The Sun's Shadow

Chapter Thirty-Two

The unnerving way in which Kaanan examined Roman made him want to turn and run for the hills alongside Ele. Even facing an army of satyroids would be better than this.

"You smell like her." Kaanan seethed beneath the black shroud that cloaked him; he no longer needed his wings to demonstrate his powers.

Roman rethought approaching him alone. Yet he ignored how lost the boy was to the monster and begged, "Cousin, this isn't y-"

"Who am I then, cousin?" He spat back in disgust, cutting him off. If no one would accept him for all he was... To hell with them. Kaanan surged with potential that had gone dormant for too many years. "I'm never going back to the child, the pitiful thing, that once housed this form. He's gone. No one shall stand between me and that throne."

"Even if it means losing her?"

Ah. Heartstrings struck cold.

Kaanan battled with the truth that his cousin exposed- Knowing it would get to him. And still he refused to show emotion or fall victim to such whimsical things again... Ele still loved him.

Midnight eyes zeroed in on Roman and he went rigid, as if weighed down by the earth itself. Each step he took forward to cut down his cousin, Roman took one back to counter. Kaanan growled at the absurdity of their little game.

Roman steadily raised the sword in his hands and knew it'd do no good, so he dropped it with a thunderous clang on the marble floors. As kids, they once played on these floors and now they would serve another purpose... His deathbed.

By the time Kaanan caught up to him by quickening his pace, he seethed at how this fool attempted to avoid death. He smelled like Ele, except the scent was fading fast and he needed more of her ambrosial perfume. He fisted Roman's royal blue linen shirt without care how he wrinkled it and pulled him close so he could languidly inhale what remained of her scent. Why did he even have it on him...

"You saw her today, when?"

Roman rushed to cover it up, "It's just the mating scent."

Now Kaanan lifted him off the ground by his shirt, and the growl deepened. "Don't remind me. Just one of many reasons to kill you now."

The Prince hardly noticed that Roman's hands now held onto his wrists. He gripped onto them like a lifeline. The only way to survive this would be to appeal to their bond as cousins who were almost like brothers.

"But you're hesitating, why? Did you hesitate when it came to your father? I'll bet not because he was a cruel man who needed to be removed from the throne." His throat ached, imagining his own head being severed in the way that his father recounted the tale of how Kaanan killed Jyosith. "Maybe not to such extremes. But, still."

"Your father must not have caught up to you to tell you to avoid me. Especially today. There are voices in my head telling me to kill you and I'm tempted to listen."

With a casual flick of his hands, Roman was thrown back and he crashed through the glass window of the throne room. Glass splintered and lodged into various parts of him; most notably his back where the blow made impact. Kaanan made the action look effortless, like flicking a flea off his shoulder.

Was that what their relationship had dwindled down to?

Roman twisted onto his hands and knees to push off the ground. He stumbled forward a bit but was ripped backwards and shoved down into the pile of shattered glass, this time weighed down by the Kaanan's black suede loafers that looked too expensive to be taking out the trash.

He hovered over the squirming flea trapped under him with amusement twinkling in his hungry eyes- The need to spill blood overwhelmed him.

"Don't ever pretend to know me again. We were children when we tolerated each other and played at the commands of our parents. Now, just like back then, you dare take one of my toys and use her. For what? So you can get under my skin? Very unwise." He bent down slightly to read Roman's eyes but he turned his head away. How inadvisable as this only angered the monster more. "Look at me when I speak!"