by Dan Wingreen
To the Head Librarian of the Great Library,
Greetings! We have not met yet, but I've heard tell of your wisdom and generosity from our mutual acquaintance and I have every faith you will be receptive to my overtures. That was flattery. If the flattery hasn't put you in a mind to ignore the fact that there is most likely a member of the Royal Dramatical Couriers—which is a fantastic idea, by the way, for all they unquestionably need a few sirens in their ranks to really sell it—currently disrupting the quiet of your library, then allow me to get to the point of this letter.
I'm courting Elias, and I do not want my courtship to be interrupted.
Since he spends almost all of his time in your library, this unfortunately means you're most likely going to have to endure several disruptions. Normally, I would threaten you to ensure your compliance, but Elias seems to respect you, and I seem to respect Elias, so instead I have a proposal. If you allow my courtship to proceed unhindered no matter how disruptive it may get, I will use the magic I inherited from my father to destroy every single solitary scrap of paper so much as scribbled on by Finneas Melquhart, something Elias has assured me is somewhat of a crusade of yours. Elias can confirm my abilities, should you not take my words at face value. If you are amenable to this agreement, inform Elias and he will in turn inform me. If not, my rooms are easy to find and you may send me a letter with a counter proposal, or stop by yourself, if you so wish. I promise you will come to no harm.
Have a wonderful day!
The Dark Prince of Mournhelm.
Elias stared at the words, only really half comprehending them, yet he still couldn't help the feeling of fondness which welled up inside him. He could even picture in perfect clarity the exact facial expressions the Prince would have had if he was saying those words out loud.
I am utterly infatuated…
"So, is it true?"
Elias started slightly, then glanced up from the letter. "What?"
"That he has magic that can do what he says it can," the Librarian asked, somewhat impatiently.
"I…" Elias licked his dry, chapped lips as he remembered just what the Prince's magic was capable of. He had no idea if it could do what the Prince had offered, however. "He does have magic."
"Hmm." The Librarian frowned thoughtfully. "Guess that's good enough." A wicked gleam shone in his piercing blue eyes. "So," he said, stretching the word out long past the point where subtlety was still a possibility. "How do you feel about this prince that's courting you?"
Even though Elias knew, more or less, what question was coming, he was still flustered by it.
"Wh-what?"
This will not do. This will not do at all.
The Librarian snorted and rolled his eyes. "Guess that answers that. Not that I needed to ask, mind. It was more than obvious the last time you were in here. Glad to see you finally figured it out."
Elias scowled. "What are you talking about?"
He was ashamed by how relieved he was at getting that out without stuttering.
"I, of course, figured it out within seconds." The Librarian went on rather smugly. "Written all over your face, it was. Thought it would have taken you a lot longer to figure out, though. Especially since I was starting to suspect you were asexual."
Elias was torn between feeling furious and horrified that the Librarian had apparently been speculating about his romantic life. He also remembered the way the Dark Prince had said "finally" the night before, and wondered if he was really being so obvious. The sample group was small, but aside from the Crown Prince, who had never been the most observant, the results were rather consistent, so he decided he was. He felt even more embarrassed that it had taken him so long to figure it out for himself.
"Does he treat you well, boy?"
Elias blinked, drawn out of his thoughts. It wasn't so much the question that made him hesitate, but the way the Librarian asked it, like he was trying to pretend the answer wasn't important. Elias wondered how long he'd been missing the fact the Librarian actually cared about him.
I can't be that emotionally deficient, can I?
A small, concerned frown appeared on the Librarian's forehead when Elias didn't answer right away.
Apparently I can.
He thought about the question, then, and was surprised to find he didn't really need to think about it at all.
"He treats me…like a friend," Elias said, a soft smile creeping its way across his face.
Now it was the Librarian's turn to blink. His frown deepened slightly.
"Well," the Librarian said, finally. "If it were me being courted I'd want to feel something other than friendship…but I don't think I've ever seen you smile before, so I guess that's something." He cleared his throat gruffly, looking uncomfortable and relieved at the same time. It seemed Elias wasn't the only one who was emotionally deficient. "And I'd sell more than my body to get my hands on such a book."
It took a moment for Elias to figure out what he was insinuating, but instead of being embarrassed he just rolled his eyes. It was comforting to see his…colleague? Fond acquaintance? Beloved mentor? Friend? Did it even matter at this point? It was comforting to see the Librarian more like his usual self.
"Then you would have overpaid. All I had to do was dance with him."
The Librarian choked on his surprised laugh.
"Elias Sutterby making jokes about sex? I never thought I'd see the day."
Elias sighed. "Lack of motivation to engage in the act doesn't mean I'm completely ignorant about the subject. And it doesn't make me asexual either."
"Could have fooled me," the Librarian muttered.
"I fail to see—"
"Yes, yes." He cut Elias off, waving his hand. "A prude, then, not asexual. Are you ever going to crack that book open or are you planning on just leaving it in your lap all day while you stare at it and sigh like a maid at a tourney?"
