by Dr. D
"Remain here; I will bring in the prince's dinner," Mathew said and left.
“Yes … My Lord.” Dezi said.
As soon as Mathew left, Dezi’s tight shoulders relaxed, and he stepped away from the idiot prince.
Acheron blinked and reached for his neck again with no trace of anger on his face.
Dezi’s confidence grew, and he pushed aside the prince’s hands. “Stop.”
Acheron studied Dezi’s face for a moment and moved his gaze from the nice curve of his neck to the bright blonde hair. It seemed thick and rough because of its layers, but when Acheron ran his fingers through it, it was actually soft, especially at the base.
Acheron’s eyes narrowed slightly in enjoyment.
Dezi’s brows knitted up sharply from the tingling sensation on his scalp, and he raised his voice. “I said stop.”
But Acheron didn’t back down this time. His long-fingered hand gripped onto Dezi’s neck and pulled him back towards him.
Dezi hissed at the way he was handled. The good first impression he had of Acheron was completely out the window. “I am not a fucking-!”
But before Dezi could finish his sentence, he heard the baron’s footsteps coming in from the hallway, so he swallowed the last word and kept his mouth shut.
The door was opened, and several servants entered the room behind Mathew and walked toward the table in the room.
Dezi lowered his head and looked away; those servants of the royal family were still at least gentlemen in noble rank. But Dezi’s mouth watered as soon as he smelled the food that was brought in on silver platters. It reminded him of the smells coming in from the private kitchen last night, and his empty stomach clenched up in desperation.
Mathew bowed to the prince, “Please, allow me.”
Without getting a glance from Acheron, Mathew picked up a knife and started to cut the large steaks into smaller pieces.
Acheron seemed to notice when Dezi swallowed again. He took back his hand from Dezi’s hair and walked toward the food.
Mathew abruptly stopped and bowed as Acheron approached. “My apologies. I will be outside if your highness needs me.”
Acheron’s movement was unaffected by Mathew’s words. He picked up a piece of meat from the plate with his fingers and delivered it to Dezi.
The corner of Dezi’s lips twitched as the meat touched his mouth. He saw Mathew leave the room with the corner of his eyes and he jerked his head away from the prince’s hand. “I am not a dog!”
Acheron blinked blankly at the statement.
Dezi rolled his eyes, walked toward the table and gulped at the meats.
There was only one set of silverware. Dezi bit his lips. This was the prince’s dinner.
But Dezi tasted a little bit of sauce on his lips, and his stomach growled again at the nice flavor.
Dezi hesitated and looked back to the prince.
“I am ... I am going to have some …” Dezi was worried that he might be going too far, but the prince showed no intention of stopping him.
Dezi sat down and stuffed a thick piece in his mouth.
The savory flavor woke his body’s long-suppressed hunger. Dezi had swallowed before he finished chewing.
Once he got started, he couldn’t really stop. For a good five minutes, Dezi sat there eating rapidly in silence, cramming too much in to chew with his mouth closed. The food really was superb. He could even feel the magic in his body being stirred up by the rush of energy flowing in.
When the hunger finally subsided, Dezi started to pick at the selections on the table. “I always wanted to try this ...” He had seen the recipe in the books, but he never had the chance to touch the rare material, let alone tasting it.
Dezi raised his eyelid and noticed Acheron sitting right next to him. The prince had been watching him and studying his face with the curiosity of a child.
“You are a wimp, aren’t you?” Dezi grinned at the prince and started to get comfortable around an idiot. “There. You have some too.” Dezi cut off a piece and offered with a taunting tone.
Acheron didn’t move. But it didn’t look like that he refused it--more like he didn’t hear it.
Dezi glanced at the door and gestured to the prince. “Come here.”
Acheron blinked and leaned closer. Dezi pulled Acheron’s upper body down, picked up the meat with his finger and feed it to the prince.
“Good boy.” Dezi bit on the words to return the insult, but Acheron’s expression didn’t change one bit.
