The Lunar Prince Read online

  He glanced at Nath’s handsome face; his perfect ski-slope nose speckled with tiny freckles had to have been hand-chiseled by some fantastical force. He’d been telling himself to stop fanboying over the him since they'd met but every time Nath was nearby, Evan’s knees weakened and his heart took a stuttering dive. “It’s been a crazy first week,” he said.

  Nath looked up and said, “worth it though?”

  “Definitely,” said Evan.

  Dimples.

  Evan's toes curled. Oh. God.

  “Good. It’d be a shame if you left,” Nath said barely above a whisper. He met Evan's gaze and held it.

  Evan swallowed his desire; something shifted between them.

  ∞∞∞

  Cass caught up with him at the end of class. Jeremiah had disappeared to an appointment with the alchemy teacher so they headed to dinner together in a flurry of students.

  “Pigs can fly, roses are fish, and Evan’s in love,” said Cass in a sing-song voice, skipping along the corridor, trailing her fingers along a throbbing crystal vein. Glittering memories shed in her wake, dusting the floor in fairy tales.

  “What?” Evan snapped back to reality with a head-shattering thud.

  “Listening now?”

  “I was never ignoring you and I’m not in love,” he said turning the precise colour of an overripe strawberry.

  Cass rolled her eyes. “You don’t hide your feelings as well as you think you do.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” he said.

  “Nobody cares if you’re gay. I saw two guys making out near the library this morning and two girls holding hands yesterday afternoon. If you're not out that's cool, I get it, it's your business,” she shrugged.

  He felt as though a weight had been lifted.

  “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” she lowered her voice.

  Evan laughed. “Those cheeks!”

  “Forget dimples, have you seen his arms?”

  Chapter 5

  Nathaniel

  “How was your first week?” said the King. Lazy sunshine spilled over the desk, gilding the amendment they’d spent the afternoon working on and dancing across his glossy desk.

  “Better than I expected,” said Nath, rolling a bottle of crimson ink between hands.

  “Have you made any new friends yet?”

  “I’ve spoken to a few people,” said Nath. “I made one new friend; his name’s Evan Ravenway.”

  This got his father’s attention, and he met Nath’s eye with the piercing bullshit-cutting gaze.

  Nath tried to pretend there wasn’t a hot blush creeping up his neck.

  “Tell me about him,” said Elijah. His eyes didn't leave Nathaniel's face.

  He chose his words carefully, aware of the intense scruinisation. “He’s from Manchester: eighteen, fair haired, funny and his favourite subject is lore, but he's fascinated by mysticism."

  His father looked at him pointedly and with immense disbelief. “An unusual choice. Mysticism... the class ruled by Mr Daniels, the- the shoeless man.”

  Nathaniel shrugged and averted his eyes. “He hadn't the foggiest who I was when we met and he hasn’t treated me differently, which is more than I can say for most people...”

  “You knew this would happen when you chose to attend. You didn’t have to. You'll be forever treated dissimilarly. Serenity and civility are essential in this line of work,” he said, eyes tempests of unreadable emotion.

  “But he didn’t,” a tiny smile curled his lips.

  Chapter 6

  Evan slept in late on Saturday and headed to the library after lunch to get started on Flint’s essay. The library: a cavernous, dual-floored room lined with shelves crammed to the ceiling with books on every subject: magical and otherwise. Some were locked in crates, others submerged underwater and required assistance to be hooked out. Benches and singles swarmed the center of the ground floor and dotted between shelves throughout. The air was toasty and smelled musty of history and old books.

  He located a desk at back of the upper floor where light flooded from a high, arched window, its panes depicted a phoenix rising from the ashes, stained a bloodied orange. Evan pulled out his essay and greeted the lines of black cursive. He’d chosen the Siege of 1900 when Wulfric Cole: one of the most powerful pyromancers of all time, gathered a band of rebels and stormed the palace slaughtering the king and queen and most of their households. With great fortune and sheer luck, the prince and heir, fled into the night returning with an army to annihilate the usurper and reclaim his throne. It was so much history to cram into only a thousand words, and yet here he was.