As hesitant as Elias was to so much as breathe incorrectly on a book so old, if the choice was between continuing a conversation about sexual activity or looking through an ancient Elven tome…how was that even a choice, really?
He opened the book reverently, barely even noticing the way the Librarian practically bounced around his desk to sit in the chair next to Elias. They spent the rest of the day dragging secrets which had been unknown to the world for millennia out of those dry, rough pages with a childlike enthusiasm so uncharacteristic for the stoic scholar and the gruff librarian. And, if there were occasionally shrieks of delight or high pitched laughs of triumph as a particularly difficult passage was translated? Well, it wasn't like either of them would ever speak of it to anyone else.
Friends were trustworthy like that, after all.
Chapter 19
Elias nervously adjusted his glasses for the third time as he stared at the door to the Dark Prince's rooms, wondering how his life would change once he finally forced himself to knock. He hated himself for being so bothered by something so ludicrous. After all, life changed all the time and he'd always dealt with it by refusing to change along with it. Why should this be any different?
The answer was, of course, because he'd already changed, and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
What he did like was the way things had been going. He liked working on the Dark Prince's ridiculous book. He liked spending evenings talking with the Prince about history and horror stories. He liked seeing the Prince's face pinch in annoyance after Elias managed to say something which got under his skin.
He liked the way he felt when he teased an unexpected laugh out of the Prince.
He didn't like the idea that everything could change because he loved the Dark Prince.
Love…complicated things.
And yet I'll never know how complicated "things" are going to get until I knock on the door. So perhaps I should do…that.
Elias nodded once, than knocked.
He instantly regretted it, of course, but it was too late to take it back and he schooled his expression into what he
hoped was his normal, neutral look. The door opened almost before his hand had time to fall back to his side, and suddenly he was face to face with the Dark Prince, as robeless and casually dressed as he'd been every other night. The only thing different was Elias no longer imagined he saw a hint of mockery in the delighted grin which greeted him.
"Elias! I'm so glad you made it." He stepped back and gestured for the scholar to come inside.
Elias did, fighting the urge to scowl at how not even being in the familiar, dimly lit sitting area could calm his nerves.
The Prince closed the door. "I must confess, I was beginning to think you weren't coming. After last night, I had expected you to come running to me the moment the sun went down, breathless with anticipation and longing."
"You say that as if you weren't waiting in front of your door so you could pull it open the second I knocked."
Elias's breath caught in his throat as soon as the words were out of his mouth. He reacted the way he would have before. Was that inappropriate, now? Weren't they supposed to treat each other with respect and courtesy now that feelings had been identified and acknowledged and gifts had been exchanged?
Oh no, was I supposed to bring a gift?
Time seemed to freeze as he waited for the Prince's reaction, feeling like he was inside a drop of dew on the edge of a leaf that had yet to fall.
"Well, of course," the Prince said easily. "I, unlike some, was breathless with anticipation and longing at the thought of seeing my intended once again. I can see we're going to have to add 'romantic deficiencies' to the list of things that need to change before this courtship ends, along with 'wardrobe' and 'questionable taste in horror'."
It took every ounce of Elias's self-control to keep from laughing out loud with giddy relief.
Nothing's changed.
"I wasn't aware the point of a courtship was to change the behavior of the person you professed to care for," Elias said, raising an eyebrow. If his words shook slightly or if his voice was less biting than it normally would have been, the Prince at least had the courtesy not to mention it.
"More of a side goal, I would say."
Elias rolled his eyes and it was only then he realized just how close they were standing. His heart started thudding in his chest. This was different. It wasn't a bad different, though. Now that he knew why his heart was racing and his breathing was slightly ragged, he found he quite liked it. Although not as much as he liked the way the Prince's eyes gleamed with the same delight he'd seen at the ball.
Maybe change isn't all bad…
The sound of a throat clearing caused Elias to start. He held back a, no doubt, embarrassingly high pitched noise and spun around, only to see a strange old man sitting in a darkened corner of the room, staring at them with obvious disapproval.
"Too intimate," the man said with a surprisingly rich and smooth voice, considering his almost grizzled appearance.
"Highness, why is there an old man sitting in the dark in your room?" Elias asked.
"That is our chaperone," the Prince said with a resigned sigh.
Elias blinked and looked back at the Prince. "Our what?"
"I did say I wanted to do this right, my dear. A proper Ellingish courtship from start to finish. Which means a chaperone when we're alone together, so I've hired one. I call him Chappy."
"Sir is generous in giving me a name," the chaperone said. "Yet sir is still standing too close to his intended. Please take one and a half steps back or I will be forced to initiate a pre-annulment."
The Prince glared at the chaperone, then took the required steps.
Elias stared at the Prince in disbelief. This shouldn't have surprised him, really. He knew what a courting bow meant. What he didn't know was that the Dark Prince knew what a courting bow meant. He'd thought the Prince was just picking a gallant and somewhat foppish way of expressing his feelings without becoming physical, not literally courting him. Did he know everything which went into courtship in Ellington? The chaperone surely pointed in that direction, but…
"Do you expect me to move in with you?" Elias said, sputtering only slightly.
