David had sent back a letter to Jake stating his concerns. He had spent most of the day trying to compose it, while also trying to catch up with his best friend. Not only did Jake mention the strange visions, but he also mentioned his love for Derrick.

When are you going to propose? David had written in the letter because he was genuinely curious. Derrick was not a very fast-moving person when it came to relationships, as the fleshy has heard, yet they are very much in love.

He then took thought to every vision described in Jake's letter.

Nathan arriving at the castle screaming that he wants to go home.

David had no idea what that vision could be about. Nathan was home. Could there be a future when Nathan was lost from his home? Maybe it was symbolic of something? Maybe he doesn't feel at home in the future?

David dismissed that one and thought of the next.

A rogue wolf, white as snow, with markings on his face. It was at an empty campsite. And it fell asleep before it reached me.

Could that be Reno? David wondered in his head. Reno was the only one with 'markings on his face.' Unless you count Jeanie's mandala tattoo. But Jeanie wasn't a werewolf. It had to be Reno, right?

A man sitting on a thrown with Nathan's sister in his lap. She says, "I'm so glad you're back." He says, "I can't deny a queen can I?"

So, it was true. That was the first thing David thought when he read it. Mary Drake was telling the truth. She wanted to become queen to be with a man she loves, which made David's emotional heart wobble with guilt. He felt so bad for suspecting her of being evil, but she did give him a solid reason to. 

She threatened his life, his soulmate's life. If she was willing to go to those lengths...David gasped. Did she find her soulmate and not realize it? Or was she just hormonal from the pregnancy?

David knew it was nosy, but he felt the strongest urge to find out- for her sake.

"Hey," Nathan said to him after emerging from the bathroom. His soulmate came over to kiss him on the cheek, "I have to go talk to my advisory council to speak with them about crowning my sister. Just to see if they think it's a good idea. After all, she is the rightful heir to the thrown."

David nodded, wishing he could spend all day, every day with Nathan. But he understood that the job of being king was busy and required hard-work and time. 

"Sorry, love. When I get back, we can go to the beach together again, how does that sound?" Nathan smiled, holding David's smaller hands in his. David leaned over and kissed him on the cheek in response. "Feel free to explore the castle while I'm gone. You don't have to stick to my side the whole time, you know. You are the queen."

"I know," David said, smiling, "I was thinking of talking to your sister today."

"That sounds great!" Nathan replied, cheering up, "I really want you two to get along...so far it has been a rough start, huh?"

"Yeah," David replied, "I am planning on making friends with her today."

"Sounds good," Nathan replied, leaned in, and kissed him properly on the lips, "Let me know how it goes. Bye, my love."

David said good-bye as Nathan closed the door. Nathan's attitude had changed since they first met; the king was a lot cheerier and smiled genuinely more. He showed his serious side, rather than hiding behind a bunch of jokes and fake happiness. David loved how affectionate and cuddly he was, and the leshy tried to give at least an equal amount of affection in return.

Nathan made David feel so loved.

After a moment, the leshy sealed up his letter. He was on a mission to find Nathan's sister

~{()}~

When Arnold woke up, the first thing he noticed was that his back hurt. A lot. In fact, his whole body felt sore. The second thing he noticed was that the warm blankets surrounding him smelled awful- a mixture of cigarette smoke and wet dog. Arnold reminded himself to clean them.

-clean them. Oh god.

He shot up out of the bed and looked around in panic. The sun filtered through the single window across from the bed; it brought warmth to Arnold, and he settled. But he realized quickly from glancing across the room that he was still in Reno's shack. He had to get out of there before Reno came back from his punishment.

He went to set his foot down on the ground beside the bed, but he let out a little shriek when it came centimeters away from stepping on Reno himself. The general was sleeping on the floor without any problem. Arnold was concerned until his eyes caught something sitting next to him- two empty beer bottles.

For some reason, a strange rage built up inside him. Reno didn't seem to learn anything from his punishment. In fact, being restrained from his addictions only seemed to make them worse. Arnold hated that he was doing this to himself.

