Chapter 37: Because I Want to Live

She really should’ve considered him more. Any position with that much prestige, power, and responsibility also carried a significant burden. As much as Tori didn’t want Gideon to become the crown prince, she also didn’t want to put Piers in a situation that he really didn’t want.

He was her friend. She should’ve thought about this more and she was a bit upset at herself for not having done so.

Piers’ expression didn’t change. He looked at her and seemed to think for a moment before he answered. “Do you think I am fit to be crown prince?”

For a moment, Tori wondered what he heard about himself and if it caused him to doubt his abilities. She wanted to defend him, but that wasn’t the question.

Considering his intelligence, which she already knew about; his interest in matters relating to the stability of the empire, which she learned from listening to him talk about his studies; and how well he’d been able to execute all the demands she’d given him about the delta, she thought he would make a very suitable crown prince.

Her brother was absolutely right and considering the other option, Piers would do a far better job because he was so observant and thought things through. He also wasn’t as awkward as she initially thought.

It had taken her a few years of practice to come out of her shell and learn to be social, especially in a professional setting, so she knew it was possible with effort to improve even a little.

But all of that took a back seat to what really mattered.

“It doesn’t matter if I think you’re fit to be crown prince,” Tori said in a firm voice. She took a step closer and met his eyes. “Do you want to be crown prince?”

Piers was quiet. He lowered his eyes. “I’ve never thought about it.”

She wanted to ask how that was possible. He was the first born and had only one other sibling. The position would go to one of them; how could he not have considered it before? Her eyes crinkled up. Did he automatically think that it would go to Gideon?

In the game, if Gideon became the crown prince, then did that mean Piers just let him have it, uncontested, and then disappeared into the background? Her stomach twisted at how unfair it felt. Piers was so much better than his brother and could do so much good. What if in the original game, Gideon just threw all the difficult work to Piers and lived the high life with Alessa?

She could see Gideon doing so and had to fight the urge to want to punch him.

Perhaps her displeasure was too evident on her face, as Piers tentatively touched her hand. “I will consider it.”

Tori closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “If you don’t want to do it, don’t force yourself.” It pained her somewhat to say that, if she were being honest.

“Do you think I wouldn’t do a good job?”

Her eyes snapped open and she frowned. “Of course, I think you’d do a good job! All twelve marches think you’d do a good job. I’m sure the Prime Minister thinks you’d do a good job.”

The corners of his lips curled up a bit and she felt his fingers hold her hands a bit more firmly. “Then, I can’t let them down, can I?”

“If you want to hold hands, can it wait until we’re not in someone else’s house?” a dull voice asked further down the hall. Tori turned her head and saw Axton approaching them in his usual calm, lazy gait. He motioned his head back. “Lord Gyles is asking for Piers. He wants to introduce you to some people.”

Piers released her hands and nodded. “I will go back.” He straightened his back and headed up the hall, towards the dining hall.

Axton moved to the side and watched him go before looking towards Tori. He raised a brow. “You asked him if he wants to be crown prince?”

Tori tried not to cringe. “Is that bad?” Axton, who had spent most of his life with Piers, probably knew him better than anyone. And he’d tell her the truth.

The knight and aide smirked. “No. I’m glad someone finally said it.” He lifted his hand to pat her head, as he often did, but paused as he remembered her hat. He chuckled and instead put his arm around her shoulder and gave her an affectionate hug. “No one ever seems to want to ask him about it. He never showed an interest and if he’s not interested, there is no use in changing his mind. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Axton, I don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on him.” She couldn’t help but be somewhat worried.

“You didn’t put any pressure that wasn’t already on him. He just ignores it,” Axton said. “He would be a far better crown prince and emperor than his brother.”

“But he needs more support doesn’t he?”

Axton squinted into the distance, as if thinking of it. He nodded. “Because he doesn’t go to these things, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the nobles and elite of the city don't know what he looks like.”

