobs was that King Henry knew that he detested the lot of them and would much prefer to have the time to himself to tinker with god knows what. The lecture that he gave him droned on for over an hour and when the king finally stopped speaking the Prince simply asked, "Is that all?"

The king glared at him one last time before saying, "Yes, you may go."

The Prince swept his way out of the room without another word. The encounter had gone much as he expected and he now had a long and tedious day ahead of him. He was not looking forward to this day and he knew that he would not finish all of the tasks required of him, but he would accomplish them as quickly as he could.