A Ludicrous Question
1337 Words
"The whole point of taking a maiden for yourself is to keep her so close to your skin you wake up with a stupid grin each morning. Not stuff her far away in some God forsaken forest while you waste away in this glamourous castle."
"How is the taking over of the fae kingdom?" Lukius ignored Magnius' lewd comment and kept scribbling on the scroll rolled out in front of him.
His thoughts were no longer focused on the ancient paper however. Magnius speaking of someone he desperately wished to forget made sure of that. And apparently stuffing that fae slave away in some God forsaken forest wasn't enough to keep her from his head.
"Promise you won't let me fall?"
Lukius' grip tightened on his quill. That innocent question had turned out to be an effective disarming weapon. Nothing and no one had managed to pierce his armor the way those simple words from her lips had. What was even worse was his unusual desire and willingness to grant her what she asked.
Lukius scribbled some more, albeit furiously as he felt his focus slipping again.
"Did I miss something?" Magnius propped himself up on his desk, a wide grin on his lips.
"You'll be missing more than your tongue if you insist on speaking of matters that are of no consequence to your presence here."
"Oh come on, don't tell me all that was for nothing. You swooped in right at the perfect moment, saved our butts and the girl and yet you still refused to claim the rewards of a knight in shining armor?"
"Knight in shining armor." Lukius was almost tempted to laugh. Thinking of those furious eyes, he highly doubted the dark haired girl would ever consider him a knight in shining armor.
"It's not like she was aware of how much danger she was in." He scoffed.
"Uh huh." Magnius gave him a thoughtful look before his best friend's mouth let out a ludicrous question. "Do you care for her?"
"That is insane, even for you." Lukius sat back and looked up at Magnius, amused. "Have you been drinking, perhaps?"
He still hadn't figured out how Bastis knew to turn around and fly back to aid his men just when they needed it. Neither had he figured out why those bandits had been bold enough to want to attack a carriage belonging to a dragon prince of the Xerith empire. The whole ordeal was still a mystery to him but Lukius knew without a doubt that he did not care for the slave girl.
"Your own soldier stood for you and he got stabbed. She defied you and not only did you let her defiance slide, you saved her when she needed saving. I'm not even going to start on the fact that she is not in the slave's quarters or the fact that his highness threatened my head if anything happened to her."
"I don't need anyone to stand up for me and neither do I owe you any explanation." Lukius hissed. "And unless the next words out of your mouth have to do with what I wish to know, I suggest you hold your tongue."
Magnius knew him well enough to entertain that reasoning, but now was not the time for Lukius to speak about things he did not understand himself. All he knew was that he'd already been plagued with an inability to fall asleep ever since his victory over Autaria. She had plagued both his thoughts and dreams, making him wish he was better off sleeping and having nightmares of the dead Autarians trying to kill him, than having those furious eyes looking back at him.
"You mean the new Velon city?" Magnius walked away from his table and went and stood by one of the windows to the study. Lukius knew he wouldn't be mentioning the slave again, at least not today. The seriousness with which Magnius had questioned him was gone and only his relaxed self remained. Lukius appreciated that.
"His majesty is impressed. So impressed, he is holding a banquet in your honor."
Lukius scoffed. That was so like his father. Always looking for a reason to hold a party. He hated every one of those, together with every maiden that sought to catch his eye whenever such banquets were held.
"You will be in attendance, won't you?"
"I'm sure the ladies will be up to your fancy." Lukius penned his last thought before putting his quill away.
"Why do you keep tempting your father to have my head?"
"He's too impressed with your knowledge of politics and military skills to have your head. I on the other hand may be his son, but I have nothing to offer except my impatience for the whole thing to come to an end." Lukius rolled the scroll carefully and placed it in front of him.
"Would it kill you to visit the main palace even once? Your parents keep honoring you and what do you do each time?"
"I'm too busy to spend my time eating and drinking. Here." Lukius tossed the scroll that was now sealed with his insignia.
"A letter, your highness?" Magnius sounded appalled by the mere idea, but Lukius was not about to change his mind.
"That should let him know how honored I am by his gesture. If he insists, inform him that I'm on my way to Velon city to establish our military presence there."
"That'll certainly make his majesty happy. But tell me, what is it about the fae kingdom that has you returning there twice already? Or is this also one of those explanations you are unwilling to give?"
Lukius did not know the answer to that question yet, so he said the first thing that popped in his mind.
"Magic."
"Magic?"
"The Fae are unlike any other enemy we've faced before. It's my duty to ensure there are no future rebellions."
A surprisingly reasonable answer. Future rebellions were definitely a valid reason to quickly wish to settle the military affairs of a conquered territory and Lukius knew it would keep his father and Magnius off his back for as long as he needed.
"As your second in command, shouldn't I be by your side?" Magnius curled an eyebrow at him, but Lukius knew him too well to know that his friend was searching for the answers behind the answers he had given already.
"I need you to entertain my father for me at this banquet. You can at least do that much, right?"
Magnius scoffed, eliciting a smirk from his prince.
"Only if his highness will one day tell me what makes this one so special he went against himself and his own. Or was it that I was finally convincing and you decided to allow yourself to indulge in the pleasures of mere mortals.
"That must be it." Lukius mumbled as he took off his robe and put his armor on. He should have known Magnius wouldn't let go so easily. Lukius however, was still not going to indulge him in his own unusual reasoning lately.
"Would it kill you to admit that you are like the rest of us and would it kill you to use the door?!"
Lukius smiled as Bastis took to the skies after catching him when he jumped out of the window to his castle. He was done with Magnius' chit chat and he craved for something more. Something that would get his mind to focus again and forget about being a knight in shining armor. Something...dangerous.
"Would today be the day we greet the gods, old boy?" He patted his beast that growled in satisfaction as it shot high up in the sky, making Xerith below appear like a child's toy city in just moments.
The wind kissed his face roughly as Bastis went higher up knowing his master's need to tread the path of danger.
"Of course it would kill me, because I'm nothing like the rest of you."
- Writer