Tori grimaced. He was right. “Do you know if most of those people are supporting his brother?”

“I don’t think it’s really a conscious decision made after careful consideration,” Axton said, truthfully. “It’s more that they know Gideon. He makes his social rounds and is easy to talk to. Not to mention that he’s young and easily influenced.”

Tori almost wanted to snort at that. Gideon was easily influenced all right. “Then, what should Piers do? More social events? Talk more?” Both things he didn’t seem to be interested in.

Axton shrugged his arm off her shoulder. “You need to make them trust him to a certain extent.” He threw her a smile and patted her shoulder. “Good luck!”

Tori’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re not going to help?”

“I can only do so much,” Axton said as he moved his arms helplessly in front of him. Ahead of them, people were starting to walk out of the dining room. “My influence is limited.”

“Sir Nassaun! There you are, my wife and I wanted to know if you are looking to open a new inn in the north.” Someone called for him.

Axton pretended to look at a loss before wandering over to a middle-aged couple. Tori gave him a disparaging glare before searching the crowd for Piers. She found him speaking to Lord Gyles and made her way over.

In the end, she didn’t reach Piers for at least another thirty minutes. She was intercepted several times by curious people who asked about her store and her Lycée project. Tori didn’t know her project in the delta became so well known, but it was clear that many eyes were now on her.

And it made her stomach hurt.

She fell asleep on the way back to Lycée and Axton had to wake her to tell her that they had arrived. Next to him, Piers had also fallen asleep and Tori wondered if he always kept a spider silk eye mask on him during carriage rides. Tori quietly crept out of the carriage so as not to disturb him and then trudged back to her dorm.

Ilyana hadn’t returned yet, but Tori eyed the stack of cards on her desk that needed addressing. She took a deep breath and fought her urge to simply lay down on her bed and mentally check out for a few hours. Instead, she changed into a more casual dress and sat down at her desk to write out invitations.

She was nearly done when Ilyana returned.

“How was the luncheon?” Ilyana asked as she shrugged off her coat and hung it on a wall hook.

“It went well. Lord Wolfgang was there and so we talked a bit about how the delta construction is going along,” Tori said as she carefully wrote out one last name on the card. When she finished, she moved the card away to let the ink dry and set her brush pen to the side. She turned around in her seat and saw the bag with a rolled-up piece of cloth that reached Ilyana’s mid-thigh. “What’s that?”

“The banners for the three-day competition,” Ilyana said, proud. “Both JP and Sonia’s were ready, so we picked them up.”

“That reminds me, we need to buy our tickets to the competition to secure seating,” Tori said. It was a few weeks away, but Tori wanted to buy up a space close to the ring so that they could unfurl the banners and not block anyone’s view. The competition was held at the Imperial Stadium, between the tenth and eleventh districts.

The spare rows of adjacent stables and garrisons would be used to house the horses of competitors while the inns would be taken up by visitors in town for the competition. The stadium was a remnant of ancient times, but continuously in use, so the facilities were well maintained and replaced every few decades.

Tori had yet to see it or the Imperial Arena, but Ilyana, who had gone with Sonia and JP during winter break, told her it was huge. Taking that into consideration, Tori and Ilyana ordered the largest signs they could.

“Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?”

“Let’s go to Azul,” Tori said. “I want something big and filling. The post is also close by and I need to mail off the invitations.”

“I’ll call the others to see if they want to come,” Ilyana said.

“Call Ewan and Albert, too. You know they complain when we go out without them,” Tori said as she began to stuff envelopes. She shook her head. “Even when they’re not on campus.”

Ilyana dutifully called everyone. Henrik was reviewing some papers and said he’d meet them at the restaurant. Sonia didn’t pick up, but JP did and said they’d be a few minutes late, but would see them there. Albert had dinner plans with his family and Ewan was babysitting and couldn’t come.

