Octavius put on his mask and climbed out of the SUV, holding Omari’s hand in his. Omari closed the door and said as he looked at the house ahead of them, “So, this is me. I’m not as rich as you who lives in a palace.”

Octavius stared at the small house with a smile under the mask. “It looks warm and cosy. Maybe you and I could live in a cosy home one day.”

“Oh wow, now you are seeing far into the future, your highness,” Omari said and let go of his hand. He turned to him, saying, “Well, I’ll see you next time, right?”

Octavius nodded. “Yes, would this weekend do? I can clear up my schedule, but you work too, so I don’t know.”

Omari shook his head. “I’ll tell you once I check in with my boss.”

“Can I get a hug before we say goodbye?”

Omari smirked. He walked up to him and hugged him. Looking up at Octavius, he said, “Goodnight, your highness.”

Octavius smiled and lowered the mask, kissing him on the forehead. “Good night Omari.”

Octavius waited for Omari to head inside, then told them to drive off while he continued looking out of the window, thinking about Omari.

“So that went well,” Antero said.

“I already miss him. Do you think he misses me?”

“I wouldn’t know your highness, he seemed sad when he said goodbye to you, so I can only assume that he does,” he answered and it went silent.

Octavius sighed. “Today was the first that I’ve spoken so much. My jaw hurts from smiling too.”

Antero chuckled, “I am glad.”

*

Omari slid down against the door after closing it and hugged his dog, that walked up to him. His father came over to see what the dog barked at and saw his son sitting on the floor. “You’re back.”

Omari nodded his head.

“And how was your date?” He asked, since it seemed like things didn’t work out between them.

Omari smiled at him and stood up. Hugging his father, he said, “Dad, you’ll eventually find out how it went. Let’s go in and eat. We can’t keep mom waiting.”

Edgar looked at his son strangely, but didn’t question him.

*

Antero opened the door for Octavius, who climbed out with a yawn. He closed the door, and they headed into the palace. “It’s around dinnertime. I’m sure everyone is waiting for you,” he said.

Octavius nodded. “I’m pretty full from lunch and the chicken we had after that, but let’s go, anyway.”

They made it to the dining hall and saw that dinner had already started without him. Octavius took off his mask. “You head off for the night and make sure you eat.”

“Yes, your highness,” he bowed and walked off.

The servants bowed as he made his way to the table. He stopped by his seat and greeted, “Good evening.”

He sat down, and a plate was quickly set down in front of him and food was served. His father looked at him. “You were out today while I called a family meeting. Where were you?”

Octavius looked over at his father and opened his mouth to say something, but he ended up sighing and said, “It’s nothing important.”

“Octavius darling, your father is asking you where did you go, not if it was personal or not. You had nothing scheduled, so we are curious where you and your guards went today,” his mother explained.

“Okay,” Octavius answered and went silent.

He started picking at his food. He could feel that he was stuffed and did not need to eat anymore.

Rubbing his left eye, he sat forward and ate the scallops. It was very refreshing, especially after all those fried foods, but he preferred that because Omari bought them for him.

The family started talking amongst each other, ignoring the son who was not speaking, but the queen and king couldn’t help but worry that there was something wrong with their child.

One of Octavian’s attendants came rushing in. She bowed to the family, then made it to his side and whispered, “A Mr Valentine is phoning you.”

Octavian choked on his food and quickly stood up. He took the phone from her and answered, “Did something happen to you?”

He walked away, leaving curious and stunned gazes behind.

“No, I just wanted to know if you got home with no problems,” Omari answered while he rubbed lotion on his legs.

“Oh… I arrived home not too long ago,” he answered as he made his way out of the dining hall with the attendant following him.

The king turned around and looked at Octavius, who was leaving, then turned to his wife and said, “So he can speak.”

She nodded her head slowly. “I wonder who he is speaking to.”

*

Octavius sat behind his desk and switched on his laptop and dialled Omari’s number. When he picked up, they looked at each other and smiled.

“This is so weird,” Omari said, and started giggling.

Octavius smiled, “I know, but at least you and I can speak properly without me hiding no?”

“Yes, this is better, your highness,” Omari said.

Octavius tilted his head. “Can you stick to calling me Ezra?”

“Sure, but why?”

“Because Octavius and your highness is for everyone else,” he answered and minimized the screen. He started typing and heard Omari ask, “What are you doing, and does Ezra mean something to you?”

Octavius smiled. “I cleared my schedule to meet you today, so I have to make up for it. I’m also preparing for tomorrow’s schedule. I also have to see to the designs for my brother’s new jewellery set for his wife.”

Nodding, a thought came to mind. He went silent, then suddenly asked, “If we were to get married, what would I be?”

Octavius maximized the screen and said as he looked at him, “I wonder that too, but you will be my husband, your title, that is still in question, but if I had it my way, I wouldn’t be a prince.”

“You seem to have thought this through?”

“When I’m silent, I have plenty of time to think about everything.”

“But why choose silence when you speak as much as I do?”

“I don’t know, but I can do drugs, illegal things and be a rebel,” Octavius said with a smirk.

Omari burst out laughing. He was about to say something, but something was beeping on Octavius’s side.

His brows knitted as he looked at the security monitors and saw his brothers and father approaching. He sighed, saying, “Omari, I’m going to need you to be silent for some time, please.”

