Slaine indeed turned out to be sick. Sick of Salia's pestering, which only seemed to increase the next day. What did she see in that mutt? And why did she believe that someone as great as Slaine Archibald should even consider treating a dog more humanely? Was she crazy? It was honestly getting to be worrying. Salia was the person Slaine was closest to and she never got this way unless she was absolutely serious about something. To what benefit was it?
"I told you no!" he snapped. "Didn't you get that yesterday? What don't you understand? She's just a dog, nothing more. Just because she's miserable doesn't mean she gets a free pass! After all, what about my feelings? The Prince of the Public is no longer adored by the public because of her very existence!" Although it was not very common, such a title was occasionally used to refer to Slaine, but mostly as a derogatory term by his siblings. They felt he was only capable of befriending the ignorant masses that did not understand the true him.
Of course, they were correct, but that didn't he would accept it. He tried to take it and make it something positive.
"You are on the same boat, my prince. Please understand that I only wish the best for you." Salia did not seem to want to let up. From Slaine's point of view, this made no sense. Again, how could helping someone who ruined his way of life benefit him? But her next words had proven that, at least for now, she would concede defeat. "Lets depart for breakfast soon, or we'll be late." he Salia told him, standing to the side of his door.
Slaine finished putting on his shirt. Before Salia tried converting him into some fool, he had taken a nice bath and had begun to get dressed. Of course, he may have had some help getting the bath set up and getting dressed, but he always made it a point to ensure his shirt was put on him by himself. After all, even he had some decency. But once that was done, he quickly made it out the door with Salia following behind his lead. Slaine had entered an empty room.
Tch! As if we would be late, you damn fiend!
The Prince took his seat as Salia stood against the wall behind him, though he could swear he heard the women snicker. She put on an air of a serious individual, but often gave off vibes that she enjoyed teasing him. He could have her head for that! Well, she was probably aware that he wouldn't want to deal with a different person beside him at all times. Though he tried to play the part, Slaine wasn't evil or cruel compared to the rest of his family. He attempted to make Thea submit, but was woefully inept at it. The kinds of things his siblings would have made the Princess do or suffer were beyond what he could even manage, as he got all of his ideas from the few stories he had read or been told.
Slaine had the poor dream in life to experience today's breakfast without speaking very much or at all, especially to his siblings. This dream had been crushed just as quickly as it had been dreamt, as William arrived and, without a moment's hesitation, struck up a "conversation" with the young prince.
"Archi." his brother smiled as he sat down. "I was told you visited the library yesterday. What a surprise, huh? I had thought you were not capable of reading, was I wrong?"
Slaine turned his narrowed eyes towards his brother. "Yes, you were. I simply do not enjoy reading, that doesn't mean I can't do so."
"Ah, is that so? I simply became nostalgic upon hearing you visited our old haunt. You don't remember being taught anything by your dear elder brother, do you? I did used to spare some time to read a story when you were younger in the library. Perhaps you recall?"
"I do."
"You became such a 'cumberworld', I had thought you forgot. I'm glad you remember, dear Archi."
Slaine paused for a moment. He didn't immediately recognize that word, but considering what they had just talked about, he figured it had something to do with a book William had read him. Slaine looked up to his brother with his full attention and sighed, a bored expression on his face as he wiped his face, as though something was on it. "Bespawler! I don't care about those old books anymore! Mind your own business, you fustilarian!" Slaine shouted, though it seemed more as though he was rehearsing from a play than genuine anger.
William chuckled and then clapped his hands in applause. "Bravo, bravo! I admit that I had all but forgotten the word "fustilarian". You have me bested."
Slaine leaned back in his seat, wearing the same bored expression. "I would never forget something that rouses irritation from you, William."
...
...
...
Eventually, the rest of the family had begun pouring in and Slaine was left alone for the most part, aside from meaningless "Hellos". Chatter picked up for a bit, until the Princess arrived, yet again forgoing the attire requested of her. How rude and disrespectful, he heard others whisper as she approached the vacant spot next to him and sat. But because this was something she did not seem keen on stopping anytime soon, the chatter once again picked up. Slaine had no real problems with it, mostly because it pissed his family off and that was always welcomed.
William drew Slaine's attention and quickly whispered something to him. "Ah, I forgot to mention. Father is attending the day's breakfast."
Slaine
The situation immediately escalated far quicker than Slaine (and even Prince William) could even comprehend, leaving him with wide eyes and an open mouth. There was no much to say, other than the entire room was surprised at the turn of events and that Slaine was incapable of doing anything to calm the situation, an unfortunate side effect of being both terrified and unfriendly with the rest of his family. Slaine was ready for an outrage, not a slaughter. He couldn't believe what was happening.
