The Palace Guard (MxM)

XIII

She turned towards Edgal. "That's Nikkol? You never told me your friend was so handsome." She had turned back to Nikkol at this point.

Edgal pulled her even more into himself, giving Nikkol a playful glare of protection. "Don't even think about it, this one's mine."

Everyone at the table laughed loudly, Nikkol feeling very happy to be in such a relaxed atmosphere. Of course, he knew the question would come up again, so he had to change the topic. "So what do you guys think of our new prince?"

"He's certainly very strange." Maryal said, his position being on the opposite end of the hall and closer to the throne room so he saw a lot more of him than Nikkol.

Sir Kethal nodded in agreement. "He's Noberian you know. Can't tell by looking at him, but I've seen him do the wind thing."

"What wind thing?" Edgal asked, voicing Nikkol's thoughts too.

"You know how the people of Nobera are rumored to have magic and can control the wind and blast people with air?"

"No?"

"Well turns out they can!" Nikkol had actually been told stories as a kid of the powers that Noberians had. He'd always thought they were made up. "And he has purple eyes! I'll bet he's full of magic."

"Purple eyes?" Donal asked, his tone bored. He was stationed all the way out in the front of the castle close to the entrance.

"Yes, I've never seen anything like it!" Sir Kethal insisted. "And his hair is blonde, he's so strange looking!"

"I don't think we should be talking badly about our future King." Anaiah spoke.

"I'm not talking badly, just commenting on how he looks."

Seeing how this could lead somewhere badly, Edgal decided to redirect them. "Hey, Sir Kethal, that lady over there has been eyeing our table for the past few minutes."

All of them turned to look. Sure enough, at a table close to the door a few women sat and were looking right back at them.

However, Nikkol's attention got caught on something to the right of them. A hooded person had just walked into the tavern. People wearing hoods and cloaks coming into a place like this was nothing unusual, but this one was different, this one seemed strangely familiar.

Nikkol couldn't place it until the hooded person started scanning the room, giving Nikkol a short view of his face. "Oh Venne." He muttered underneath his breath.

The table he was sitting at had started another conversation about the women, but Nikkol was barely aware. "I have to go." He announced to his friends, not turning away to look at them.

He didn't wait for their responses, instead got up and hurried over to the person, grabbing his arm and pulling him outside. "What are you doing here?" He whisper-yelled once a decent distance away from people, hand still tight on his arm. "It can't be safe for you out here."

"I'm fully capable of taking care of myself." Setial said, eyes scanning Nikkol. "You look good like this." He stated.

Nikkol looked down at himself. He was wearing nothing special, just loose casual clothing he had laying around. "What are you talking about, I'm dressed normally. And you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"

Setial looked down. "You weren't there. The old guard said that a lot of the guards would come here after their shifts."

"You came here for me?" Nikkol asked, dumbfounded.

"No, I came here for one of the other loud dirty people, of course I came here for you!"

"Loud, dirty people?" Nikkol was slightly offended before he processed the rest of what he said. He came for him. Nikkol felt heat creep up his neck. "Why?"