Page 79 of Trained Royal

Kieren shrugged a shoulder, something he’d learnt to do to stop aggravating his injury. “If you want.”

Patrick dropped a kiss on Kieren’s lips. “Will you show me, please?”

Kieren stared at him for a moment before nodding. “I’ll fetch them. You start studying while I’m gone.”

“Yes, sir!”

While Kieren disappeared, Patrick retrieved his books, having decided he preferred working with physical books rather than online or ebooks. He opened his textbooks to the chapter he was working on and began reading, losing himself in the background of conducting.

After a short time, he blinked and checked his watch, seeing he’d been at it for over an hour and Kieren hadn’t returned. He glanced towards the door and was surprised to see the man reclined in a chair, facing him with a pad of paper and a pencil.

“When did you get back?”

Kieren smiled. “About fifteen minutes after I left. You were engrossed in your work, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“You should have. I want to see your work.” He stood.

Kieren held up his pad. “I worked on a new one while you were busy.”

Patrick climbed onto Kieren’s lap, resting his head against his shoulder. “Will you show me?”

Kieren turned the pad towards him, and Patrick gasped. “Oh, my god! That’s amazing!” He studied the pencil drawing of him with his head bent low over his book, the tip of the pen in his hand resting against his bottom lip. “It looks realistic.”

He traced the contours of the image with the shading done with gradients of grey. “Do you have others?”

Kieren pointed towards the table where a folder sat. Patrick scrambled off his lap to Kieren’s laughter and knelt in front of the coffee table. Reverently, he opened the folder and found another image of himself, this time while he was playing the piano.

“When did you do this one? It’s not often I play in front of people.”

Kieren glanced at it. “You were playing for your parents. I passed the door, and it was ajar. I couldn’t help myself.”

Patrick smirked at him. “Stalker.” He turned the page and found another of him at the piano.

“There are a few of them. As I said, something was always missing. I couldn’t get it quite right. I kept trying, though.”

Patrick couldn’t see anything wrong with what he’d drawn, but Kieren was the expert. After several pages, he found a new image of him with his head back as he laughed. There wasn’t much of a background, and he had no idea what reference to give it, but the happiness in his expression was easy to see. Another page held an image of a young woman with long, wavy hair, wearing a long dress. He guessed it was Kieren’s sister, which he confirmed seconds later.

“Gabby,” he murmured.

“She’s beautiful.”

“She was.”

Another page and an image of a man and a woman. “Your parents?” Kieren nodded, staring at the paper. He could see the joy that Kieren captured. “These are magnificent, Kieren.”

Patrick climbed back onto his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Would you be willing to draw a couple of pictures for me?”

“Sure. What were you thinking of?”

“I want a picture of our group.” He rolled his eyes. “The Thirsty Thirteen. I think Mother and Father and Uncle Andrew would love to have a copy each for Christmas.”

“I can do that. They’re not professional at any rate, but I’d be happy to have a go.”

Patrick tapped his shoulder. “Theyareprofessional. I bet you’d be able to sell these.”

Kieren shook his head. “No way.”

“Yes, way.” Kieren huffed in response. “You would, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Is this something you enjoy?”