Chapter Text
For as long as Edward remembered, wearing his princely garb had always felt like a lie. His parents, his cousins, everyone was shining in them in ways he couldn’t. Bright suns of Damcyan, while he hid behind like the moon. It always felt like too much, soft fabric and jewels, some so heavy it made his tiny child neck be marked once he took it all off. Everyone else wore these things so naturally, as if it was an extension of who they were.
When for the first time he left his room, then the castle, then the city of Damcyan, he didn’t bring his princely clothes. He had bought spares from a merchant before, a simple travel outfit, still in warm tones as all fabrics in Damcyan were. He felt more comfortable like this, as he took his first trip to another village with only his instrument with him. Yet it still felt like a lie. He was still pretending to be someone he wasn’t, to people who only knew what his clothes could tell.
He alternated between two lies, finding comfort in his home and family, joy in his travel and music. Not quite saying the truth, but always sincere, both when his parents asked him if he was happy with his life and when other travelers complimented his songs.
The time he was absolutely honest was when his mother asked him if he had fallen in love. Even if he had returned that same day to Damcyan, Edward’s heart was still in Kaipo, in the hand of the girl with a warm laugh. Anna had made him promise to return soon, but that still felt like too long for him. His mother smiled, and asked to meet his chosen someday.
Edward would still give himself and Anna time. He knew she was different from anyone else he had met in his travels, but he didn’t want to rush to conclusions. If he had to present her to the court and to his parents, it would be with absolute confidence that she was the one and only for him. Anna had shared that sentiment. Most of all, Edward wouldn’t think of that process before giving her plenty of time to know just who his parents were.
He resolved to tell her the truth one night they were spending together on the other side of Kaipo’s lake. Looking at the stars, sharing their dreams, Edward felt like he couldn’t lie. In the dark his clothes couldn’t be seen, only his voice found its way to Anna.
“There is something I need to tell you… Something I haven’t been quite honest about.”
“Are you seeing another girl?”
Anna’s question took him by surprise and he protested, heart broken. The young woman immediately laughed and corrected herself. “Sorry, I know you would never. Whatever it is, it must not be that great of a lie.”
Edward thought of his parents waiting for him, the crown he’d have to wear someday, the queen Anna could be if she stayed with him… But she was already ruling his heart, so how different would that be?
“I’m not actually a traveling bard,” he admitted, looking at the stars to avoid her eyes. Actually, Anna did the same, she didn’t need to see Edward to feel him close. “I am from Damcyan’s court.”
“I know.”
Edward turned around. “You knew?”
“Was it supposed to be a secret?” She smiled, looking at him, “you have the manners of a prince, and I saw the way you write with a quill. So, what are you? A baron? A duke?”
“I am, indeed, a prince.”
One of her hand pushed herself up to look over Edward, her hair cascading around him. The other fell right next to him. “Is that true?”
He nodded carefully. Even if he heard the excitement in her voice, his nerves were still a wreck.
“Is that why I never met them, wouldn’t approve of us possibly getting married?”
Edward’s cheeks turned red at the thought. He had prepared for long apologies and explanation - not to think about their wedding. The sudden picture had him struggle to stay in the moment and answer.
“N-no… No I think they would be fine with all that.”
And I would be too, he thought under his breath. Anna must have noticed because her smile widened.
“I just… I feel like myself as a prince isn’t quite me as a bard. I can’t tell which one is the true me, but I didn’t want that to change how you see me.”
His true self was something he had struggled to conceptualize for a long long time, a question put on hold since the moment he met Anna. He made him feel like it didn’t matter, that he had always been himself and there was no lie to his love. That happened again as she leaned down to kiss his lips, soft, assertive. Nothing had ever felt as true as his feelings for her.
“If I kissed Prince Edward just now, it felt the exact same,” she whispered as she rose herself above him again.
He smiled too. Indeed, it was all the same. He could be a prince, a king eventually, he could be a traveller or a beggar but he would always, always be the man that loves Anna.