"Aki Dilherra, welcome back." Yeran replied when he saw Aki stirring.
Aki's eyes opened so suddenly with no warning. He raised his head to the voice, purple eyes almost glowing through the falling locks of hair.
"Hello," Aki greeted, blowing away the strands.
"Mind telling me why I'm still alive? And in our room and not in a prison cell?" He asked with a cheeky smile, giving a once over to the surrounding.
Ruth hadn't stopped at tying Aki's wrists, but hauled him out of bed and tied him against a sturdy pole.
Yeran could see Aki's hands moving behind his back, testing the binds.
"Yh, um.. stop staring, will you? It's getting a tad bit creepy, I know I'm handsome." Aki winked, to which Yeran responded with a blink, still not processing, eyes stuck on his husband who is suddenly acting as if possessed.
"Why did you try to kill his highness?" Ruth questioned, not deterred.
"C'mon...that's an easy question," Aki rolled his eyes.
"Because I was bored, obviously"
"What the fuck?!" The question burst out of Yeran.
"Oooh....easy with the language husband," Aki's eyes danced with mirth.
"Well, let's be honest, you didn't want this marriage, I definitely didn't want this marriage, and even more than that...who in the world will be able to tolerate a little shit like you for more than a week! Two months was stretching it I'm telling you!"
"You!" Yeran was tongue tied at the attitude of Aki.
"What? You think it is easy to just pretend to be someone I'm not? It's all be like that Aki, be like this, don't do that Aki, no you are not allowed! I was tired! And do you think I never noticed those veiled insults you keep shooting at me, how you flounced your lover around right infront of me? " Aki kept ranting, going ignorant on both Yeran and Ruth's lament, be it willful ignorarce or not, only Aki knew.
Yeran was all that much closer to having a full blown seizure, him wanting Aki to have some life and him being this alive throwing him off the charts.
"Shut up!" Ruth aimed a kick at Aki's side, exactly the place where the wound lay.
"Agh!" Aki let out a bitten off scream, eyes turning glacial. He glared at Ruth, powerful enough to scorch him with the heat of thousand suns.
"You, will answer only the questions that you are asked, understood?" Ruth asked, leaning forward to fist a hand in Aki's collar.
"Such warm affection to your brother, Prince Ruth," Aki spat.
Ruth's knee pressed again on to the wound, which Aki responded with biting his own lip, almost hard enough to draw blood.
"Enough! Ruth," Yeran calmed his mind enough for it to be brought to the present, already analyzing every past moment he spent with Aki, suddenly cataloging the tightly pressed lips, hands clenched inside sleeves and forcefully drawn smiles.
Ruth pushed Aki back against the pole, standing up to take position by Yeran's side.
"Why did you tried to kill me?" Yeran repeated Ruth's prior question.
"Because I wanted to be free, I never wanted this marriage darling husband, despite what my father might have said." Both husband and father was released with a copious amount of venom.
"And how exactly killing me is going to succeed in that?"
"Please Yeran, you are not dumb, you know exactly how. Who is gonna suspect the poor widow who's beside himself in grief to lose their husband he just married. A few injuries coupled with a near fatal wound would have taken all the targets off my back. And some sympathy in addition as well, the poor, poor Prince who got widowed so early in life..ah...how unlucky, how unlucky" Aki explained in a pacifying tone, shaking his head in mock sympathy.
'Clever,' Yeran thought, he had already realized that Aki had somewhat of a sharp mind after that incident with the poisoned wine, and is now seeing exactly how sharp he is.
"That poisoned wine, was it your doing?" Yeran questioned, abruptly suspicious.
"Huh?" Aki laughed. "Are you going to suspect me for every single complication that occurred after our marriage Yeran?"
"The answer is no, your highness, it wasn't me, I was not lying when I said what I said at that moment. It is not an issue of mine your court of investigation is incompetent." He dismissed the accusation.
"Fine, you said you didn't wanted this marriage, then why did you? Why did you agreed?"
"Charming of you to think that I had a choice." Aki chuckled.
"You could have run away?"
Aki raised a brow, refusing to answer.
"Answer me! Aki!" Yeran threatened.
"Or what?! Kill me? Go ahead." Aki smirked, completely unaffected.
"Or I will write to father," Ruth completed.
"This is about Nuwee, right, dear brother?" He sneered.
Yeran observed how the name suddenly brought an attentiveness to Aki's lax position. He sat up, spine ram rod straight, teeth bared in a snarl.
"Do not, Ruth! Do not bring him into this!" Aki warned.
Ruth laughed.
"Of course it is about Nuwee, isn't it always? You casted aside me for that brat!"
"He's your brother as well, Ruth, don't forget."
"Fuck you! He's nothing but a bastard, proof of our mother's infidelity."
Yeran stayed silent, the brothers' hatred towards one another running much deeper than he had previously assumed.
"How?! How dare you say such a thing, our so called father was the bastard! He was the who forced mother into his harem. He killed her! He killed her for nothing but the fault of finding love when he was the one who ripped her apart from that in the first place!"
Aki was now actively fighting against the bonds. Yeran suddenly glad of the decision of tying him to the pole. With how murderous Aki's eyes were blazing he had no doubt that he would kill both of them or die trying.
And after seeing the display earlier, Yeran had little doubt that Aki might actually succeed.
"If you don't stop, Aki, a letter will fly as soon as I finish writing." Ruth said through clenched teeth, speaking with a forced calm.
"You! You dare!"
"Be quiet! Or the blood of your sweet little brother will be on your hands." Ruth threatened with no mercy.
No sooner than the words were uttered, Aki slumped against the bonds, the fight draining from his body.
"I swear I will kill you one day." He promised. Eyes dark.
"And there is your answer your highness, Aki couldn't run away because the moment he stepped a toe out of line, there would be a life lost." Ruth turned to Yeran.
Yeran shivered, uncomfortable. He knew not to get in between family frauds, but holding the life of someone as blackmail seemed quite excessive.
"You know that if you were caught that would have resulted in a war, yes?" Yeran asked, not replying to Ruth.
"Which was why father sent me here as well Your highness, we knew Aki could not be trusted." Ruth answered for Aki.
Yeran nodded,
"Then why not have chosen another, King Dilherra has no shortage of children?"
Ruth chucked, leaning forward to brush a knuckle down Aki's cheek, who snapped his head to the other side, avoiding the touch.
"Because no one else was pretty enough," Ruth replied.
Which....actually makes sense. If Ruth was sent instead of Aki, Yeran knew there was never a chance of him being attracted toward him, even if Zeke did not existed.
Visually, Aki matched all his qualifications, tall, toned body, handsome and pretty, but not feminine, even his eyes were bewitching, despite being same shade of purple as Ruth.
"I need some time to think." Yeran muttered.
"You should just kill me," Aki said, sounding tired.
"And result in a war? Not going to happen. I still need you." Yeran refused.
"I will not go back to being an empty doll your highness, if you are expecting that, you might just do me away right now and say that the assassin got to me."
Aki raised his head to meet Yeran's eyes, repeating exact words Yeran had used these months to represent him, as if having read his mind.
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Hey,
So, who guessed right?
Arkhane.