My body ached when I saw Margo’s eye filled with disappointment. She looked down at her hand and stuffed it into a pocket.

“Yeah, of course,” she said as she walked past me. I watched her leave my room; it was so oddly quiet now. I looked down at my own hand and realized how much I liked it when Margo brought it to her lips.

I wonder how it would have felt. Her kissing my fingers, rubbing her hands through my hair. But, I know better than that. At least I should. 

~~~~~

It was if nothing had ever happened. She smiled, wearing her mask and waved at Harold and Benard, “So where are we going,” she asked as I closed the library door.

Harold shrugged and looked over at Benard, “A club,” Benard said as he turned and grabbed a bookshelf. The bookshelf was filled with books that Margo and I hadn’t read yet.

In truth, it had books that we weren’t interested in reading. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. “What are you,” I began to ask when Benard pulled back and the bookshelf opened to a dark hallway. He reached is hand into the darkness and clicked something, turning on a light.

It flickered, a smell of must emerged from the room and cobwebs littered the ceiling. 

“A club? Like, a drinking club,” Margo asked. Benard shrugged.

“You don’t need to drink at a club, it’s just dark there and loud music. It makes it difficult for people to see you, so we won’t have to worry about news about our little trip,” he told her.

Margo nodded, “You really thought this through!”

Harold wrapped on arm around Margo’s neck, “Of course he does!”

The two started to walk ahead of us. Benard watched them as they walked ahead.

“I’m surprised you didn’t react to that,” Benard said staring at me. 

“He is in a relationship with you. I am sure that gesture is friendly.”

Benard laughed and held a hand out to me, “Well come on, let’s get going.”

I grabbed his hand and he walked me into the hallway. He closed the bookshelf behind him. 

~~~~~

Margo and Harold walked ahead of Suki and Benard, and were making a bit of distance between them. Harold knew that the two would catch up eventually, he was just ready to get out of this castle.

Margo looked around, examining every detail. Her hand, rubbed against the wall. He watched her as she touched it all.

“So, are you two really together,” she asked. Harold furrowed his eyebrows. He thought he already gone over this. Maybe she was lying when she said she wasn’t homophobic. Maybe she didn’t know she was.

“I’m sorry. I. I should have–”

“You’re fine,” he lied, “Yeah. We are really together,” he added more truthfully.

“That’s good. Are you happy?”

He froze, “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

She stopped walking and looked over her shoulder. He noticed it the first time he arrived. The way Margo would always check over her shoulders to see what Suki was doing. How when she would talk with someone, her eyes would drift over to her as well. The way Margo’s hand would be so close to Suki’s as if she wanted to grasp it.

He thought he saw what the two of them couldn’t. But it wasn’t his job to interfere with the two’s relationship. In fact, he wouldn’t. 

“Well. I mean. Growing up,” she started to sound more sure and firm with her words, “I was always told that we in the royal families had a duty. A duty to marry and have kids. To carry the bloodlines.”

He knew where she was coming from. He was all too familiar with it. His dad always told him that the marriage would just be for show. That Harold would be lucky if he found a woman who understood that he would never love her in the way he loved Benard. 

“Marriages,” he interrupted, “Are just for show, to show that we are all in alliance.”

There was a time when all the kingdoms were at war. It was a terrible time. Akamore was the one who came out on top, the one who ended the war. As an agreement to never have a war again, the families married each other. It was like a hostage agreement. Why would you attack a kingdom where your kin lived?

“They are,” Margo asked. He could only nod in response.

“Oh. Well. I was told it would be different. That I would have to fall in love with someone. But, I don’t know how it feels to be in love.”

Harold softened, “Well. It’s hard to explain. It’s just well you just know. You can’t imagine life without that person. You feel like you need that person in your life. They make you happy. They challenge you to be more than you?”

Margo paused. Her hands fidgeted together. 

“How are you going to figure out your relationship with Benard? When you get married wouldn’t it be hard?”

He sighed, “Well. I’m just waiting for the right woman to understand who I am. The marriage is just for show. So when we are behind closed doors, we can tell a different story.”

She looked up at him, “So, you need a marriage to stay with Benard?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“But, you keep pushing all the women away?”

“I never said I was smart about it,” Harold said with a laugh. He realized that she was right. He did push women away. He didn’t tell them often about his relationship. He often would hide it. He and Benard would never be so ballsy to do it. To kiss in a public room.

But it was intentional. He knew the moment he saw Margo and Suki together. He just knew even if they didn’t.