  “Having trouble getting started?”

  Evan jumped so badly his text book clattered to the floor. The world tilted as he looked up into the face of an angel. “You scared me,” he breathed, heat crawling up his spine.

  “I apologise deeply,” said Nath, dropping beside him smelling of summer and expensive sandalwood shampoo.

  “You don’t seem too apologetic.”

  “I don’t think you’re all that upset,” Nath said, eyes twinkling.

  “You’re right,” said Evan. His stomach knotted like wet spaghetti as he watched the prince pull out his essay. His script was unsurprisingly beautiful. He refrained from leaning closer having smoked a little weed before he left, praying Nath didn't smell it on him in case he wasn't into it.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but you said you’d be here today and I thought we could finish our essays together,” said Nath, cheeks turning pink. He was nervous. “Forgive me for my intrusion.”

  “No, no intrusion at all,” said Evan, “what you got left to do?”

  “The conclusion and a read through. Need any help?” he nodded to Evan’s work.

  “Uh-”

  “What’s your topic?”

  That roosting hen of awkwardness returned with a whole flock. It was such a simple question but telling the prince he was writing about how his great-great-grandparents had been brutally murdered in their own home seemed a bit much. “The Siege of 1900,” he said.

  “That’s fantastic. Dad always takes pride in his great-grandfather’s story,” Nath was smiling, and it struck him how odd it was to hear the king referred to in such a casual manner

  Evan smiled and said, “I’m just having issues getting the right first words out, you know?”

  Nath nodded and leaned over pointing at something in Evan's text book that he wasn’t looking at because Nath was inches away and radiating handsome. He jabbed his finger again, and Evan finally tore his eyes away to look at the picture of a young man holding a staff to the rising sun, beams of light reflected from every inch of him as though a thousand mirrors were embedded in his skin. “Solarmancer: one of two uniques exclusive to the royal family. Start by writing whatever you need to get off your chest and go from there. The body is built around the skeleton. Get something down and the rest will follow.”

  Well, that was a better way to put it. Essay writing had never been his forte, he'd just never written any. His dad hadn't considered it necessary when Evan announced he'd join the family business designing, blowing and enchanting bongs for a living. He realised why Blaise had taken making fun of him to new levels, he must've overheard him telling Cass that his mother was a housewife and his father owned a smokeware shop filled with his own inventions.

  He watched Nath’s expert penmanship and the way it teased his rounded bicep covered in a slim navy shirt, top buttons open revealing sharp collarbones begging for teeth marks and a few pale strands of hair. It took a disgusting amount of restraint to keep his hands away. “What's yours about?” he asked.

  “The rise and fall of Artemis,” said Nath.

  Evan’s heart skipped a beat. Artemis was a powerful alchemical warlock once in high favor with the late king, he was banished for dark sorcery, and the monstrous experiments he campaigned to legalise during the second worst period for werewolfery.

  “Intense,” said Evan.

  Nath met his
eye and said, “yes, but it’s an incredible story. There’s a lot to be learned from it.”

  “And I thought I was having trouble fitting my topic into a thousand words,” Evan grinned.

  Nath’s laugh was fucking gorgeous.

  “You’re funny. I like that. Not enough people are funny anymore,” said Nath, eyes twinkling.

  He knew he was blushing. He was always blushing, but this time it felt fantastic. The air crackled with magic and, if Evan wasn’t mistaken, a little trilling tension. “You’re not how I expected you to be.”

  Nath studied him carefully as though taking in all the details of his face: meadow-green eyes, rosy cheeks and straight caramel-brown hair. Weirdly, he didn’t feel self-conscious at all. “Shall I take that as a compliment?”

  Evan’s face broke a grin. “Absolutely. Why are you laughing?”

  Nath shook his head. “You’re making me laugh and, yes, please do take it as a compliment.”

