A Vampire's Marine (boyxboy)

Chapter 53: Kandane

Chapter 53

~Kandane~ (The past)

"Remove that offending garment at once."

Marcan folded his arms before him and raised his chin in defiance; as expected. "

"Absolutely not."

"You know father abhors that color."

"It is because be abhors it that I have chosen to wear it." He grinned. "Is that not obvious?"

I picked up his plain black robes from the bed and thew it his way. He watched it fall to the floor.  "Why must you continue to provoke him? Is there even a remote possibility that you can go a single day without creating mischief?"

"No." He said after much thought and I frowned. Somewhere from his place in the corner, Peitre chuckled.

"Tonight we will dine with our father and you will give him no reason to frown. Now remove those awful pink robes. I cannot even fathom where you got them." When he did nothing,  I folded my arms before me and with a sigh, he acquiesced.

"Once you are finished, help Jorlon with his necktie. He has been struggling with it for near an hour and I fear he has only made a mess of things." I turned to contemplate Jorlon and shook my head. "I do not understand this new fashion. I hardly see why a piece of cloth wrapped around ones neck is suitable formal wear."

Jorlon paused. " I am trying to develop my own unique sense of self. One day everyone will come to appreciate my genius." He continued to struggle with his cloth for a moment longer, before he finally heaved a sigh and gave up.  I turned to my most pressing problem; Riener.

He had only just awoken from his nap and his hair was sticking out at all angles, his blue robes were badly crushed and stained red in the strangest of places; testament of the fact that he had visited the kitchens against my explicit instruction and stolen the freshly picked berries the drudges  stored there.

I sighed. "What must I do with you Rien?"

He shrugged and I gestured to a drudge standing in the doorway. "Fetch him something to wear." I then turned to his hair and tried as best I could to tame his unruly strands.

"You know it upsets father when you are not well groomed. I told you to sit quietly while the rest of us prepared for dinner and you took it upon yourself to go to bed instead, now look at yourself."

Again he shrugged and my eyes narrowed. "Why will you not speak?"

He looked guiltily away and shrugged once more, but the berry juices sliding down his chin gave me the answer I sought. "You might as well swallow the things Rien, you are only making more of a mess." I told him, and as Rien-like as ever, he quickly began to chew the berries he had stuffed into his mouth. I withdrew my pocket cloth and handed it to him, then watched as the white cloth became stained beyond further use.

I straightened and looked around my bedchamber; there were robes and footwear scattered about the floors, the bed was unmade with its satin sheets spilling ungraciously onto the floors. By the fireplace, Jorlon stood frowning down at his new fashionable invention as Marcan fidgeted with it.

Peitre sat half naked in the armchair by the door; his head buried in the scroll he had no doubt stolen from father's study, the drudges ran about trying and failing to clear away the mess my brothers had made and when I felt a wetness in my hand, I looked down to see the crushed berries Riener had placed there.