So, without really thinking- which is totally not Arnold's way of doing things- he kicked Reno as hard as he could out of pure anger. The general woke up in a scurry, as if on guard even in his sleep, and easily pinned Arnold to the floor.

Arnold was shocked at his quick reflexes with attackers, and the butler kind of admired it; however, he still held an angry expression on his face. Reno, on the other hand, also seemed shocked as the general took in just who he had pinned down, and he quickly recoiled. 

"What the hell?" Reno said without his usual bite, which Arnold found odd, but what was even stranger was the surprised and almost fearful expression on his face. "What the actual hell? I could have killed you!"

Arnold was trying not to focus that Dominic Reno was still sitting on top of him from pinning him down. He was also quite smaller than him, which Arnold found cute.

"Sorry," he apologized, "It's just- Your house is always so dirty and-"

"No. No! I don't care why you cleaned my house or- or why you were sleeping in my bed," Reno furrowed his brows at this, " Well, I am curious, but no. Why the hell did you kick me? What did I do?!"

Arnold tried to wiggle himself out from under Reno, and, once Reno noticed, he quickly scrambled off of Arnold. After Arnold got the chance to sit up, he sighed.

"Sorry about that too," Arnold said looking away from Reno's piercing eyes, "I just hate how you treat yourself. Alcohol is really bad for your body. Plus, I just spent yesterday cleaning this house for you! You better at least throwaway bottles when you drink them!"

"I-I do throw them away!" Reno huffed back.

"Then why do I see them every time I walk in here?!" Arnold yelled back. 

"Because you wake me up!" Reno growled, then his eyes widened and his breath hitched; he quickly covered it with a glare. Arnold narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What does that mean?" he asked, "What does that have to do with drinking?"

Reno had Arnold's ears as they sat in silence. The general didn't say a word, didn't even look at him. And without looking at him, he spoke.

"Get out," his voice was deeper then, dangerous. It had an edge to it that Arnold had never heard before. Anger, yes. The butler had come across anger in Dominic a lot. This edge sounded...deeper than anger.

"But-" Arnold protested.

"Get out!" Reno roared, his tone sounding dominant and powerful. Arnold felt fearful as he quickly got up and hurried out. He was worried that he crossed some sort of line. He was worried that he asked too personal of a question. He needed to stop worrying before it delved into panic.

After Arnold left, Reno sat, feeling guilty.

I scared him, he thought, Good, I guess. Now he won't get too close.

Now, Arnold Atkinson wouldn't do nice things for him.

Now, Arnold wouldn't like him.

Now, no one will get close.

I f**ked up, he told himself. Because now he wanted Arnold closer. 

He wanted to feel Arnold's warmth.

He wanted to hold Arnold in his sleep.

And he wanted to have those eyes look at him forever.

He stood up and flopped into his bed, not to sleep, but to see if he could sniff out Arnold's scent. He could smell the aroma strongly in the pillow and buried his face deeper.

At first, he thought it was creepy, doing that, but soon he accepted that he would never get the chance again. So why not do it now?

~{()}~

David had searched everywhere for Mary, but he couldn't find her anywhere. He was pretty sure he had looked through the whole castle, but she wasn't there. He had asked a maid if she had seen the princess, and the maid replied that she saw the princess leave the castle.

Probably seeing the gardens or taking a walk, thought David. Why else would a princess do such a thing? Unless she was meeting up with her lover...

Whoever that was. David has been meaning to ask.

On the way out, he saw Arnold coming toward the castle.

"Arnold!" he waved the butler over. David noticed the sad look on his face as he walked toward him. "Are you okay?" he asked as Arnold neared.

"I'm fine," Arnold replied, "What is it do you need, your majesty?"

"Um...have you seen the princess anywhere?" he asked, "I have been looking for her for about an hour now. She hasn't been seen anywhere."

"I'll keep my eye out, sire," the butler replied. David gave him a warm smile.

"Thank you," he thanked, but then his smile morphed into concern, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm sure, " Arnold replied, not really comfortable with lying to royalty. But Arnold didn't think his feelings were that big of a deal.

