A Prince's Pride

*Milo*

The events of tonight still have me shaken. As we approach the palace gates, as we enter the palace, as Aaron gives his report to the King with me in the room, I'm sure I'm about to be arrested. Every time a guard walks past me, I flinch, hoping they'll think it's just aftershock from the attack on the train. No matter what Aaron says, I don’t trust Corianne.

When we get back to Aaron's room, I look at the cot. The idea of sleeping on that while Aaron is so close is torture. As always, Sir Oswald is behind us and he seems to read my mind. He walks up to the cot, places a foot on the middle of it, and presses until the wooden frame bends, then breaks.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness," says Sir Oswald in a flat voice. "I don't know what happened to the cot. I guess Milo will have to share your bed. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. I'll make sure you two aren't disturbed."

He winks at us before returning to his post outside the door.

Aaron grabs my hand and pulls me to his bed where he tucks me in. I prefer sleeping naked, and so does he, but that would be hard to explain if we were found out. He climbs into the bed, keeping distance between our bodies, but his hand finds mine under the blanket and he holds it tenderly.

Even just this small touch from Aaron calms me down immensely, finally causing my shaking to subside. In the dim moonlight filtering through the windows of the balcony doors, I can see Aaron is watching me as I try to fall asleep.

*Aaron*

The next morning, my father gives a speech to the citizens of Crown City, informing them of his decision to relocate the Slummites temporarily and to announce the war between the Lower Reach and Midoor. I heard it's a good speech, talking about unity and standing against our enemies.

"You can't stay in my room all day. You have duties as a Royal Attendant," I say to Milo. He's been huddling in a corner of my room for the past two hours. I’ve been trying to coax him out of it, which is why I missed my father’s speech.

"I'm just so scared," he says. "I don't trust Corianne. I think she's holding on to this to use against you."

"What evidence is there to that?"

"It's an instinct. You've been surrounded by guards your whole life. You haven't had to watch over your back. Corianne isn't as nice as she seems."

"I think you're wrong. And I told you: I'll die before I let something happen to you. And if my father does execute you, I'll throw myself out this window." I point to the balcony. My room is one of the tallest in the palace, so it's a substantial threat.

"Fine," he says, standing at last. I watch him stretch the stiffness from his joints since he's been sitting stationary for so long.

There's a knock on my door. When I call for them to come in, I see it's Corianne. As she walks, she’s brushing her dress with her hands, though it’s perfectly clean. I take a glance at Milo in time to see him forcibly rearranging his features from extreme distrust and dislike to a look of benign interest at her arrival.

"Hello, Your Highness," she says to me. "Your father sent me to tell you he's invited me to lunch with your family." She glances back at the door to make sure it's closed before saying quietly to me and Milo, "Maybe we can find a way to leave early so you two can have some alone time."

I look at Milo and smile. He's smiling, too, but I can still see the distrust in his eyes. Milo and I have been together for two years and can practically read one another’s thoughts. I know he doesn’t trust her, but I hope he follows my lead on this.

I truly believe Corianne will be a great ally against my father's plans for me. If we work together, we can avoid marrying each other.

Still, thinking about my father, something has been on my mind. Ever since my father told me he thought Milo was gay, I've been trying to think of what that might mean. He didn't seem upset or repulsed. He just stated it as a fact. Did he not care that his son was being dressed and bathed by a gay man?

"Your Highness?" asks Corianne, making me realize I'd been staring off into space.

"Sorry," I say, "I didn't sleep that well last night. Too worried about what happened."

"Me catching you? You two don't need to worry. I think it's kind of sweet you two have a secret hookup thing going on. Plus, it means we don't have to do anything."

Milo still looks skeptical, but only in his eyes. He's smiling at Corianne.

"Thank you, Lady Corianne," says Milo with a small bow of his head.

"It's no problem," says Corianne. “I have a cousin who’s gay, and was thouroughly overjoyed when His Majesty, the King, passed the law legalizing gay relationships and marriage.” I hear Milo breathe through his nose as if he were holding back a laugh, but I don’t think Corianne caught it. "So let's get to lunch and, with any luck, we can get away early."

"Okay. Let's go," I say and head for the door until I notice Milo isn't behind us. I look at him questioningly.

"I'm not on table service today," he says. "I'm just going to spend some time cleaning your room."

"Or," I say, drawing out the word, "you could go home and get some rest." He opens his mouth to argue, but I cut him off with, "That's an order."

