I spent the coming three months being a good prince, attending meetings, wearing my uncomfortable clothes and having daily lunches with the members of the council.

During this time cousins, aunts and uncles, dukes, ladies in waiting and whatnot sent me letters and gifts to make their lives known to me and at first I had no idea why. I suspected that the Council had failed miserably in upholding the lie of my fathers health - in the letters they were pretty open about the fact that they already thought that I was the man in charge.

It was quite funny watching my parents struggle with themselves as everyone had begun to turn to me with their questions, but I played along as the good son and always invited my father to answer for me. Which sadly resulted in gibberish, but everyone held their faces and smiled politely at his answers.

Walking off from yet another of those meetings I sighed to myself and peered back at the persistent knight that kept following me. "He's getting sicker every day," I mumbled mostly to myself as we walked back to my room. Roland was still the quiet type, but this time I invited him inside to talk and he reluctantly followed. "As my personal guard you need to hear this," I insisted and flipped down on my bed to kick my boots off my feet just like the last time he was in my chambers. "McGregor told me the council has been running the state affairs for a long time now, since my father's been too ill. His illness has been hidden from most of us," I continued, "probably from my brother as well." I looked up at Roland who seemed to lose his interest the more I spoke and I threw a boot at him, but I wasn't even close to hitting him, "what if my brother found out and he demanded he'd be crowned king but the council hated him so they killed him?"

"And they wanted him dead because they all love your cute ass?" he snickered sarcastically and raised one eyebrow on his forehead.

"You think I'm cute?" I teased but didn't get the response I wanted, and with a disappointed frown I continued, "we both know it's because they think they can boss me around. I have a reputation of not giving a shit about these things, I bet they just want to parade me around while they decide the heavy stuff," I said with a huff as I sat up to throw the second boot at him, which he avoided easely. "I'm just a pawn in their game."

"Aren't we all," he muttered and started to lean against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest.

"You are in charge of my safety, Randy, don't you think it's suspicious?"

He groaned as I used his nickname and I loved it more because of his reaction. "Randy isn't even close to Roland," he muttered low but took a step forward to pull out a chair for himself. "Listen Adrian," he started as he sat down straddling the chair and resting his forearms on its back, "if what you say is the truth then you are as safe as you can be. My job will be easier because everyone wants you to be the new king."

"But I don't want to be their puppet! I want to make changes."

He shrugged, "you've been proving that during these last couple of months," he acknowledged, "a lot of them have changed their attitudes, but maybe wait with those big changes until you have that crown on your head?"

"Fine," I sighed. "Have you heard anything from Angie?" I asked, changing the subject. The workload on my shoulders had prevented me from visiting them, and I truly missed them all, even Penelope.

"Nothing useful, but she reports weekly to me," he said and started to rub his shoulder with that large knight hand of his.

"Are you in pain?" I asked thoughtfully as I watched the fingers massage a muscle. He nodded and I couldn't help but ask why. Maybe I was a tiny bit jealous and wanted to know who'd made him strain a muscle. "But why? You just stand around all day long?"

He gave me an annoyed glare, "exactly, my body is used to moving around, working out and training."

"So, why don't you? Someone else can follow me around now and then," I said with a shrug but was met with even more annoyance.

"I can't trust them," he muttered and I couldn't help but tease him. 

"Aw, I'm that important to you?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes but was polite enough to answer me. "If you die I lose my job and no one else would hire me, I'd be the bodyguard who couldn't save the future king," he muttered, "not a great thing to have on your resumé, is it?"

I snickered at him, "just tell me you hate my jokes and I'll stop.

He still leaned against the chair as he studied me, his eyes piercing through me until I almost started to get uncomfortable. "I get why you do it," he said calmly after a while's silence. "You're unsure, and you are testing me for a reaction."

"Sure, mister psychologist, so what am I unsure about?" I said sarcastically.

He sucked on his lower lip for a moment, thinking it through, but he still seemed way too relaxed with this conversation. "All you need to know is that I get you, and that's that."

I frowned and pulled the blanket around my body, "I might have enjoyed you more when you were just standing silent in the corner."

He chuckled and rose from the chair, to stand and lean with his shoulder against the wall, "better?"

I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't help the smile that spread on my face. "Keep being nice to me and I might start to like you, and you don't want that because I get quite clingy."

"Good to know," he said and shook his head, still chuckling low to himself. "Get some rest, your highness," he teased, "tomorrow we'll go to the training grounds."

"Really?" I groaned, "It's been a while since I got physical with a man. Promise you'll be gentle."

"Gods Adrian, you're relentless," he sighed and left the room, but I was happy to see the smile on his face as he left.

I couldn't help but wonder if I was going too far, but he didn't seem to mind. At least I made him smile a little, that was quite the accomplishment.

The next day we met at the training grounds, and I was happy to see it was just him and me. Maybe he thought I'd make a fool out of myself and he wanted to spare me the embarrassment. Little did he know that I was quite good with a sword in my hand, even those made of steel.

He pulled off his shirt and threw it on the fence beside us before he went to grab two training swords, they were the dull kind that wouldn't hurt us but had the proper weight as a sharp one.

"Not playing fair I see," I muttered and took a glance at his naked upper body. "I should bring out one of the maids and have her stand topless behind me to even the odds."

"You would never do that to a woman," he chuckled and I cursed him for knowing me so well.

"Yes, you're right, I'm too good of a person," I muttered and decided to attack him without warning.

"Clearly not," he chuckled as he parried my attack, "that's ugly fighting right there, your majesty."

I charged him once more. "Don't call me that!"

"What? Your majesty?" He teased, easily avoided me with a quick turn and slapped the sword against my back in such quick movements I never even saw him coming for me. I felt angry, ashamed and disappointed at the same time. A part of me wanted to impress him, and here he was teasing me, so I prepared a stance to do things right this time. 

We moved back and forth for a while launching, parrying and retreating over and over again.We were watching for each other's weaknesses, not that Roland had any.

"Didn't I tell you to go easy on me," I panted under my breath, as his expression told me to rest but I completely ignored him.

He licked his lips and looked me in my eyes, "I am, your highness."

This time my feet moved quickly over the dry dirt, creating little brown clouds of dust around my ankles. I attacked, parried, turned and attacked again, taking him in and learning his tactics as I ignored the hits I felt on my body. I was working up a sweat and as soon as I pushed back my embarrassment I started to enjoy myself. I enjoyed watching his muscles work underneath his shirt, his calculated moves and relaxed face. I realized he was enjoying this as much as I was.

"We should do this more often," I laughed as I fell to the floor and got covered in dirt.

"We should," he agreed and offered me a hand, "looks like you could use the exercise."

Raising to my feet I shook my head at him, "I wasn't that bad."

Grabbing the swords and walking off to the rack he snickered, "you would be dead on a battlefield."

"You're wrong," I smirked, "I'd have you there and you'd never let me die."