Prologue
It was a dark night, but the moon was shining and the stars were bright. The moonlight glimmered beautifully on his lover's fair skin, twinkling in his espresso brown eyes. Samuel wished they could stay like this forever, but they both knew it wasn't meant to be. Soon, the boy's family would be executed for stealing from the royals.
"I still don't understand, Quinn. I can just tell my parents I gave the food to you, they'd probably understand!"
He shakes his head sadly. "But then you'd be lying. And you'd get in trouble too."
He moves closer to the young prince. "It's okay. You have so much ahead of you, you shouldn't try to take the fall for people like me. You're gonna be king one day, and me..."
He trails off. He takes a deep breath, hot tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"It doesn't matter. I know it's not fair, but--"
"Of course it's not fucking fair! What do you mean 'people like you'? You were starving, you had to do something!"
Quinn smiles sadly. "I wish all royals thought the same as you."
"Fuck!" he winces. As much as Samuel didn't want to admit it, it was true. Most of the time in the Northern Halos, lower class citizens either starved to death or were executed while trying to prevent that. And even if he could save Quinn, they still wouldn't be able to be seen together.
"When I become king, I'll make sure my people get fed. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."
"I'm glad you think that."
It drops quiet. Critters silently chirp in the background, and the cool wind drifts between the two of them. Samuel's tears finally fall, and he looks back at him, interlocking his hand with his own.
"I love you, Quinn. I wish there was another way, I don't want to lose you."
He looks down at the ground and squeezes his hand tighter. "I love you too."
The young prince leans in hesitantly, but the other cups his face and kisses him intently, hot salty tears dripping on his soft lips. He brushes locks of his blonde hair behind his ear, and pulls away.
"I too, wish there was another way."
The next day, the young peasant and his family was executed in front of a large crowd of high class citizens, eager to see what happens when the lower class tries to get on their level. This crowd included the royal family, and more importantly Samuel.
It was quite traumatizing seeing your first love get his head chopped off at only 15 years old, so that day the young prince vowed to never give another man his heart again. After all, if he would only get his heart broken (and possibly watch his head get sliced off), what was the point?
