"Come out right now. Don't make me have to come get you," Tobias said, looking directly at their hiding spot.
His mother's little spies were getting more careless the more she picked. How was she expecting that he wouldn't notice a guard following him? Especially when the guard kept running to hide whenever he or Hazel stopped walking.
"Now!" Tobias raised his voice. He was hardly in the mood for this when he had Hazel walking alone. He couldn't leave her by herself for so long. She might come across an idiot who didn't know to just walk by her.
"Y-Your Highness," the guard said, stepping out of his hiding spot. "The queen-"
"I already know that. You fit the look of the people she sends to watch me. I gave an order that no one was to come looking for me. Go back to my mother and tell her that you have been caught. Stop following me or," Tobias stopped to fix the guard's out-of-place shirt. "I'll have you getting comfortable in the dungeon."
"But the queen said I should follow you or I will be punished. I cannot disobey her order," the guard answered.
"Let me give you a little piece of advice. Between the queen and me, you should fear me more. She'll send you out of the palace while I will kill you for following me. I'll mistake you for someone plotting on my life," said Tobias.
"I am only here to watch you. I have no intention of harming you," the guard said, slowly moving his left foot to step back.
Tobias looked down at the guard's foot which stopped moving because of his gaze. "My mother truly needs to be better at picking her spies. Leave now before I kill you with your own sword. Better yet, go to my mother and tell her that I said nice try."
The guard didn't want to go back to the queen and repeat these words. The prince was more dangerous than the queen because it wouldn't be hard for the prince to end his life and he didn't want to be on the bad side of the future king, but as of right now, the queen had more power in the palace. The king was right by her side to let her go through with what she ordered.
Tobias was amused by the fact the guard seemed to be thinking over his options. "You've never had a woman waiting for you, have you? So you don't understand the urgency I feel like now. Let me make the decision for you," he said, pretending to reach for the guard's sword.
"I-I will tell the queen," the guard said, deciding not to have the prince as an enemy. Hopefully, the queen would understand the predicament he was in. "Excuse me, my lady."
Tobias sighed, knowing the lady the guard spoke of had to be Hazel. "I told you to go ahead without me."
"I did, but then guards came that way and told me to go back," Hazel answered. She watched the guard scurry away. "Why did you need to send me away from that conversation? Were you planning on killing him? It's not his fault that your mother sent him to spy on you."
"Now I really wish you didn't come back so I wouldn't have to hear you defend him. If I wanted to kill him for following me, I would have gone to where he was hiding and killed him. My mother's spies are the harmless ones. I don't kill those spies," Tobias replied.
It was the spies from anyone who didn't like he would be their future king that he killed.
"So there must be many. I can't imagine what life would be like having to constantly look over your shoulder to check if someone is following you. Has anyone ever tried to kill you while you were in the palace?" Hazel asked as such news never made it to her ears.
The palace rarely shared the conflict happening inside of it, but it was quick to get news of conflict all around the kingdom.
"I am the future king. There are many who would love to kill me to take that spot. My uncle must be boiling that my father had a son. He doesn't show it, but he wishes to be king. I could never point an attack on my life to him," Tobias answered, walking toward Hazel to close the gap between them. "Worried about me?"
"A little bit," Hazel replied honestly. "I don't want the next king's life to be in danger. I can't think of anyone but you to sit on the throne. There isn't much said about your uncle since he doesn't live in the palace or in Lockwood. Why?"
"I can't tell you that unless you become a Castro. If you try hard to make me fall in love with you, I will pick you. Perhaps before the seven days are over. Go on and try. I want to see how Hazel Wallace gets men to fall for her," said Tobias.
His sour mood from being followed changed now that Hazel was around. He had been angry with his mother for sending another spy that he might have hurt the guard had Hazel not shown up. She helped him to not hurt someone who was just following his mother's orders.
"I do not need to try. I simply walk around and they all fall for me. I did nothing and you suddenly have an interest in me to the point you want to pick me each time you are to be with a woman from the selection. Even if it is just because you can have a simple conversation with me or that I am not crazy in love with you, I will remember having the prince so interested. Perhaps I will tell my children," Hazel said as it was a great compliment.
"It could be our children. I am standing as your potential husband. We could one day be telling our children how our love story started. How their mother fell so hard for me-"
"Do not get ahead of yourself, Tobias. We have six more days to go for me to decide if I could live by your side forever and you have other women to meet with. One might have you unexpectedly fall for them and you'll go back on your word that you will pick me each time. Don't go plotting a future with me so fast," Hazel said, tilting her head to get a better look at the confusing painting on the wall. "Art is strange sometimes, isn't it?"
"It is. If you break that one, your family would need to give up their home and more to pay for it. It was a gift to my family many years ago and the artist is long dead. Why they put something so expensive here is beyond me, but then again, all the paintings in here are expensive. Did you just step back to get away from it? You could replace it if you ruined it," Tobias said as the Wallace were a wealthy family.
"I would rather not have my father waste money. It hurts his heart when me or Helena leave to buy dresses. Knowing he has to spend money on an ugly painting might kill him. I'm sorry for calling it ugly," Hazel apologised since it was treasured art.
"Don't. It is ugly and when I am king, I will put away all of them in a room."