  They sat smiling shyly at one another, Evan’s heart shattering the library’s silence. He was suddenly aware of how alone they were; excitement dampened his palms and he discreetly tried to wipe them on his trousers. “Thank you.”

  “Did you finish your introduction?”

  It took Evan a second to snap back to reality; his heart fluttered dangerously when Nath leaned over again to look at his work. Blood was rapidly leaving his brain for his nether regions.

  “It reads really well,” he said.

  Evan nodded his thanks, too engrossed in absorbing every detail of his face to speak.

  Nath looked up, caught his eye and his cheeks blossomed. “I need to be heading off now,” he said, a hint of regret tarnishing his voice.

  A lump welled in Evan's chest, and he quickly forced it back down. “Sure. See you on Monday?”

  Nath flashed a winning smile. “Yes,” he said, “see you then and enjoy the rest of your weekend, Evan.”

  He watched Nath’s ass slide around the table and weave through the bookshelves out of sight and was struck by an overpowering urge to head back to his room.

  Chapter 7

  The following week breezed by pleasantly and full of magic. Evan had the luxury of gazing at Nath throughout rune enchantment until near the end of class when they began prepping blaze-proof runes for enchantment later in the week.

  Cass and Jeremiah waited for him at the end of class.

  “Wow, what’s the occasion?” Evan asked.

  “Haven’t you heard? You’re the new crown prince, and we’ve been ordered to escort you to lunch,” said Cass, eyes slit with sarcasm.

  Evan rolled his eyes and shoved her gently, “idiot! and shut up Nath might hear you.”

  “Nath?” Jeremiah snorted. “Damn.”

  Evan’s skin felt hot, and he welcomed the pungent smell of Chinese food and desserts. “That’s his name,” he said.

  “He hasn’t introduced himself like that to anyone else,” said Cass.

  Evan caught her eye and she nodded, smile spreading slowly. “So?” he frowned, confused.

  “The palace requested he be called Your Highness, but he introduces himself as Nathaniel, not Nath,” her face lit up like a full moon. “I think only people he’s close to call him that.”

  And all this time he hadn’t even noticed that one detail. He’d assumed Nath wanted everyone to abbreviate his name so he’d fit in more, not only his inner circle. Does he like me? Evan wondered

  “He’s so oblivious, isn’t he?” Cass said loudly, breaking his stupor.

  “Yeah but it’s fun so let’s see where it takes him,” Jeremiah was grinning manically.

  “I’m sitting right here!” said Evan.

  “Yeah but you’re doing that zone-out thing when you’re lost in thought,” she replied.

  “I didn’t realise I was so transparent,” rolling his eyes, Evan poured a huge helping of fried rice and beef-black-bean sauce all over his plate.

  ∞∞∞

  A sense of pride enveloped Evan as he handed his essay to Flint. After a thorough masturbation marathon on Saturday, he’d spent the whole of Sunday morning finishing homework, and the afternoon reading to birdsong.

  “You look pleased,” said Nath.

  Part of that is thanks to you, gorgeous. Evan wasn’t going to say that aloud. “I think it went well. Our study session was pretty motivating.”

  “When did you two have a study session?” said Will.

  Evan met his intense gaze and knew he shouldn’t have said anything.

  “Saturday, library and chill session,” said Nath.

  Will’s features hardened, his warm, chocolatey eyes scanned Evan, analysing him like a specimen. “What for?”

  “Our lore essays. What’s wrong with you?” Nath hissed, flashing his bladed glare.

  A muscle in Will’s jaw twitched, his eyes flickered back to Evan for the briefest moment. “Weird seeing you hanging around with a commoner,” he said.

  “Perhaps you should get used to it,” Nath said calmly.

  Evan had never felt so awkward. Awkward, and embarrassed. Using every ounce of strength, he kept his eyes trained on the text and didn’t once meet Will’s ferocious glare, burning layers off his left cheekbone.

  Nath either didn’t notice or chose to ignore it too, and didn’t speak to Will for the rest of class.

