"GO AWAY! I DON'T LIKE YOU!"
The words rang sharp and desperate.
Ezra's eyes widened the moment he stepped out of the throne room, the heavy doors closing behind him with a dull thud that echoed down the corridor. Just outside stood Helios, and in front of him was Lior.
Helios still held the child's hand, though barely. Lior was tugging hard against his grip, his small body trembling with upset, tears streaking down his cheeks.
Ezra's chest seized.
'Oh no. Oh my little one,' his mind screamed. 'He's scared.'
"Lior—" Ezra said, already moving faster, his steps quick and uneven as he crossed the distance between them.
Both Helios and Lior looked up.
"M-Ma—Master!" Lior cried, his voice breaking halfway through the word.
The sound shattered Ezra.
'He is trying so hard,' Ezra thought painfully. 'My poor baby. I'm sorry.'
Ezra dropped to one knee and held his arms out without thinking. "Come here," he said softly.
Helios released Lior at once.
Lior didn't hesitate. He ran straight into Ezra, arms wrapping around his leg as if anchoring himself there. Ezra instinctively bent forward, one hand coming up to cradle the back of Lior's head, fingers threading gently through his hair.
"There, there, little one," Ezra whispered, his voice low and steady despite the tightness in his chest. "I'm here. I've got you."
Lior sobbed quietly against him, clutching at Ezra's clothes as though afraid he might disappear again.
Ezra wanted to lift him up. To pull him fully into his arms and shield him from everything. From the palace, from the eyes, from the weight of this place.
But Helios was still there.
Watching.
With a smile.
Ezra forced himself to straighten slightly, though his hand never left Lior's head.
"Your Highness," he said carefully, keeping his tone respectful, controlled. "I apologize for his behavior. He's not used to being around royalty, and he's still adjusting."
Helios's smile only softened.
"It's no problem at all," he said easily. "If anything, I find him rather charming."
Ezra stiffened just a fraction.
"He really reminds me of you," Helios continued, amusement lacing his voice. "The first time I brought you here, you shouted at everyone who stared at you. I had to keep pulling you back before you tried to bite someone."
Ezra felt heat rush to his face.
'That is not how I remember it,' he thought, mortified. 'I was terrified.'
"T-That's…" Ezra cleared his throat, embarrassment creeping into his voice. "That was different."
Helios laughed softly. The sound was fond, warm. "You were exactly like this," he said, nodding toward Lior. "Clinging, glaring, ready to fight the world."
Ezra glanced down at Lior, who had finally stopped crying but still refused to let go.
His heart twisted.
"That's…" Ezra trailed off, the words catching in his throat.
The guilt was starting to gnaw at him, slow and relentless.
And it had only been a day.
A single day back in this place, and already Lior was crying. Already Ezra was lying. Already he was standing here, pretending everything was fine while his chest felt too tight to breathe properly.
Helios was smiling at him again. That familiar smile. The one that had always undone him.
'If I tell him now,' Ezra thought, his fingers curling slightly into Lior's tunic. 'If I just say it. If I let him know the truth, then maybe—'
Maybe Helios would understand.
Maybe Helios would protect them.
Maybe—
"Then we best be off now," Helios said lightly, cutting through Ezra's spiraling thoughts. "It's another carriage ride, and I believe Alyce is already waiting for me."
Ezra froze.
His grip on Lior tightened before he realized it.
Alyce.
Right.
Princess Alyce Celeste Montague of the Kingdom of Celestial Rays.
The only princess.
The radiant one.
Helios's fiancée.
The woman he had been betrothed to for years.
Ezra's eyes widened just a fraction before he forced himself to blink, to breathe.
'Of course she's here,' he thought. 'Of course.'
"P-Princess Alyce is here," Ezra echoed, his voice careful as he adjusted Lior against him. "That's… exciting."
The word tasted strange in his mouth.
Helios nodded, looking genuinely pleased. "She'll be staying for a week this time. The longest she's ever remained here." He smiled thoughtfully. "With us getting older, I believe she wants to start planning the wedding."
Something in Ezra's chest sank.
Slowly. Quietly.
'The wedding,' he repeated to himself. 'Right.'
"Haha…" Ezra let out a weak laugh, turning his face slightly away as if to hide it. "Well, if I were a woman, that would be quite… disappointing."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Why had he said that?
He swallowed, then added quickly, almost too quickly, "Why… haven't you… gotten married yet?"
The question hung between them.
Ezra hated himself for asking.
'Why am I asking? I already know the answer.' he thought, heart racing. 'What am I even hoping to hear?'
Lior shifted against him, still clinging close, small fingers gripping Ezra's clothes like an anchor.
Ezra tightened his hold just a little.
"You already know, Ezra," Helios said calmly. "It is not entirely my choice. Her family intends to proceed with the wedding the moment I am named crown prince." His expression softened. "I am fortunate that Alyce is patient. I do not take that lightly."
Ezra nodded, even as something twisted quietly inside him.
'That's what you say,' he thought. 'But your father sounded like he was weighing something else entirely.'
The king's words echoed in his mind, layered and deliberate. Loyalty to the kingdom. A role yet unnamed. A silence he was ordered to keep.
