Sage was so exhausted by bedtime that he almost fell asleep on the couch by his bedroom door. He was studying the carvings on his door, carvings of vines wrapping around in symmetrical patterns. Each leaf was lined with gold, but some were fading, most likely from the years of different Princes slumping against them with the relief of going to bed.
His eyes ripped open when his bedroom door opened. "Please knock next time," he mumbled, staring up at Taro Vinea. The Valet's blond hair was messy, and the top button of his shirt was undone.
"But you called for me on that buzzer thing."
"Doesn't matter. Always knock."
Taro shut the door behind him. Sage didn't move. He was slouching after a day of sitting up straight and keeping a polite face. Sage just wanted to scowl for no reason, simply because he could.
"Rough day?" Taro asked, hovering by the door. "Sir."
Sage's hazel eyes met green tired ones. "I could ask you the same. Did they have you rushed off your feet?"
Taro shrugged. "It's just been a while since I've had work. I'll get used to it."
Sage sat up, ruffled his curls and yawned. "Right," he said, getting to his feet and stretching his fingers. "Tomorrow I'm going to a funeral."
Taro frowned with Sage. His bright green eyes pointed to the dark wooden floor. "Sorry to hear that, Sir."
"It's important that I look the part. The press will be there and photographers, and the news. You'll probably know that I'm their favourite person to make look a fool. I need to look perfect, so they can't say that my hair is too frizzy or that my trousers are too wrinkled or too short." By now, Taro's gaze had risen again to Sage's face. "I should have called for you earlier, but I don't think my funeral suits need anything other than an iron."
For once, Taro didn't look immensely bored. "Show me the suits."
Sage turned towards the wall of built in cupboards. "Uh... I don't know where they are."
Taro searched and found them in the last cupboard on the left. Three black suits hung up in clear plastic bags. Taro took them all and laid them on the bed.
Sage pondered over all three before pointing to one with ruby buttons and silver lacing.
"No," Taro said bluntly. "It'll look like you're showing off your wealth." Sage stared at him. "You said the tabloids would do anything to make you look like an idiot. They'll criticise you for this." Taro studied the other two. One had silver buttons and faint silver lines through the material. The last suit had black buttons and a black silk inner. Taro Pointed to that one. "It's simple but still smart enough for a Prince."
"Okay." Sage touched the waistcoat underneath the jacket. "Thank you." He zipped it back up and hung it on the outside of the wardrobe.
Taro got Sage's pyjamas and hung them on his arm, waiting for Sage to undress, and Sage did so behind the changing wall. "Mister Vinea, my nightwear," he said after he had stripped.
He waited for him to hang the pyjamas over the wall or hand them over. Instead, Taro walked around the changing wall and handed him them, face to face. Sage would've snatched them out his hands to cover himself if he wasn't so stunned. "What on earth are you doing?"
"Giving you your nightwear."
Sage, with hot cheeks, grabbed his silk trousers and quickly put them on. "I meant pass them over the wall," he mumbled and took the shirt too.
"Oh." Taro stepped back but Sage was already buttoning up his pyjamas.
Sage still felt eyes on him, even when he walked through his room and entered his bathroom. Taro paused in the doorway. "Now would be a good time to ask what time I would like waking." Sage could see him in the mirror. Taro looked tired. "Wake me at seven thirty. Don't be late this time."
"Alright."
Sage paused before shoving his toothbrush in his mouth.
"Alright, Sir."
"You can go now," Sage muffled with a mouth full of toothpaste. "Oh-" he spat into his large marble sink with gold taps. "Get someone to bring the plant to the room. I assume the cleaner took it before I was here."
Taro nodded. Before he left, he curtly bowed his head to hide a smirk. Sage saw him and concluded that he was turning into a plant-obsessed Prince after all.
Sage had promised his favourite gardener that he would keep it alive. He was dedicated to the pledge.
Sage soon heard a thump against his door and the plant was waiting on the carpet like the previous night. Sage put it on his desk and went to bed. His sheets had been changed into cotton blue ones. Sage was too hot for a while and stressed about the funeral.
He tossed and turned until midnight came and went.
Sage needed air. In frustration, he got his silk dressing gown that matched his black silk pyjamas. He left the gold ribbon on the gown swinging freely by his waist and stormed through his room. Nobody was up, and Sage felt privacy in the long corridors of his home, for once.
He went to the gardens and sat on a metal bench between high bushes. The metal on the bench cooled him while the heat of the summer's night enhanced the sweet scent of roses all around him. Sage slouched and was soon calm.
He loved the silence. The Palace gardens were huge and empty, and a place of real serenity compared to the packed Palace. Well, he enjoyed the peacefulness until someone's feet on gravel disrupted him.
Taro Vinea plopped himself down as though he sat next to a stranger, not the Prince.