That didn’t stop Dezi from feeling a small thrill of revenge rushing up from his spine. His lips curved up to a smirk.
Dezi glanced at the door again and shoved the fork into Acheron’s hand. “There, all yours now.”
While the prince ate, Dezi walked around the rather empty room. There were a large wooden bed, a washstand, a closet by the door, and a dining table by the large window. There weren't any accessories in the room beside the thick curtains on the window and the plain rugs on the floor.
Dezi circled back to the table and was strangely pleased again. “That wasn’t exactly royal manners.”
The prince was holding the fork wrong. Even Dezi, a commoner, could do better than that.
He leaned closer to the prince.
“Hey. Tell them to send me back.” Dezi said.
Unlike when he was with the princess, Dezi felt like he had a chance of getting out of this situation with the prince. “Listen, I am not interested in being …” Dezi frowned, “whatever this is. So you need to tell them to let me go.”
Acheron’s expression didn’t change; his black eyes stared at Dezi like a pair of dark tunnels.
“Do you understand?” Dezi’s brows knitted up tighter.
Before Dezi could say anything else, Mathew knocked on the door and returned to the room. Dezi hastily straightened his back and stepped aside.
As the table was cleaned, Acheron got up and stood by Dezi’s side.
“Dezi.”
Dezi almost flinched when Mathew called him. “Yes, my lord?”
“My servants were in such hurry today when they brought you in. It was inconsiderable of me.” Mathew looked at Dezi. “Would you like to collect a few things from your former residence?”
Former residence? Dezi winced. “My lord, I …”
“We will do that first thing tomorrow morning, then.” Mathew cut Dezi off and smiled.
Dezi lowered his head and clenched his teeth. He couldn’t get out of this damn situation.
Chapter 5
Water splashed and ran down Dezi’s skin as he stood up from the stone tub.
His frame was tall and slender, and there weren't many muscles on his body. A light contour of his ribs was visible when he raised his arms, and one could see his collarbones laying straight and prominent across his shoulders.
Dezi slowly put on the new clothes Mathew had given him. The fabric felt very nice, a distinct difference from what he was wearing before.
Dezi stood still for a few second after he got dressed and let out a deep sigh.
Mathew had given him a brief tour of the nearby hallways and showed him the areas for the servants. Even the toilet rooms were a lot nicer than the public ones that Dezi was used to. Behind each door of the cubicles, there was a carved limu on top of the toilet.
The low-level bone crafts the palace had might be fancier than the ones outside, but Dezi wasn’t in the mood to appreciate them under the circumstances.
With each second that passed, it felt harder and harder for him to get out of this, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a good excuse to leave.
Eventually, Mathew had sent him to take a bath here and told him that he would continue the tour tomorrow.
Dezi sighed again and walked out of the bathroom. He awkwardly thanked the maid waiting outside and dragged his feet back to the prince’s room.
He felt like he hit something as he pushed open the unnecessarily tall door, and saw that it w
as completely dark inside the room again.
Dezi’s brows knitted up tightly as he walked in and looked behind the door.
It was the prince who was laying by the door in the darkness.
Dezi’s mouth twitched, but didn’t even bother to question the Acheron’s strange behavior.
“Where are the candles?” He headed toward the table. The door slowly fell closed behind him and blocked out the dim lights from the hallway. Acheron also got up and heeled closely after Dezi.
“You don’t use candles?” Dezi grunted in frustration as he rummaged in the darkness and eventually got to the curtain to pull it open.
A hand stroked Dezi’s nape. He bristled and jumped up like a startled cat, but backed into a chest with the arms closed around him.
A string that had been tightening ever since he heard the word pet snapped with a loud crack in his head. A sudden but extreme anger that seemed to come out of nowhere instantly filled Dezi’s chest.
“Don’t touch me!” Dezi bared his teeth and shoved the prince away. But Acheron was very steady and managed to grab onto one of Dezi’s wrists.
