Prince Raphael

As Raphi cushioned himself deeper into the bed and appeared he had literally fallen asleep as his head hit the pillows, Alexander stood by the bedside and really looked at him this time. Properly. Like a decent mentor should, taking in whether there was truly something wrong with the young prince, or whether it was just stress at the words of imbeciles.
The boy, or rather young man, was worn, and his already angular features seemed sharper in the dusk of the room. He was not eating what he was supposed to in order to develop his skills for the elven kingdom. This was dangerous. The auburn-haired man brushed back flaxen strands from the smooth forehead, and found himself thinking about the man’s eyes – clear amber and normally clouded with self-doubt and wariness; they were closed and relaxed in sleep, the dark lashes soft against the prominent cheekbones. But all this sharpness and lines was depicting Raphi as cold and gaunt, which was not true at all. The boy-man was golden, with sun-streaked, almost shoulder length blonde hair, silkily straight and amazing…
Compared to his rough reddish-curls of a commoner. He self-consciously pulled one of them down to his eye, and the rest came cascading afterwards like some kind of flock of birds or something. He needed to get them tamed, again. It was a curse having unruly hair. As opposed to Raphael’s.
He had not sat down and thought this much in a while; opened himself to these kinds of ideas and let himself free of his personal-mental restraints. There were no physical ones needed. He would not even consider trying anything with Raphi. His mind shook with only these words, and he edged away from the bed, absently allowing one finger to graze the tender mouth.
That would be enough, for tonight.
But if anything
Anything…

made him lose his control, he would have to leave.
This was certain.

Alexander pulled at his eyes, sitting at the small table to read some court papers, most likely any notices he had to keep up with, rules from the kingdom from Duke Kerringald. How was Raphi ever going to be able to rule? The man had no signs of leadership skills in him…well, that was not completely fair, given their ‘adventures’. But he just did not seem to want to rule over others.
Wait - was that his fault?! Should he have encouraged more from his ward? Was he going to be responsible for the prince failing to become a king? He had always made it clear that Raphi was in charge…had he not? This was not helping his concentration much, this panicking. He put his head in his hands briefly. The feeling reminded him of Raphi’s mouth…everything he turned to couldn’t alter how he was thinking about the blonde all the time. This was ridiculous. Actually ludicrous.