Chapter Text
It was a fairly calm and peaceful morning. The sea slowly rolled in onto the beach, the small waves breaking on the shore in white foam and cowering back into the wide stretch of blue when they'd reached too far.
Yoongi took a deep breath, and closed his eyes as the breeze caressed his face gently. He could smell the salt on the wind and a smile crept onto his usually quite grim face.
The sea had always been his escape. It's easy to forget things when you're wrapped in blue from heaven to horizon. Out there he was free. In this castle, however, he was a crowned marionette dressed in shiny uniforms, ready to be given away to a princess to own like a toy.
He sighed, casting another glance at the clear blue sky and the soaring seagulls. They cawed hungrily as they dove down to capture fish in their beaks. They flew low over the water, hunting, searching, the tips of their wings dipping into the sea with every beat. He envied them.
"Your Highness."
The urgent voice of Yoongi's valet called out. He ignored him for a moment, eyes still locked onto the birds. He already knew he'd come to tell him his father was calling on him. Most likely to lecture him about the importance of marriage.
"Prince Yoongi," the valet attempted again.
"I heard you, Namjoon." Yoongi turned around and smiled wearily. "Father wants to speak with me, I presume?"
Namjoon nodded solemnly. "He has received word back from the Duke."
Yoongi rolled his eyes and stepped back into his chamber. He begrudgingly closed the balcony doors behind him, muting the cawing of the gulls. "I wonder how many times I have to say no before he understands. I don't want to marry for political reasons."
"If I may, Sir... Lady Mira would be a very suitable match–"
"She's dull," Yoongi interrupted. "If I have to listen to one more story about her cousin Seonkyu, thrice removed, I will drown myself gladly." He brushed passed Namjoon, who had to bite his lip to stifle a chuckle. "Ask Hoseok to prepare the ship," he called back to him, "I want to go sailing."
"Very well, Sir," Namjoon said as he bowed. He disappeared through a hidden door, hurrying down to the docks to speak to the captain of the prince's ship.
Yoongi swiftly made his way down the curved marble staircase. His father would be in his study if he'd been reading letters. He didn't much like to be kept waiting, so Yoongi quickened his pace as he walked through the drawing room towards the opened double doors that showed his father sitting at his desk.
He was writing up a letter, addressed to the Duke no doubt. Contrary to Yoongi's comfortable and loose white dress shirt, the king was dressed in his uniform. The golden epaulettes and cufflinks gleamed as the light caught on them, and Yoongi was hyper aware that he was severely underdressed. He made an attempt to straighten out his shirt and cursed quietly to himself before stepping into the study.
"Ah," his father said, unimpressed, setting his quill back into the inkwell, "son."
"Father," Yoongi greeted with an equal lack of enthusiasm. "Namjoon said you wanted a word?"
"Why are you not dressed?"
Yoongi resisted the urge to sigh audibly. "I'm going sailing."
His father folded his hands together and gave him a long look of disapproval, as if he was counting to ten on the inside to collect his patience.
"Don't start, please," Yoongi huffed as he approached the desk.
"You're always away on that godforsaken ship of yours. I'm beginning to think I should have it destroyed. Your stuck in a boy's life, Yoongi." He slid the Duke's letter forward. "This is what you should be focussing on, not those foolish adventures with that pirate captain of yours."
"Hoseok was a privateer, not a pirate," Yoongi bit as he snatched the letter from the desk. "He's my best friend."
"What's in a name? A privateer is nothing but a pirate with a license."
A roar of anger rose inside his throat, but he had to swallow it down. Rising to the bait would only satisfy his father. "If that is all," Yoongi said firmly, "Hoseok and I will be leaving. I shall be back when I please."
"Write back to the Duke," the king insisted. "Accept his offer."
Yoongi scoffed and left the room. He badly wanted to toss the letter into the fire for his father to see, but that would be taking it too far. He stomped back to his room to write a quick letter back to the Duke. It was short and, frankly, impolite, but Yoongi was too angry to care.
He pulled the bell cord and waited for Namjoon. He showed up within a minute. "Sir?"
"Post this letter personally, please. I don't want my father intercepting it and changing my reply."
"Right away, sir," Namjoon said as he slipped the letter into an inside pocket. "Captain Jung is waiting for you at the docks."
Yoongi smiled. "Fantastic, I'll have to see him right away. Thank you, Namjoon."
He bowed, wishing him a safe journey and favourable winds before he left.
With a shifting mood, Yoongi slipped through the secret door often used by the servants that hid the shortest way to the docks. It was slightly dark, and the stone steps were narrow, but Yoongi knew these passages just as well as he knew the ones he was supposed to take.
He passed through another door, and the smell of the sea greeted him as he went further down the second set of steps, carved into the wall of a cave. He let his hand glide across the rough stone on his left as he descended.
When his boots finally hit the sand, he sighed contently. He could see his ship anchored at the docks and a person who was waving excitedly with both hands above his head. That could only be Hoseok.
Yoongi chuckled and shook his head before he waved back. Sometimes he wondered if Hoseok had any shame at all.
"You look like you had a lemon for breakfast," Hoseok called down from the helm when Yoongi boarded the ship at last. "What's got your royal knickers in a twist, then?"
Hoseok was the only one who was allowed to address the prince as such. He'd refused adamantly and constantly to call him by his title. It made Yoongi feel accepted as a friend for the first time. He knew that Hoseok really meant everything he told him, whether it was nice or not.
"Oh, just father trying to wed me off to the most boring woman in all the land, nothing much." Yoongi climbed the wooden stairs that led up to the quarterdeck.
"Ah, the usual, then." Hoseok chuckled. He was leaning casually on the balustrade, hair blowing away from his face as the wind picked up. The jewels of his rings glittered in the sun and his face glowed, lit up by a smile. Yoongi always thought he looked more like a prince than he did himself.
"Yes, so I thought we should leave before he brings the next highborn lady in a white dress and I can't say no."
Hoseok nodded. "Being with the sea is always a better plan. She could never be boring."
"That she couldn't."
Hoseok took his place at the helm and started shouting instructions at his crew. Yoongi watched them as they scurried around the deck, climbed rope ladders and masts. They lifted the anchor, let down the sails and the ship started to move, turning away from the coast under Hoseok's control.
"Where to, Yoongi?" he asked, amusement in his voice. He already knew what the answer would be.
Yoongi looked over his shoulder, a smirk playing on his lips.
"To the horizon."