"Thank you, your majesty."
'Ari, make the prince invisible again. We are taking him home.'
Ari went and sat on the prince's shoulder. I held a hand, telling the prince that he can go first. As the prince went in front of me, I followed him. I looked behind to see dad and King following beside us. The guards followed behind in order to protect the king. The king basically walked us all the way to the carriage.
We met Lady Philones standing outside. She looked shocked and bowed down deeply as soon as she saw King Tyson.
"What brings you here?"
"I was hoping if General Jake would give me a ride to his house in order to come up with the strategies."
"Alright, I will leave you alone now." The king went back inside along with the guards. Lady Philones approached dad with a sly smile. Well, that is what it looked like to me.
"What is it, my lady?" Lady Philones trailed her hand along dad's arm, but he swatted her hand away. "I have children."
"Oh my, what you were thinking? I was only looking for an escort that will lead me into the carriage."
"I don't remember saying you could come with me in the first place."
"Oh, but the king said to come up with a strategy with me." Lady Philones put a hand on dad's chest and leaned in close to him. Dad just looked straight into her eyes. "Right?"
Dad grabbed her by the hand and gently pushed her away, then started to walk towards the carriage. Prince Hermon and I followed closely behind. "I will send an invitation when the time is ready."
I looked back to see her frustrated face. I stuck my tongue out, only to make her even angrier. At the same time as the prince, I got so that no suspicions will come to the lady behind us. We departed immediately after everyone got, leaving Lady Phillones behind.
"Who is Lady Phillones, dad?"
"The duke's daughter." That was unexpected, so this was going to be troublesome. There might be a power struggle going on if Dad refuses to work with her.
"I don't like her."
"Me, either." Dad gave me a small smile. Ari was about to come over to me until I held up my hand. It wouldn't be safe. The carriage was still a good space to be assassinated. I didn't want our enemies to find out about the prince visiting our house, either. The house would be unsafe then, but the palace is even unsafer since Lady Phillones is a spy.
We reached the house pretty quickly, and it was around three, so Arthur must have come home already. Mom, Arthur, and Ami were already outside when we stopped. I opened the carriage door and got outside. Mom came over and hugged me.
"Mom, this is embarrassing." Mom gave me a tight squeeze before she let go.
"Can't help it. Whenever you go outside, something happens. Of course, I was worried." Mom gently bumped her hand with her hand.
"Ow." I covered the spot she hit me.
"Stop being a baby." Mom crossed her arms and pouted. I heard a deep chuckle, which, of course, came from dad.
"Let's go into the living room. I have someone I need to introduce."
We all went to the living room. Once we reached the living room, I got Ari off of prince Hermon's shoulder. Everyone gasped as prince Hermon magically appeared in the room.
"Honey, what is the prince doing here?" Mom and Arthur immediately bowed down.
"Rise. Please treat me as equal for now. I don't want my cover blown." Mom raised an eyebrow and looked at the dad.
"He will be staying with us for two days until the ceremony."
"Oh my god, I have to Helga to make her best food."
"That won't be necessary. I can adjust. I am a guest after all."
Dad restricted people from entering, saying he was really busy with the plans.
Everyone was very welcoming towards the prince, especially Ami. She wasn't good at manners, so she was literally grabbing the prince by the hand and running all over the place with him. Even if we tried to correct, she would just cry loudly saying she wanted to play with him. Prince Hermon then reassured that he was fine with it. He was pretty mature for a seven-year-old. All the royalties that I knew that were around my age was pretty mature for their age.
Soon night came and dinner was ready. Like mom asked, Helga made her best lobster dish. It was truly delicious. She was a good cook in general.
"I was thinking. For the night, why don't Alex sleep with Arthur? We don't have any spare bedrooms, since Alex came home."
"Lady Covington, please treat me like you would with your sons. I am fine with sleeping with Alex for tonight since it would be nice to make a friend." Dad and mom looked at each other. Dad was the one who spoke out.
"Are you sure?"
"It truly is an honor to be friends with someone of my own age." Mom smiled at the prince.
"Alright. I hope you become friends. I also think your highness should retire early since we usually wake up around six every day." The prince nodded and stood up. I showed him to my room. I clicked on the lights and showed my semi-messy room.
"How is it, Hermon?" Prince Hermon looked at me. "What?"
"You called me by my name."
"Then you can call me Alex."
"Alex?"
"Yup."
"Aren't you offending me by calling my first name?"
"Not if I consider you as my friend. Get on the bed." I gestured toward the bed. "I will turn off the light."
Ari jumped off my shoulder and got on the bed.
"My friend?" It was barely a whisper, but I heard it. Prince walked over to the bed.
"Wait!" Hermon froze. I went over and handed him some pajamas. "Wear this."
He looked surprised at the clothes, but silently went and changed them. He then got on the bed and laid down. He literally slept in the middle. I turned the light off and got on the bed.
"W-w-what are you doing?" Even if the room was dark, I could see him cover himself up.
"I'm going to sleep on my bed, so move over."
"Sleep on the floor."
"Nope." I popped the 'p'.
"How dare you defy royalty?" I shrugged.
"Wasn't you the one who said to treat you as equal?"
"B-but-"
Before he finished, I laid down on the bed. I could feel Hermon freeze up as I brushed a little as I laid down. He slammed a pillow between us, so there was space between us.
"You are reacting as if I will do something to you." I chuckled a bit.
"Shut up."
" Well, good night, Hermon." I heard a small good night from him before I blackout. I was having such a peaceful sleep until my face felt wet and ticklish. At first, I wiped it away with my sleep, but my face got wet all over again. I opened my eyes with a groan. I sat up at soon as I saw two blue eyes looking at me from up above. I sat up startled, only to get hit on my forehead. I hissed in pain.
'Baba that hurt.'
'Then you shouldn't do that! Why did you wake me up anyway?'
'There is someone inside the house.'