Roots and Oxygen

Chapter 77 - Genesis

Taro climbed the stairs two at a time. A guard kept his pace and stood outside the bedroom door while Taro retrieved Sage's things. He also left his phone charger, so he bundled it in his silk pyjamas and wedged it under his arm. "I think that was everything," he said to the guard, who nodded and followed him back down the hallway.

They barely stepped a metre from the bedroom before Oxley's door opened, and he entered the hallway. Everyone paused. Oxley looked at Taro with sunken tired eyes. Taro looked at Oxley with rising anger. "Where's Sage?" Oxley asked.

"Why? So you can take another photo and sell it to the press?" Taro didn't hide the venom in his tone.

"Where is he?" Oxley repeated more sternly.

"Leaving." Taro tried to step around him, but Oxley stepped in his way.

"This little runaway won't last. He'll realise what he's missing and come back before the year is out."

Taro's eyes trailed him up and down. "What he's missing? There's nothing here for him, you made sure of that." Taro tried to step around him again, but Oxley stayed in his way.

"All that could change if you weren't around," Oxley threatened with a taunting gaze, wanting Taro to get angry. He didn't like being talked to as though he wasn't a prince. "Twice, you almost lost your life. I could easily aim for a third."

"You think you can threaten me with no consequences?" Taro asked, matching his cold, calm tone.

"What are you going to do? You're a fucking plant."

Taro could now smell the alcohol on him. "Yeah," he agreed, rolling up his sleeves to show off his vine tattoos coiling his forearms. "That's exactly what I am." His tattoos started moving, closer and closer to the tips of his fingers, until vines protruded towards the floor.

Oxley watched with a mixture of wonder and a scowl. "Sage will get bored of your little green show. He'll-"

Taro didn't let him finish. He lifted his hands and his vines looped around Oxley's neck. He tried to grip them and rip them off. Taro pushed him into the wall and to his surprise, the guard stood with him too, pushing Oxley's head back against the stone. "You have no power here," Taro spoke through gritted teeth. "Your guards are greens, and they will turn on you if anything happens to me. See how easy it is for you to be silenced?" he tightened the vines, and Oxley's breath rasped and heaved from his closing throat. He stayed like that, until tears streamed from Oxley's burning eyes.

Taro eventually let him go, and Oxley sank to the floor, clutching his throat and gasping for breath. "Bless him," Taro said, pulling his sleeves back down. He picked up Sage's belongings and descended the stairs as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "I hope that scared him enough to keep his threats to himself."

"Yep," the guard added, bouncing down the last two steps. "I made the right decision to come with you and Prince Sage."

"You definitely did. Sage will always be on our side. Oxley however . . . alcohol will ruin him." When he returned to the car, Sage smiled happily, and for a moment, Taro didn't want to tell him about his confrontation with Oxley. Taro wanted Sage to enjoy the moving process, despite all the heartache. He also wanted a relationship built on truth an honesty. "I just choked your brother with my vines," he admitted. Judging by the shock on Sage's face, he hadn't expected that.

They had now set off and were leaving the Palace as Taro explained what had happened, and how he had meant to scare Oxley, but now that he thought properly about it, he might've overreacted.

"You didn't overreact, though," Sage said after thoughtfully watching the streets roll by. "Oxley was threatening you, and you showed him you weren't someone who could be threatened. I'm glad it scared him. Maybe he'll leave us alone because I've been worrying about his threats ever since you came back to the palace."