The hot summer day wasn’t too uncomfortable. Puffy white clouds floated across the sky, occasionally passing in front of the massive orange death ray trying to kill us. The breeze, though warm, helped too.
“This is nice,” Sawyer said, pausing beside a tall oak tree and closing his eyes. The wind swept through his golden hair as he stayed that way. When his eyes opened again, there was a pained gleam in them. “A date has been set.”
“A date for what?”
He looked at me. “My engagement to Lady Alina.”
Kuya had been swinging from a low-hanging branch of the tree and dropped to the grass. His playfulness vanished.
“Our engagement will be announced during the autumn ball,” Sawyer continued. “A suitable time, I suppose, since all the nobles and important families from across the realm will be in attendance.”
“Wow.” I blew out a breath. “That’s… um. Unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate? Most would congratulate me upon hearing the news.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck. “Well, if you were happy about it, I’d congratulate you. But you’re not.”
“Your honesty is one thing I admire about you, Evan. You always say how you feel.”
“Even when I shouldn’t. I should work on getting a filter.”
“No. I value your honesty. Just as I value our friendship.” Sawyer’s chin wobbled. “And you’re right. I… I’m not happy about the engagement.” His face crumpled before quickly smoothing back out. All except for the slight tremble of his bottom lip. He was trying so hard to hold himself together. “I wish I could disappear, Evan. I don’t want this life.” Tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t want to marry her.”
“I’m sorry.” Nothing I said could change anything. “It’s not fair.”
Sawyer turned away to wipe at his eyes. He cleared his throat and faced me again, forcing back the grief trying to spill out of him. “Please pay me no mind. Protesting like a child is unbecoming of a prince.”
“I don’t see it that way,” I said. “You have every right to be upset.”
“Marriage is expected of me. And Lady Alina is a good match. She’s compassionate and beautiful. She’s also nice to Kuya, which means the absolute world to me.”
Kuya snarled his upper lip and picked at loose bark on the tree trunk.
“My father had an arranged marriage to my mother.” The more Sawyer spoke, the less like himself he sounded. He sounded… mechanical. Emotionless. Not like the kindhearted prince I knew. “They were little more than strangers before their wedding day too. Mutual respect eventually formed between them.”
“Respect isn’t love,” I said.
“Not all of us can be so fortunate as to find loveandhold on to it. I was foolish for thinking I could.” Sawyer deeply inhaled, held the breath, then expelled it. When he smiled at me, it was too rigid and didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m afraid I must apologize to you yet again. I’m the worst sort of company in this state.”
“Don’t be sorry. That’s what friends are for. To listen when you need someone to talk to. When you need someone to lean on. So don’t ever hesitate to lean on me, okay?”
“I appreciate that more than you know,” Sawyer responded, his stoic mask chipping away a little. “How are you and your men?”
“We’re good,” I said, not wanting to say much more. Telling him about my happy love life seemed shitty considering his situation.
“You can speak of them, you know,” Sawyer said in a softer tone, as if reading my mind. “It pleases me to hear of your happiness.”
My men’s faces appeared in my head. Maddox with his scowl that never failed to transition to a smile when I wrapped my arms around him. Briar’s gentle hazel eyes. Lake’s perked up ears and wagging tail when he was excited. Each of them had burrowed into my heart.
“I have a third now,” I said. “He’s been with me, with us I should say, for a little over a week.”
Officially, anyway.
“Oh?” Sawyer’s interest was piqued. I got the feeling he needed the distraction from his own thoughts. “Is it anyone I know? Sir Callum, perhaps? Or one of the others… Baden, Quincy, or Duke?”
“You learned the names of the knights?” I asked, impressed.
“Of course,” Sawyer answered. “They risk their lives for Bremloc and every person in it. Our kingdom would’ve been overrun by Lord Onyx and his demonic army long ago if not for the knights. The least I can do is learn their names to properly address them.”