He rolls his eyes at me, a rare sight, but starts to head for the door. He pauses pas he passes me, apparently thinking hard for a moment, then kisses me, smiles at Corianne, and leaves the room.

"You two are so cute together," says Corianne before we leave the room behind Milo.

Lunch is a pompous affair for my family. My father orders the cooks to make way more food than is necessary for the four of us. Thankfully, I'm aware the staff will share what would be thrown away amongst them. Part of me thinks my father does this on purpose.

We sit and eat, mostly silent, except for my father doting over Corianne. He's the one who turns the lunch into something awful.

"When are you two getting married?" asks my father without a lead up. Corianne chokes on her water, spitting a considerable amount down her dress and starts coughing. Riley has that shit eating grin again, looking at Corianne.

"We haven't discussed it yet, Father," I say as dignified as I can through my suppressed laughter.

"I hardly think it's fair to laugh at a lady in distress, Your Highness," says Corianne in fake admonishment. I pretend to look chastised.

After lunch, Corianne and I decide to take a walk through the Upper Ring. It's mostly inhabited by noblemen, though some Middlers, the nickname for those who live in the Middle Ring, work here in shops the Uppers frequent.

When she leads me to Milo's apartment, Corianne’s true purpose becomes clear to me.

"Have a good afternoon, Your Highness," she says with a wink, leaving me at the door. “I’ll swing by in an hour to join you on your walk back up to the palace.”

"I'm going to stand guard over there, where I can't hear anything," says Oswald, who's accompanying me as usual.

When I knock on the door, there's no answer. I wait for about thirty seconds and knock again, but again, no answer. Instead of waiting out here, I use my spare key to go into the apartment. Milo's bags are on his kitchen table, still packed from the night before, but Milo isn’t here.

I have an idea.

I walk outside and tell Oswald to make himself scarce, then strip my clothes and climb into his bed, completely naked.

I start to get bored after ten minutes until the door opens and Milo comes in. I can see him through his open bedroom door, but he doesn't know I'm in here. That is, until he turns on the light and sees me stretched out on the end of his bed, my cock hanging out for him to see.

"Aaron?" he asks as if he doesn't recognize me.

"Shut up and come fuck me," I say.

*Milo*

“Where is Sir Oswald and Lady Corianne?” I ask.

Aaron rolls his eyes, but I don’t get the same pleasure from it I usually do. “Milo, I’m laying on your bed naked and that’s what you’re worried about?”

I look back at the door and ask, “Does she know you’re here?”

“Yes,” he says, and I look back at him, feeling worried..

“What if she’s going up to–”

“No,” he say, cutting me off as he stands up. “Oswald is outside. I told him to hide while I waited for you. Corianne is on our side.” I can tell he knows I don’t trust this. He steps up to me and wraps his arms around me, then kisses my neck. I feel him bend slightly and press his pelvis into me, so I can feel his cock pressing into my leg. I let out an involuntary gasp.

“I mean,” I say, looking at him. I feel my eyes drooping, and look into his lust-filled eyes. “We didn’t get to finish what we started last night.” I smile just before he grabs my head in his hand and presses his mouth to mine. He knows he has me wrapped around his finger as our tongues dance in my mouth.

I bend low enough to scoop him up into my arms, his legs wrapping around my body, and carry him over to my bed where I fall on top of him, our mouths still connected. He’s kissing me as though we’ve been apart for several weeks, even though it was only last night. I know why. He thought I might’ve died last night. I know he can sense my hesitation, and I’m sure he knows it’s because of Corianne.

“Are you sure–” I start to say, but he shushes me by putting his finger to my lips.

“Trust me,” he says. So I decide to. Not about Corianne, not entirely. But about here, about this moment.

I sit up and pull my shirt off. I love the way he looks at me, even though I’m not ripped like he is. It doesn’t escape my attention that he’s flexing his abs, showing off for me. I rub them, dry humping his ass through my pants, my already hard cock begging to be let loose. I oblige it, stepping away from him to pull my pants down before our bare skin touches and electricity ignites between us.

My cock is rubbing between his ball sack and the inside of his leg. It’s hot today, so the sweat under his balls give slight lubrication to my cock. I can tell the touch is driving him crazy, his cock leaking precum. All of my horniness from the night before comes rushing back, but I still feel that worry from earlier, so I decide to make this quick.

I reach up past him and pull my bottle of lube out of my bedside table, wet my cock and his hole, and slide right in. He gasps, staring into my soul. Every time I enter him, I get this sense that we were made for each other. We just fit so perfectly. I don’t go slow. I start to pound his ass and, with each thrust, I feel my anxiety about Corianne, my leftover worries from last night, my fear of the future, evaporate.