Ezra couldn't say any of it.
He wouldn't.
'This is my path,' he reminded himself. 'I chose it the moment I stayed.'
"That's right," Ezra said aloud, voice steady enough to pass. "Then we should be going. We can't keep Her Highness waiting."
He gently loosened Lior's grip, taking his small hand instead. "Come on, little one."
"Let us go, Your Highness," Ezra added, turning back toward Helios.
Helios didn't move.
Ezra paused.
When he looked up, Helios was watching him closely. Not smiling this time. Not amused or teasing. Just… looking.
"Your Highness?" Ezra asked, uncertainty slipping into his voice.
Helios stepped closer instead of answering.
Ezra stiffened before he could stop himself.
Then Helios lifted his hand and placed it against Ezra's cheek, warm and familiar. The touch was gentle, grounding, and far too intimate for a public corridor. Ezra's breath caught despite himself.
Helios leaned in slightly, his voice lowered so only Ezra could hear.
"Before we go," he murmured, golden eyes searching his face, "are you alright?"
Ezra swallowed.
Helios's thumb brushed lightly against his cheekbone, a subtle gesture that sent Ezra's thoughts spiraling.
'Don't,' Ezra told himself. 'Don't read into this. Don't let yourself.'
After so many years, he still had to chant this in his head.
"My father does not summon people without reason," Helios continued quietly. "And he did not tell me why he wanted to see you." His brows knit together just a little. "Truthfully… I didn't know."
Ezra's heart began to race.
'Should I lie?' Ezra thought. 'I could but he always seems to know when I do…'
"I'm fine," Ezra said quickly, too quickly. He forced a small smile. "Truly. He only welcomed me back and spoke of the kingdom. Nothing more."
It wasn't a lie.
Just not the whole truth.
Helios studied him for another moment, as if weighing whether to press further. Ezra held his breath, praying silently that Helios would let it go.
Finally, Helios lowered his hand.
"If you say so," he said softly.
Ezra exhaled, the tension leaving him in a quiet rush he hoped Helios didn't notice.
"But I know you're partially lying. I will find out what you're hiding eventually, Ezra."
'Oh, come on.' Ezra thought, tightening his grip on Lior's hand. 'How is he always able to tell?'
· ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
The ride to Heliocrest passed in a quiet that felt heavier than silence should.
Ezra sat across from Lior, his hand resting over the child's small one, grounding himself in the familiar warmth.
The conversation with Helios replayed in his mind no matter how hard he tried to push it away.
The questions Helios hadn't asked. The ones he almost had.
'He knows something's off,' Ezra thought, staring at the carriage wall instead of the window. 'He always does.'
Lior, thankfully, had stopped crying not long after they left.
Exhaustion had dulled the sharp edge of his fear, though he still leaned into Ezra's side whenever the carriage lurched.
Ezra kept an arm around him the entire way, unwilling to let even a hand's width of space form between them.
When the carriage finally slowed, Ezra felt it before he saw it.
Heliocrest Spirehold.
The gates came into view, tall and familiar, the stonework unchanged despite the years. Beyond them stretched the grounds he knew by heart.
Training fields where steel rang against steel. Barracks lined in neat order. And further within, rising above it all, the palace that served as Helios's residence.
Still immaculate.
Still intimidating in a way Ezra had long since learned to live with.
'Nothing's changed,' Ezra thought. 'And yet everything has.'
The carriage rolled to a stop in front of a building set slightly apart from the rest. Modest compared to the palace itself, but still grand by any other standard.
Clean stone walls. Tall windows.
A place Ezra had once called home without question.
The place he had grown up in.
His chest tightened.
Lior shifted beside him, peering eagerly out the window. His eyes widened as he took it all in, taking in the size, the height, the way the building seemed to loom over them.
"Do we… stay here?" Lior asked quietly.
Ezra followed his gaze. For a moment, memories threatened to overwhelm him. Long nights studying by candlelight.
Early mornings dragged me out of bed for training. Helios knocked on his door just to see if he was awake.
'This place made me,' Ezra thought. 'For better or worse.'
"Yes," Ezra said at last, voice steady despite the knot in his chest. He squeezed Lior's hand gently. "This is where we'll be living for a bit, little one."
Lior blinked, then smiled, small and uncertain but full of wonder. "It's… big."
Ezra let out a soft huff of a laugh. "That's one way to put it."
Then, without meaning to, his gaze drifted back out the carriage window.
And he froze.
The carriage had barely slowed when Ezra saw him.
Standing just outside the entrance, half in the shade of the building, was a figure with his hands tucked into his sleeves, shoulders slightly hunched as if he wasn't sure whether he was allowed to be there.
A face Ezra hadn't seen in years.
A face he hadn't even dared expect.
Ezra's breath caught so sharply it almost hurt.
'No way…'
For a second, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him. That this place was dredging up memories and layering them over strangers.
But then the man shifted his weight.
The movement was familiar.
Too familiar.
'It can't be…'
Before the footman could fully open the carriage door, Ezra was already moving. Instinct took over, faster than thought. He reached down, scooped Lior up against his chest, and jumped down from the carriage in one fluid motion.
"Fizzy!"