The Duke's Masked Wife

Oliver stiffened at the sight of the King. He lowered his head and said, "Your-"

"Why are you here? I kept myself busy last night and one of the things I did was to alert the town guards about William's death. It was my order to the Duke. So I'll ask again, why are you here?" Tobias asked, going to Edgar's side to hold him. He placed an arm around Edgar's shoulders to keep him upright but his hand was smacked away.

"Do not touch me. I can stand on my own," Edgar muttered, taking one step to the right to get away from Tobias.

"I am trying to care for you, you heartless brute. Didn't you see me rush all the way down here to help you?"

"How can I see you rush down here when I am looking straight ahead? And you're just finding any excuse to get away from your wife," Edgar said, looking up the stairs where Hazel stood with folded arms.

"Hey! When your wife is angry with you, you should take any opportunity you can to run away from her," Tobias whispered. He had a lot to discuss with Hazel but he was trying to hold it off because he had a hard time preparing himself to say that he failed to protect her. He managed to keep an entire kingdom safe but the one person he loved most was hurt in a battle for the throne.

"My wife is never angry with me," Edgar smugly said as his marriage was far better than any other.

"It is not a competition but I am just going to throw out that my wife loves me the most," Tobias replied. "There's a lot of passion hidden in that anger."

Oliver felt out of place watching Edgar and the King be so comfortable around each other. It was no secret that the two were extremely close and he had witnessed it in their youth but seeing them still close now that they were older was something he didn't like to see. At one point in time in the past, Oliver thought Edgar had rejected him because Edgar liked the King or maybe the King liked Edgar.

Edgar was always near the King and sometimes they would be left alone in a room no one else could enter.

"Are you two… together?" Oliver accidentally spoke what was on his mind. His eyes widened as the realization struck him what he dared to ask the King.

Edgar frowned while Tobias covered his mouth to hide his laughter as they both looked at Oliver. Tobias turned around and clutched his stomach as his shoulders shook.

Edgar wasn't in the mood to answer Oliver's question and the sound of Tobias snickering beside him only pissed him off.

"Oh man," Tobias wiped his eyes as he turned back around to face Oliver. "If I say that we are, would you stop pestering him? Oww," he rubbed his arm where Edgar hit him.

"Stop fucking around," Edgar said to Tobias. Oliver was the last person he would make that kind of joke around. "This conversation is over," Edgar said, leaving the two fools so he could go back to bed. Any longer and they would make his headache worse than it already was.

"Don't you just love the way he snaps at you?" Tobias smiled while he watched Edgar walk away. His smile started to fall the further Edgar got from them. " It's about time you get over the past and move on. Edgar is married and you're about to get married. Stop pestering him because he doesn't share the same feelings."

Oliver clenched his fist in rage over the King finding out his secret. "He told you-"

"See, you keep blaming Edgar like everyone else didn't have eyes. It was obvious you liked Edgar as more than a friend. You hated when Dominic or Rafael came to visit him or even when I was close to him. You liked to keep him to himself and the way you reacted when he did the slightest thing for you made it obvious. It reminded us of how girls would react to the things we did for them and we teased Edgar about it. He threw a book at my head so I never mentioned it again," said Tobias.

"You'd get angry when he was with someone else and honestly your obsession with him even as a boy was a bit unhealthy for Edgar. It is not normal for two men to like each other and you tried to pressure Edgar into returning your feelings. You learned in the end that no one can make Edgar bend to their liking. Well, Alessandra can," Tobias added as he witnessed the power she had when it came to Edgar.

"I did not force him to do anything," Oliver replied, wishing Tobias would mind his own business.

"Really? So why are you so angry with him again? I always thought you found it unfair that it was only you who ended up liking men. You need to accept that Edgar is not responsible for what you felt or still feel. He treated me the same way he did with you and I never felt anything romantic towards him so it is just you. Your anger as you battled with yourself made you miss out on a good friend group," Tobias stated as he was still quite close to Edgar, Dominic, and Rafael.

They teased each other a lot but if there was ever a problem in his life, one by one they showed up and he would do the same for them. Oliver would have had the same group of friends had he not started to hate Edgar. He needed good friends, especially in this town which would crucify him for liking men.

Tobias knew his kingdom well enough to know there were places not only in the red light districts where people of both genders went to satisfy their desires. A man with another man wasn't as uncommon as the town might think. It was shown in the late hours of the night. Even the palace had relationships that would shake the town.

"Edgar has let your hatred slide over the years even when your meddling annoys him but the same cannot be said for me. If we want to speak about abusing power, you abuse your position as captain to condemn Edgar for something he didn't do. In a time when girls are going missing, I don't need a captain like you who has personal matters to take care of. I am going to lower your position until you hold yourself accountable. Do not show up before Edgar again," Tobias gave a warning.

Oliver didn't enjoy the lecture from the King as he did not need it.  He knew that Edgar did not have to return his feelings but it was unfair that Oliver was the only one with these kinds of feelings. He had to go through the torture of his father, who realized his crush, trying to beat it out of him and then getting him engaged to a young lady he did not care for.

"Excuse me, your highness," Oliver decided to leave.

"Why the hell didn't he like me when I am far better than Edgar?" Tobias muttered, looking to his side as Oliver left.

"Tobias."

"Right, my darling wife. It is time we talked without any disruptions," Tobias smiled, sweat trailing his forehead as he went back to Hazel.