An hour or so after sunset, the two collected the invitations and headed out, chattering about what to serve at the prototype exhibition and the release party. The prototype exhibition invited very few people: Tori’s aunt and uncle, Princess Vivian, Madam Martin, Madam Guthry, and Henrik’s parents.

It was meant to show them the samples and allow them to pre-order the goods to their measurements. Readymade clothing for the populace wasn’t new, but it wasn’t popular as no one wanted to make clothing and waste materials if it wasn't going to sell. Most commoners stitched their own clothing or altered existing ones, such as hand-me-downs. The wealthy had their clothes made by professionals.

Unless there was a specific niche market they were catering to where the garments could be uniform and would be purchased no matter what, it wasn’t common. Most clothing shops were basically tailors and orders had to be put in.

Lions Gate had a few readymade items on hand, but customers were encouraged towards, and almost always ended up, having the readymade garments tailored inhouse or ordered custom garments based on a pre-existing design they were able to see and feel. This helped lessen the amount of waste material from unsold racks of readymade garments and increased the relationship between the store and the customer.

In Lions Gate East, where the target market was less wealthy, customers would buy the readymade garments and alter them at home. The more complicated and difficult work had already been done for them. All they had to do was take in some excess cloth that could later be taken out if needed.

Tori wanted to leverage this flexibility and speed. There were plenty of excellent tailors and workshops willing to work with them. Several exceptional tailors were on a recommendation list at Lions Gate High Street that Manager Dolores would let customers select from for more detailed work.

However, all prototypes were done by Madam Midstrom and her family. They would also be present at the exhibition on High Street.

“I’d like a small meal setting, but do you think we have enough room in the store?” Tori tried to imagine how much space they had. Even if they shoved all the current shelves and mannequins in the back, she felt it would be too crowded. “We can set up a table to the side with the food and then standing tables. I can ask if we can contract two servers from La Lumiere to serve coffee to each table. I think it’ll feel roomier without the chairs.”

“I like that idea, too. It feels less formal,” Ilyana said. “And you said you wanted it to be less formal and more for friends.”

“I’m expecting between ten and twenty people, aside from us,” Tori said. “As Madam Martin and Madam Guthry may bring guests with them.”

“What if she brings the Prime Minister?” Ilyana perked up. Her eyes were wide. “You said they didn’t seem to know about Mr. Guthry’s...um...unpleasantness to you?”

“They don’t, and that’s between me and Mr. Guthry. His parents have been very kind, so I will reciprocate in the same manner,” Tori said. Of course, she hadn’t spoken to Madam Guthry since the evening party weeks earlier. For all she knew, Dimitri had disparaged her in front of his parents and made her out to be some monster who was harassing Alessa.

She and Ilyana had their arms looped together as they walked out the front gates of Lycée. There were a few carriages parked there, likely dropping off students who had gone home for the day.

“I feel I can focus more on Lions Gate now, since midterm exams are over and we don’t have review exams this half of the semester,” Ilyana said. “Although, I have heard that because of that, many students’ ranks dropped in the last semester because they didn’t keep up as well.”

“To be fair, there are also a host of things happening between midterm exams and final exams.” Tori told her. “Not only are academic students engrossed in their projects, but there are also numerous competitions, performances, and the spring festival.” All those clubs and activities that she’d seen during her first week of school often did some sort of exhibition or activity that coincided with Horizon’s spring festival.

Tori didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she secretly hoped it was like those ‘cultural festivals’ she’d read about in manga as a teen. Her university had a spring quarter open house to prospective undergraduates that was of a similar line, but it was usually the big frats and sororities that dominated it. Her club for her major was small and they always ended up just setting up a pop-up tent and selling popsicles.

“About that, are you going to help with the Sword Association during the spring festival or are you going to help with the homeroom?”

“The Sword Association always does an exhibition,” Tori said. “I volunteered to lead a few fifteen-minute-long beginner classes for different ages, since the campus is open and they told me that there are a lot of visitors.”

Ilyana nodded. “Do you need help?”

“You’re not going to help with the homeroom?”