Sage stared at him with raised eyebrows. Taro simply crossed his arms and looked around. He wore his purple jumper and light blue ripped jeans that he had worn in his interview. Though now, they weren't baggy on him at all. Sage could see the outlines of his muscles filling his sleeves. He frowned.
"Smells nice out here," Taro commented with a content sigh.
Sage's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"
"Getting fresh air. What are you doing?" Taro faced him. His green eyes flicked him up and down. "Sir."
"Getting fresh air too. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"Shouldn't you be sleeping? You're the one with a big day in the morning."
Sage stared hard at a large pink rose. "Don't remind me," he muttered.
"I've never been to a funeral."
"Royal ones are just full of rules and tradition."
"I saw a bit of the one on TV for when the king died. Weird that it was even on the telly."
"Yeah." Sage faced away so Taro couldn't see his anger at the memory of that funeral. "Anyway, go to bed or you'll be late to wake me up again."
"Only if you go to bed too."
"Mister Vinea-"
"Prince Sage, you said you had to look perfect for tomorrow. Those cameras will zoom in on the bags under your eyes if you don't sleep now."
Sage couldn't argue with that. Still, he sat up straighter and finally tied the golden ribbon to his silk dressing gown. "You forget your Royal equities." Sage then got up. "Good night Mister Vinea."
The Prince returned to his bedroom without seeing another soul. He shut the double doors to his quarters and aimed to get back into bed. As he hung his dressing gown up, he noticed the plant was back on his bedside table but teetering on the edge.
Sage stared at it for a long minute. Am I losing my mind? The plant moved so frequently; Sage was sure he didn't leave it there by accident.
Slowly, he moved closer. Sage didn't expect someone to leap out at him, nor did he expect the plant to suddenly lunge for him. But Sage was wary, especially when the plant seemed to have a mind of its own.
He sat on his cotton sheets and stared harder than before. Only one lamp lit his bedroom. The other end was dark and a little eerie. "Maybe I should mention this to Mrs Beecham," Sage mumbled aloud.
The plant suddenly wobbled and Sage was the one to lunge forwards. He grabbed the rim of the purple pot. Soil spilt on the floor, but Sage didn't care. He positioned the pot in the middle of the bedside table and kept his hands on it.
Something strange was happening. Sage ignored it because he had no time for weird, possessed plants. He couldn't ignore this any longer. Maybe I am losing my mind like Granny Dalia.
Sage let go and slid under his duvet. He had to sleep soon. Looking his best at a funeral hounded by paparazzi was more important than the strange Devil's Ivy plant.
He decided not to move it back to his desk and turned over to face the window. The plant was on his mind even as he slept. He woke with a rough start when Taro Vinea basically punched him in the arm.
Sage groaned and rolled onto his stomach. When he didn't get up, Taro shoved him. "Don't do that," Sage grumbled. "I've told you already not to wake me like that."
"I yelled at you three times, but you didn't wake up."
Sage rolled out of bed with a thumping head. He had slept little yet had a busy day ahead of him. Complaining would only put him in a bad mood.
He slipped on black underwear and black trousers before stepping from behind his changing wall. Taro was leaning against the desk with Sage's fresh ironed black t-shirt over one arm. His golden shirt was buttoned up wrong, his blond hair spiked everywhere, and his green eyes were half open.
"Did you sleep last night?" Sage asked, fastening his belt. "And have you misplaced your blazer?"
Taro looked down with one raised brow. "Oh," he said like he was unaware of its absence.
"You know that your appearance is just as important as mine? Osier will kill you if he sees you looking like that."
"And you?"
Sage motioned that he was ready for his shirt after rummaging for some deodorant. "I would say that you need to make an effort. You're in the Royal Palace and you look as though you've stumbled in off the streets." Sage watched his valet in the mirror. Taro's lips twitched downwards with annoyance. Sage would have given him an example of his sharp tongue if he didn't have other things on his mind.
Taro moved to the Prince's front and buttoned up Sage's shirt, starting from the bottom. Like last time, Sage didn't stop him. He watched the man's pale fingers with his green fingernails. "Has Osier not told you to clean that off?" he asked.
"He has."
"So why haven't you?"
Their eyes clashed as Taro paused with his finger's on Sage's buttons. "I don't want to."
"The green nails make you stand out."
"Good."
Sage couldn't fathom why anyone would want to voluntarily stand out. He had no choice and spent every day wishing others would look the other way. Before he had the chance to tell him that Osier would probably try to fire him for it, his bedroom door opened.
Sage turned to see Oxley peeking his head through the double doors. "Ah!" Oxley boomed with a cheeky grin to match his mischievous eyes. He looked directly at Taro Vinea as he said, "You must be my brother's new Valet!"