The King & the Stable Boy

VII: Nana Dearest

Noah

I somehow managed to get out of William's room unnoticed and made my way over to the Nana's room.

I knock on her door and was surprised when it swung open immediately.

"Where the hell have you been?" she asks me.

"Just clearing my head." I lie.

"Bullshit."

"Well you are well aware of how I hid from William. Well I may have received a warning from the Oracle against it that I didn't head, so for the last week I've been punished in the cruelest way. An extra long heat."

My actual memories of the last week had resurfaced and it was enough to make me blush just thinking about it.

"Well, I guess now I don't get to slap some sense into you, it's been done. Go to the stables and let the horses out into the field. They have become quite restless."

"Yes ma'am."

"Be back for lunch!" she calls after me.

"I will."

Before going to the stables I take a little detour to the staff's common room.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Ramos calls out as soon as he sets eyes on me. "What happened?"

"I found my mate and needed a holiday for bit." I respond.

I hear a few people groan as they exchange some betting money.

"Why am I not surprised that you gambled on it." I say, shaking my head. "What have I missed?"

"Apparently the prince also found his mate, although no one knows who she is."

"What are your bets?" I ask them.

I hear a few ladies that William has bad blood with's names come up along with a name of a few common woman and I couldn't help but laugh at how off they were.

"What?"

"He's the queen's left hand, he probably knows who she is."

"None of you are correct, so I suggest pulling out of the betting pools before you lose a fortune."

With that I left the common room knowing that they would all foolishly think I was messing with them and put a little more money on their bets.

If I knew Malick, he'd fake being drunk out of his mind, trick the poor bastards into daring him to bet on the most unlikely person he could think of, put my name in and go all in, then cash out at the end.

Getting to the stables, I greeted the other care takers before getting to the queen's and letting the beasts roam free across the plains before wrangling them back up at noon so I wouldn't be late to the Queen's lunch.

When I get there, I see that Malick, Sarah, and Roman were invited as well. I only expected it to be the Queen, King, and I so this came as a shock.

After taking the only remaining seat at William's side, we all start eating,

A few minutes of small talk and banter later, Nene calls for silence.

"You're all probably wondering why I called you all here for a lunch. Well that is because, my son has found his mate and you should all be the first to know within these walls. Now I don't want you all spreading this just yet. William go on and tell them."

"The one who will be ruling by my side is Noah."

Sarah choked on her steak and Roman went into a fit of coughs because he decided to take a sip of his wine at that moment.

Malick began to pound on the maid's back until the food was no longer lodged in her esophagus and the two managed to settle down before Sarah says "What?"

"Surprise?" I offer.

"How could this possibly happen?"

"When Aphrodite loves a pairing very much-"

"Not that. I mean how is he not hanging in the gallows? Or fleeing the kingdom, rejected?" she asks.

"I have never gotten to find my mate. I spent five years of my life alone. My father died, forcing me to take the throne. You know what he told me before he died? He said 'Son, when you find your first chance mate, keep them, don't cast them away. Whether it's a male, female, or another race. For gods sake, don't keep them hidden, it blows up in your face quite badly.' He went on to give me his father's journal, and its contents showed how he had a male mate in the time before he came of age to rule. His mate was a young Lord in his father's court. They met in secret often and one morning my grandfather woke up to see his mate being burned alive on a pyre."

"You're grandfather, Joseph the Terrible? The one who personally killed his mother with a dagger and made his father watch, then proceeded to hire a witch to cast a spell to keep the man alive for thirty more years so he could suffer?" Sarah asks.

"One isn't born that evil. When he was a prince he was known to be much kinder. According to the journal, he killed his mother because she was the one who found out about his mate, told his father, then found him a bride. He made my grandfather watch and kept him alive because the man tortured his mate then lit the fire himself. He was one of the biggest enforcers of the Vile Laws because if he couldn't be happy neither could his people. My rule will be where these laws stop and I expect you three to set a good example of acceptance with the others in this castle." William says firmly.

"Yes, my King." the three say in unison.

"I just realized something. Malick, you've come of age to find your mate last year haven't you?" I ask.

"Yes. Why?"

"You have yet to find them? Haven't even caught a whiff at the ball?"

"The moon did amplify the pull but I doubt my mate has come of age since the pull was very faint and hard to track."

"This last year is there anyone you feel more drawn to, like someone you've known for a long time but just now formed a closer bond with?" William asks him, catching onto my drift.

"Well there is Ramos but that is because he got promoted. Why do you both ask?"

"I've just realized that William and I became closer these last few years before he came of age. Maybe the bond drew us closer together than before unnoticed."

"Are you implying that my little brother might be this baboon's mate?" Roman buts in.

"Just expressing the possibility."

"I pray not. If I have to deal with this one more than usual, my head might implode."

As head guard and head medic the two were almost always within each other's vicinity as guards got hurt often during training and Malick and his team need to be on sight to heal them immediately.

"Ramos is still only twenty. You have a few months to find out."

"Every passing day will be more dreadful than the last." Roman says, fake shivering.

"Even on your birthday?" I ask, amused.

"On my birthday I will be celebrating on the outside but still mortified on the inside."

"Maybe I'll pursue him at your party."

"I don't think I could stomach that."

"Oh stop being a baby."

"I'm a man."

"A man-child."

"Oh trust me there is nothing childlike about this body."

Malick didn't comment but instead tried to intimidate that guard but even sitting down the man towered over him.

"No fighting at my table." Nene says.

"Sorry." they both say, acing like scolded children.