WINTER UPON THE SUN

CHAPTER VIII

Skyler went to his father's office where his father's main butler stays. "Good eve mr. Gabriel." He greeted the old man who had served his family even before he was born. "Good evening, young Acacia." The butler nodded to him and smiled. "Do you need my service, princess?" He asked, standing up from his desk, letting go of the scroll he was reading.

"No, no, please stay seated, I am just checking if maybe there's a letter named for me?" Skyler asked, hoping to get Prince Ethan’s new letter.

"Oh, of course. Here it is my lady." Skyler smiled at Gabriel, thanking him before leaving the office and go to his room to read the letter without anyone interrupting him.

Hello beloved princess,

I am delighted to know that you're as thoughtful and caring as ever, even with animals, Acacia.

Nothing interesting has happened the past two days since I had written the letter before this, aside from the fact my friend, Prince Nicholas of the South visited and I hit my first bullseye in my archery lesson.

I told him, my friend who visited, about you and he was excited to meet you. Apparently, he's coming for the Christmas celebration, which the Royal Palace of Winter will host, and I hope you and him will get along.

I am most excited to meet you once again, and hope that the days towards the meeting will come fast. No words can describe how much I longed for you, Skyler.

Truly yours, your fiancée

"I miss you too, Ethan." Skyler couldn't stop his smile from growing wider. Ethan really knows how to make him grin like there's no tomorrow. A few more weeks.. months and they'll be together again. He's already planning what to do with the others once here. Maybe he can show him the field he loves the most. It will be colder than normal there, but he hopes the elderly won't mind. They can play board games and even show him his progression by riding a horse.

Skyler stares at the letter for a few more moments before kissing it softly and taking the box where he keeps the letters.

~•~•~•~•~•~

Ethan gazed at the short letter he received that day, smiling widely. They'll be meeting in two weeks and both of them are already excitedly planning what to do once they meet again. The younger wrote him the activities they can do and the festivals they can attend, discreetly of course. They were both excited about doing everything together again.

"You're smiling like crazy.. care to explain?" Ethan’s mom asked, when he was about to answer nothing, his mother interrupted. "Oh wait, forget it. That is for sure something my daughter-in-law did." She teased.

"Mother!" Ethan blushed at that as they were in the presence of his mother's helpers who were at her service. "But I must correct you, mother. FUTURE daughter-in-law." He said, looking away while drinking his own warm tea. Charlotte laughs, shaking her head and drinking her tea.

"No need to be shy my son, the princess has been betrothed to you since birth and, as we can all see, all of you are getting along quite well. Do not worry, on your birthday, I would ask the Martinez royal parents to let princess Acacia come and stay over for the both of you to know each other better. By then, you will be fully an adult." She said, patting her sons' head, and the prince smiled towards his loving mother. "But then again, once you and the princess made the engagement official, you'd meet each other a lot to prepare for the wedding." She teased again.

Ethan groaned and stood up. "Excuse me, mother. I'll take my leave as you're having too much fun teasing me this much." The moody teen left with his mother chuckling at his retreating back.

"Young prince." A young voice called out to him as he was walking back to his room. It was his childhood friend, Olivia. Ethan grinned widely and ran towards her, ignoring the no-running policy, and hugged her tightly, twirling her body around.

Olivia is the daughter of his teacher. She kept bringing Olivia with her when they were both young as no one could look after her, being the teacher is a single mother, and then let them play together when it's break time.

She was also the prince's first partner, both curious about things. First kiss, romance, and even just the experience of being loyal to someone, but they both ended it when the prince learned that he was about to be wed.

He told Olivia about this and she smiled sadly at first but explained that it was to be expected and told him that they could still stay as friends. Being a year older, she tried to be a bigger and more matured person. At that time, the prince was 15 years old and Olivia was 16.

Olivia then starts studying herbs as she aspires to be a healer and that means she has less time to come to the palace and be with the prince.

It made the prince devastated at first as it was his first relationship, but he was mostly scared of the fact that his mother explained to him that the princess that he should be married to was actually a boy also. He never knew that he would like the same gender as him and also because of the fact that maybe he'd grow up to hate the person he's about to marry, but boy is he wrong.

"How have you been? It has been a year, yes?" He asked the lady after pulling away. "I've been good. I learned a lot about different herbs from my teacher. He was really great at healing people. Ohhh you have grown quite a lot, huh?" She placed her hands on his shoulder, inspecting him up and down.

"It's not that much, silly." Ethan laughed after they turned to walk towards the garden together.

"Not that much? The last time we saw each other, you were about just a few inches taller than me, but now I’m just about your chin now. Time really goes by fast." She sighed, massaging the back of her neck. Olivia then turns to him again after remembering something.

"I heard you have already met the princess. What does she look like? I bet she's pretty. In the town, rumors spread a lot and I got information that the princess was actually well hidden by her parents and kept like a diamond. They said she's utterly beautiful but also scary. Is it true? Spill the beans!" She rambled, settling on the marble bench under the big tree. Ethan laughed out loud at the story she said.

"None of those stories are true. Except for the fact she's utterly beautiful. The Martinez family are actually nice people, one of the nicest. And Skyler... the princess.." Ethan paused, looking ahead at the field of flowers in front of him. "She's so kind, helpful and respectful. Everyone I met in the palace adores her." He smiled, remembering the encounters.

Olivia stared at him, seeing how whipped the once young friend she had to this young man in front of her. "You've... absolutely fallen for that lady, Ethan." She patted his back, giggling a little. "Young love does wonder to everyone, really." She said, looking up at the cloudy, turning dark sky.

Ethan nodded his head in agreement. He won't deny it, he's infatuated with Skyler... a lot.

~TBC~