The Royal Invitation

Alex’s POV:

I winced at the sound of the heavy door shutting behind me, though I didn't turn back to apologise. My current priority was to get out; run away from this situation all together. I couldn't pinpoint where things got so out of hand, but my fingers curled into a fist at the thought of the two of them. Aerowyn and Jack.

Sickened by my own thoughts I ordered a cab. It wasn't long until I was returning to the arena, making my way through the parking lot with the intention of finding a drink; my head still swirling with blurring memories of the night before.

"Alex? You okay?" A voice perked up behind me, stopping me in my tracks as I rummaged through what was left of the refreshment fridge. I turned to face the figure slowly, in time for Mark to sit down opposite me, insisting I join him. "You look terrible…"

"Aside from cockblocking my best friend and the girl I work with, no, I'm just peachy," I replied sarcastically, slumping down into the chair, having grabbed the nearest bottle to hand.

"So this is about Matilde and Jack?" Mark asked, waiting patiently for a reply.

"They're closer than they've been letting on," I confessed, shaking my head as the cold bottle pressed to my lips, "not that it wasn't obvious with all their sneaking off together."

"Matilde is a tricky person to figure out," Mark added, sympathetically.

"No, Matilde is a persona." I bit back, drinking a little more.

"You mean, Aerowyn's persona?" Mark began, to which my gaze snapped up at him in a mixture of fear and amusement.

"Of course you know," I chuckled, shaking my head. She wasn't exactly treading lightly; it was a surprise everyone didn't find out this morning with the fucking wiki page.

"You're one of the few people, I assume, she's let in on both sides of her," Mark explained.

"But now I don't even know who she is," I sighed simply, "is she the responsible, restrained princess who cares for her family, or is she this wild party girl who sleeps around with people like Jack?"

Mark shrugged, smiling, "I don't know her, Alex."

"She likes art. Like, really loves it. Her passion for art is like my passion for music, and I respect that. Though, I gotta say, she's like 86% more talented than me," I laughed, taking another sip of alcohol. “And she likes being outside. I know that.”

"You like her, right?"

"Matt said something similar the other night. He insisted I had a crush and everyone knew it," I shrugged, realising just how obvious the three of us had been to outsiders. Aerowyn's biggest priority had been keeping her secret from me, and my biggest priority had been keeping my secret from her. We hadn't really thought about everyone else.

"Why wouldn't she have just told me about him? She clearly doesn't know…"

"Maybe she was scared to disappoint you? When I first found out she begged me not to tell you. Maybe she feared you would have sent her home."

"Yeah, but that would have been for Aerowyn's safety, not Matilde's."

"Aerowyn and Matilde are one," Mark explained, demonstrating with his hands, "from what I know, which is little, you embrace her princess side, which she loves, but Jack embraces her student side, which you don’t.”

"I don't know what I was thinking anyway," I sighed, shaking my head, "she's a princess."

"Yeah, well, you're a singer."

I smiled at his reply, nodding.

"I think I'm just mad at Jack because I didn't have the balls to do it myself," I affirmed.

"You should talk to Aerowyn," Mark declared, his eyes fixed on my expression, "she deserves to know how you feel. At least about her and Jack."

As much as I hated to admit it, Mark was right. Winny was my friend and I had to be honest. Though, it's never as easy as you hope.

After finishing up with Mark and pottering around the arena a little, I returned to the bus in time to find Jack and Aerowyn returning as giddy as ever. The pair were still laughing as they joined me on the sofa with a drink in hand.

"Did you see much of the sights?" Aerowyn asked, dropping down beside me as Jack took the chair opposite us.

I smiled weakly, shaking my head, "not really."

"Well if you're free later, we can take a walk?" She suggested, beaming back at me.

"Matilde, we need to talk." I interrupted, sighing. Her face dropped and she stared at me woefully.

"Has something happened?"

"Dalewin is fine, if that's what you're asking."

She nudged me in the arm, drawing my attention as she shook her head, "has something happened with you?"

"Jack, do you mind?" I asked, smiling weakly. He shook his head, taking his leave as he joined the guys in the back of the bus. "Winny, I– uh, I don't like what's going on here."

"You don't like what, Alex?"

"You and Jack," I confessed, sitting up.

"Oh," she started, frowning at me, "I didn't realise it was something you had to like."

"It's not, obviously, but you deserve my honesty, and that means telling you the truth."

Aerowyn shook her head, standing up from the seat, "I get that you're looking out for me, Alex, and you only want to protect my image, but I decide whether I'm being responsible or not."

"That's not what I'm sayi-"

"No, I know exactly what you're saying. If you want to take me back to Dalewin, that's fine, but don't make me feel guilty for having some fun whilst you do it."

"That's not what I'm saying," I bit back, following her suit and standing up, "I'm not taking you back, we all love having you here."

"Then I don't understand, Alex. What's the big deal with Jack and I?" Aerowyn asked, though a little too loudly.

"It's not you and Jack, Aerowyn. It's me and you." I affirmed, to which Aerowyn froze, staring back at me in confusion.

"You called her Aerowyn," Jack started, turning our attention to the trio standing in the doorway.

"Like the princess," Rian began, pulling his newly charged phone from his pocket and searching the family once more. It wasn't long until he was turning a recent picture of Aerowyn towards us and her identity was out.

"You're a princess?" Jack questioned, like that much wasn't already apparent.

"I'm a part time princess. I'm just an art student from New York ninety percent of the time." Aerowyn added, glancing between me and the guys cautiously.

"So you two didn't meet in the stable?" Zack perked up, pointing at the both of us. I grabbed a drink from the counter, slumping down on the couch.

"No, Alex was covering for his dad as assistant to the crown. He's the only reason I've made it through the last few weeks,” Aerowyn explained, shooting a weak smile in my direction. I shrugged it off, taking a gulp of my drink.

"So, do you sword fight?" Jack exclaimed way too eagerly.

"We do, yes," Aerowyn laughed, shaking her head.

“So you’re, like, important then,” Rian affirmed, dropping down beside me.

“Alex basically organised my life for two weeks,” Aerowyn laughed, following suit as everyone moved to the couches.

“I just followed Garry,” I replied honestly.

“I can’t believe you kept this from us,” Jack moaned, frowning at Aerowyn.

“Protecting my identity was a priority for me. Even my closest friends don’t know who I am. I had to know I could at least trust you.”

“What about fencing?” Jack interrupted, tilting his head, “or is that the same has sword fighting?”

“Yeah, they’re the same.”

“So you do a lot of fancy sports like tennis and badminton?” Zack asked.

“Aerowyn and I played tennis a few days before we came here,” I began, to which Aerowyn watched me closely, “I’m a natural.”

“Anything but! You spent the whole time ‘relaxing’,” she retorted, laughing.

“No wonder you were being so weird about me calling you,” Jack nodded, directing the statement at me.

“That had literally nothing to do with the Aerowyn, just the time distance I reminded you about hourly.”

“Yeah, there’s that too.”

The guys laughed, shaking their heads at Jack before returning to Aerowyn with more questions. Jack asked about sword fighting again, insisting Aerowyn showed him how it was done. The irony was, after all my freaking out over her identity, I was the one to reveal it.

Notes