Jason woke up from his sleep, he had a bad dream that he would be going hunting with the royal family of Aphidia. As it is he was not the real Nedryn. He knew nothing of Archery.
He sat upon his bed rubbing sleep from his eyes. They were rushed footsteps going and coming from the room. He looked up, his servants were moving up and down the room.
"What is going on?" he asked.
"We are getting everything ready for the hunting trip, your highness," one of the servants said bowing their heads to him.
He swallowed hard. He got up from his bed to stop them when his butler walked in. "You are awake," he said walking in with a bow and an arrow in hand. "Help him with his bath," he instructed.
"I am not going hunting," Jason refused bluntly. He wasn't going to make a fool of himself with something that he didn't know how to do.
"Whether by force or be chosen, you will go on this trip. You just decide which method you prefer," he stated coldly.
"You will have to force me but I will not move from here," he said sternly.
The butler raised his hand and held his arm, Jason felt a sharp pain in his body before he lost his consciousness.
"Get him ready and get him to his palanquin," the butler ordered.
The servants wasted no time, they carried him into the bathroom and bathed him. They dried his body and got him dressed for the trip.
By the time he came around he was already in the moving palanquin. Looking out the window he could see the palace very far behind, he cursed.
He should have known that he would lose to the butler, the man was good at his job especially if it involved violence.
"I hate that man," he said out loud.
"I heard that," the butler's voice came from outside his palanquin shocking him. He removed the curtain to find his butler on the horse next to his palanquin.
"The crown prince's palanquin is seeking to pass," one of the servants informed Zanir.
"Halt," the butler yelled. They stepped aside and made way for the crown prince to pass.
"Why am I stopping to let the prince pass, I too am a prince so why is he getting special treatment?" Jason asked irritated.
His voice was loud drawing the attention of the prince in his palanquin. The crown prince removed his hand out the window and they stopped. He signaled for them to set him down.
He got out of his palanquin, his servants spread a blue carpet on the floor so he doesn't step on the dirt. He stood up with the wind blowing on his robes. His hair was neatly plated and held together behind his head.
He motioned for Jason's palanquin to be set down. The servants of Xeris obeyed. He got on along with his butler Winrus and took his seat opposite.
"Let's go," he said.
The palanquin was lifted and they continued the journey. "I want my palanquin to be the first to arrive," he announced.
"But that would mean passing the king," Winrus uttered. "Your madness has no limit," the young man said thinking of how mad the king is going to be when the prince passes him.
"The prince of Xeris needs to learn just how important I am," he said his eyes staring at Jason without blinking.
"That is a stupid reason to anger the king," Winrus pointed out.
"Relax my darling, I swear that I won't cause you any worries," he said to the man breaking eye contact with Jason.
Winrus tensed at being called so affectionately by the prince in front of an audience. He flinched and looked away, he kept his gaze outside the window.
"Don't feel shy, I'm sure the prince won't mind us," he whispered to him loud enough for Jason to hear.
"I.." Winrus turned around to complain and froze finding the prince so close to him. He could feel the man's breath on his skin. He shivered.
"Yes?" the prince asked in a seductive voice. He felt goosebumps on his body having to be so close to the man.
He averted his gaze with much difficulty and stared at the window, the prince was having fun playing with both the men in the palanquin. He didn't have his eyes on Jason but he could tell his reaction was not far from that of his sweet slave.
He took hold of Winrus's face and forced him to turn his head. "What did I say about looking away?" he asked him.
"Th..that I should n..never look away," Winrus replied in a shaking voice.
"Good," the prince replied.
Ha backed away from the man and gazed at Jason. Jason was dazed by the scene before him, he recalled from the novel how the prince was a flirt and liked to tease people. The information was true, the man was shamelessly flirting before him.
To make things worse he felt himself being affected by his words. His throat was dry from watching their little interaction. He recalled how he was asked not to look away by the man just as he had said to the boy he was flirting with.
He didn't understand it before but now he gets a hint of why the prince asked him that. The prince wanted him to see and watch everything, he wanted...
His thoughts were cut short when he felt a hand on his thighs. He came out of his thoughts and looked at the prince.
"What are you thinking of?" the prince asked him softly.
"Nothing that concerns you," he said coldly. He wasn't going to let the man think that he was one of those people who he could play with.
From the novel, he flirted with both men and women but was never serious. He never had any feelings attached to them. And he never went far from flirting. That was until he met Sashina.
"You said that I should talk to the prince and be nice to him. Now look at how he's treating me," the prince whined in a childish voice and pouted to his butler.
Jason and Winrus had their jaws drop at his change of behavior. He went from a flirtatious prince to a childish prince in seconds.
"I don't want to talk to him and you shouldn't force me ever again," he said stubbornly.