Louis stared blankly at Brithney.

"Are you paying attention, Boy?"

He yawned. "Yes, yes. I have to sit up straight and shit."

"Louis," Brithney warned.

"This is boring!" Louis laid back against the couch. "I want to do something else. Something fun."

Brithney rolled her eyes and poured herself more tea. "Only if you promise to be attentive once we go back to table manners."

Louis nodded quickly with a grin. He didn't think she would agree. "Sure, whatever you say."

Brithney sighed and took a sip of her tea after stirring it. "I'm going to assume you know nothing, as that is how you act."

"Hey, that's not very nice-"

"Do you know about the assassination of Alexander and James?"

Louis huffed, mumbling, "no."

"Then I'll continue." Brithney flicked her hair out of her face. "It is customary for the first three alphas to become the heirs to the throne. The current king and many kings of the past happen to be triplets-"

"Well where are King Desmond's triplets then?"

Britney sighed. "I'm getting to that part, Louis."

"Okay, fine." Louis rested his head on a silk pillow, waiting for her to continue.

"It is customary also for the first alpha to inherit Paros, then the second alpha takes Ovia, and finally the last alpha gets Carthe." Brithney took another unhurried sip of her tea. "King Desmond was the youngest from his brothers, Alexander and James, so he inherited Carthe. Once they were 23, just like the triplets are now, they did an election of their own. Anne was elected by Alexander as she was from Paros, and long story short out of all the omegas she was chosen to become the Luna. It was after the princes were born when free humans broke into the castle and murdered James and Alexander-" Brithney took another long, uninterrupted sip.

"Um, can you-"

"It's may you, Louis." Brithney stirred her tea.

"May you not stop in the middle of your sentence? The story is finally getting juicy." Louis adjusted his place on the couch.

"It takes the death of two kings to make a story interesting for you?" Brithney raised a brow. "You know what? Don't answer that question. Anyway, the death of James and Alexander resulted in more strict human handling laws and the banning of free humans from the Three Kingdoms."

"What happened to Ovia and Paros though?"

Brithney crossed her ankles. "Desmond took over and led the kingdoms by himself."

Louis turned over and stared at the ceiling. "How many things do I not know about?"

"What do you know of?"

"Not much, my Mother didn't tell me anything other than only what I absolutely needed to know." Louis looked for patterns in the marble ceiling. A mark looked like a horse. "Does that look like a horse to you?"

Brithney looked up and tilted her head slightly. "I suppose."

Louis smirked and looked over at Brithney. "If I asked Edward to get me a horse do you think he would?"

"If you asked him to get you a thousand horses he wouldn't hesistate."

Louis scoffed. He looked at the ceiling in silence.

"Do you know what you're getting into?"

"Huh?"

"Do you know of the process of the election?"

Louis sat back up with interest. "Um, not really actually."

Brithney nodded slightly. "Alright, so you already know that three princes are given the three kingdoms, but before they can actually take over the kingdoms, they must have a mate. The princes go to their kingdoms and only return back to Velora once they have found a selection of omegas that they find fit-"

"Then why did Edward bring only me back?"

"He thinks you're his mate- and before you start saying that he's not I don't want to hear it."

Louis pursed his lips. "I wasn't going to say anything," he lied.

"Of course, now anyway," Brithney straightened her skirt out, "let me continue. Once all of the Princes return with the omegas, they have a week to interact with each one. At the end of the week, three omegas must be chosen from each kingdom-"

"What about me then?"

Brithney sighed and looked at Louis blankly. "In your case the princes will have to just settle for choosing you. Although I'm sure that if Edward is being truthful, they won't be as upset as you are about that."

"I'm not upset-"

Brithney gave him a face that quieted him. "Moving on, another week is given for the princes to eliminate the selection to one omega from each kingdom, and then after another a week they must chose one omega to become the Luna."

"So you're telling me," Louis adjusted his place on the comfortable couch. "That I have to stay in this fucking place for three weeks starting when the other princes come?"

"Yes."

Louis groaned dramatically and leaned back into the couch. A soft feather pillow tickled his cheek. "My life is terrible."

Brithney stood and set her tea cup on the coffee table. "Now enough of that. Let's work on your posture."

---

"Stand up straight."

Louis held back a sigh and did so, almost dropping the books that balanced on his head.

