*PFFT!* “He was who!” I yelled after spitting my drink. I was sat in an elegant dining room with my friends and queen Elaine. Apparently King Dickon was out for the count for the rest of the day as he drank too much.

My outburst after shooting a jet of water out of my mouth was thanks to Valerica revealing the identity of a certain individual last night.

Around the table, the girls were all in different states of amusement. The queen had a simple smile, but could not look directly at Apollo for long, lest she remember…

Kathrine was giggling, followed by some coughing, behind her hand, stopping briefly whenever I looked in her direction and the corners of Hailey’s mouth kept on creasing as she did her best to compose herself.

The final women however, held nothing back. “HAHAHAHA! Oh his grace was right, I did get a kick out of that. Hahaha!” I looked over at Valerica in disbelief before looking once more around the table. I may not be Spartari indoctrinated, but come on. A king deserves some respect, I basically treated the man like one of the lads.

Turning to Kathrine as I decided ignoring my new mom- I mean Valerica was the best course of action. “You know who King Sigismund is Kat, we were literally just on a mission for him. Why would you not tell me it was him?”

Kathrine’s throat was a little raspy, so she had to whisper for it to be comfortable. “I thought you knew handsome, It was only at the end of the night when he said goodbye that I found out you did not know. After that, I thought it would be funny to see your reaction. I am sorry that I upset you.”

I ignored Kathrine’s apology as I was not upset, just surprised and turned towards Hailey. “Hailey, you said you consider Sigismund an uncle of sorts, why would you not ask me what we…”

I caught the queen looking at me strangely from the corner of my eye. ‘Seriously what is that? Its not harmful like Willows had the potential to be, but its weird.’ As soon as the queen realised I was looking at her, she turned her face towards her plate.

Realising she was most likely doing what she was doing because she was uncomfortable, I cleared my chest and looked at her with all my attention. “My Que-” ‘No thats wrong, my Jewel is my queen.’ I quickly corrected myself. “Your grace, I Apologise for ruining the atmosphere of the meal. I was simply caught off guard. You are probably used to prim and proper nobles, not an exile who grew up in caves and spent most of his life living underground with his sister after all. Please accept my Apology.”

Everyone on the table looked at me with different thoughts going through their heads. Kathrine felt bad immediately and placed her hand on my shoulder, Elaine grew curios as the man spilt information about himself freely while Hailey secretly noted to herself that she had to meet Orchid once more. She probably had loads of fun personal anecdotes about her brother that Hailey would pay top money for.

Valerica on the other hand looked at me blankly for a moment before a satisfied smile emerged on her lips as she continued eating. ‘I have another new baby!’ She screamed internally before she continued eating, wondering if her new baby is as wonderful as her new son was.

Elaine continued to stare at Apollo as the information he spilt left her thinking. That was a huge mistake on her part as images of last night began playing in her mind. In a moment, her entire face turned bright red, but she quickly composed her self with a few coughs.

“Your grace are you ok? You aren’t allergic to anything you have eaten right?” I said concerned at the sudden redness. ‘Blessing in disguise!’ Elaine thought as she began fanning herself pretending there was something wrong with her food.

Not looking the ferocious beast in human skin in the eyes, Elaine composed herself before saying. “I think the chefs made my eggs a bit too spicy, I use a secret ingredient, but they were hung over and might have used too much. I am fine now. And your Apology is of course accepted for there is nothing for you to Apologise for.”

Valerica and Hailey furrowed their brows at Elaine’s excuse, smelling the bs from a mile away, while Kathrine was preoccupied with her own thoughts. I then smiled at Elaine and slightly bowed before sitting down and enjoying the rest of my breakfast.

…

“Oooh, that was good, could give Elias a run for his money this place.” I mumbled before a question arose in my thoughts. “Hey Valerica.” I said to get her attention. She turned towards me and smiled sweetly. “Yes my child?”

I had a feeling I would both get and not get used to her calling me her son or something adjacent, but ignored it for now. “So I was thinking, since Kathrine and I have a few hours until our ship leaves to take us home, are there any ‘touristy’ places we could visit? I don’t know the next time I will be here and I did originally come to the core worlds for exploration.”

Valerica thought for a moment, biting her thumb as she thought, which I found oddly attractive for some reason. A moment later, she smiled at me and replied. “Apollo, honey, this entire world is practically a tourist destination. People pay millions to visit if they aren’t born here most of the time. But I understand what you mean. I think I can plan a fun few hours if you want me along for the day.”

“Great. I am looking forward to it then. Hailey, are you able to join us? Or do you need to go back to your job as a Centurion?” I asked, hoping to spend time with my friend. Hailey did not hold back her smile this time, truly happy to be asked on a non date, date. She was scheduled to leave later on anyway, so it worked out.

“It would be my pleasure to spend my day with you Apollo, and of course you as well Aunty Kat.” Hailey added at the end to both not seem that desperate, and to alleviate the look of hurt that gleamed in eye of her favourite person.

Elaine smiled. ‘I can not remember the last time I went out on a impromptu day outing. It was long before I became the Civil Queen, that much I know.’ She was then pulled out of her thoughts by the rampaging monster in the disguise of a handsome young man.

“Your grace, from my impression, Queens are usually kept away from the public, secluded and isolated under the protection from their guards, where the rest of the universe cannot get to the forbidden delight that is her enticing form, bar one lucky individual who gets her all to himself.”

I noticed everyone begin to look at me strangely as I projected a little bit of my love for Jewel into the open room. ” *Ahem* Sorry, grew up with some interesting books, I digress. What I was getting to is that although you most likely have your own duties to attend to, you are free to join us as well.”

After my invitation, the room continued to remain in silence. Elaine was shocked as was everyone else. Usually its the royalty inviting nobles to events, not nobles casually inviting queens to a ‘casual outing.’

As Much as Elaine was stunned, she was also strangely flattered. ‘This man… It is like he has no respect for the political repercussions those around him could enact upon him. ‘What a charming trait.’

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As Elaine perception of Apollo shifted once more, she smiled, and then she giggled. “Ohoh Arcon Apollo. You are a sweet treat in the staleness of nobles I have been forced to suffer the last few years. I would be glad to join you and your party in your outing this day as I have no meetings until tomorrow. I trust you are fine with two of my best guards accompanying us though? I cant just be walking around on my own after all.”

I rolled my eyes at myself internally for forgetting that she was not the de-facto ruler of a collective species and had to worry about creeps and weirdos coming to give her trouble as she went about her day.

“Of course, the more the merrier. How about you invite all your Handmaids as well? I am sure they would enjoy a day off as well? I suggested, causing Elaine to softly chuckle. “Sure why not? We shall meet in the courtyard in thirty minutes. Lady Valerica, we will use my own personal vehicle to get around, you just instruct the pilot where to go. Is that acceptable?”

Valerica held back the urge to begin laughing again. Her son continued to impress her over and over again. Shattering through political chains as though they were made of paper. She then turned to Elaine and nodded her head as she said.

“Of course, my queen. That sounds like a perfect plan.”

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