Ilyana’s eyes narrowed. “I take it you didn’t hear,” she said in a somewhat irritated voice. “Since there aren’t a lot of students in homeroom who don’t have an after-class activity, Mr. Guthry suggested we work with the baking club.”

Tori nodded. “That doesn’t sound so bad.” Free cookies, right? I might have to stop by.

Ilyana’s irate look didn’t lessen. “Miss Hart is in the baking club.”

Well, fuck that then. “In that case, come by the Sword Association. You and Ewan can do a dagger demo. Nanny Rey says you’ve improved.”

Her roommate’s face immediately brightened.

“Is that Lady Tori?” a woman’s voice called behind them. The two turned around as a carriage that had just passed them came to a stop. The door was pushed open and a stoic faced Dimitri stepped down. His mother was peering out the window, smiling wide.

“Madam Guthry, good evening!” Tori immediately put a smile on her face, both pleased to see the woman still appeared to look at her favorably and that the favor bothered Dimitri. “How are you doing?”

“I’m well, thank you. Are you off to dinner?” Madam Guthry looked curious as Tori, still with her arm looped with Ilyana, walked closer.

“Yes. This is my roommate, Ilyana Agafonova. We’re meeting some friends who stayed on campus today for dinner at the plaza.”

Ilyana took it as her cue to greet the Prime Minister’s wife with a respectful bow of her head. “How do you do, Madam Guthry?”

“Very well. Are you the Miss Agafonova that has been giving students review sessions?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“I’ve heard about you from some of my friends who said their children’s scores have risen. How rare that two such talented young women are roommates!”

Ilyana seemed proud of this and clung to Tori a bit tighter. “I am very lucky.” Tori nodded in agreement.

“It’s already dark out, would you like a ride to the plaza?” Madam Guthry asked as she glanced around.

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“No, we wouldn’t dare trouble you,” Ilyana said, shaking her head.

“The plaza isn’t far, Madam. Also, we’re used to going there to get dinner, so the route is familiar,” Tori said with a pleasant smile. “Though, I am glad we ran into you.” She pulled her arm from Ilyana’s and dug through her satchel. She took out two cards and lifted them to the window. “This first one is for the prototype exhibition in about two weeks and the larger card is for the release party after that. Both are at Lions Gate High Street, but the prototype exhibition will be a closed afternoon coffee party. There won’t be many people and it’ll be very casual.”

The woman’s face lit up as she happily accepted the cards. “Thank you, Lady Tori! I’ve been looking forward to these.” She brought the cards into the carriage and held them against her chest. “You know, I’ve been asking Dimitri if you mentioned them, but he doesn’t seem to have much contact with you.”

“We sit quite far apart and I’m afraid that outside of our homeroom, we don’t see each other.” Tonight is an unfortunate rarity in that we ran into him.

“Oh, this boy.” Madam Guthry looked at her son, as if disappointed. “Dimitri, be a gentleman and escort Lady Tori and Miss Agafonova to the plaza.”

“Oh, no....”

“We wouldn’t dream of troubling him!”

“I’m sure he is very busy.”

“We don’t want to take up his time!” Tori and Ilyana began coming up with excuses at once while trying not to be too obvious that they didn’t want Dimitri to escort them anywhere.

“It’s no trouble at all, is it, Dimitri?” Madam Guthry didn’t seem to notice and looked at her son. To his credit, he seemed to be keeping a blank face through it all.

“We’re already on our way and I’m sure Mr. Guthry has things to bring back to his dorm,” Tori said, as seriously as she could. “It would be out of his way.”

The corner of Dimitri’s eye twitched. “I only went home for the day. I didn’t bring any back with me.”

You useless piece of- “Oh.” Tori’s mind whirled. “Well, why doesn’t he wait with us here for a bit so he doesn’t have to walk all the way to the plaza and back? Our friends should be coming soon.”

