Gold

This chapter was edited on September 23, 2018

Brent walked down the street in search of grey hair and a ponytail. He was in search of Jacob Roth, who would be his new assistant.

Okay, well, maybe Brent wasn't paying attention as much he should've because he was far too caught up in the marketplace in front of him. His bright emerald eyes scanned the world around him.

This was Brent Lucas's first time in Lacigam and he was still having a hard believing all of this was real.

Picture this: Brent was over in his uncle's diner in New Orleans. That's when he got a letter from a man named Jacob Roth. The letter said that they wanted to take him to far off magical land to cook personally for some prince and get paid a helluva lot for it as well. It was like a dream come true.

Naturally, he threw the letter in the trash.

Of course, it wasn't real, who would believe that? But the sender persisted and soon they started sending emails. Brent felt like a modern-day Harry Potter being invited to Hogwarts. He was almost about to start bringing the police into it when Jacob Roth visited him in person.

Having a creepy old man come to his house and ask him to be his boss also didn't really solidify it in his head either. It wasn't until Roth showed Brent some real magic that he actually started to believe.

Don't get Brent wrong, he knew all about magic. After all, Roth explained, they wouldn't have known who he was and the oracle wouldn't have chosen him as the head chef if he didn't have any magic flowing through his bones.

The problem was, he didn't think there was anyone else like him left. But there were. And after Roth had finished magically making all the kitchenware fix them dinner, he explained about the "Tale Race". Those who were apart of "Fairy Tale" history. Those who lived in a world where time was strange and hardly made sense. Where all the characters Brent had grown up reading and watching were barely older than him and they're stories happened merely a few years ago.

Roth also told him about how people living in "the continents", or the non-magical world, were completely unaware of all of this.

It was like a breath of fresh air.

He was told of two main countries. There was Quartana and then there was Lacigam, where he would be working. Quaranta was split up in three different kingdoms, and Lacigam was in four. Each princess ruled over one kingdom, married to a Charming son.

Roth told him that a boat would take him Lacigam a month from Roth's visit to start work. Now he was here and, looking around the magical marketplace, he still could barely believe it.

Fairy Dust? Witches' eyes? Everything here was like a dream. There might be people who are similar to him. Maybe even someone here who could help him.

The smell of nutmeg wafted through his nose and he found his chin lifting. Suddenly his nose was in the air, not unlike a dog, sniffing, locating the scent of the nutmeg. He found the sent about two feet from him.

An old man in a grey tunic and black pants was looking around for someone. He was skinny with a grey ponytail and freckles that dotted his face every which way.

"Roth!" Brent shouted with a grin

The assistant chef made eye contact with him and broke into a smile. "Chef Lucas," he said softly as Brent approached him, "Lovely seeing you again"

"Thank you again for this opportunity. My aunt and uncle are very proud and excited for me" Brent said.

"No need to thank me. Thank the Charming family" Roth bowed shortly "We are in dire need for a chef right now. Let's talk in the carriage"

Suddenly Brent noticed the large white horse-drawn carriage behind the assistant chef. Roth opened the door and gestured for Brent to get in, and so he did. Once Roth was in and the door was closed, the carriage lurched forward and they were on their way.

"This is crazy" Brent laughed, "This is actually so insane"

"I'm glad you're excited, Sir Lucas" Roth said from the seat across from him, "As I said, we are in dire need of a new chef right now"

"You're old chef died right?" Brent leaned back

"Yes, he died quite a few months ago" Roth nodded solemnly

"Why didn't you just take the job? I'm a little young to be your boss." Brent asked

Roth smiled, "I prefer to stay around the king, you see. The head chef is actually just the chef for the person made to feed the most greedy prince alive. Prince Lucas." he answered, "Prince Lucas will soon be getting married and moving to a tribe in the Western Kingdom. Therefore, he needs his personal head chef, who knows all his allergies and preferences, to go with him"

"Wait wait wait. Don't tell me what I think you're telling me" Brent groaned

"You will be moving into Yawa tribe along with Prince Lucas" Roth nodded, "As well as planning and preparing all the food necessary for their wedding ceremony, after party, and honeymoon"

Brent covered his eyes with his hands. He thought he was gonna be living in a fancy castle. "Well, when is this whole thing then?"

"Two months"

Brent nearly choked on his own spit.

"Wait a second, you want me to plan the food by myself for a royal wedding in two months?" Brent sputtered

Roth grinned sheepishly, "Well the honeymoon is in two months. The wedding is in one month." Brent felt himself go pale.

"One month?!"

***

"One month?!

Lucas shrieked at his father "I didn't even agree to the wedding yet! How are you going to plan it one month from now?"

"You've always complained about not finding any women interested in you, well I have!" Michael said as if they excused the whole situation

"Wh-wha-why?" Lucas shook his head trying to take this all in, "I don't wanna just be married off to someone don't know! Especially not some 39-year-old cougar in a month. Are you serious, Father, in a month?"