Yet, somehow one had escaped. Even with a huge wound on his chest, the beast managed to flee from what had appeared to be an impossible circumstance, leaving everybody wondering how to cope with what just happened. Slaine and Salia were the only ones to stay behind with Thea, who seemed to be in shock. He moved over to her and tried to evoke a response from her, but to no avail. A flash of crimson tainted her eyes which had startled the young prince, but just as soon as it appeared it had gone. Thea fell unconscious.
What the hell am I supposed to do, huh?
Fate had seemed to dump the Princess on him and expect him to understand what his goal was. He was not capable of assessing her condition, but luckily...
"Salia." he called. He did not need to speak another word. The young woman immediately began checking the unconscious princess to see if she was alright, and ultimately decided that she had just fainted from shock. Slaine was not sure if Salia had seen the flash of red that he did, but he didn't want to sound crazy, so he kept himself from mentioning that. "You are dismissed for now, Salia. Please leave." he asked. Salia simply nodded her head and smiled. She seemed happy for some reason. Whatever, it wasn't like he was worried about Thea, just that he didn't want to lose his new pet, is all.
And so, Slaine waited for the young princess to wake, which didn't take long at all. Problem was, was that she started crying. He wasn't good with that kind of thing. This was a side of her he was not able to witness before, and it kinda frightened him. He was used to seeing her as an emotionless, disrespectful intruder in his life. Not some woman who wept. Ironically, he had been trying to push her to such a point, but was now put off by the sight of it. How odd.
Thea had eventually gathered enough emotional strength to stand up. She did not say a single word and instead just left the dining hall, much to Slaine's irritation. That's really rude, you know! Just because she was sobbing like a child did not give her the right to ignore Slaine. So, of course, he followed her. He... actually wasn't sure why, either. But when he saw that she was mindlessly staring out a window, he decided to finally speak up.
"What are you looking at?" he asked her, following her gaze out the window. Nothing of interest existed though. She tried to dismiss his question with a simple "nothing", but he wouldn't be dealt with that easily. It was pretty obvious what she was thinking. “Are you waiting for that dog? He can’t return, he drew his sword in front of the King. He’s now being chased for treason.” he told her. She was an idiot for believing something like that, that he would come back. It made absolutely not sense at all to think like that. The man was literally wanted dead by the King, and his kind wasn't welcome in this nation. Nobody would take him in and be on his side, and that meant it was him against a whole kingdom.
“Aryn will return…”
Slaine saw her hand clenched in determination. She was seriously delusional, wasn't she? Something like that was unhealthy. Was she just grasping at straws? It was definitely true that, if Aryn was killed, she would no longer have someone on her side, wasn't it? Yeah, she would be all alone with nothing to rely on. But so what? It didn't bother him one bit, if anything he was happy that the only obstacle in his way of completely dominating her was gone. Why would he even care then?
“How about a wager then?” Slaine asked. Thea immediately stopped walking and repeated his question, obviously interested. “If that dog of yours doesn’t return my tomorrow morning, I’ll kill you.” Thea panicked, which was very enjoyable to see. This was what he was trying to get out of her the entire time, now that he thought about it. Crying was a bit much. Too pitiful. “I told you before how easy it’ll be to kill you. I couldn’t welcome a red-haired bride after all.” Slaine began to walk off.
"You are on the same boat, my prince." Salia's voice echoed in his head.
Don't you dare compare me to this mutt!
And it repeated.
She's delusional, there's no reason I shouldn't just get rid of her so she can live with the damned dog!
And it repeated.
...Ah! Jeez! Fine, whatever!
Perhaps he could lessen the severity of the penalty for when her friend never comes back. But what? He still needed serious. He continued to walk as Thea chased after him. “You’re right, killing you wouldn’t go well with the treaty. Oh, I got it! Once we capture your dog, I’ll have you kill him in front of everyone instead.” he chuckled. This was probably worse than killing her, honestly. Something like this was about as cruel as he could think of, but at least she wouldn't be dead. Salia should understand that this would be as merciful as he could get. “Once night falls, you’re to come to my chambers. We’ll wait in there until dawn, to see if your dog will show up.“
Slaine did not wait for Thea's reaction. It wouldn't matter since she did not have much of a choice, though he could have probably given her false hope by saying he'd pardon the rabid dog. Truth be told, Aryn would probably be killed on sight, so there wasn't really going to be a chance for Thea to execute him. But, if she thought that way, then maybe she would begin to question that mutt's resilience. Question why she thought he would come back. Believing in people like that was unhealthy. Nobody ever came to rescue Slaine from solitude, why would that change with Thea?