“That’s very good. Dimitri, be a dear and wait here with Lady Tori and Miss Agafonova,” Madam Guthry said.

Dimitri smiled warmly at his mother and gave her a nod. “Of course, Mother. Have a swift journey home.”

“I’ll see you next week!” his mother said as she looked at him fondly. The footman closed the door and climbed back on to the driver’s seat. Madam Guthry looked back at Tori. “And I will see you in two weeks!”

“Safe journey home, Madam.” Tori gave her a small nod of her head as the carriage began to move.

The three students remained rooted in their spots, wearing forced smiles, and refusing to make eye contact with each other. It wasn’t until Madam Guthry’s carriage disappeared around the corner that Tori relaxed.

Without looking at Dimitri, she turned away and pulled Ilyana with her. “Have a good evening, Mr. Guthry. Thank you for your time.”

“I don’t know what you said to my mother to get her to like you so much, but don’t think you have any control over me because of this,” she heard him tell her in a cold, measured voice.

Tori didn’t stop walking. She lifted a hand and gave him a dismissive wave. “Not everything is about you, Mr. Guthry. Your mother likes my designs and was very enthusiastic, so I invited her.” She looked over her shoulder and gave him a sneer. “My relationship with your mother has nothing to do with you.” Okay, that’s a lie, but to be fair, it was Sebby who told me it wouldn’t hurt to be on good terms with the Prime Minister and his wife.

When they were further away, Ilyana let out a low breath and huddled closer. “I was worried that he’d end up coming with us for dinner.”

Tori wrinkled her nose. “I doubt he’d let himself get that far. At most, he’d walk us to the restaurant and then leave as soon as he could.”

“At least he hasn’t said anything bad about you to his parents.”

“I hope not.” She paused and furrowed her brows. “And even if he did, what would he say? What have I done that’s so terrible since we met? I know I haven’t crossed him personally.”

Ilyana shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe he’d try to bring up Miss Hart...but you haven’t done anything to cross her, either. If anything, she’s the one who is harassing you.” Her voice rose, growing a bit angrier with each sentence. “Is he crazy?”

“Who knows,” Tori said as they walked across the street. “But if he is, he isn’t the only one.”

The first time Axton remembered meeting Piers; they were about four years old. His mother was sick and sent him to his godmother, the empress, while she was trying to recover. Imperial guards had brought him to the empress, who was pregnant with Gideon, and she happily took him to meet the first prince.

Piers was in the great library, sitting alone at a table, on a cushioned chair that had a step stool next to it so he could climb up. His hair was long at the time, and at first, Axton thought he was a girl. He was not, but Piers never seemed to hold the mistake against him. Axton always felt that Piers was a very relaxed individual, as long as one was patient and didn’t mind that he didn’t really act his age.

Piers liked to read and study. He would hear things over dinner about policies or people or random topics pertaining to the empire that his parents would talk about, and he’d immediately go and find out more and would not stop until his curiosity was satisfied. No one knew how long that would take. He didn’t like loud places. He didn’t like to be dirty. He didn’t like to be touched.

He was a bit difficult to play with, if one asked Axton.

Worried that Piers would become unhealthy with his sedentary lifestyle coupled with the rich food he was fed at the palace, Mama J had encouraged Axton to play with Piers outside. At first, Piers resisted. It took weeks of scheduled play dates to finally get Piers to spend longer periods of time outside, which was usually some form of adventure seeking game where they were pretending to be treasure hunters in a dungeon.

On one such outing, Axton had gone to their usual playhouse in the garden, which was a small fortress shaped like the one in Presidio. He waited for hours, or what felt like hours to a five-year-old, before he finally marched all the way back to the palace to try to find Piers. He didn’t have to look far.

In one of the large courtyards, Piers was watching his visiting uncle, then Major General von Schwert, do an exhibition match with the Guevera March heir said to be the most promising swordsman of their generation. So impacted by the match was he, that Piers immediately asked his parents for lessons.