Omari nodded, and the screen disappeared. Octavius unlocked the door with the button under his desk and typed away as if nothing was wrong.

The door swung open, and he looked up at the people that walked in and everyone saw he was in no mood for them.

“Octavius, we need to talk,” his father said.

“About?” Octavius asked and stopped typing, focussing on his father.

His father walked over to his desk and Octavius stood up, letting him sit in his seat while Octavius went to stand with his brothers.

Omari’s eyes widened as he saw it was the king of the kingdom. He quickly covered his mouth and reversed back onto the bed and bit his pillow.

King Demetrius stared at his son, saying, “You need to speak more. We cannot continue to tolerate this. Even your youngest brother speaks more than you!”

The crown prince looked at his brother and said, “Octavius, we know you can speak well. You need to be more open with us. You are worrying mother and father and how will you get married? You need to speak to your wife, and what about your children?”

Octavius sighed and said, “I’m tired.”

“Octavius!” His father yelled his name.

Octavius looked at his father but said nothing.

“Why are you so aggravating? You are too old to do this to us!” He slapped his hand on the desk, saying, “I don’t even know how you handle business. You get things done but even the clients complain you do not speak! Do you not find this embarrassing?”

Octavius sighed and lowered his gaze. This was just him hiding away, afraid of the unknown, and now they were attacking him?

He looked back up at his father and said, “I’ll go sleep now.”

He turned around and King Demetrius threw something at him but he missed and Octavius did not stop to pay attention to his father’s anger.

King Demetrius looked at the Crown Prince, saying, “I’ll kick him out of the palace if he does not change his attitude.”

“And who will run the jewellery business? You know the mines are being targeted and here you want to remove the one keeping all the thieves at bay,” Crown Prince Linus said.

Octavius returned to his chamber and quickly dialled Omari’s number, who was still listening to the royals gossip about him.

When he saw his phone ringing, he smiled and whispered, “I’m still listening to the gossip about you.”

Octavius chuckled and said, “It’s nothing new. End the call and let’s speak.”

Omari nodded and crawled over to the laptop. Just as he was about to press the end button, the king said, “We have marriage proposals lined up for him, but it’s not looking good.”

Omari frowned and ended the call. He didn’t want to hear any more of this and especially when he knew he might not have much time with the prince who wanted to be with him.

He sat down on the bed and said, “Okay, I ended it. You really are bad. Try speaking sometimes.”

“I try, but it’s just as if nothing forces all of my words down,” he explained with a sigh and lied down on his bed.

“And you speak to me with so much ease, but I can’t say that I’m not happy that you only speak to me. Today, I think I saw a side of you that no one else in the kingdom knows about,” Omari said.

Octavius chuckled. “What is that?”

“That you ate something not made by the royal chefs and enjoyed it too,” Omari answered, and burst out laughing.

Octavius chuckled as he sat up on the bed, “Do you know how full I am? I’ve never eaten so much fried food in my life and you know, I think the last time I had something fried was when we asked our parents to buy us fried chips but the head chef ended up making it, with organic oils and stuff.”

“Then you are very welcome, my prince. I enjoyed feeding you food that will clog your arteries,” Omari teased.

“I can have you jailed for that,” Octavius said, and got up. He walked over to the door where a knock came from and opened it cautiously. Stared at Antero, who was standing in a grey jogger and white shirt.

He let him in while he listened to Omari tease him. “You can’t do that. How else will I feed you again?”

“So, what are we going to eat next time?” Octavius asked.

Antero looked at him and started, “Your highness, there was a breach in the security cameras. The syndicate must have something planned soon.”

Octavius narrowed his eyes as he heard, “Oh, we’re eating loaded fries.”

“Do you know I thought the food was poisoned today?” He asked as he followed Antero to his private laptop and let him do his thing where he input a flash drive and played a video of the security room and saw someone entering wearing a red shirt and doing something on the computers.

“Well, who wouldn’t, especially a prince? But just so you know, people don’t make food intending to kill because it’s their livelihood.” Omari answered him as he pulled on thigh high socks.

Octavius sighed and asked Antero, “Do you know if they took anything important?”

Antero nodded. “We have cameras at every angle and we found they searched the schedules of our workers and you yourself. We need to be on alert and you need to stay out of the streets.”

Octavius scoffed. “Then how am I going to see Omari? Have him come here instead?”

Antero turned to look at him, and an idea came to mind. He smirked and nodded his head, “Or we could visit the forest behind the palace.”

Octavius rolled his eyes, then walked back to his bed and said, “Sorry about that. My prince duties came up, but I am free now.”

Antero closed the door as Omari asked, “What were you saying about me visiting the palace?”

“Oh, I was being sarcastic. Antero was speaking too much, but if you want to, I can certainly arrange for that to happen,” he answered with a smirk.

Omari whispered into the phone, “What if we get caught?”

“We can always say that you are a friend I met and wanted to spend time with,” Octavius answered as he imagined it.

“Oh, you are such a rebel, but we should go watch a movie together. You can like come to my house and we can watch what you pick or you can bring one to watch, but please don’t rent the entire cinema out. I am warning you now, you better not spend our tax money like that!” Omari warned him.

Octavius’s eyes widened as he thought of how everything he owned was because of the taxpayer’s money.