  ∞∞∞

  Thursday morning he was woken by a spellogram pounding relentlessly on his window. He cracked it and the note shot into the room, fizzing like a Guy Fawkes Night sparkler and landed with a dying pop in Evan’s palm smelling of birthday wishes and spent gunpowder. He unfolded the marble-sized paper from home. Evan loved spellograms. On clear summer evenings they could be seen by the thousands, arcing across the sky like minuscule shooting stars travelling great distances in seconds. Growing up, he considered them oddly romantic.

  He’d written to his parents the week before letting them know how he was settling in and about his new friends. They replied with love and encouragement, worried about his secret since his invitation arrived.

  “I love sending those,” said Cass, when he arrived at the breakfast table. She reached over and flicked his paper so the last tiny sparks shot out. “They’re adorable, who’s it from?”

  “Home. Dad is really excited about a convention he’s taking stock to in Canada,” he said. “If it goes well his little shop could start trading internationally.”

  “That’s amazing!” Cass beamed.

  ∞∞∞

  On Friday Flint handed back their essays and Evan grinned at the fat B beaming back at him. Pride swelled in his chest; this was much better than he expected. The room brightened and hummed warmly with magic. He flipped over the page to check the comments.

  “Impressive, especially for your first essay,” said Nath tucking his own work under his book but not before Evan glimpsed the gigantic A+ on top.

  “Thanks,” he smiled trying hard not to look at Will shifting his paper so his A+ was clearly visible, smugness twisting his lips.

  “Not too bad for a peasant. B for below average... in every sense, right?” said Will.

  Nath glared; Will dodged it. “I apologise on his behalf he must have forgotten his medication.”

  Will’s face twisted in fury and for a split-second Evan thought he was going to punch him but seemed to think better of it. Tension crackled and hissed like wood splintered on a fire.

  He tried to focus on his essay and not the slight burn of embarrassment or Will’s coal-dark eyes boring into his cheek.

  Flint looked over wearing a concerned frown, eyes lingering a time on Will.

  Just when Evan started to think Will had given up, he leaned in close to Nath and spoke in a voice cold enough to wake the dead, “I’m not the one who has a temper they can’t control.”

  Nath’s eyes darted to Evan, sparkling with worry.

  “Man, you're the one who needs to get ahold yourself,” the words were out of Evan’s mouth before he could stop them, and when th
at dead stare turned on him his stomach plummeted.

  “You dare speak to me like that?” Will spat, his small nose wrinkled with disgust. “You’ve not been here a month and you’re already speaking to nobility like that? You?” he stressed, handsome face twisting with disbelief. “You're the type they let sit at the dinner table what smuggles away the cutlery.”

  “Enough!” said Nath, eyes blazing.

  “Nath—"

  “You've no business speaking to friends of the prince that way,” he said frostily, gaze sharp enough to slice. He met Will's hard eyes full-on and said, “you’re being ridiculously unfair.”

  “I’ll tell you what’s unfair-” Will started, but the argument died when Nath shook his head.

  “No, you won’t,” he said. “If civility is too much for you then I'd rather you be silent.”

  Evan accidentally met Will’s burning gaze. He shouldn’t have said anything. Whatever Will’s problem was it wasn’t going to improve if he antagonised him further.

  At the end of class, Nath turned his back on Will and swept from the room.

  Evan packed his things slowly until the room emptied and followed along behind a worried-looking Cass.

  Surprise greeted him; Nath was waiting outside the classroom.

  “I’ll catch you up,” Evan waved her off.

  Cass's smirk was sly and she swept away down the corridor, ponytail bouncing.

  “I want to apologise again for that,” said Nath.

  “Nah, it's my bad for winding him up. I didn't realise he was so touchy,” he sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

  “He’s always been aggressive, especially to people he perceives as a threat,” said Nath, briefly catching his eye. “I believe he’s overwhelmed. This is all new us; despite students living in the west wing, the entire palace feels fuller. I’m not making excuses for him, but I don’t want you to feel like you don’t matter because you're a commoner,” Nath’s smile raised his spirits, dimples winking like bedtime stars.