Of course, a child who hardly went outside and read books in a library the entire day didn’t have the physical strength or stamina to do the impressive movements of the Major General. This had disheartened Piers immensely, and Axton tried to do his best to encourage him, even taking up the sword with him so he had someone to practice with.

For about another year, Piers only took at it half-heartedly and even then, Axton thought it was because he was having so much fun learning swordsmanship that Piers became the one accompanying him. Piers never said he was, he only continued to attend the scheduled classes without a word.

Axton was happy that he and his friend were playing, but the happiest people were the empress and Mama J, who were relieved to see Piers socializing, even if it was just with Axton. The empress thought that Piers was ‘coming out of his shell’ and got him etiquette tutors to learn not only how to behave at various engagements, but to urge him to become more social.

Axton also had his fair share of etiquette classes, but since he was far more extroverted to begin with, his classes weren’t as long. It bothered him that Piers was forced to be more outgoing and social when he was clearly uncomfortable and didn’t want to, but Piers had agreed to the classes, so he couldn’t protest much.

For a while, Piers truly was talking more and greeting people with words rather than a vague nod of his head. His parents and Mama J were excited at the change and encouraged him to spend more time with other people and to give them a chance. They had good intentions.

Then, Piers was accosted during his little brother’s second birthday celebration. Axton couldn’t help but feel that if he had been a few seconds late, the two women trying to force a resisting six-year-old Piers into an empty room would’ve done more than just pull his arm and tell him about ‘the new books’ they brought with them.

At the time, Axton was too young to understand what those two women were trying to do, but he knew it was bad. He ran into the room they’d pulled Piers into, and put himself between them and Piers.

“Piers doesn’t like loud people!” he had said, being loud himself. “Leave him alone!”

The two women stammered that they had done nothing wrong. They claimed Piers’ clothing was stained and they were trying to clean it for him, which had nothing to do with the books he heard them talking about.

Axton had immediately yelled for Mama J, saying that Piers’ nanny could take care of it.

There was a large commotion after that and Axton only knew that he never saw those two women again and that Mama J was crying. The empress stopped making Piers go to etiquette classes and eventually allowed him to do what he wanted.

The reason Piers had been lured away in the first place was because Piers was trying to be more social at his brother’s celebration, as he had been taught. He was told to give people a chance by people he trusted, and so he did. He was lured out of the ballroom by promises of books that interested him, but it wasn’t until he got into the secluded hall and that empty room that he became too uncomfortable and finally voiced that he wanted to return to the celebration.

The women grew more aggressive and physical.

After the incident, Piers refused to interact with nearly everyone, and Axton was heartbroken that such a thing happened to him. He wished he had stayed with Piers the entire time instead of running around the ballroom and sneaking for sweets in the kitchen.

If he had stayed with Piers, then Piers wouldn’t have been lured away. Feeling both helpless and guilty, Axton had wandered around outside Piers’ room for days before running into Major General von Schwert again.

“It is about time for someone to train to become Piers’ personal knight and aide,” he said. “Axton, you’re quite skilled with a sword. Do you want to try?”

It would give him an excuse to always be with his friend and better yet, he could protect Piers. Axton readily agreed to train to become Piers’ personal knight and aide. At the age of eight, he was spending more time at the palace than at the Alvere Duchy. He had already begun to think about speaking to his parents, particularly his mother, about moving into the palace permanently to accompany Piers and train.

He never had a chance to.

His mother died and before she did, his father’s mistress and their son had already moved into Sun Garden, his family’s ancestral estate. He was furious, but a helpless child could do nothing.

On the day of his mother’s funeral, the empress herself, red-eyed and overflowing with grief and fury, accompanied by what seemed like an entire battalion of imperial knights, came to Sun Garden. As per the late duchess’ will, which the duke did not know there were three identical copies of and he’d only managed to alter one, the empress took everything of any worth from Sun Garden and locked it up in a treasury vault.

