A/N: New home, new beginnings. And a new sight to see.
Chapter Two
Knock knock knock. "Rise and shine!" Castiel started out of bed, ready to run from the castle soldiers coming to take him to debtors' prison. After blinking around the room, the memories of the previous day flooded back to him. "Come on, up and at 'em!" the footsteps receded to knock on other doors.
"Was that... the Servant Keeper?" Castiel rubbed his eyes.
Gabe stretched. "Anna. She can be a lot louder than she looks." He rummaged in some drawers and tossed Castiel some clothes. "That's our uniform, put it on."
Castiel dressed as quickly as he could. These were far nicer clothes than he was used to: a billowy-sleeved white shirt, a thick red tunic, tan pants, a leather belt and matching leather boots.
"Yeah, you're gorgeous, let's go," Gabe's sarcasm snapped Castiel out of his fascination.
The sun wasn't even up, it was so early. The servants all ate at this time, he learned, so that the royals could be served at the normal time. While he ate, Gabe introduced him to a few more servants. He also introduced Castiel to the head chef Charlie Bradbury and a few higher tier servants, one of which was named Kevin Tran. "Watch out for the others," Kevin warned, glancing at a few others in green tunics like his own. A few stony-faced men sat in green tunics at the other table.
Castiel learned a lot during that first breakfast, and was relieved to know that he would be doing everything with Gabriel that week. "Today, we get to polish everything in the foyer." Castiel brightened up a bit at that. He had polished things before. It didn't seem to be that difficult. Gabe saw his expression and chuckled. "Just you wait. It's like a damn dragon's lair in there with all the shiny stuff."
Castiel's arms ached. They had been in the foyer for hours, polishing the entire surface of the room. He still couldn't believe that pieces of the wall were actually made of gold. He fell into an easy routine with Gabe, trading stories (mostly from Gabe), bantering in hushed voices, and standing at attention when anyone passed through.
It seemed like days until the two flopped onto the couches that lined the walls, with cramped hands and tired feet. After several minutes, Gabe sat up. "You want a tour of the castle?" he asked, a little gleam of excitement in his eye. Castiel grinned back at him and they clambered off the couch.
The two walked down grand corridors, up and down spiral staircases, and into various sitting rooms. The raven-haired man observed it all, the stone and gold and tapestries like nothing he could ever imagine. Gabe pointed out the grand dining room, the smaller dining room, the council rooms, the women's room, the various courtyards, and drawing rooms, all with different stories and histories. They passed the King's quarters as well. One servant, Balthazar, came out of the double doors, holding a large hamper of laundry. He nodded at the two, but Castiel was too busy peering into the room to nod back. It was some sort of a sitting room, with a desk and couches, and another set of double doors. Gabe steered him away.
"Have you ever met the King before?" Castiel asked as they walked down another corridor.
Gabe scrunched his face up thoughtfully. "Once," he murmured. "I was near his brother's room and he asked if I had seen him. I said no, and he was off."
"He has a brother?" Castiel asked. He didn't know much about the king. In fact, he knew almost nothing.
Gabe's lips twitched up in a smile. "His brother is his Chief Advisor, along with the title of prince. He's younger, and when the late king and queen died, he pushed his brother to take the throne immediately. You've seen Sam, he's tall, has long hair, a bit of resting bitchface." Castiel vaguely recalled a very tall man walking around earlier in the day in the middle of a small crowd, signing something.
"What about the king? I don't even know his first name."
"It's Dean," Gabe murmured, smile dropping a bit. "He's... interesting. Doesn't go out much. He hasn't been the same since the Rebellion, and his parents, you know. It was really hard on him, all the stuff that happened. He tries, he really does, but he's under a lot of pressure." The shorter man looked pensive.
Castiel was intrigued. "How do you know all of this? You've only met him once."
Gabe stared at the floor for a second, then grinned. "I've been here for fifteen years, Cassie. I know everything. Now, let me show you some secrets."
The castle had secret passages and hidden tunnels and secret rooms, and it was a little overwhelming to Castiel. Gabe went over the best routes in the passages to get from place to place. Castiel's favorite place was a secret room hidden inside the passages where Gabe kept the books that the library didn't have room for. He tried to memorize every twist and turn inside the dim stone walls, lit only by sparse torches.
After going over the layout several times, Gabe took Castiel up a narrow flight of stairs into another secret room (Castiel's head swam with the sheer amount of supposedly secret space). There was a small grate very high on one of the walls. "You have to be really quiet in here," Gabe whispered, carefully setting a chair near the wall. "What you're seeing is one of the council rooms." He climbed up on the chair and peered through the grate. "It's empty," he whispered to Castiel. "Here, take a look."
Castiel climbed carefully onto the wooden chair and looked through the thin iron bars. "This used to be a public room, but several generations ago, an enemy got up here and listened to some plans the council had made," Gabe continued talking. Castiel's eyes darted to the door of the council room, which had just opened. A man strode in, shrouded in a velvet red cape. "Some war plans were foiled, and they had this room sealed off with concrete and stone, as you can see in the corner." Something gold flashed on the his head. It couldn't be... Castiel stifled a gasp. That was clearly a crown. It was the king. "So then-"
"Shh!" Castiel shushed him, straining to see more of the king.
"Did you just-"
"Gabe, shut up! It's the king!"
Gabe immediately clambered up onto the same chair. They swayed dangerously for a moment, then settled, each man squishing his face to the iron grate. "Holy shit," the shorter man murmured.
The king was young. And handsome. Castiel had never actually seen the king before, but god was he beautiful. He had taken off the red cape and was rolling his shoulders. Castiel could see muscle through the confines of the silk shirt and tight vest. The blue-eyed man let out an involuntary breath, and the king's head whirled around. His eyes were green, emerald green, like Castiel's favorite feathered pen he brought with him. It took less than a second before Castiel got a grip on himself and pushed Gabe down, the two squatting painfully on the chair together. Castiel held his breath. After counting to one hundred, he slowly looked back out into the room.
The king must have not seen him; he sat down and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired. Not the just-came-back-from-sparring tired, but the bone deep tired that no amount of sleep can erase. A tiny knot settled in Castiel's stomach. He felt worried for the king. That's stupid, he thought to himself. You shouldn't worry about the king. He's the king for god's sake! Still, he watched the king draw his hands down his face and felt the pang of worry.
After another moment, the king stood and drew his cape back on, settling the large gold clasp in front of his right shoulder. The man let out a large breath and smoothed out his features into a mask of calmness. "Come in," he said before there was any knocking, and several men entered the room. His voice was low, almost as low as Castiel's awkwardly gravelly one, and it sent little shivers up his spine.
"We should go," Gabe whispered, pulling Castiel off the chair. Castiel went with him, but only because he knew he had to.
The rest of the day was spent wandering about and picking up around the kitchen. Miss Bradbury had spotted the two men and dragged them into her kitchen, talking about chores and deep cleaning and several things that Castiel couldn't decipher. The entire time, the king's image burned in his mind. Dean, Gabe had told him. King Dean Winchester. He fell asleep that night thinking of Dean and secret passages and the shiny things he'd have to clean again the next day.
