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It was a warm, hearty smile. And though it was laced with shyness, it seemed to make the gold of his eyes glint a little brighter.
Aurelius’s palms went sweaty against the mug. He had seen the prince display many emotions—withheld frustration at being seen last at Urosina’s funeral, the wrenching screams of self-fury in the bathhouse, and his default state of tightly wound stoicism.
But never happiness.
For the first time, and completely against his will, Aurelius saw the prince not just as the target of a mission, but as a man.
And the man was beautiful...
A sudden void broke the moment as the musicians ended their set. In the brief second before the din of several hundred voices merged into one indecipherable cacophony, he overheard a few snippets from a nearby table—some tasty little revelation about someone falling in love with their brother’s wife.
Aurelius grinned. I wonder what story the prince is smiling at?
He weaved his way toward the soldier’s table carefully. A beam near the stage provided cover, the closest point along the dark walkway before entering the courtyard proper.
Calix had his back to him, just a few yards away. Aurelius leaned out, straining his hearing. Though he could draw the outlines of words, he couldn’t hear the actual conversation.
Just... a little... more!
Out of nowhere, a drunk cyclops bumbled by, knocking him hard in passing.
Aurelius tumbled into the courtyard, crashing across an empty chair.
He regathered and looked up—right into the eyes of Calix, now just a foot away.
At first, the prince was surprised. Then he settled into a weary glare. And finally, the edges of his lips curled into a wicked grin.
Calix rose and shoved him in the chest. It was forceful, but with just the right precision to avoid pain.
Aurelius stumbled back, coming to a stop in the middle of the now-empty stage.
“Well, well! Looks like we’ve got a new musician!” said the prince, in a slurred voice of uncharacteristic machismo. “And a Mestibian as well!”
“Oh, go on, give us a song then, Mestibes,” said the woman at the table, equally drunk and making a kissy-face. “It’s dead boring like this.”
“Yeah,” said another. “Isn’t that all you do down there? Playing them fancy songs and sitting around crying about how pretty the stars are?”
The table laughed, and Calix gave him a weighty look.
Aurelius should have been rattled by the turn of events, as dozens of eyes started turning his way from across the courtyard. Instead, his pulse quickened in excitement. For the first time in weeks, he had the prince’s attention.
And there was no way he was going to waste it.
“Very well,” he said with a loud and gregarious laugh, as more and more of the crowd focused on him. He took one of the kitharas left behind by the musicians, tuning it expertly. “A great poet in my homeland once wrote a song for each of the five therians of the Pentariat. Seeing as I am a guest in your land, it would be my pleasure to sing the one he wrote for your fair polity.”
There was a cheer from a few giants in the crowd, obviously used to working with humans of a little more education than the others. He brought the stringed instrument to shoulder height, smacking the back of the wooden frame with his knuckles to give a beat, and strummed.
Oh, merry on a Sunday morn,
I was in ma’ field adorned,
Whistlin’ songs of fun and play,
Chasing all them crows away.
Then across the fields so green,
What was that? A satyr seen!