"...Okay," David replied, not believing him, but not wanting to be pushy either. He didn't like it when people saw his emotions all of the time, so he gave Arnold some peace. 

Suddenly, Arnold reminded him of something. General Reno! The vision Jake had described with the werewolf- which David assumed Reno to be- was still in his mind from earlier in the day. "Hey Arnold, while you are looking for the princess, can you set up a meeting with Reno as well? I need to talk to him."

Arnold looked like he would rather do anything but when he said, "Of course, your majesty. When would you like this meeting?"

"Um..." David hesitated, not enjoying the look on Arnold's face. Was Reno part of the reason why Arnold was upset? Or was the butler just in a very bad mood? "Later today, after I find the princess."

"As you wish," Arnold said, then quickly passed David by without saying good-bye.

David frowned. Everyone was...acting weird today.

His leshy suddenly grunted, which again made him jump.

Grunt if you agree, David thought. The leshy obeyed and grunted again, which surprised him.

David thought about what Nathan said about the mute woman communicating through pen and paper. Since he could not find anyone to talk to, maybe he could ask his leshy yes or no questions?

Let's go back to the room first, David thought. Since he could not find Nathan's sister, he might as well wait for his king in their bedroom and practice talking to his inner leshy.

While walking down the corridors, David passed a familiar door- Mary Drake's door. pausing his steps, he debated on listening to see if anyone was inside. 

It couldn't hurt, he told himself. He listened carefully as he placed an ear on the door, trying to decipher if the princess was in there. And, it turns out, the leshy did hear a sound. It was soft and quiet- that way no one could hear from the outside if they were just walking past. It sounded like sobs, quiet, subdued ones.

She's having a breakdown again, David thought, and it made sense to him if she was hormonal and away from the father of her baby. David didn't want to bother her, but at the same time, he would feel guilty if he left without comforting her.

Cautiously, he reached a fist up to the door. Sorry, inner leshy. Whatever your name is. Our conversation will have to wait, he thought. He knocked.

The sobbing suddenly hushed.

"Leave my food at the door," Mary said from inside. David shuffled awkwardly at the door.

"Uh...actually, it's me. David. Nathan's soulmate? I was wondering if I could talk to you..." David raised his voice a bit so she could hear him through the door.

"I don't want to talk today. Please leave me alone," she mumbled back quietly, to where David could barely hear her through the door.

"Um..I know we are not close, but, uh, I think I could help...I also came to apologize, for-for like blaming you for being evil..." David stopped when he hurt movement in the room. Then the doorknob jiggled and the princess was suddenly at the door. She did not look like a princess at that moment. Her hair was swept to the side messily, her eyes were rimmed, and her nose was running. Tear tracks smudged through her makeup, making it smudgy and disgusting on her face.

She was an ugly crier. 

Before anyone could see, she yanked David's arm into the room and closed the door behind him. It was the first time he had been in her room with her willingly wanting him to, which was weird.

"You're gay, right?" she sniffed, falling back on the bed. David awkwardly stood there, not sure how to answer the question.

"...I guess?" David said unsurely. 

"Well, you better be into my brother! Otherwise-"

"I-I am. Trust me," David nodded quickly along with his words.

"Well...are you into women too?" she asked, sighing deeply. David didn't like where the questions were leading.

"I-I don't really like anyone else," David replied. The sister tried to smile, but didn't- probably from crying earlier.

"Well, in that case," she replied and started unbuttoning her corset. 

David, panicking, yelled, "Wha-What are you doing?! Wait-" 

"Relax. I'm just undressing," she replied. 

"I know," David said, covering his eyes when she took her shirt off, "Why?"

"Do you know how suffocating a corset is, David? Do you know how heavy a skirt is?" she replied, "If it was modest of a princess, I would be running around in just underwear all day. But it isn't. So, I can only do it in my room." She continued until she had nothing but her undergarments on. David still had his eyes covered. "Now, I'm under the covers of my bed. You can uncover your eyes, and you said you came to apologize?"

"Yes," said David, "And I've also come to talk."

"About what?" she asked, curiously.

"About your lover," David replied.