Content warning: Homophobia

“What?”

“Surely, you must have heard the sultry rumors about me," the blonde continued. 

Bran thought back through every conversation he’d heard about the prince. The word sultry would be an understatement. Rather than say so, he gave a curt nod in response.

“Yes, I’m a sex addict, or ‘the prince of seduction’. People say that I could never be faithful to anyone. They say that I hook up with a new person every night.” He scoffed and pulled at his blonde hair. “They say that I abuse my power to coerce people into having sex with me. It’s sick. The things they think I’d force someone to do. They’re all terrible lies, Bran. You have to know that I’d never do that to anyone.”

Shocked by Rowan’s distressed state, Bran could do little more than pat him on the back as a soothing gesture. “I know you’d never abuse people like that, but what does this have to do with the prince of Sarssenia?”

“It’s where this all started,” he explained. “I spent many summers of my youth in Sarssenia. Their kingdom is along the coast, so my father made maintaining an alliance a priority. All the adults would smooze and scheme while the children were allowed to play completely unsupervised.

“Since nearly the time of our births, I was expected to marry Princess Rosalina. She had always been pretty, but horribly vain. I don’t think she saw the world beyond her own nose. Her brother Damien though….” Rowan let out a wistful sigh. “He was divine. We became inseparable during those summers. He was the definition of classically handsome. He was so gentle, he even taught me how to fish along the coast. It was nice.

“As you can imagine, the nature of our friendship changed as we got older. I would spend all year looking forward to those summers. We went there year after year, only growing closer. One day we were strolling through their royal garden, talking about nothing in particular, when he pinned me to a tree and kissed me. Needless to say I was completely stunned, pleased but stunned.”

He turned to face Bran, eyes watering. “My first kiss was at 19. Can you believe it?”

Bran shook his head. That definitely didn’t sync with the lurid rumors he’d heard.

“We maintained our summers like that for three years. Always sneaking around at his request. I planned on going to my father. I was going to tell him I loved Damien, not Rosalina. That he and I should be married to maintain the alliance instead. Damien never wanted me to come forward with our relationship; he asked me to be patient. I told him I’d be willing to wait longer, but before that happened we were caught together.”

“Caught?”

Rowan raised his eyebrows and let out a heavy breath.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Sarssenia is probably the most conservative kingdom anywhere in this part of the world. There are no restrictions on queer marriages in Gallan. I assumed the rest of the world would be the same, but it turns out our kind of relationship was extremely taboo.

“Their main religion preaches that sex is only for marriage and procreation, so you can imagine how poorly they reacted. The maid that found us literally dropped the breakfast tray she was holding. She probably didn’t even know you could put a cock in someone's ass.”

“But you were in a committed relationship,” Bran reasoned. “Even if the relationship was frowned upon, I don’t understand how that led to your current reputation.”

“The king of Sarssenia wanted to preserve his son’s dignity, so he and his advisors claimed that I had taken advantage of Damien. They said I had seduced him and confused him.” Hurt and betrayal shone in Rowan’s warm, brown eyes. “He just went along with it. He told everyone I had tricked him. He told them I was a hedonist, that that’s the only thing I care about. Damien told them that I pretend to be his friends all those years as a rouse to get him in bed. Bran, I had never been so wounded in my life.”

The prince let out a humorless laugh. The tears he’d been fighting sprung from his eyes. “The worst part is, he’s the only person I’ve ever slept with.”

Bran opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. What could he possibly say as a response to such a personal confession?

Rowan paused to regain composure as gentle sobs escaped his lips. Bran waited patiently, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “He told me he loved me. I wanted to believe so badly that someone was capable of feeling that for me. I was so stupid.”

“That man is the biggest fool in the world,” Bran insisted. “That’s not the kind of person you want to tether yourself to. It’s his loss, truly.“

Rowan roughly ran his palms against his own cheeks, brushing away any lingering tears. “Yeah, I think things worked out for the best,” Rowan continued. “I don’t love him anymore, but I was so hurt and jaded after everything that I stopped pursuing relationships all together. I decided that the pain of love wasn’t worth the reward. The idea that certain people belonged together and had red strings connecting them, that they could share a heart and soul and overcome anything as long as they had the other person by their side, it all seemed impossible.”

“Seemed?”

Rowan was looking away from him. “Well, I think I’m starting to believe again.”

Bran was also looking away, cheeks flaming. Could he possibly be insinuating…?

The halfing cleared his throat before responding. “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. Rowan, I’m sure you’ll find someone special if you just keep singing.”

“So now you’ve switched from Aristotle to Plato?”

“What can I say,” Bran grinned. “I like music.”

They sat in silence for a moment and Bran kicked his boots against the ground. “Thank you for sharing your story with me, I know it must have been difficult.”

Rowan sighed. “Yeah, but I felt that you should know. It’s not that I haven’t been invested in the kingdom, I’ve just been un-invested in everything for awhile.” He finally turned to face him. “Would you care to meet me by the lake soon? I think I could use a relaxing evening from all this seriousness.”

“Yes, that sounds nice,” Bran agreed.

Rowan gave a deep bow and kissed the inside of his hand. Bran’s palm raged with the same fire he felt in his chest. He knew this feeling was dangerous, that it couldn't last, but when had any of the good things in his life lasted? He would enjoy this while he could. He would enjoy it until the end of the summer, when he was set to return to his own village and disappear from Rowan’s life forever.