Edward walked into the room that was going to be used for his training with a heavy heart. Sebastian was sitting at the table and waved when he saw him. At least his boyfriend would be there to watch him embarrass himself. Edward couldn’t see that he was going to pass his royal training with flying colours.
“Please sit down,” Sebastian said.
Edward took a seat next to his boyfriend. Bernadette, who had shown him to the meeting room, took a seat at the head of the table.
“We are going to cover posture first,” she announced. “It really makes a difference.”
Edward hastily sat up in the chair and lifted his head higher. Sebastian snickered quietly and Edward resisted the urge to elbow him in the side.
“That’s the correct position to be in. Good posture needs to come to you naturally, you can’t just suddenly remember to sit straighter,” Bernadette told him with a glare. “Look at Pri
“Are you allowed to go anywhere on your own?” Edward asked a moment later.From what he knew Sebastian always had someone protecting him, even if it was from a distance for security reasons.“Not normally, I was promised I could have a week to go somewhere on my own with precautions of course, if I got the exam grades the royal advisors wanted,” Sebastian explained.Edward squinted at him. Exam results were announced in late August in Albion so Sebastian couldn’t already know that he could go on a holiday.“Did you get those results?” he asked. “I won’t get my results for another month.”Sebastian winked at him and Edward had a feeling Sebastian was going to one up him.“I took the same exams as you, just in a different setting. As I am a royal, the results were sent through as soon as my papers were marked, which was yesterday. I did get the results, by the skin of my teeth.&
Edward bit his lip. He struggled with dance lessons. They had been compulsory at his school for the first three years and he had muddled his way through them with a passing grade. He had never thought about dance lessons since his last one several years ago.“You look nervous,” Sebastian observed with a smirk.Bernadette looked at him analytically and Edward shifted under her gaze.“You’re right. Edward, does the idea of dancing make you nervous?” she asked.“It’s not my strong subject,” he admitted. “I’m more of an sports player.”The royal advisor looked sympathetic for once.“I understand. Unfortunately it’s a requirement. All royals have to know how to dance formally because it is important socially. You can refuse to dance with other people, but you will need to dance with Prince Sebastian at least once every time there is a social function with dancing.&rdquo
“I think I’m in the right place now,” Sebastian said as he drove up yet another hill. “If we reach a heavily locked gate that’s hard to see, we’re at the house.”Edward kept a careful eye out and saw a gate matching Sebastian’s description appear in his vision. They had been driving around narrow country roads for the past hour and he was keen to finally arrive at the house.“It’s there,” he announced.Sebastian stopped the car outside the gate and produced a set of keys for the multiple locks. The house was well secured which could only be expected as it was a holiday house used by the royal family. It took a few minutes to unlock all the locks and then Sebastian input a number into the coded one.Edward noted the concealed security cameras as they drove up the drive and came to a stop. He was confident that they would be safe from the media and anyone dangerous on their holiday.&l
“What side of the bed did you want to sleep on?” Edward asked when the time came to go to bed. He gathered up his pyjamas to change into. He was planning to change clothes in the bathroom. Their relationship wasn’t yet at a stage where they could undress in front of each other. “I prefer the right,” Sebastian said and began to unbutton his jeans. “I’ll take the left then,” Edward replied and rushed to the bathroom. He hadn’t been expecting Sebastian to start undressing in front of him. It was a reminder that he did have a boyfriend who was sexually interested in him. When he returned from brushing his teeth and changing his clothes Sebastian was in his pyjamas and was removing a set of contact lenses. “I didn’t know you wore contact lenses,” Edward observed. Sebastian took out a glasses case and pushed on a pair of glasses. He looked quite different with glasses. Edward liked the change as it highlighted Sebastian’s eyes.
Edward stared at his boyfriend in surprise. He wasn’t expecting him to say that. They were both dreading the royal wedding for all of the complications that came with it.He squinted at Sebastian to make sure he wasn't trying to lead into a dirty joke. Sebastian’s face was serious so he knew it wasn’t related to anything dirty.“Why?” he questioned.“Because at this moment, I feel like we’re a perfectly ordinary couple who have just started living together and our relationship is very simple. That’s the conditions I would like to marry you in,” Sebastian said wistfully.Edward was in agreement. He wanted to marry Sebastian because he loved him, he didn’t like what came with marrying him. He wanted a normal marriage.“I feel the same way,” he said. “We both know it’s impossible though. When you marry Prince Sebastian Hallowswift, you get the public wedding and a futu
Edward felt the same way. When the week was over they would return to the city where preparations for their arranged marriage would continue at full speed.His meeting with the queen was also the following week and he had been trying hard to forget about it to ease his nerves.“Sadly, we have to go back,” he said. “I guess our only consolation is that we will be marrying each other.”They spent the rest of the evening watching television. Edward was surprised by how many shows Sebastian recognised, but it did make sense in a way. Sebastian wasn’t free to go out when he wanted so he must be occupying his time somehow.“Are there any games here?” he asked when he was tired of watching the television screen.“The only game in this house is the queen approved game of chess,” Sebastian replied. “Can you play chess?”Edward had learned to play chess at some point, but he had found i
Edward didn’t understand Sebastian’s statement. Their real wedding was going to be the publicly announced royal wedding. There was no other way for them to get married. They weren’t a normal couple. Sebastian was a prince and heir to the throne. “Sebastian, how can we get married for real today? You would need to get permission to override the planned royal wedding,” he pointed out. His boyfriend got up and dug around in his backpack before coming back to him. Edward saw he had an Albion ID card in his hand. Sebastian handed it to him and Edward realised that it was an ID with Sebastian’s photo and first name, but a different surname. “I actually have two identities. I am Prince Sebastian Hallowswift, but I also have a civilian identity called Sebastian Smith. It’s supposed to be used to conceal my royal identity in emergencies. This identity is legal,” he explained. Edward stared at the ID card. It was definitely a proper card. Registering a
Edward realised with a faint feeling of surprise that the wedding night he had expected to be months away could occur that night.He leaned in for a kiss.“I am,” he said. “Not right now though, I’m too stuffed to move.”Sebastian laughed loudly. “I’m just glad you’re feeling up for it. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t have our wedding night in mind when I proposed earlier. It just occurred to me.”Edward could tell that Sebastian was telling the truth.“I wouldn’t think that of you. It’s a lot of effort to get me to deflower you.”Sebastian flushed and then he groaned.“I feel a little sick,” he admitted. “I think it was the cake. It was very sugary.”They stayed sitting on the sofa leaned against each other and talking about trivial things. Edward learnt a lot about Sebastian’s mother which was good as it