Dezi drew in a sharp breath and threw another punch at the prince. But the prince reacted to Dezi attack almost reflectively and always managed to be faster.
“Fuck!” Dezi raised his leg to kick, but Acheron caught the collar of his shirt. Dezi was yanked hard, losing his balance, he fell forward onto the floor.
Before he could react, Dezi’s arms were pulled back in a painful lock. The weight of Acheron on top of him pressed Dezi’s face down to the ground.
The warmth of another person’s body on his back made blood rushed in Dezi face. “UGHH.” Dezi fought to get up, but the harder he struggled, the more overwhelming the pain. Soon, sweat came down his forehead and veins pulsed in his neck.
Images from back when he was a little boy flashed through his throbbing head.
In the dark, dirty back room of a cheap whore house. The sweaty, hairy bodies of working men, those rough fat fingers, the smell of liquor from their breath ...
“No …” Colors drained from Dezi’s face and his lips started to tremble. “Fuck off!”
Dezi felt a leather band tighten around his neck, and Acheron released him.
Dezi scrambled forward and felt around his neck. It was a leather collar with a stone engraved in the center.
Dezi looked back at the prince with his mouth ajar. Under the faint moonlight, he could tell that the prince was also holding a leash in his hand.
Dezi let out a long sigh, sagged his shoulders and rubbed his eyes with his hands. “You are fucking kidding me ...”
Dezi felt like he should be enraged at the insult, but after fearing for the worst alternative, he was more speechless than angry.
Acheron didn’t react to Dezi’s words. He only reached over and attached the other end of the leash to a hook on the wall.
“I had enough of this game.” Dezi bit on the words. The anger and fear might had been gone, but he also couldn’t find any patience left in himself.
Acheron stared back blankly at Dezi but latched onto him when Dezi tried to unbuckle the collar.
“No. You,” Dezi snarled as Acheron gripped onto his hands. “Let go! What the fuck is wrong with your head?” Dezi felt like he was jumping up and down like a clown, but the damn prince’s face never even twitched one bit.
Acheron had the focus and determination of a single-minded machine. He never got frustrated, dejected, or angry in this repetitive process of putting the collar back on.
But that deadpan face irritated Dezi more and more, and he soon lost his temper and turned this into a fight.
Within minutes, Acheron subdued him again with force and pushed him down to the floor with his arms locked on his back.
“Stop. Stop! It hurts.” Dezi yelped, his neck turning red.
Acheron released his arms. As Dezi lay defeated on the floor and was recovering his breath, Acheron adjusted the collar and lay down beside him.
“Fine. Fine!” Dezi growled deep in his throat with frustration, “I will wear this. But not the fucking leash.”
Acheron opened his eyes to Dezi’s ultimatum.
“All right?” Dezi turned around to face Acheron. “It is too short; I couldn’t even sleep on the bed.”
Acheron blinked slowly and placed one arm over Dezi. He seemed content but showed no response to Dezi’s words.
Dezi stared at him for a few seconds and made a face. “Do you sleep on the floor? You pathetic idiot.” That realization somehow elevated Dezi’s mood and made up for the fact that he lost to the prince in physical strength.
Dezi thought about it some more and even laughed out loud. “What kind of prince are you?”
Acheron raised his sleepy eyelids a bit more whenever Dezi talked, but soon closed his eyes and gave no response.
Dezi softened his tone and started to talk to Acheron like he was a toddler. “Come over here.” Dezi slid toward the bed a bit on the floor.
Acheron opened his eyes, stared at Dezi for a second and decided to nudge toward him.
“That is right.” Dezi moved bit by bit toward the bed over time, and as soon as the leash was pulled tight, he carefully unhooked it from his collar.
The prince propped himself up, but Dezi hugged Acheron tight before he could protest and patted his back. “Shhh, be a good boy.”
Acheron almost flinched, but soon remained silent and still in his arms.
Dezi kept talking to the prince in soft tones until he felt like Acheron had leaned into his chest and settled down.
