Chapter Two: The Monarch: Part Two

"You came back rather fast," The boy in the cell said as Prince Aldric skidded to a stop before the door.

"I realized," The prince said. "That I never got your name."

"You don't know anyone's name but your own."

"lies. I know my sister's and brother's."

"Who else?"

Aldric was quiet.

"Exactly my point," The boy scoffed. "Royals never care about anyone by themselves."

A lump formed in the prince's throat. "That is not true."

"Your mother kills her subjects for fun," The boy said hotly, "Your sister is an active pyromaniac, your brother kidnaps kids and they come back with scars, and I cannot even imagine what you do for fun."

"I... I come here."

"So you watch your mother's work for fun."

"No! That is not what I meant... I meant... I take notes of people. I watch who comes in and then I come here-"

"Why? Why do you come here? Is it to feed us like animals?" The boy raised the bit of uneaten cheese. "Is your hobby to look at the monarch's prisoners like they are animals."

The Prince shrunk back. "Is that really how people think of me?" He asked, his voice growing more and more quiet.

"Giving us food is no service," The boy said, throwing the cheese back at the prince. "You are just allowing us to live longer, allowing the torments to last farther into the eternities."

The prince's eyes watered. "I... do more than that."

"What do you do then?” The boy said. “Humor me.”

“I help the other kids escape back out.”

“And your mother is okay with that?”

“No, she beats the guards for it.”

“And you are okay with that?”

“No.”

“So why do you do it?” The boy asked, a little bit of the hardness gone.

“Because the kids will die, the guards don’t,” The prince said, turning his face to the floor, thick tears streaming down his face.

“Randolf.”

Aldric looked up and saw that the hardness in the boy's green eyes was completely gone, and replaced with soft kindness.

Aldric smiled.