His father had protested, claimed she was overstepping her rights, and insisted that everything was his. However, the empress was the late Duchess Alvere’s trustee; something he didn’t know, and the will was very clear on who the true beneficiary was.

The empress, holding Axton’s hand, glared at the duke, and said in the coldest voice Axton had ever heard her speak: “Everything belongs to Axton.”

From that point, he was then raised alongside Piers, who found out about Axton’s family, and seemed to have a silent rage about it. Piers began to train harder with Axton, eventually surpassing him under the tutelage of Lord Sebastian. Piers also reviewed all of Axton’s assets and helped him open his first inn when they were sixteen, as well as drafted the plan to make the current Duke Alvere a poverty-stricken joke.

However, Piers continued to be quiet and cold to most people and lost in his own interests. If he didn’t want to do something, he wouldn’t do it. But if he did, he’d put all his effort into it. And despite what everyone said, Piers wasn’t as insensitive as others thought. His treatment of Gideon was an example of this.

While Piers didn’t interact often with his younger brother, and their relationship was somewhat distant, Piers had always supported and quietly encouraged Gideon when they passed. When he noticed that Gideon was devastated that he wasn’t as smart or talented as him, Piers began to downplay his achievements and made a point to make it clear that no-one was to use him as a standard on which to judge his brother.

Gideon likely ended up extroverted and proud, with dreams of being a grand hero, because he wasn’t crushed by his brother’s accomplishments.

No matter what, Piers was a far better ruler from an administrative standpoint. It was just that whenever anyone brought it up, Piers being socially awkward and not being able to deal with nobles and the ruling elite always came up. For years, Axton tried to talk him into being a little more social, go to at least some dinners, or at least make appearances at festivals to boost his popularity, but Piers didn’t want to.

Now, as the first prince sat across from him eating stew with bread he’d brought back from Cafe Fortuna, Axton wanted to know if he really changed his mind. Axton narrowed his eyes.

“Piers,” he said as he sat down across from his friend and liege. “I think we need to have a talk.”

“What did you do?” Piers asked as he reached for the bottle of wine and poured it into a glass.

“It’s not me. It’s you.” Axton was seated in front of an empty plate, but had been thinking about this all weekend and wanted to get it off his chest. “About what Tori said yesterday. Are you really considering it?”

“Considering what?”

Axton pursed his lips. “Being the crown prince.”

Piers paused with a fork halfway to his mouth. He was quiet for a moment before bringing the food to his lips. After he swallowed, he gave Axton a nod. “I can do it.”

Axton tried to control his excitement. This is what he’d wanted for years, but always fell on deaf ears.

“What made you change your mind?” Is it Tori? Are you in love with Tori? She is just a kid, dammit. Do you know your master will kill you? I’m not going to be the one who tells him, because I want to live, but he’ll find out sooner or later.

“It’s interesting.” That was such a typical Piers answer, Axton nearly flipped his still empty plate.

“It’s interesting?” Axton repeated, unable to hold back his annoyance. “Be honest with me. Do you want to be crown prince because Tori said you’d make a good one?”

“All twelve marches think I’d be a good crown prince.”

“I’ve been telling you that since we were children!”

“You’re my friend and biased in my favor.”

Axton almost stuttered with disbelief. “Tori is also your friend and biased in your favor!”

Piers shook his head. “Tori is different.”

“How is Tori different?”

Piers lifted his eyes and met Axton’s. “Tori cares about what I think.”

Axton stared at him. “Fourteen years of friendship...you know one girl for a few months and completely disregard me. I also care about what you think, you know!”

Piers shook his head. “You made me go outside.”

“What?”

“Remember when we were children?” he said as he continued to eat. “You made me go outside to play. I didn’t want to go, but you made me do it, no matter how much I said I didn’t want to.” Piers frowned at the memory. “I got dirty.”

Axton silently glared at him. He got up from his seat, grabbed as much food as he could from the table, and carried it to his room, slamming the door behind him.

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