"Well don't break your back now!" Brithney smacked Louis' back with her wooden ruler.

Louis relaxed his back slightly. "Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!"

"Good." Brithney placed a tea cup on top of the books. "Now the stakes have been raised, don't drop anything."

Louis stood still. "Oh no. I don't like this. Get it off, I'm going to drop everything, Brithney. I can feel it."

"Don't freak out, you must always appear calm even if you are not feeling that way. Be natural, be poised." Brithney stood next to Louis and watched his posture.

"Don't say that word," Louis mumbled, concentrated on not dropping the objects.

"What word?"

"Poised. It reminds me of moist, I don't like either of those words."

Brithney sighed at both Louis and the sound of the door opening.

"I have come to retrieve my Omega."

"Oh no." Brithney put her hands on her hips and stood between Louis and Edward. "No, no, no. I am not done with him, he can't even stand correctly!"

Louis stared at the wall in concentration, desperately wanting to look back and watch the conversation. "Hey, I can stand!"

Brithney rolled her eyes and gave the Alpha a look when he took a step toward the boy. "No, Edward."

"You have had him all day," Edward huffed, glancing over at the boy that was turning around slowly, using all of his concentration to stay balanced. "Good afternoon, Darling."

"'Sup"

"What a catastrophe! He is saying what is up! After all that time spent avoiding slang words." Brithney sat back on the couch and put a hand over her face, careful not to rub into her makeup.

"Edward, look at me! I can balance things," Louis announced proudly, gazing up at the books.

"What a good job you are doing, Beloved," Edward gushed, shooting a gentle smile before it left and he looked back at Brithney. "Look at him striving, he has had enough for one day. Let me take my Omega."

Brithney looked at Edward through her fingers. "Fine, I'm getting a headache, take him away."

Edward smirked once he was walking toward Louis and Brithney couldn't see him.

"Oh yay!" Louis looked up at Edward too quickly, resulting in the books falling and the tea flying. "Oh no."

"For god's sake, Louis!"

"Well we must got now. Sorry, Brithney." Edward placed his hand on the small of Louis' back and quickly escorted him out of the room. "Thank you!"

Brithney sighed and looked at the mess. "Wonderful." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tilted her head to look up at the ceiling. "...that does look like a horse."

Edward quickly shut the door behind them and glanced at the guards around them, bending down to whisper into Louis' ear, "I have got a surprise for you."

Louis looked up at Edward with furrowed brows. "A surprise?"

Edward nodded once. "It is a secret surprise."

"Aren't all surprises secret?"

"Well- that does not matter, come along." Edward decided to take the risk and held Louis' hand, smiling ever so slightly when he didn't pull away.

Louis glanced at their intertwined hands. He remembered Edward's apology to him and decided to embellish in the moment; if he was going to be stuck in the castle for three weeks at least he figured that he might as well try to enjoy it. "Can I get a hint?" He had to almost speed walk to keep up with Edward's long legs.

Edward glanced down at Louis' face, keeping his expression blank and unreadable. After a moment of silence he responded, "No." After another moment he continued. "I want this to be..."

"Surprising?" Louis provided, looking over at the wall of open windows to enjoy the views of the orange and pink clouds swirling around the setting sun.

Edward nodded once and turned left down another identical hallway,. "You will enjoy it."

The unexpected tug at his arm left Louis bumping into Edward's side. "How can you tell the fucking difference between this hallway and the next?" Louis questioned, looking around the equally white hallway.

"I just know, this is my home. Eventually you will feel the similarly- wait" Edward stood still, he shut his eyes and listened carefully.

Louis stopped along with him and looked around, he couldn't hear anything at all. He didn't understand how the Prince could just close his eyes and suddenly-

"Here." Edward mumbles, carefully ushering Louis under a small table pressed against the wall, lifting the pure white table cloth for him to hide.

"What are you-"

Edward put a hand over Louis' mouth and patted his back to crawl under. "Hurry, Little One."

Louis did as he was told but didn't hide the confused look on his face, he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall once Edward let the table cloth go.

"Good evening," Edward held his hands behind his back and looked at the passing guards.

"Good evening, Prince Edward." They bowed their heads slightly without stopping their coordinated march down the hall.

