"Halt!"
Queen Jessamine was usually renowned as a beautiful lady. With her face twisted up in anger, however, she didn't look nearly as pretty. "Halt!" she bellowed again.
Ferris O'Carrick, her second son, stood by her side. "I wonder where he's gone," he murmured.
Jessamine loved Ferris. He was the light of her world, always laughing and playing. He wasn't as intelligent and bright as Halt, but he also wasn't burdened with Halt's dry, sarcastic wit. And he definitely acted more like a crown prince than his older brother.
"Halt, I swear, if you don't come here right now, I will lock you in your room for the next month!"
Jessamine waited, peering into the nighttime gloom that had already shrouded the garden. The garden was silent and empty except for her, Ferris, and two guards. She felt inordinately foolish, standing here and calling out into the dark.
Then, Halt was there, in front of her. If was like he'd detached himself from a tree or something. One moment, she was sure he hadn't been there. Now, here he was. It wasn't proper for someone to make themselves invisible, least of all the crown prince of Clonmel.
Halt, usually expressionless or bored, looked strangely alive tonight. There was a glint in his eye and a spring to his step. As he crossed into a shaft of moonlight, Jessamine caught sight of a quicksilver smirk flashing across his features.
There was no person alive in Clonmel who would say, truthfully, that Prince Halt O'Carrick was not good-looking. He had sharp, angular features and dark eyes that seemed to hold a thousand secrets. Ferris was more open and smiling, while Halt was a bundle of mysteries.
"Took you long enough," snapped Jessine, still slightly unnerved by Halt's sudden appearance.
"I was debating whether or not to show myself," said the boy carelessly. "Poor Ferris doesn't look too happy that I came back, does he?"
Ferris, in fact, looked livid. Jessamine chose to ignore this.
"If you continue like this, you will not be fit to be king when the time comes," she warned Halt. He shrugged. That was the thing about Halt; he never seemed to care about anything. But with him, you never knew.
"Ferris can be king," he said.
Ferris looked at Jessamine. "Mother," he urged. "It's not such a bad idea, actually. Halt isn't interested, but I am fully qualified-"
She cut him off gently. "I know, darling, but Halt was born first. Therefore, he is the crown prince."
Halt shrugged, flashing a sarcastic smile at Ferris. "Pity that. Oh, well, I guess I'll have to get used to be the King of Clonmel then. I really envy you, Ferris."
The look in Ferris's eyes would have struck down a Kalkara.