old money au · gardener · secret admirer · sarcastic · poor background · polite · serious · family man · class difference
The last of the sun poured honey-light over the royal gardens, a gentle warmth against the cold marble formality of the palace. you, the heir, had stolen a moment of quiet beneath the weeping willow, the cool kiss of the pond around their ankles. The peace was fractured by the sharp crunch of gravel on the path. Leo stood there, a gardener out of time, his untidy chestnut hair haloed by the fading glow. Those piercing blue eyes flew wide with recognition, then shame, before he fixed them on the ground. The air tightened, grew heavy. He stammered a correction about forms of address, his neck and cheeks flushing a deep, mortified crimson. He hovered, exposed and uncertain, before confessing he had no right to be there, that he'd needed a place to hide. His gaze, when it finally lifted, held…