In this moment, it’s just me and Aaron.

“Oh my fucking Gods,” Aaron moans, “your cock feels so good, baby. Yes…yes…fuck me…yes…”

His moans are driving me crazy, awakening some primal instinct in me. A need to satisfy him and myself.

I grab his cock in my slick hand and start working it, periodically collecting the precum and adding it to the lube as I stroke his dick. His eyes roll in the back of his head as I fuck him.

“Take that fucking dick, Your Highness,” I growl, laying into him even harder. I can practically feel his prostate as my cock slams against it.

I’m not sure how long we stay there, in that blissful heaven. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. As I thrust in and out of him, I feel our souls connect and electricity sparkles over us. As I feel myself getting closer, I reach up and grab his throat, squeezing lightly. He reaches up with a hand and squeezes my own, tightening my grip.

“Oh, fuck,” I gasp, “oh–” I thrust deep into him and feel my cock unload, shooting hot cum deep inside him. I keep fucking him and stroking his cock as he gasps and moans my name.

“Milo,” he gasps, “Milo, fuck me. Yes, don’t stop, Milo.”

I feel his ass clench around my coc and he cums in my hand, his seed shooting out over his abs, chest, and our joined hands. I keep slamming into him over and over, sweat running down my body, until it’s all I can do to not collapse on him.

“I hope you two had fun,” says Corianne, much later when Aaron and I are cleaned off.

“Oh, yes,” says Aaron, kissing me on my cheek. He smiles at Corianne, clearly grateful for her giving us the opportunity to be together. I give her no such thanks. Aaron can sing her praises until the cows come home, then sing those same praises to the cows. I don’t trust her with any fiber of my being.

“Good,” she says. “I’m glad I was able to help. We should really talk about what we’re going to do next where your father is concerned. We need him to think our relationship is progressing if he’s to eventually get off our backs.”

A thought occurs to me. What if she’s just pretending to be against his father to eventually find a way to marry him? As a princess, she’d be rich beyond her dreams. She’d have everything she could ever want. Something tells me this isn’t her real plan, though. She’s going to blackmail him into giving her something. I just know it.

When Aaron, Corianne, and Oswald depart later, I wait in my apartment until ten at night and head out, cloak over my head. I’ve lived in Crown City for over half twenty-one year life, and I know its streets well. It doesn’t take long for me to make my way to the channel of water that divides the Lower and Middle Rings of the city.

There’s a tavern here, The Milky Way, which is ironically owned by Corianne’s family. In the back, I sit next to another cloaked figure. He drums the table with his finger four times. I drum twice. He drums five times.

It’s a code. We’re haggling over the price of his information. If he’s haggling this hard, he must have found something good. I pull five gold coins from my pouch and slide them toward him.

He looks up at me and I see his wicked smile.

“I followed the Lady Corianne all day, as you requested, Milo,” says Tanner Greenfield, a private detective. He’s entirely bald with a clean shaven face. He’s entirely unremarkable in his looks. “And I have something you’ll want to hear.”

“Can I get you two gentlemen anything?” asks a barmaid as she stops by our table.

“Yes,” I tell her. “Two mugs of your finest ale for me and my friend here.” I see Tanner’s eyes light up as she nods and heads towards the bar.

“Well,” I say, “let’s hear it, then.”

*Aaron*

When we returned to the palace, Corianne decided to head to bed early. Fine by me. It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to get a workout in and, while I know Milo wouldn’t care if I lost my six pack, I love the way he looks at them and I’m not about to let them fade.

I’m heading for the gym, Oswald behind me. It suddenly occurs to me I’ve never asked his advice.

“Do you trust Corianne?” I ask.

“No, sir, I don’t.”

I roll my eyes. “Why is everyone so quick to mistrust her?” He doesn’t have an answer.

“I will defer to you, always, my prince, but I question her motives.”

“She’s done nothing but help me and Milo since she discovered us. She’s an ally to us, same as you.”

“If you say so, Your Highness,” he says, bowing his head. “I will stand guard while you work out.” He turns and stands by the door, back straight. I leave him here and head into the gym.

Thirty minutes later, I’ve worked up a sweat. I glance at myself in the mirror, looking at my abs, my shirt having been discarded several minutes prior.

“Gods, you’re checking yourself out in the mirror?” says Riley as she enters the gym. She’s dressed in pants and a shirt, her hair in a ponytail. I rarely see her out of one of her fancy dresses.

