Curiosity

I felt so embarrassed and ran out of there without looking back. I, a member of the Royal Army, had been eavesdropping around a dark corner of the kitchen, listening to a maid and a mistress gossip about the bedroom affairs of the King. How disgraceful, I was scolding myself and hadn't noticed the sudden and unwanted company that began matching my stride.

"Whatcha so lost in thought about? Were you daydreaming about me? I can tell because your cheeks are all red" Ben said while wiggling his caterpillar eyebrows at me. My unofficial best mate and somewhat rival in the army. We were both lieutenant colonels and equally wanted that colonial rank that would be open at the end of this year. I couldn't help but admit that he was just as good, if not slightly below my level.

"Ha! Only in your dreams lieutenant, you know I'm not into hairy guys." I teased and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Ouch, De Monte, that was harsh even for you." He was joking but I still felt bad for joking about his appearance, it was a low blow. Instead I chuckled and said, "Oh please any attention is good attention to you, Hermès. Don't try to feign offense with me, I'm a master of psychology, I've spent years learning to detect the subtle changes in a persons speech and actions when they lie."

I was half joking, I did spend a lot of time studying people so detecting lies has become easy to me. Plus I didn't want to let him know what I had just been up to, he would pester me until I told him what I'd heard and that couldn't happen. So I avoided the question and asked him about Petro, one of the kings Royal Court, he was the only member of the court that gave me the time of day. I wanted to ask him more about these mistresses, that girl had made me even more curious.

"Petro? I think he's taking his break on the roof of the equipment room, why?" Ben informed me. "Oh, I have my reasons." I said before I began walking away. "Wait!" Ben exclaimed before reaching for my wrist then thinking better of it when I glanced at him, eyebrow raised.

"Sorry, I was wondering if you and I could have a minute alone?" Oh no. He had that look in his eyes, like he was nervous but also excited. He wanted to ask me on a date, hell no.

Benjamin Hermès, he was a great guy, plenty of women wanted him even if he pretended he didn't notice. It's not like I'm bad looking either, tall with tan skin and red curls, wide eyes and pouty lips add that to a fit and well proportioned body, you could say I was desired by some. Ben was my rival and not to mention a coworker, if we had a falling out things would be so awkward all the time. I had to shut this down.

"Actually Ben, I'm kind of in a hurry, I need to ask Petro something about the Neveah Kingdoms visit in the next couple of days. Some of my soldiers have come down with an illness and I need to get suitable replacements." I wasn't really lying, two of my soldiers were sick but I had plenty of backups, always prepared that's what makes a great colonial.

"Oh of course, that takes precedence to what I was going to ask anyways, I'll catch you another time." His smile said he was disappointed but being a good soldier he let me go without any more resistance. I'll nip that bud at a later time.

I found Petro where Ben had said I would, at the top of the equipment building. He was meditating so I decided to sit beside him and enjoy the weather until he had finished, it was fall now and the breeze felt heavenly.