Ben swallowed. That was unexpected but he'd try his best to be honest. By the way, the king has been nothing but kind to him so what's there to loose. He sighed.
"It's... uh, well, to be honest, it's very different from New York."
Ailwin exploded in a sudden laughter and Ben joined in. They both laughed hard.
"New York?" Ailwin said laughing again. "That place never changes, does it?"
"Bet," Ben chuckled. "Everyone's always running and everyone is everyone's enemy. Like dude, you can't avoid stress because it's everywhere. And the subway also is a freaking nightmare."
"Let's not even talk about the rent," Ailwin added laughing his ass off.
Ben groaned. "Two thousand a month for a shoebox and my radiator only worked in summer."
Ailwin chuckled. "Sounds about right."
"Well you're, y'know a king now so I get you can't relate," Ben eyed him.
"You think so?"
"..."
They both laughed again.
Ailwin smiled and sipped his tea. "So....it's just you in New York? Or do you have family there?"
Ben's smile faded slightly. "Just my sister. She's a nurse. Crazy hard worker."
"Hmmm ... impressive. Older or younger?"
"Older. By like six years."
"Baby bro,"
"Oh, shut up." Ben snapped and he was surprised the king laughed at his attempt at a joke. It was heartwarming.
Ben continued. "Well, she practically raised me after our parents... yeah." Ben looked down. "So she's my only family."
Ailwin nodded slowly. "I'm so sorry."
Ben's throat tightened. "Nah, it's alright. One is better than none."
"Sounds like a good sister."
"The best." Ben smiled to himself. "I don't know what I'd do without her. Enough about me. What's your story."
King Ailwin sighed and set his cup on the table. He smiled. "Immigrant, orphaned early, miserable adulthood. One a wake up and this magic happened. Now here we are."
"Wow... there's alot of holes in that story, your highness"
Ailwin chuckled. "No one has asked me that in like five hundred years so bare with me."
He watched Ben smile and finally take a sip of his tea. Then he asked, "Where did you grow up? With her?"
"Brooklyn, crown heights. Not the nice part though." Ben smiled bitterly. "We shared a one-bedroom apartment for years. She took the couch so I could have the bedroom. Blatantly refused to let me switch."
"Wow. That's true love."
"Yeah." Ben's voice cracked slightly. "She deserves better than me."
Ailwin tilted his head. "Why do you say that?"
Ben shrugged. "I don't know. She works so hard and saves people's lives every day. And me? I just... Barely."
Silence.
Ailwin leaned forward slightly. "What happened today Ben in the arena proves otherwise you know?"
Ben hesitated. "How do you mean?"
"You didn't just stand out as a participant with no experience, I don't suppose you've had any, but you saved lives."
'I did?' Ben wondered. 'i guess I'm not bad after all.'
Ailwin watched him carefully. Then he spoke, his voice gentle. "Ben... can I ask you something?"
"Yeah?"
"How did you survive in the arena?"
Ben blinked. He opened his mouth. Closed it and opened it again. "I... I don't really know. I just, it's luck maybe? Or... I don't know, survival instinct?" He lied.
Ailwin's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're lying, Ben."
How can he tell?
"I swear I'm not," Ben protested. He followed his gaze to the tea cup set in front of him. "What?" He asked.
Ailwin leaned back. "What I served you in that tea cup is a Truth serum."
"A what?" Ben gasped staring at the cup. He knew he should have trusted his hitch when it told him not to drink from it. Shit.
"You don't trust me?" Ailwin said slowly.
"I....." Ben's stomach dropped. "I... I don't know."
Ailwin sat back, his expression unreadable. He picked up his tea. Sipped it.
"You don't know?" he said quietly.
"No," Ben said. "I don't mean it like that, I just..."
"I understand."
"You do?"
Ailwin nodded slowly. Then he sighed. A long, heavy sigh. "Ben, I do." he said softly. "That's why I'm going to arrest you. Guards!"
"Wait!" Ben begged. King Ailwin's entire demeanour had changed. His charming smiles and kindness eyes were gone. He was a whole different person.
'Damn.' Ben was hoping to not make enemies out of time. Especially since he'd one of the reasons he was still alive right now. If only his system showed up at any moment, he'd know what to do.
"Wait, please." He dropped his head. "I apologize. You've shown me nothing but kindness even when it would have put a bad image on your throne, you went out of your way to show me kindness. I apologize for my stupidity."
Silence.
King Ailwin looked at him with a smirk on his face. 'Good.' he thought. 'Everything is going just as planned.'
Earlier that day, while Ben was still asleep, he had met with the council and voiced his plans to them.
"We do not know how he showed up or what his objectives are. Prophecy or o prophecy." He said.
"I want peace in Eryndor above anything else. Agatha was able to omit his name from the Victor's announcement to stop the gossips of a human participating in the Blood Reaping. But that was just the half of it. We've dealt with the outside, no we have to deal with the inside. Everyone in this palace must get rid of any belief that we have a human in our custody."
He slammed the council round table to hard everyone helped. "So! This is what we're going to do. Anyone who does otherwise would serve and eternal sentence in the dungeon, Am I clear?
"Yes, your majesty." They all chanted.
He explained to them how all he wanted was to peacefully convince Ben that to return to wherever he came from. But secretly, his plan was to avoid war. If he couldn't fully convince Ben to leave, and somehow Ben rebelled against him and revealed to Eryndites that their beloved king was also 'human' it would cause a civil war which he wasn't prepared for.
He had managed to keep Eryndor peaceful for the last five hundred years and he would stop at nothing to keep it that way.
Now sitting across the table, staring at a pitiful Ben, he smiled. The first phase of his planned has worked. Now the most important phase must commence.
Convincing Ben successful to leave Eryndor.