Gooseflesh traveled down the back of Cassius’s neck. He couldn’t make sense of Prince Merrick’s request. Yes, maybe the prince enjoyed feeding the horses when he was down, but why would he include Cassius? And it didn’t seem as though the prince was melancholy, but it still weighed heavily in Cas’s bones.

“Are you coming?” The prince turned, walking backward, and gave him a smile Cas felt in his stomach. This was…not typical, definitely not. It was as if Prince Merrick had sensed Cassius’s sorrow and not only had the key to help remedy it, but also cared enough to use it.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Cas replied before trudging through the snow toward the waiting prince. The two words—waiting and prince—felt incredibly odd together.

Cassius hurried so as not to stall too long, and once he was in step with Prince Merrick, the other man began walking more swiftly. Cas wasn’t sure what to think about this, but he knew he wanted to accompany the prince. Maybe Prince Merrick was far more friendly than Cassius had imagined. Maybe he’d shared moments like this with Geoffrey as well.

They were quiet as their feet settled into the freshly fallen snow on the way to the barn. When they reached the building, which had already been vacated for the night, Prince Merrick pulled open the heavy barn door, making a sudden shot of worry dart through Cassius. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I should have gotten the door for you. I’m…” He did not know how to continue, did not know what he felt, and even if he understood the thoughts plaguing him, he could not share those with the prince.

“Please, don’t apologize. It is quite nice to do things for myself from time to time.” The corners of his eyes pinched, and his lips creased in a frown as though he shouldn’t have spoken as he had. The thought made Cassius’s stomach tumble in an unfamiliar way. He couldn’t imagine having servants do such simple tasks for him, but he wasn’t a prince. He couldn’t fathom how the other man would feel the same.

“Shall we go?” the prince added, and Cassius felt his ears heat at the way he’d stood there like an idiot. Luckily, his hat covered them, so it wouldn’t be noticeable. It was strange the way he so often flushed in front of the prince. Cassius had never been one to blush, even in front of a man he found attractive, but he did so frequently with Prince Merrick.

“Yes, sir.” Cassius stepped inside and waited. He noticed the prince move to close the barn door just before their gazes clashed together. As though he sensed Cas’s need to fill the role he was supposed to, the prince stepped aside, and Cas closed the door.

“Do you enjoy horses?” he asked Cas as they walked toward Ursula, the mare Cas knew belonged to the prince.

He felt his forehead wrinkle beneath his knitted hat as he continued his attempt to figure out what was happening. “Yes, Your Highness. I do. They’re…” Cas let his words trail off. The prince couldn’t want that much information from him, and he shouldn’t want to share. Cas found he did, though. Whether it was just to talk to someone or the prince specifically, he could not decide.

“They’re what?” Prince Merrick prompted.

“Nothing, sir. Just that I enjoy them tremendously.”

“Please,” he replied. “Please tell me what you were going to say. You don’t have to. It is not a demand, but…but I’d like it if you did.”

They stopped moving. Ursula neighed in front of them, but Cassius couldn’t make his feet move. The prince was looking at him…curiously. He had no doubt his eyes held the prince’s similarly, but obviously for different reasons.

This time, it was Prince Merrick who flushed, a soft pink tinting his delicate cheekbones. It is because he’s cold. It has to be because he’s chilled. Still, Cas’s heart raced like Ursula’s hooves when she galloped.

He needed to end this fascination, this seeing things that were not there, before he got himself into trouble. Before he lost his position and shamed his family.

The prince added, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair of me to make such a request,” and it was those words that fueled Cas further because the truth was, it didn’t matter if it was fair or not. The prince had the right to request anything he desired; the whole family did, without apology. Yet the prince had apologized, a soft, earnest quality to his voice that spoke of his sincerity. He had meant his apology, and that…that meant something to Cassius.

He cleared his throat and looked at the horse, petting her neck. “I was going to say they’re comforting. There is something about horses that soothes whatever ails you…makes you feel free when you’re anything but. Like you can ride anywhere and there are no walls to stop you, no places you cannot go. They do not ask for much, but they give much in return.” His fingers stilled on Ursula’s neck as his words replayed in his head. Christ, had he truly verbally assaulted the prince of Evergreen with such foolishness, such frivolous thoughts? “I apologize. I didn’t… That was…”

“That was beautiful. You have a way with words, Cassius. It was as if…as if you experienced what you said.”

Cas’s eyes snapped to the prince’s, which were firmly pointed to his face with an unfamiliar intensity Cassius didn’t understand. He turned away before the prince saw something in his gaze that he did not want him to see. “I worked on a farm once,” he replied.

Prince Merrick nodded in response. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked as he pulled a carrot from the bag and handed it to Cassius.

“Yes, Your Highness. You can tell me anything you’d like.” Only Cassius did not understand why he would want to.

“Sometimes I wish for exactly what you spoke of…to be able to go wherever I want, whenever I want.” The prince fed one of the carrots to his horse, who gobbled it up. “Even if only to explore town undetected. I know how that must sound, to long for such simple things, but…”

“They are not simple,” Cassius found himself saying. “They are normal things to desire, something I must admit I’ve taken for granted.” He’d never considered what being a prince truly meant. Yes, Merrick would never hunger, would never require necessities Cassius struggled for, but he was bound by different hardships Cassius couldn’t understand and had never taken the time to attempt. “We are both bound, shackled by aspects of our lives that are out of our control.”

Prince Merrick gasped. Cassius hoped, prayed, that he hadn’t offended the prince. “I apologize, Your Highness.” Cas bowed his head. “It was not meant as an insult.”

“Nor was it taken as one.”