I glance at the door to make sure it’s shut. Riley’s guard doesn’t know about me and Milo. “Gotta make sure I look good for my man,” I tell her, waggling my eyebrows. She rolls her eyes.

“Would you care to spar? I’ve grown bored with the dummies. They don’t hit back.”

“Sure,” I tell her and follow her to a chest in the corner where boxing gloves can be found. The gloves will offer some protection, but I still have to be careful how hard I hit. I don’t want to leave a bruise.

Riley stands in the center of the gym on a mat used for wrestling practice. She lifts her fists and surveys me over them. It’s been a while since my sister and I have sparred. I’m interested to see how good she’s gotten.

“Don’t worry,” she says, “I’ll be careful of Milo’s favorite spot.”

“Thank you for protecting the family jewels,” I say.

“I was talking about your ass. Milo is the man in the relationship, right?” she says teasingly.

“Oh, you’ll pay for that one.”

Riley kicks a leg out to sweep me and I look down. Her right fist connects with my face, taking advantage of my lapse in attention. I step to the right and her eyes follow me, not catching my left hand as it swings and catches her in the side. She swings her right arm down, knocking mine away, leaving me open for a left hook, which I deflect, exposing her back. I step past her, swing around, and land a blow there. She kicks out her leg, her foot connects to my stomach, and she uses my momentum to send me on my butt. I roll backwards, regain my feet, and look up to see her advancing on me.

With a roll to the side, I dodge her blow, but I’m unsteady, and she knocks me down again with a well-placed sweep of her leg. Her footwork has gotten so much better.

“All right,” I say, “no more Mr. Nice Prince.”

I leap toward her and she brings her gloves up, protecting herself against one, two, three blows from me.

“Ow!” she cries. I drop my hands, worried I hurt her. She’s rubbing her wrist with her glove.

I step towards her. “Are you okay?”

She jabs me in the stomach once, twice, then steps back smiling. “Oh, I’m fine,” she says.

“Playing dirty, Riley?” I chastise. “That’s not behavior becoming of a princess.”

“A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” she says with a one shoulder shrug. Then she does something I’ve never seen her do. She falls, putting one glove on the ground. She uses her momentum to propel herself forward, wraps her legs around my midriff, and twists, bringing me to the ground.

We’re a heap of limbs on the ground and I can’t help but laugh.

“You’re so good. Where did you learn this?” I ask as we extricate ourselves from each other and separate. We’re both breathing hard.

“Kristoff has been teaching me some moves,” she says. “But, admit it: you were holding back. You always hold back.”

It’s true, and I don’t need to tell her that. I love my sister and have no desire to hurt her.

“Still,” I say, “you’ve improved a lot since we’ve last sparred.”

We cross to the gym and pick up our water bottles, both of us drinking deeply from them.

“Can I ask you something?” she asks. I nod. “What’re you going to do about Corianne? Father won’t give up until you’ve married her.”

“Oh, you don’t know,” I say, remembering suddenly. I tell her about Corianne walking in on us, about Criston, and how she doesn’t want to marry me, either. “What?” I ask to the look on Riley’s face.

“It’s just…weird…” she says, trailing off as she brings the bottle to her lips again. “You trust her?”

“Well, yeah,” I say flatly.

“What does Milo think?”

“He doesn’t trust her. Why?”

“Just seems fishy to me, that’s all.”

“Riley, not you too. Look, Corianne tried to get me to ignore her at the pageant. She was eating like a pig, burped in my face, has picked her teeth in front of me. She tried to get me to not like her.”

“Then why was she at the pageant in the first place?”

“Her mother made her go.”

“Her mother? Who’s in Cyria? Forty miles from the city? She could have just not come. Have you ever seen Corianne before?”

“I don’t know,” I say, scratching my head, trying to think. “She’s maybe been at one or two of the other pageants Father has thrown for this.” She’s looking at me, her eyebrows halfway up her forehead. “What?”

“Boys are so dumb,” she says. “Corianne probably realized you didn’t go for any of the pretty, pomped up girls and decided to try a different tactic. Father always has a servant bring up food that the women at those pageants never touch.

“And you said she walked in on you guys the night of the Red Hand’s attack? Why was she out of bed? If she doesn’t want to marry you or sleep with you, why did she come to your room? Why did her guard let her leave?”

“She probably just wanted to play the part. Make it seem like she wanted to be with me,” I say.

“And what would she have done if you opened your door and tried to sleep with her? If she truly doesn’t want to be with you, she’d have done better to use Father’s orders to stay in her room to her advantage.”

