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Ryan grinned, stepping out into the gardens. His mom, after - what, two weeks? - of Ryan throwing logical reasons that he should be let out into the gardens, finally agreed. He still had two guards on him, but he got lucky that day. His guards were Ladies Katia and Genivieve, and they were willing to let him roam on his own. It was probably the only good thing about his parent's homophobia: They gave him all female guards. They were still just as strong as any man, though.
"Say, Katia, I feel a strong urge to go this way." Genivieve mused, pointing away from where Ryan wanted to go.
"I do agree, dear Genivieve." The woman gave Ryan a wink. "We'll be by the ponds. Scream if you need anything!" Ryan grinned again, waving them off and heading out on his own. Finally, freedom, even if it was nothing more than walking somewhere on his own. Ryan would've sang for joy, only his singing wasn't too amazing. He settled for a little skip of joy instead.
"Oh, man, I forgot how quiet it is here..." Ryan said to himself, finding a rock to sit on. Really, the castle might be quiet at times, but it was a cold quiet, and nothing seemed to fill the silence. In the gardens, the quiet was filled with twittering birds and dripping water. Ryan could've fallen asleep, only he wanted to enjoy his short moment of being alone.
"Is that... The wall?" Ryan realized that he'd walked to far, he'd reached the large Wall outlining the main castle grounds. "The garden must be smaller than I thought!" Maybe he could get some ropes and make another grappling hook-
No, he'd get caught, and then he wouldn't leave his room until they sent him to some kingdom to get married. They were going to marry him to Princess Lizzane anyways, why put it off? Maybe he could figure some way out of it. Citizens could get divorced, why not him? Get married, make a peace treaty, get divorced, never be heard from again. His parents would search far and wide, but they'd never find him. Ryan could just jump onto a boat somewhere and sail off to a land that only sailors knew of. He had plenty of money, a fact that he normally hated. But he could sew some to the insides of his clothes, and then-
"Who am I kidding?"
Ryan kicked at the ground, slightly scuffing his perfect shoes. He just wanted out of this place. It was his own personal Hell. Maybe he'd been a mass-murderer in a previous life, and this was his punishment. That would explain a lot...

Ryan's instant reaction was to scream and struggle, only it happened more as a "Hnngrgggghhh..." and a slight arm raising. God, what was on that cloth? It smelled so... Sweet... Ryan struggled to keep his eyes open, his racing heartbeat already slowing.
I'm being kidnapped, aren't I?
Ryan mumbled something unintelligible and un-princely, utterly collapsing into the arms of whoever was behind him and watching the world go black.

Ryan slowly came to consiousness. It smelled... Sweet. Like hay, almost. Was he moving? Why was he so tired? He'd been in the garden, then-
Oh, bloody hell.
He'd been kidnapped. And whatever sleeping drugs they'd used were still effectively at work: Ryan could barely move. Not that he wanted to, whatever cart he was in was bouncing around enough as it was. Ryan focused on breathing, which wasn't the easiest thing to do when covered with hay.
Ryan changed tactics and instead tried to think through some sort of escape plan. The alarm had to have been raised at this point; Genevieve and Katia would've looked for him by now. So if he could get to the city somehow, then someone would see him and recognize him, surely?
But that might require fightitng, and Ryan was no good at that. Maybe he could talk his way out? No, he was most likely being held ransom, and his family would most certainly pay any ransom named to have their precious little boy back.
The cart bounced, and Ryan's shoulder hit something hard. Ryan groaned, instantly regretting it: He could've found out useful information if whoever kidnapped him thought he was asleep.
Damn.

Ryan awoke. Again.
God, his head hurt. The second dose of god-knows-what anesthetics had done a number on Ryan. For a minute, all he could think was At least I don't have to get married now. Then he remembered- yet again- just why he wasn't getting married and freaked.
Ryan attempted to sit up and heard a clanking. Opening his eyes (He probably should have done that before trying to sit up), he saw chains around wrists and ankles.
"Son of a b***h." Ryan hissed. He looked around and his eyes fell on presumably the man who'd kidnapped him. Some really pretty guy with dark hair.
"Congratulations on the successful kidnapping." Ryan announced. He refused to let his manners go, even when talking to some guy who'd drugged him, twice, and tossed him in a cart full of hay.

Ryan thought for a moment. Knocking him out again would be rather pointless, and denying a drink with your enemy might not be the best idea. He took a sip, swirled it around his mouth, and swallowed. "Excellent quality. Might I ask where from?" Ryan inquired. It was probably stolen, but it did taste good. Better than half the stuff they had in the castle stores, not that Ryan ever got any. "And might I inquire to your name?" Ryan didn't want to get in the habit of calling him "The pretty dark-haired man".
Ryan's talk seemed polite, but in his head he was going through information-gathering tactics: If he was returned (Ryan really hoped he would be returned) he wanted to be able to give as much information as possible, in hopes of arresting his captors. Names, nicknames, faces, anything at all would be helpful.

Ryan was startled, though he shouldn't have been. Only the king of thieves would pull this sort of thing. "So that's who wants me, hmm? In that case, I'll be home in..." Ryan thought for a minute. "A week or so. Possibly two." Ryan would've relaxed, but the idea of going home was suddenly less appealing. He'd rather be there than here, sure, but as soon as he got home, he's be locked in his room 'for his own safety', quite literally until he got married.
Ryan made a face.
"Well then, Haru, anything else the king wants besides the crown jewels?" Ryan asked, half-joking. For all he knew, the king of thieves would demand much more. He was almost afraid to ask. "Perhaps my elder sister's hand in marriage? Wait, no, she's set to marry that ugly boy from the Southern kingdoms." Ryan wrinkled his nose. That boy was absolutely horrible, trying to flirt with Ryan's sister and Ryan at the same time. The fact that he wasn't the prettiest around made it worse, and nobody in the castle had really liked him. The marriage was just to make some peace treaty stronger.

"I know I'm not going to get hurt beyond uncomfortable cart rides, why should I be scared?" Ryan shrugged. "And her highness is... A very lovely girl, I'm sure. I've never met her. I don't even know where she's from, and I'm the one marrying her." Ryan sighed.
"It's shocking how little I actually know about my own life." He mused, temporarily forgetting that he was talking to his kidnapper. He did feel rather comfortable: Haru had something about him that made Ryan lower his guard a little, which he usually didn't do unless he was with his sisters. Maybe the shock of being kidnapped hadn't hit him yet. That was probably it.