They held one another’s gaze. Heat stirred in Cassius’s gut. His pulse beat hard and heavy like a fist punching against his skin. He knew he should look away but could not. He struggled to make sense of this moment, each moment from the very first when the prince asked Cas to meet him. It was as if he’d stepped inside a fairy tale, a story he would make up for Emily and Elizabeth, a make-believe land where he would have something in common with someone like Prince Merrick. Where someone like the prince would look upon him as an equal. That’s what this was, he realized. In this piece of time, they were not prince and servant. They were two men who felt tied to their lives. At any moment, he expected to be roused by Valor and for all this to have been a dream, but Valor did not come, and Cassius didn’t awaken.

A loud neigh came from beside them, Ursula’s breath against their faces startling them both.

And then…then the prince laughed, an honest, joyous sound that vibrated through Cassius’s chest. He knew he shouldn’t, that he should be respectable and professional, but Christ, did he want to laugh. He needed it. So Cassius did, returning the prince’s infectious happiness. Ursula looked upon them as if they’d lost their minds, as if the sanatorium was in their futures, and maybe it was for Cassius, but not now, not in this moment.

And when they calmed down, when the laughter ceased, it was Prince Merrick who spoke first. “It is nice to see you smile. You were melancholy earlier. Are you better now?”

Cassius’s chest tightened. The desire to lie was there—not just to Prince Merrick, but to himself. Still, it was the truth that fell from his tongue. “Yes, Your Highness. I am well now. Thank you.”

Something about what he’d just said turned the corners of the prince’s mouth down, but he recovered quickly. “Very well. I thought maybe we could ride, but the time got away from me. Shall we finish feeding Ursula?”

“Yes, sir,” Cassius replied. When the prince handed Cassius another carrot, their fingers brushed, softly, slowly, and he wished he hadn’t had gloves on so he could feel the prince’s skin. “I hope this was not much trouble for you.”

“It was no trouble, Cassius. I have not enjoyed anything as much since the snowball fight with the children. It is…delightful to speak with you.”

“I…” Cassius opened his mouth but did not know what to say. Before he could untangle his thoughts, Prince Merrick turned to the horse and began feeding her.

Why had the prince said such a thing to him? Why had he brought Cassius out here at all? His sorrow should have no effect on the prince.

“Tell me of your family,” Prince Merrick continued.

“Um…yes, sir. It is just my mother and my sisters Emily and Elizabeth. As you know, we lost my father.”

“I am sorry for your loss,” the prince said, not for the first time. “And you take care of them?” he prompted before pulling the carrot from a stunned Cassius and feeding it to the horse.

“Yes, I am all they have, but I want to care for them. They’re my family. I love them. My sisters…especially Emily, she is my heart.”

Their eyes caught again, and Cassius could have sworn he saw a grin in the prince’s stare. “We have that in common too, then. My family is everything to me, and I love my sister more than anything.”

“I can see that, Your Highness, in the way you spoke with her today.” Suddenly, he remembered Ursula wasn’t the only horse in the stables. Cassius looked around at the other hungry eyes upon them. “Shall we feed the others?” he asked.

“Yes,” Prince Merrick replied. “We shall.”

They made their rounds around the barn then, offering treats to each of the horses. They spoke of nothing serious: Prince Merrick’s day, the horses, Marjorie, and somehow Cassius’s favorite food.

Cassius still did not understand it, but it wasn’t long before he ceased making any attempts to understand and just…experienced the evening and enjoyed it.

It took them much longer to empty the bag than it should have, but eventually they finished, and he knew it was time to go.

“We shall ride soon,” Prince Merrick told him. “If you would like. I don’t make nearly enough time to ride, and I think I would like it…the freedom you spoke of.” Then he smiled, and again, it made Cas’s stomach flip. The familiar ache of desire sat heavy within him.

Cassius’s throat felt dry. “Yes, Your Highness. Whatever you wish.”

The prince’s eyes darted away as if that had been the wrong answer. Cas didn’t know what he’d done wrong, but he yearned to remedy it. “This…tonight, I do not have the words to thank you. You didn’t have to do this, not for me, but you did, and I will forever be grateful.”

“And I did it because I wanted to…for you.”

The words hung heavy in the air. It was as if the prince desired Cas’s friendship, his company, and fucking hell, Cas thought he might want the same from the prince. He enjoyed him—not as a prince, but as a man.

A loud clatter came from outside, then female laughter. Cassius jerked away from the prince as though he’d been too close, as though he’d been doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Is that…Isabella?” the prince asked.

Cassius closed his eyes. “Yes, Your Highness.” Valor’s laughter came next. Of course Valor had to bring Princess Marjorie’s maid out to…what? Lie together in the snow? In the barn? “She and Valor are…close.”

There was more giggling, and he thought the prince was attempting to hold back a laugh of his own. “This night has been such a delight.”

Cassius couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, it has, sir.” And then he opened the heavy barn door and said, “After you, Your Highness.”

Prince Merrick paused, looked almost sad, then stepped outside. They managed to avoid Valor and Isabella as they walked back to the castle. Cassius wondered if the prince had caught a chill. He should not have kept him out so late. “Are you cold?” he asked. “You did not bring a hat. You can use mine.” It was likely a foolish thing to offer the prince his handmade hat, but Cassius did not take it back.

“But then you would be cold.” The prince wrinkled his nose.

“That doesn’t matter.”

The wrinkles deepened. “Yes, it does, Cassius,” he replied, and they were quiet the rest of the way to the castle.

“Do you need my assistance in undressing, Your Highness?” he asked. His prick began to fill at the thought, but Cas immediately shut down those desires. But then…then he thought he saw the prince tremble. Could it be?

“No, thank you. Have a good night, Cassius,” the prince replied in a thick voice, and then he was gone.