She’s bringing up valid points. I trust Milo implicitly, but I’ve been attributing his mistrust about Corianne to his fear of being found out. Oswald is always paranoid, seeing dangers everywhere because it’s his job. Still, I think Riley’s wrong.

“I trust Corianne,” I say.

Riley purses her lips and nods slowly.

“Just be careful, brother,” she says, then pauses as if on the edge of speech. She takes a deep breath, then plunges on. “After you came out to me, I had to watch for three years until you met Milo. I watched you grow sadder and sadder, believing you’d never find true love or happiness or whatever. When you met Milo, it was like you came back to life. I don’t know what Father would do if he discovered you two, and I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

“Are you trying to imply I’m putting Milo’s life in danger?” I ask.

“You would never do that,” she says quickly. “But I think you’re so desperate to have another ally on your side that you’re not looking at the whole picture. I don’t trust Corianne. I don’t think you should, either.”

“It was nice sparring with you, Riley. Goodnight.” I head for the door.

“Aaron–” Riley says, but I don’t stop. I leave the gym and start walking, Oswald following behind me.

“Your Highness, are you okay?” he asks as we approach a stairwell that leads to the roof.

I ignore him and climb the stairs, not paying attention to the guard that bows at me when I walk out on the parapet. I stride to the wall and look over Crown City, looking down at the Upper Ring. The cool night air feels good on my bare chest. I can see the top of Milo’s apartment building from here.

Milo isn’t there now, of course. He’s probably in his bed. As I look over the city, my mind reels. I can’t deny that Riley has sowed a seed of doubt in my mind regarding Corianne, but I’m determined to ignore it. It doesn’t matter what she says, or Oswald, or even Milo.

I know I’m right about her. I trust Corianne.

*Milo*

I’m looking down at several photographs on the table, depicting Corianne talking to a man with platinum blonde hair, a soft, round face, and heavily hooded eyes.

“What am I looking at?” I ask Tanner.

“This is called a photograph,” he says. “Using new technology called a camera, you can–”

“I know what a photograph is,” I interject. “Who is this man she’s talking to?”

“The little bit of intel I’ve been able to gather says his name is Criston. He comes from Cyria, the same city as the Lady Corianne.”

I know who Criston is, of course. He’s Corianne’s supposed love.

“And I care about this because?”

“Milo, you said you wanted info on the lady because she is to be Prince Aaron’s betrothed. Look at this one.” He shuffles the images and shows me one of Corianne and Criston in an alleyway. He’s holding her as Aaron holds me sometimes, like he doesn’t want to let her go. “If she’s being infidelious, isn’t that something the Prince should know?”

I know for a fact Aaron wouldn’t give two shits about Corianne and Criston’s supposed infidelity, but I can’t tell Tanner that. I feel a pang of regret for having paid five gold crowns for this—for lack of a better word—intel.

“Are you not happy with the information I’ve provided?” asks Tanner.

“I was looking for something a little more…seedy, if you catch my drift.”

“You believe the Lady Corianne is involved with darker dealings?” asks Tanner, his voice dripping with pleasure, probably at the prospect of discovering information that will make his coin purse swell.

“I don’t know. I just don’t trust her,” I say, gathering up the pictures and stuffing them into a pocket inside my cloak. “Stay on her and report back to me if she does anything more than whore about with Criston.” I shock even myself with my words. They were a bit harsher than I had intended.

“As you command,” says Tanner, draining his tankard. Then, he gives me a sideways look. I know what he’s going to say before he says it. “You know, Milo…I still offer my premium service. For an extra fee.”

He’s talking about breaking into Corianne’s home. Her family purchased a house for her in the Upper Ring of the city. She spends most of her time in the palace, under the eye of the King, but I know she wouldn’t keep anything there she’d be worried Aaron would find. As much as I don’t trust her, having Tanner break into her home feels wrong.

“No,” I say. “I can’t have you do that.”

Tanner looks crestfallen, but I don’t care. I’m already playing a dangerous game having a private eye follow a lady of the court. If Aaron ever found out, he’d be furious.

“As you wish,” says Tanner with a wink.

“No, Tanner, that wasn’t code. I don’t want you to do that.”

“Of course,” says Tanner, standing up. “I would never dream of such a thing.” He winks again and starts heading for the door.

“Wait!” I call after him. I stand, but a group of drunk men cross between us as he heads for the door. By the time I get past them and out onto the street, Tanner is nowhere to be found.