Chapter Text
Standing in the kitchen, busy making dinner, Kendra found herself playfully arguing with her dear boyfriend, trying to convince him he needed to go to the meeting he was supposed to be attending in the fairy realm.
She was not winning.
"But, I don't want to go," Bracken whined, snuggling his face into Kendra's neck, arms wrapping around her.
Kendra glanced over her shoulder at him, a smile tugging at her lips. "Oh, wow. If only the fairy kingdom knew their prince was such a baby."
"Hey!" Bracken gasped, his head snapping up, an adorable pout on his face. "I am not…"
He seemed to realize just exactly how he was talking and the face he was making at that moment and took a moment to school his expression into his classic poker face and continued in his normal voice.
"...a baby."
Kendra couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her. He was too cute, it wasn't fair. "Uh-huh, sure thing. Now get going to the shrine, I'm sure your mother is waiting for you."
"Let her wait."
"Bracken!"
"Kendra!"
She sighed and went back to chopping vegetables. Well, at least she tried, she could tell the queen that much. There was just no changing Bracken's mind once he was fixated on doing something.
"Well, then what do you want to do then? What's so important to you that you will risk making your mother mad? Hm?"
"Anything but deal with stuck up royals," he mumbled tucking his head into her neck again. Kendra smiled softly, finally putting down the knife, resolving to finish making dinner in a bit.
"I hope for your sake you weren't talking about your own mother."
"Less my family, more like the people we have to work with."
"Ah, I see. Not feeling like being a prince today, huh?" she turned around, ignoring the soft protest from Bracken as he had to lift his head off her shoulder for a moment before replacing it once she was turned around fully.
"Nope," he sighed slightly while he spoke, breath tickling her neck. Kendra immediately understood his mood better and wrapped her arms around him. She knew sometimes he simply hated being a prince and the responsibilities that came with it.
It wasn't that he hated everything about it, but Bracken was more of a free spirit, more rebellious than most unicorns, Sometimes the pressure to uphold a put together and nearly perfect persona took a toll on him.
"Hey," she whispered, hand coming up to run through his hair. "You okay?"
"Mm."
It wasn't really an answer, more of just a noise to show her that he wasn't ignoring her. She let him stay there for a moment longer, knowing if he was willing to bend down to rest his head on her shoulder even though she was much shorter than him, he most likely needed to just hold her for a moment.
After a minute, he straightened, kissing her forehead and giving her a small smile.
"Wanna help me finish up dinner?"
He nodded and together they worked in mostly silence, only broken by Kendra every so often. His silence worried her a bit, wondering if maybe he was a little more down than he showed.
Once dinner was in the oven, she took his hand gently and led him up to her room. Her grandmother had said she would take it out of the oven when it was done so she was free to leave it alone. Bracken followed Kendra without complaint, laying down on her bed on his stomach while she shut the door.
"Talk to me, unicorn," she coaxed, sitting down next to him, her hand running up and down his back. "What's wrong?"
He turned his head to face her, resting it on his arms. "I just...I like it here better. I feel guilty since I love my family and the realm, I truly do...but...here I don't have to be...I don't know."
Kendra waited patiently for him to collect his thoughts, laying down facing him and running her thumb across his cheek.
"When I'm there...it's like I don't belong. Sure, I'm the prince, so they respect me and all that, but there's also just this air of...pity? Almost like they look down on me. And I know it's because I gave up my third horn but you would think they would have realized it was a necessary sacrifice by now but...yeah."
His eyes met hers, and her heart squeezed to see that there was pain and exhaustion in them. "But at the same time, I'm expected to take the sly insults with grace and a smile because I'm a prince and princes don't get mad. Princes have to be diplomatic. Have to not step on toes even when their own are being stomped on."
Kendra knew all too well what he was talking about, she's witnessed these cleverly disguised mocking insults Bracken constantly has to deal with. It angered her every time someone questioned his abilities, or even his character, or worse the state of his mind. And it broke her heart because she knew that while Bracken never lost his temper, and always dealt with them graciously, it hurt him.
Which wasn't fair to him. It wasn't fair he couldn't even stand up for himself without the fear of making it worse or causing a problem for his mother.
"Have you tried talking to your mom about it, B?" she asked when he didn't speak for a minute. "I'm sure she would put a stop to it, she wouldn't want you to have to deal with that abuse."
Bracken closed his eyes and shook his head. "She has enough to deal with. No sense in worrying her simply because I'm soft and can't get over a few insults."
"Hey, I happen to like that you are a big softie and Brack, they aren't just a few insults. You deal with them disrespecting you every time you are there. No one is going to blame you for being hurt."
He reopened his eyes, rolling over onto his back and pulling her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest, taking his hand in one of hers and squeezing it lightly.
"But when I'm here...I just feel more accepted for who I actually am and not who I'm expected to be. I know I'm still a little out of place, being a unicorn, and the fairy prince at that, but-"
"You aren't out of place, baby," she couldn't help but interrupt, raising her head to look at him seriously.
"Thought I told you I'm not a baby," he joked lightly.
"You're my baby, deal with it, unicorn."
Kendra was happy to see the soft smile that crossed his face. "Okay, okay, I'll deal with it then I guess."
She rested her head back down on his chest. "Good, you can continue now."
He laughed softly, one hand coming up to run his fingers through her hair.
"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," she smiled at his teasing. "I feel more of myself here. I know that some people still expect me to be this strong prince that is unshakable, but for the most part, I get to forget about being the perfect picture of royalty and just...be."
Kendra looked up at him, he was staring up at the ceiling and biting his lip, which was a nervous tic of his. "Hey, you know you're always welcome here. Anytime."
"I know," he said, looking down at her for a moment, his eyes warm. "I wish I could stay here more often than I do. But…"
"Prince responsibilities?"
His eyes trailed back up to the ceiling. "Yeah…"
She wished she could somehow convince the queen to give him a break from those expectations, but she didn't want to overstep or cause issues. All she could do was make sure that while he was away, he didn't have to worry about things he usually had to worry about.
Sometimes that didn't feel like enough though.
"It's enough," Bracken spoke softly.
"Hm?" Kendra was confused for a moment before she felt him run his thumb across her knuckles and laughed gently. "Hey, you sneak."
"Caught me." She felt him kiss the top of her head.
"It's enough, huh?"
"More than enough. You listen to me complain about little things without judgment, let me be quiet when I need to be, comfort me, make me laugh even when I'm upset, and I could go on. I assure you, the number one reason I like it here so much is you."
Lifting her head again she smiled at him, his eyes left the ceiling and met hers. She leaned down and kissed him lightly. "You know I love you, right?"
"I believe you've told me once or twice," he said.
"Well, I'm telling you again. I love you. A lot."
She loved the way his eyes shined as he grinned, hand cradling her face gently.
"I love you too. A lot."
For the next hour, they laid there until she heard Warren calling upstairs that dinner was ready. While they ate with the others, she kept checking to see how Bracken was doing. She was happy to note that he seemed to be in much brighter spirits, laughing at whatever story Tanu was telling.
She knew there would be hard days in the future, sure he was a unicorn and a prince, but he had feelings. Kendra was determined to figure out a way to help him out more with the situation in the realm, to at least make the insults stop somehow. Especially when he's done so much good for the world and has given up so much just to keep the world safe. He didn't deserve to be insulted or mocked for that.
But for now, she could make sure that Fablehaven was his second home. That much she could do. That would be enough.