Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
CYPRIEN
Once again, I was awake before the sun the next morning, having slept by the hearth to avoid the fashion shenanigans of my forest friends.
I had breakfast ready by the time Antonia wandered in, and I left her to it to begin my outdoor chores.
Jeb had been taking excellent care of everything, but he shouldn’t be left to do such work at his age.
I started at the barn, seeing that the horses were fed and their stalls mucked out.
Everything was in order, so I took a little trip out to the orchard and hay fields.
The hay had not recovered from the Royal Guard tromping through, though I hadn’t expected as much.
Other than that, it appeared well maintained and almost ready for harvest.
I found Jeb in the orchard, dropping apples into a large wheelbarrow. He saw me before I saw him and his, “Boy, what in the depths are you doing out of the bed?” startled me.
“There you are, old man. I was just doing the rounds but it seems as though you’ve got that well in hand this morning.” I plucked an apple out of a nearby tree and dropped it into the wheelbarrow.
“Aye, this is the last of the morning work. This will be my last load of apples as well.” He picked a few more apples before continuing. “But you didn’t answer my question–what are you doing gallivanting around outside? The wife told me that you still needed to rest your back.”
“She’s not wrong, but I can’t stand the idea of being cooped up in that bedroom another day.” I smiled and shook my head. “I have to make myself useful or I’ll go insane by the time the ball begins.”
“You’ve got another day before then, plenty of time to wallow and waste away. Can’t be having that.” Jeb climbed down the ladder then turned to the wheelbarrow. “Mind pushing this back for me?”
“Certainly, old man,” I teased. Jeb followed close behind me as I headed toward the house.
We walked in silence until we got to the edge of the little garden we maintained for the kitchen, which was just a few feet from the kitchen door.
That was when Jeb grabbed my arm. “Now, wait a minute. I’ve got something to tell you before you go inside.
” His eyes were downcast and a frown creased his brow.
“I’m so ashamed that I let them whip you like that, damned ashamed.
Nothing could have justified a whipping so vicious. ”
I squeezed his shoulder. “I’m glad you didn’t try to stop them.” He gasped and looked up at me. “You’d only have gotten yourself whipped too. I’m young, I can take it. I don’t want to think about what those injuries could have done to you.”
He shook his head at me, but stayed quiet.
We headed off in separate directions, me to the side door and the kitchen beyond, and him around back to our detached root cellar.
Upon entering the kitchen, I saw Antonia busy with the dishes from breakfast. When I entered, she gave me a bright smile.
“How does everything look? I know Jeb has been working hard on getting everything done.”
I moved to stand next to her and started drying the dishes before I responded. “He’s done a great job. Everything was perfect. I barely had to lift a finger, and that was only because he asked me to.”
Antonia chuckled. “That’s my Jeb. We wanted to make sure that you had time to finish your costume and catalogue your father’s clothing before the stepfamily returned.” She turned and looked at me. “They left right after breakfast, and intend to have lunch in town.”
“That’s marvelous! You two do too much for me.” I kissed Antonia on the cheek, and she giggled like a schoolgirl and swatted me away.
“Off with you, before you run out of daylight!” I fled, dodging one last attack from her dish towel.
ALARIC
I sighed, once again forced into the skimpy gold costume that was meant to pass for a lion.
Fortunately, the loincloth had been swapped for shorts.
Alas, they were so short and tight that they left nothing to the imagination.
They–both the tailor and my father–had also decided that something was missing.
That missing object being a solid gold codpiece covered in jewels, a cage for my cock and balls.
To add insult to injury, Travis had shown up the very moment the tailor held the golden travesty up to my groin.
“What’s all this, mate? You need a crown for your royal jewels now?
” He flopped down into one of the chairs in my dressing room, intent on making fun of me.
As if half of the kingdom seeing me in full costume at the ball wasn’t punishment enough for any sin I may ever commit in the entirety of my existence.
“Watch it there, mate.” I grimaced, muscling through the codpiece being pinned in place, the idea of something so sharp against my most delicate of parts churning my stomach “Remember who you’re talking to.”