Dezi slowly retrieved his arms and managed to back up a few steps and climb onto the bed. The bed had five feather mattresses and countless blankets on top. It was soft, warm, and clean, like a dream compared to what he used to sleep in.
Dezi could sense the prince following him, but he stopped at the foot of the bed and tugged on his arm.
“Do whatever you want. I am sleeping here.” Dezi gripped onto the bed frame and swatted the prince away.
He covered himself with the soft blankets, let out a relaxed sigh, and closed his eyes.
Chapter 6
“Your highness … do you want to go as well?” Mathew seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled. “Please wait. I will get the ride ready.”
Dezi sighed and eyed the prince. Dezi had fallen asleep before the prince could decide if he liked the bed last night, but when Dezi woke up, he was on the edge of the bed, and the prince was right beside him, leaving at least half of the bed empty behind him.
Mathew showed up in the morning and was ready to take him back to his tenement, but Acheron followed him out of the door. Even if Acheron never said anything, Mathew seemed to gather that the prince wanted to go and it was necessary to upgrade the ride.
The old nobleman soon returned and guided them out of the palace.
When Dezi saw the ride outside, his frustration gave away to bubbles of excitement. It was a large skeleton of a lavabreaker--a fire elemental bird that had an impressive wingspan. The ribcage of the Lavabreaker was sealed off for passengers, but the rest of the bones of the skeleton were bare. All the bones were polished and carved like ivory. The redundant neck bones were bent upward to tuck the decorative skull closer to the body.
Dezi’s eyes widened--it was the first time he had a chance to use a large flying bone craft. High-level bone craft like this required a lot of energy and was very expensive. In fact, Dezi couldn’t even maneuver a bone craft like this one. Unlike people who had a higher magic rating, he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the massive drain of energy the bone craft needed, even if there was enough energy in the elemental stone for him to extract from.
Mathew stepped aside at the opening of the ribcage and extended his arm in a gesture to invite the prince to get into the ride.
Dezi looked down at Mathew’s hand and, not surprisingly, found a solid, smooth red stone.
A fire elemental stone.
Dezi subconsciously
touched his neck and felt the engraved stone of the collar under the fabric. He didn’t want to waste time by triggering some weird switches in the prince again, so he had just covered the collar with a necktie this morning.
“After you, Dezi.” Mathew’s voice made Dezi looked up with surprise. It would be only proper for him to enter last.
He eyed Acheron and realized why. The idiot prince was just looking at him and didn’t hear Mathew.
“Your highness. Please.” Dezi nudged the prince to enter the lavabreaker in front of him.
Mathew gave Dezi a deep look before he followed Acheron in. But Dezi didn’t pay much attention to Mathew’s expression; his eyes were on the red stone in Mathew’s hands as he entered the bone craft.
There were two seats on both sides; it didn’t look that much different from a coach on the inside. Acheron circled back to Dezi and sat down next to him.
Dezi bit his teeth and tolerated how the prince leaned towards him with his leg touching his. He purposefully turned his head away and watched Mathew fit the fire stone into a slot on the bird's chest.
The whole bone craft came to life. The seats shook slightly as the wings expanded and churned the wind with its invisible feathers.
The lavabreaker took off.
Dezi’s spirit rose with the elevating altitude. He looked out of the window and saw the city at its small for the first time. It looked so beautiful and magnificent. All of the narrow and filthy streets in Dezi’s memory were turned into an impressive network of grandiose structures.
Acheron seemed blind to the view right outside of the window. His gaze only took in Dezi’s smile, savoring it slowly, and eventually fixed on Dezi’s hair. That blonde hair had become brighter, lighter, and more beautiful under the sunlight. The prince studied it like it was the most captivating thing he had ever seen.
The lavabreaker approached Dezi’s tenement quickly, and it lowered itself on the nearest public square. This wasn’t the best part of the town. Many people soon gathered around the lavabreaker, taking their chances of looking at a rare flying bone craft, but also didn’t dare to come too close.
