Page 19 of Love Me Forever

Remus still wanted to experience it, and he had months to wait for that. Next year in spring, they’d head to Biatano, set up their home there over the summer, and during the next winter,they’d live in Norraco before returning to Soleil for the summer after that. In the years to come, they’d go back and forth with the seasons with time in Biatano unless they decided otherwise.

Soleil grew warm in summer, but it wasn’t as hot and humid as Norraco. Remus didn’t mind it, and it would spare Sébastien the humidity. In winter, they wouldn’t have to worry about snow in Norraco since that was rare. They might get a dusting at most.

The lord in Biatano said he was more than ready to leave so they could have his Castle there. His health wasn’t improving, and he wanted to retire with his son’s family in Soleil. Corentin had given him the position in Midland, and he’d only accepted it because it had seemed rude to say no.

Biatano wouldn’t need a lord if Remus and Sébastien were living there a few weeks or months out of the year. They could hire a Master Steward to take care of basic things when they weren’t around, and he’d collect the rents and taxes too. Those two things would also be lowered for a year to make the Middies happy in case they got their drawers in a knot over Sébastien co-ruling with Remus.

They likely wouldn’t since they’d have a Rowland man over them too, and the Regent couldn’t make laws to hold them back.

Lord Rochefort had replied and said he’d be happy to attend their wedding.

He’d finished a reply to the lord in Biatano when he heard the front door open, a voice that sounded like a little girl, and the Prince’s faint reply.

“Uh, Sébastien?”

“Give me a minute.”

Chapter Five

Tom was good about lagging a little so Sébastien didn’t feel like he had someone pasted to his hip. Whisper barely needed guidance as he walked down the street and avoided stepping on anybody. The crowd thickened a bit not far from a tavern. It wasn’t the sort Sébastien would want to enter since the windows were grimy and the front door looked ready to fall off the hinges. Two men appeared ready to go at it, and several people stopped to watch, further clogging the way.

“For fuck’s sake,” Sébastien muttered under his breath as a man stepped out to talk sense into the two brawlers.

Whisper huffed as he went around someone, and Sébastien glanced into the alley to his right. Far down, it widened, and he spotted a man dragging a little girl.

A little girl with wings too tiny for flying.

Her bare feet struggled to keep up, and she was yanked left and behind the tavern where Sébastien couldn’t see anymore. What the fuck? The alley was quite narrow, and he didn’t like bringing Whisper through. The space beyond wasn’t that big either, and while his unicorn was pretty good about knowing where to go, the idea of a small child running in panic and getting underfoot made him slide off.

Whisper let out a small whinny at being left so abruptly.

“Stay there.” Sébastien didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to hop on and steal him. Whisper would buck them off in a heartbeat.

“Your Majesty?” came Tom’s voice.

Sébastien hurried down as he gripped his sword hilt.

“I said if you don’t bring me anything, you gotta pay another way. Do you think protection is free?”

A sound like a slap came from around the corner, and a little girl’s voice blubbered words that Sébastien didn't quite catch.

“Don’t give me your fucking excuses. Maybe you should have worked up the tears earlier to get a few coins.”

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

The man jumped and fumbled at the ties of his trousers as Sébastien stepped into view. A few old crates were stacked near the backdoor of the tavern, and a nasty puddle lurked not far from the back of the building facing the next street.

“I’m telling my sister to stop running around,” the man said smoothly as he seemed to recover and redid the ties. “She’s always getting in other people’s way.”

“In a back alley? With your trousers undone?”

“I was fixing the ties. They got messed up, Your Majesty.”

“And you had to do that in a dirty alley with her right in front of you?”

He squinted. “It’s too noisy to hear in the street, Your Majesty. I brought her back here to make sure she was listening to me. I don’t know why you came over like this. You never had to fix your clothes before either?”

Sébastien damn near saw red as the man lied like it was nothing. The little girl clutched one side of her red face as she stared at Sébastien and clearly recognized him. She was the same one who’d given him the drawing hanging in his sitting room. Last time, she’d been relatively clean although her dress hadn’t been in the best shape.