Louis looked at the shadows casted onto the table cloth, he was surprised how clean such a random place was. The omega slid his finger on the table leg, releasing small particles of dust into the air. He realized his mistake when he sneezed ever so quietly, but it wasn't quiet enough.

The guards stopped at their Commander's request. "...Did you hear something?" The Commander looked back at the Prince, before glancing at the table.

Edward leaned against the wall next to the table, clearing his throat and sniffling in the most unconvincing way. He was not destined to be an actor. "Is it illegal to sneeze? Continue your day, Corporal."

"I am not a Corporal, Sir. I am the Commander of the Queen's men," he bit back, as respectfully as he could.

Edward raised a brow and crossed his arms. "My mistake, be on your way Commander-" he glanced at his name tag. -"French."

The Commander looked at the Prince. He knew much about him, he had to. So knowing of Prince Edward's short temper, he continued business.

Edward glared at his retreating figure. Even if the Prince was lying, he hated that he wasn't believed, even if it was for a moment. Once the guards turned down a hallways and became out of sight, Edward lifted the table cloth.

"Sorry."

Edward helped the Omega get out from under the table, shaking his head slightly. "Do not apologize to me for something so trivial. You could do no wrong."

Louis wanted to roll his eyes at Edward's constant poetic talk, but he stopped himself from doing so. He didn't really believe that Edward thought that of him; deep in his mind Louis swore that Edward didn't actually think that he was his mate, instead he was pretending for evil, ulterior motives. But then Louis remembered that he was going to be good, so he took Edward's hand and looked up at him expectantly. "Lead the way."

So Edward did, walking down the seemingly endless hallway before stopping in front of a painting of himself.

Louis glanced at the Prince. "This is the surprise? A painting of you... which by the way, was drawn way too manly. Your hair doesn't look like that, at all. Did you fire the painter?"

Edward gave Louis a face. "This is not me." He felt along the frame, unlocking the hatch once he found it. "This is my brother." The Alpha swung the painting open to reveal a dim hallway. "After you."

"Um." Louis glanced into the passageway hesitantly. "What are we doing exactly?"

"Darling, get in. We cannot be galavanting around while I have this open," Edward stresses, hurriedly motioning for the Omega to get in.

Louis sighed and did as he was told.

The hall was dark and dusty, and so stereotypically lit with torches on the wall.

The sound of the door being shut made Louis jump in the slightest. He looked at Edward. The alpha was in control of the situation, Louis didn't know whether or not to be scared.

"Edward this is weird."

"I'm being considerate and charming," he mumbled, almost to himself, looking down at Louis with furrowed brows. "Is this not adventurous?"

Louis looked around the corridor dramatically and motioned around himself. "This is scary, Edward. What are you trying to do?"

Edward pursed his lips. He knew it was a bad idea. He didn't want to take etiquette classes, especially with Brithney, but his god forsaken mother made him. Having to sit with the woman for an hour was degrading. He knew how to be an alpha. He knew how to woo omegas. And yet, he was still forced into wasting an hour every day, being taught what he had been taught before. The last time they had met, Brithney told him that he had to show Louis that he cared about him and not his own self interest. "You must always ask yourself. Are you being considerate and charming?" Just thinking of Brithney's voice repeating the mantra brought on the same headache. But despite being annoyed by her, Edward followed her advice. Her ridiculous advice, that was proven just then, when Louis showed his annoyance at what was supposed to intrigue him. And to think the potential trouble that Edward could have gotten in.

"Edward... Stop staring at me like that it's weird."

Edward snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. He knew this was going to happen. Now Louis thought that he was strange. "We have already gone his far. You might as well take my word that this will end in your enjoyment."

Louis stared at Edward's face. The gentle flames from the torches illuminated the Prince's cheeks, making them appear tan and smooth, as did the rest of his emotionless face. He was not smiling, nor frowning, just looking at Louis with attentive, almost impatient hazel eyes. Louis sighed. Edward praised him too much to do anything that would hurt him. Louis trusted him. "Alright, just don't make me go under another table."

Edward spent no time, grabbing Louis' hand with impatient gentleness and carefully leading him down the pathway. "We only a little less than hour, but it's an hour nonetheless. We may do whatever you want."

"An hour where though? You're being too vague for me to understand anything," Louis huffed in frustration, stoping along with Edward once the hallway ended, leaving only a black door.

"The city of Velora. You have no boundaries, but time."