Chapter 3

Both boys garnered attention from the townspeople. Their sheltered Prince was greeted graciously to which he responded in kind, but the company he kept, was regarded with unease.

Turbulent, nattering whispers scratching away at the picturesque peace of a bustling market plaza.

Sammy so acknowledged, in silence, the whispers. Whatever they may say, too fine for his human ears to hear.

In silent show he walked strong beside Tyler as an equal.

That's when he came to notice the downturn his mood had taken.

Tyler wasn't the type to show much of anything. His words, his actions, and down to his expression were all carefully measured. If Sammy hadn't known better he'd have concluded the vampire was in perpetual boredom.

Instead he caught the little signs. Besides the aura of trite, baseless irritations his gaze was rooted to the dirt and cobbled stone, glowering at all that was dirty, long fingers lazily curling and uncurling as if wanting to wring a neck.

"Is something bothering you?" Sammy asked. At the same time a fruit vendor called him over to sample the apples.

"Don't be rude Prince Sammy," Tyler said, pointedly evading the topic.

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Diverting his attention had worked better than Tyler had expected. Perhaps even more than he'd desire.

After buying a large basket of various fruits Sammy dropped more coins on glazed cinnamon buns, richly tart chocolate, and a supposed good luck charm. All in all Tyler saw Prince Sammy in ever revealing light.

Conversing enigmatically with his subjects. Joyous and kind, laughing openly with beer-bellied men with shaggy manes of beards, or the women wrangling small, thin children.

And Prince Sammy was eternally generous. Giving a majority of the newly bought food, without thought or reservation, to a pair of children more destitute than the rest. All on their lonesome and eyes rimmed darkly with weary, watchful nights.

The pair reached the blacksmith shop much later than expected. Though the Prince, was still sharp as ever.

"Something's bothering you. What is it? And be honest," Sammy insisted.

"Very well. What makes me so angry is that you assume everything you learn, at its basest surface level, to be unequivocally the truth. When so much has been burned and concealed. Untold and repressed," Tyler confessed, regarding his friend in a dark manner.

Which turned the Prince's insides cold and his heart beginning to line in tragic barbary.

"And that means?" Sammy asked, "Vampires had once fed cruelly and savagely on us, treating humans like cattle. Seems quite the clear conflict, it is to many." His tone remained scathing.

"Well I know one thing at least. Our friendship is not as strong as I-- would have liked to hope," Tyler replied. "Forgive me. It hurts, to be dismissed out of turn without so much as a sliver of warmth or dignity My Liege."

Sammy saw the tactic so clearly. And so those memories clenched ever more painful. He knew Tyler to be a survivor of a subsisting, inebriating race. And to that end he used deceptions. He used pretty words and not so pretty words.

Much like another man. Who'd once wanted Sammy's own birthright.

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Tyler was aware, knew well, that manipulating the Prince to any capacity was a risky play. More than anything staying in his favor was paramount.

"Do not play me like a chess piece again or I'll make sure your job goes to someone I can trust," Sammy ground out in a low murmur, matching his Father's severity.

"Yes of course," Tyler surrendered, bowing graceful in his defeat, "My apologies my prince."

Going into the store the pair were silent as they completed the errand.

Luckily for the young bodyguard Sammy's ire was never one to last. His coldness persisted only until the boys were safely within the castle gates.

Tyler able to sense as the Prince, with caution, allowed his hackles to fall and his breath ease from the cavity of his chest..

All the same Tyler tread carefully.

A polite distance now edged into the time they spent at each other's side.

Sammy did not speak and so Tyler did not need reason to speak either.

Clearly, he had been too brazen in guilting Sammy, too much like himself. Another thought slowly came to clarity. More than anything Sammy coveted trust and honesty.

His inner circle made of those who possessed such aptitudes.

What had Tyler really done to show that his trust was reciprocated?