Royal came back to the inn in a state that told his companions everything before he opened his mouth. The plan had failed. They asked, anxiously, what they were supposed to do now.
Royal collapsed into a seat. "The people in that crowd," he said, "squeezed me so thoroughly that I could not move a single finger. Not one."
Unexpectedly, that made both of them laugh.
"We'll go back to Anant," Royal said afterward, "and think again from there."
One of the men still could not let it go. "It's strange, though. That the emperor didn't recognize you."
"Impossible," the other declared. "Nobody forgets our prince's beautiful face. Nobody."
Royal laughed awkwardly and suggested that the crowd had probably made it difficult.
Soon afterward he stepped outside alone to get some air.
He was standing under the night sky when a stranger came up beside him and remarked how beautiful the moon looked that evening.
Royal, startled, greeted him politely.
The man went on speaking about the moon, unhurried, as though they had all night. Whenever he looked at it, he admitted, he always felt happy.
Then, with a soft smile: "And seeing you again has made me happier still."
He drew back his cloak.
It was Lenhard, looking directly at him.
"Is it truly such a terrible sin," he asked quietly, "for me to be happy that I have seen you again?"
Royal stared at him, unable to produce a single word.
"It's been a long time," Lenhard said warmly.
He had recognized him in the first instant, at the temple, in the middle of all those people. There was never any question about it. There was no possibility in the world that he could forget that face. And now, after all this time, the person he loved had come back to him on his own two feet.
Royal found his voice at last. "Forgive me. This is — embarrassing. You're looking at a failed prince who has lost everything he had."
"There is nothing for you to be ashamed of," Lenhard said immediately. "If anyone should be ashamed, it's me. Deep down I had secretly hoped that one day you would come looking for me." He hesitated. "I hope you won't feel uncomfortable around me. Despite everything that happened between us."
Royal said nothing.
"Even after all this time," Lenhard said, "seeing you still makes me genuinely happy. I —"
He stopped himself.
Royal was thoroughly confused now, and underneath the confusion something else was moving. Does he still feel that way about me, even now? And beneath even that, a worse thought, which arrived with a sting: am I about to take advantage of this man's love?
Before he could say anything at all, Lenhard stepped closer.
"I am not helping you because I want your body again," he said gently. "That is not what this is."
"I'm sorry." Royal's face went hot. "I misunderstood you."
Lenhard took his hand and held it lightly. "I want to help you as much as I possibly can, because I care about you. That's all. I am not the kind of man who abandons someone he loves while they're suffering."
He looked down at their hands.
"And I don't mind being taken advantage of by you," he added. "In fact — if it's you, I would consider it a blessing."
Then he pressed something into Royal's palm: a brooch bearing his personal symbol.
"I'll be waiting for you," he said.
Later, alone in the inn, Royal sat turning the thing over and over and staring at it, and worried himself sick over one question in particular. What would he do if Lenhard wanted to spend another night with him?
The door opened and his subordinates came in and announced that they were back.
"Did the two of you enjoy yourselves without me?" Royal asked.
"We've been thinking," one of them said, ignoring that. "About going back to Anant. We don't think it's wise. No matter how carefully we disguise ourselves, no matter how we hide who we are, they keep finding us. It would be safer to move on to another kingdom entirely."
Royal understood at once what they were really doing. They were trying to make this easier for him.
"Well," he said, with a faint smile, "you've finally started using your brains properly."
The three of them exchanged looks, visibly uncertain whether they had just been complimented.
"There's no need to keep running from place to place anymore," Royal said.
"Have — have we offended Your Highness somehow?"
Royal held up the brooch.
"We're going to meet Lenhard."
That made them extremely happy, all three at once, in a way that was almost painful to watch.
Royal kept the rest to himself. His true goal was to put Laurian on the throne of the Leroy Kingdom, where he belonged, and he knew exactly what he was doing to get there. He was taking advantage of an emperor's feelings for him.
Soon afterward they arrived at Lenhard's castle.
The moment Lenhard saw him, his whole face changed. He was visibly delighted, and could not entirely stop being delighted for the rest of the day. He explained proudly that he had already prepared a hidden and secure palace where Royal could stay, so that he would be completely safe.
Then the gifts began.
Fruit, brought eagerly. Expensive clothes. And, eventually, a cat — an actual cat, delivered into Royal's arms, because Lenhard did not want him to feel lonely or low.
Royal was rendered speechless.
"His Highness," one of the subordinates whispered, watching all this, "has become exactly like he was a year ago."
"Be careful," said another, urgently.
"I know," Royal muttered. He did know. He understood precisely what they meant, and he admitted nervously to himself that the moment he let his guard down, things were going to become dangerous again.
He gripped the arms of his chair hard and told himself, internally and severely, to stop thinking that way.
His subordinates begged him to calm down.
Later, Lenhard came in personally carrying an enormous cake from the most famous bakery in the empire, and he was blushing while he carried it, and Royal looked at him and could not begin to understand what was wrong with the man.