Arranged | Jinkook ✓

Chapter 28.0

Prove the prophecy wrong.

A singular goal that had absolutely nothing to do with love. And everything to do with righting the wrongs of the past. Paying for mistakes that had been committed nearly a hundred years before. Atoning for sins that weren't their own.

Prove the prophecy wrong.

And yet there was a part of him - tiny and small and nearly insignificant - that still believed.

To hear it in Taehyung's words, this was all some beautiful fairy tale, planned by the gods. And they were all merely players, hand picked and special. It was difficult not to like how that sounded. Not to want to think that his soul was so beloved that it had been granted a second chance.

To hear it in Jungkook's was more realistic, practical and right. That this was all nothing more than the scheming of a woman who had failed - her children, her husband, her kingdom - desperately trying to find some way to make it all right. Neither of them were special. No, they were simply unlucky enough to be cast into these roles by the hands of fate, mere pawns in someone else's story.

Desperately he wanted them to make their own. Wished that he could simply take the princes hand and run, fast and wild in the other direction. Find a way to keep them hidden. Keep them safe. To never have to discover if the words that had been spoken were true or false.

But then he would never be turned. Would never become like Jungkook. Would never get to spend a hundred life times by his side. A sacrifice that felt too great, even when the pay off would be freedom.

Someone else could turn him. The thought flashed through his mind before he could stop it. Someone else could turn him. But when a vampire turned a human, drained their blood and replaced it with their own, it created a bond that couldn't be broken. A piece of each got transferred over, little bits of the soul that were broken off and sewn back together.

He didn't want that with someone else. He wanted that with Jungkook.

So they were left with no choice. He was left with no choice. All he could do was hope that they would succeed.

...

"Stand." Within his mind he had been referring to this man as Taehyung but not, and he realized that the time to ask for a name had long since passed. Had he even been given one? Would a mother who abandoned her child even care enough to grant him one?

He was being lifted, hands grasping his own as he was tugged upwards, and it took him a long moment to realize that it was Jungkook pulling him along, intent on getting him onto his feet. He allowed himself to be moved, gave in to the show of strength and didn't let go until he felt steady - only for the fingers to grip more tightly, refusing to relinquish their hold.

"Entering now into the bonds of marriage will tie you together beneath the watchful eye of the gods. What has been formed from love can not be broken. Do both of you understand?" Love. It was such a strange word to be used within that sentence. And he was certain it was not the one that was meant to be placed there. All of his nights spent in the library, under Taehyung's guidance had taught him what he would eventually have to endure. That the ceremony would not be for them, but for everyone else.

No one cared if they were in love. And they cared even less if this was what both of them wanted.

But it was so apparent just by looking at them. Just by seeing how the prince touched him - like he was something precious, made out of spun glass and fragile. Thumbs brushing against the soft skin on the back of his hands, eyes lingering, constantly searching out his own in the dim, flickering candle light.