Travis mockingly bowed to me. “My apologies, Highness but you know I cannot lie to you. Ignoring the compulsion to tease you would be a crime against our friendship and humanity as a whole. Surely you took no offence.”
I paused and pretended to think on it to make Travis squirm.
“Of course not. It’s just–wasn’t my father’s ultimatum bad enough?
And now he’s making me bejewel my cock for a ball that all of the young people in the kingdom are coming to.
” I gestured at my crotch in irritation. “What the fuck is wrong with the man?”
“Far be it from me to speculate on the king’s alleged issues in front of witnesses, but I think he’s just stressed out.
” Travis gestured to my costume before addressing the tailor.
“My good sir, don’t you think that the golden cage is a little too far down?
It makes the royal jewels look… saggy. And the king will not allow the future of the entire kingdom to sag. It’ll send a terrible message.”
A cough poorly disguised the laugh I struggled to conceal. “He’s right. This won’t do.” I gestured at my crotch and the monstrosity pinned to it before turning back to Travis. “What do you think, up an inch maybe? As it is now it’s a bit, I don’t know, obscene?”
Travis readily agreed. “That’s exactly what I was trying to say!”
The tailor stood, horrified, eyes wide and jaw dropped. His apprentice stifled a laugh behind him.
His mouth flapped a few times as he tried to gather his words.
“Allow me to offer my sincerest apologies, your Highness. I never meant to imply such things. I will adjust the position at once.” He unpinned the intricate net of gold and jewels then stood back to look at me.
“Forgive me, your Highness. If I am to pin this higher I shall need to…” He paused to clear his throat.
“Adjust the uh, royal jewels as it were. That is to say I need to place your package into the cage before pinning it so that I can make sure it is at a comfortable height.”
“Don’t lie.” Travis interjected, all but falling out of his chair. He took in a quivering breath then shouted, “The future of the kingdom could be in there!”
“Now that’s nonsense and you know it! The future king has more of a chance of being in your balls than he does mine at this point.
” I laughed so hard that it startled the tailor, earning me a pin in my testicle.
“River take you, man! That is assault directly upon my person! I think we’re done fitting for today. Get this foolish costume off of me.”
The tailor hurried to comply, nearly jabbing me again in the process.
Travis howled with laughter, a sherry bottle had appeared in his hand and he threw it back jovially.
That’s when I realized that he was already wasted–at ten in the morning.
I was also very drunk, but that was neither here nor there.
Travis had no reason to be out of his mind in the sauce at such an early hour.
Unless something had happened regarding my sister.
I sent the tailor and the servants away and dressed myself before kneeling next to Travis. He blinked glassy eyes at me, then offered me the bottle. I yanked it from him. “Hey, what’s your deal, mate?” His words slurred now.
“What’s my deal? I’m not the one who is drunk for no reason before lunch, making jabs at the Prince himself!” I jumped out of the way as Travis tried to swat at me. “And now you’re trying to assault the Prince! But I’m the one with a problem this morning.”
“I don’t have a problem, I have an insurmountable disaster!
One of your servants or guards must have told your father what we three spoke of and he forbids your sister to consider me as an option for marriage until she considers every other eligible man at the ball.
” He groaned and tried to reclaim the bottle.
“I don’t stand a chance against that kind of competition!
I come from a good family but some of these men are sons of Dukes, taught to charm a woman from high society to advance their positions.
My father holds no real title and my mother is just the youngest child of a high ranking general who served with your grandfather.
How am I expected to have a chance against any of them? ”
It was no surprise that my father had decided such a thing, what was surprising was the fact that one of my servants or guards had betrayed us, especially considering the fact that I had made them all leave the room before dinner began.
They had been much more loyal than that in the past. Perhaps my father was offering bribes for information on my sister and I’s activities while we were sequestered in our chambers.
What they didn’t know, however, was that my sister swore she wouldn’t marry anyone forced upon her.
Especially some social ladder-climbing noble who tried to woo her with empty promises.
I said none of that to Travis, as there were guards in the room and I didn’t know who I could trust. “Have faith in my sister and yourself. It’s not over until she walks down the aisle. ”
Travis threw his head back and laughed, but it was hollow. “You say that, but we both know your father.”
“Indeed we do.”