Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 28 - Amity

Happy Easter!

- Sian

That evening, when Sage changed into his nightwear and Taro left to finish his chores, he returned when the clock struck twelve. First, Taro checked that his roommate was asleep. The man was a mound under his covers, breathing slowly and loudly.

Taro crept to the door, cringing at every creak of the floorboards. He slipped into the dark corridor. Sneaking to Sage's room in the night was hard, especially when the door at the end of the narrow hallway was always locked. The key hung next to it, a big heavy brass one that made a lot of noise as Taro fumbled around with it in the dark.

He tiptoed to the steep and narrow servant's staircase and ran up them two at a time. He could march when he reached the Royal's quarters. Oxley's room was a whole corridor and a half away from his brother. Nobody would hear Taro approaching, only Sage, if he were still awake.

Taro didn't knock, only briefly admired the vine carvings on his bedroom door and disappeared inside like a shadow in the dark.

Sage was in bed with the bedside lamp on and a book in his hand.

"Thought you'd be asleep," Taro said, carrying his Valet's uniform. Now that he didn't have to stash it in Sage's drawers, he put it on his desk chair.

"I thought you might have gone to sleep in the servant's quarters." Sage said, shutting his book. "Can I ask how many other people are like you who work here?"

Taro plopped himself down on the edge of Sage's bed, ignoring the way Sage narrowed his eyes. Probably debating whether I'm worthy of wrinkling his silk sheets. "A few. Mostly maids. My roommate is a human servant, so I'm careful around him. Most people like me are guards."

"I didn't know you shared rooms. Won't your roommate notice you're not there?"

"If he has, he hasn't said anything. I go when he's snoring and I'm back when he's snoring." Taro made himself comfortable, leaning back and propping himself up on his elbows. He loved to watch the way Sage fought against telling him off. "Are you okay about me sleeping in your room?"

"Well, you are my houseplant." Sage paused. "Not in a weird way."

"No, no. No weirdness. I am yours." Taro smirked.

"But that sounds weird."

"Yeah."

They both chuckled.

Sage put his book away and reached for the lamp until Taro asked if he was tired. "Not really," Sage confessed.

"Do you have anything to do tomorrow?" Taro wasn't tired. Frankly, he enjoyed talking to someone about himself, someone who wanted to learn about his kind. Taro didn't often share his true form with humans. Sage was certainly a special case, and he knew he had been careless, but he was yet to conclude whether he had wanted Sage to find out.

"Not yet. I was hoping to get in everyone's way in the garden."

"And I'm sure Mrs Beecham will love you for it."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"No, she really does love that you have an interest."

Sage made himself comfortable against the velvet headboard, wearing black silk pyjamas that matched his black silk sheets. "Has she said that?"

Taro nodded. "Countless times."

"To whom?"

"My mother, they're good friends. Mrs Beecham is proud that a Royal enjoys getting his hands dirty. To be honest, I thought she was just exaggerating and wanting to talk about how she knows a Royal because that's a big thing for our kind, considering the ancient agreement. But you're actually pretty sturdy, for a Prince." Taro had often sat at home, listening to his mother's friend drone on, and on, and on about Sage Green and the way he was always so eager to help out, and how the tabloids were talking rubbish about how he was unfit to rule a kingdom.