"I don't understand why this turned into a such a negative thing," Michael said, truly upset now, "I thought you would be happy. You get to be a king, you get to marry a pretty woman, you-"

"A pretty old woman." Lucas scoffed. He put his head in his hands "Oh why, God, why? Why me? Why, Father? Why now?"

"To tell you the truth, this deal has been made since you turned eighteen," Michael confessed, "I was just waiting for the right time because, well, I was wondering if you might've just been interested in men instead of women"

Lucas's head shot up and he glared at his father.

"Not that there's anything wrong with you being interested in men!" Michael said as if that was why Lucas was glaring

Lucas spoke dangerously slowly "You're telling me, you waited nearly four years to tell me that you sold away my hand in marriage to a woman I don't even know because you feared I was a homosexual?"

"'Feared', isn't the word I would use." Michael shook his head, "I just-just-"

"I don't wanna hear any more of this" Lucas rose from his seat and turn away, about to go back to his room.

"Why don't you go see that new Brent Lucas chef, huh, Lucas?" Michael suggested, "Roth picked him up this morning"

Lucas looked at his father, debating over the idea in his head. He seemed to have made a decision because he nodded and changed directions. He began walking towards the kitchen, his favorite room the entire castle.

The kitchen was almost all metal or granite. It was spotless and almost the size of a house. He walked himself past the workers, who were either making their own lunches or the testing new dishes, to the head chef's office.

He opened the door to reveal a boy standing in the middle of the room.

The boy was slightly taller than him and wore the oddest clothes he had seen; those clothes that teenagers were wearing nowadays. It was something his friend Gina would have worn.

The boy wore a red sweater of some sort, but instead of buttons to close it, it was closed between two lines of metal and it also had a hood on the back of it. He also wore those jeaned pants that were very popular nowadays. Lucas had gotten a few pairs, however, they weren't very comfortable after a few hours.

The boy, noticing that Lucas was in the room stared at him through the most beautiful green eyes Lucas had ever seen. His hair was dark brown and tinted lighter towards the top, probably due to sunlight. His green eyes scanned Lucas up and down, pausing on what was most-likely a chicken grease stain, before breaking out into a smile.

"You must be Prince Lucas," he held a hand out, shocking Lucas a with a deep and playful voice. It had somewhat of a twinge that he could just barely hear, "You definitely are the most beautiful of all the Charming brothers"

Lucas didn't know why but his face suddenly felt very warm. "Who are you? Are you Brent Lucas's assistant?"

The man's eyes widened for a second as if he weren't sure. "Uh, yeah. I am."

***

Brent didn't know why he lied. And judging by the prince's face, it must've sounded like a really bad lie too.

"Really?" The prince asked, head cocking to the side, eyes sparkling.

Oh yeah, though Brent, that's why he couldn't tell the prince his name.

He wasn't sure how or why, but after the first look at Prince Lucas, Brent knew he had fallen. And that was absolutely not allowed. Not only was he now working for this man, but the prince was literally about to get married. He couldn't be homewrecking first thing on the job.

"Yeah. I'm from Louisiana in North America." Brent answered with a smile

"I can tell" The prince nodded, "You have this weird accent"

"Accent?" Brent made a face "I don't have an accent". He sat down on his own desk, facing the prince. Of course, Lucas thought it was some legendary chef's desk and not him, so it probably looked slightly disrespectful in the prince's eyes.

"Your words are kind of...swung," Lucas said, fumbling his words. He reddened at his lack of composure and Brent couldn't help but see how adorable he looked.

"Well, I'm from the south" Brent shrugged, "Maybe it's just my southern accent"

"Your south is a lot different from my south" Lucas shook his head, "If you haven't noticed, I'm the prince of the southern kingdom"

Brent raised an eyebrow with a smirk and, for some reason that made Lucas blush again, "Oh, I've noticed"

"Well..." Lucas looked around the room, once again unable to form a sentence. He gulped, eyes going in every direction except Brent's "If you see Chef Lucas, please tell him I'm anxiously awaiting a meeting with him"

Brent bent down slowly into a low bow, one hand on his heart. He wasn't sure if this was respectful or looked like he was mocking the prince, but he didn't really care. "I will, Your Highness"

Lucas nodded, not seeming to think the chef was mocking him, "Good then... goodbye" he said, practically bolting out the door.

Brent found himself grow disappointed as the prince's scent slowly dimmed.

Lemon. The prince smelled like lemon.

Brent closed his eyes and tilted his head back. He sniffed the air until the scent was barely left. Behind his eyelids, he saw bright blonde hair, shimmering brown eyes, and full pink lips. Swirls of yellowy lemon circled his brain like a drug.

When he opened his eyes, it was only then he realized how crazy he must've looked. He sighed, going over to sit in the chair of his new desk. His new desk that would later become his old desk when his new royal crush gets married and takes him off to some tribe along with him.

"Prince Lucas," he said to himself, "Lucas"

He said the name, noticing the warm sensation that came to his ear every time. Brent wasn't sure whether to giggle or push this strange emotion down.

"What an interesting feeling this is."