The Dark Prince raised an eyebrow. "Well, that is part of courting in this country, is it not?"
It most definitely was. Courtship in Ellington was just as much about determining compatibility as it was about determining feelings, even more so in the case of arranged unions. To that end, courting couples were required to spend all of their spare time together, including sleeping in the same bed—with a chaperone set up in the bedroom with a cot—so sleeping compatibility could be determined as well. Elias actually thought it was one of the more sensible traditions, since most of the problems which appeared later on and caused relationships to fester when they should be flourishing seemed to stem from the unfortunate living habits of one or both partners. It was best to find out those sorts of things before the courtship progressed to its usual end.
Which, of course, raised a very obvious question Elias should have thought about much sooner than this.
"How, exactly, do you expect this courtship to end?"
The Dark Prince raised an eyebrow. "With the natural conclusion to any courtship, of course."
Elias swallowed roughly. "You mean…marriage?"
"Yes," the Prince said as if it should have been obvious. "I want you to be my consort."
Elias started blinking rapidly.
How, in the name of all the gods of Logic and Reason, was he supposed to react to that?
Marriage was…well. It was marriage. Elias had never thought about marriage before, and why would he? He was self-aware enough to know most people found him unpleasant, and, as he didn't have a title or enough money for said unpleasantness to be overlooked, he'd never even entertained the idea of someone pressing a suit for him. Even his subconscious traitorous fantasies had never gone so far, and to be blindsided with what amounted to a proposal, from royalty no less, was more than enough to send him into a panic.
"Elias?" Concern laced the Dark Prince's tone and Elias wondered just how much of his panic was visible in his expression.
Breathe. Just breathe. So, a Dark Prince wants to marry you and make you his consort. There are worse things that could happen. Especially considering you're already in love with him and you're well aware he's not staying in Ellington indefinitely…
Oh. I'd rather forgotten about that. Elias's heart clenched in his chest. It hurts a lot more than I thought it would, thinking of the Prince leaving…
Elias had forgotten a lot of things, lately. He'd read love could do strange things to a person's reasoning capabilities, and now he supposed he knew that was true. Because the Dark Prince was leaving, and Elias found the idea more than slightly intolerable.
"Are you all right?"
Elias opened his eyes, mildly surprised to find he'd closed them at some point, and saw the Prince looking at him with undisguised worry. That, and remembering the Dark Prince's impending departure, helped to calm him.
"What—" The word cracked halfway through, and he swallowed a few times to wet his throat before trying again. "What, exactly, do you mean by 'consort'?"
The Prince shot him a questioning look, most likely because Elias was pointedly refusing to answer his question. After a moment of intense perusal, he sighed in what Elias could only assume was defeat.
He tried to squash the childish impulse to feel smug.
"Well, since I'm only a prince, it means almost nothing beyond being a fancy name for husband. You'll be protected from every being within Mournhelm, and if any one of them touches you in any way it will mean their death. Yours, too, if the touch is intimate and desired, as well as mine should I seek pleasure elsewhere." He paused there, but when Elias didn't react—a death penalty for infidelity was much more reassuring than worrying for someone who was used to the extramarital antics of Ellingish nobility—he went on.
"The title only really comes into effect should I somehow inherit a kingdom. If that happens, you'll be, f
or lack of a better term, somewhat of a co-king. It would be slightly more complicated if we had heirs, of course, but you would basically rule at my side as a mostly equal partner, able to make laws and hand out punishment as you see fit, with only myself or an armed uprising of peasants able to overrule you." He smiled briefly at his own joke. "But as I don't, currently, have a kingdom, all it means is that I want you to come with me when I leave Ellington and stay by my side for the rest of our lives, however long they may be."
Elias…rather liked the sound of that. Of someone wanting him for any length of time. He would, of course, be lying if he said he didn't feel a pang of sadness at the thought of leaving the library and, yes, the Librarian behind, but he would also be lying if he said he wasn't incredibly eager to experience Mournhelm firsthand. It seemed a fascinating place, filled with strange beings and forgotten knowledge. More than a worthy trade for giving up a birth country that, no matter how much he ached for what it was and could be again, never really seemed to fit him.
There was, however, one question he needed an answer to before he could accept.
"But why do you want me as a consort?"
Why do you have feelings for me?
The Dark Prince relaxed noticeably, then smiled in a knowing way that made Elias wonder whether he was answering the unasked question as well as the one Elias had been able to voice. "Would you believe 'love at first sight'?"
Elias snorted. "Of course not, stop being mawkish."
"It's true, though."
"Then I think less of you than I did a moment ago." How dare he reduce these feelings to such tripe? "'Love at first sight' is nothing more than lust based on physical appearance and the desire to copulate."
"Oh, Elias."
Despite Elias's anger, he couldn't help the way his breath caught as the Prince purred his name. It was…distracting, as was the depth of emotion he could see in the Prince's unguarded expression.
"How very wrong you are. That may be true in most cases and technically you could call it 'love at third rejection', but the first time I laid eyes on you wasn't the first time I truly saw you. Not the you worth more than few hours of pleasure, at any rate."