"... what."

The word left Bruce's lips like dead weight. His dark eyes flickered to his knight before landing on the messenger again. The messenger shifted his weight, swallowing a bit nervously.

"Out." The king ordered, and the man wasted no time to scrambled out of the study and leave the king and his knight alone. He stared at his friend for a moment, a pinched expression on his face. He couldn't look at you the same. You were a royal. A royal from the Empire.

Bruce met you back when you were teenagers, when he was a prince that liked to chase trouble and you were the new, purpose-driven foreign knight-in-training that people either wanted to be or wanted to be with. You told each other everything. Got in trouble with Alfred. He didn't know you were a runaway, that the lost heir of the enemy kingdom was the very same person he trusted with his life and secrets.

He didn't care where you were from. He didn't care about the nature of your past. He just wished you didn't lie. He exhaled quietly, folding his hands behind his back and looking down at his desk. "This will stay under wraps. If anyone else found out the council would immediately use it to get rid of you." He muttered.