"Sometimes the hard thing and the right thing are the same."
-Xamdú
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Ake woke to the sound of Karos' breath blowing into his ear. He kissed his cheek down to his neck and kept it there. When he noticed he was not waking up, Ake nuzzled his face into his neck some more and bit lightly onto it causing him to stir. He smiled against his skin and nipped his ear.
"Ake... " Karos' voice was deep and full of sleep which he liked very much. He loved the sound of it.
"I see that you are well now." When Karos' eyes opened, Ake could not help the pressing need to kiss him and kiss him again and again, but he left it at a single kiss and stared into his eyes. Such beautiful green eyes.
"With you, I am anything but unwell."
"Your words are sweet as they always are," Karos smiled and cupped his face in his hand.
He knew he was right to go and follow them when he heard Karos trying to sneak away that night. He forgot that dragons hear quite well with all the times he had tried that on him. A few gwasas would not keep him away from him. He was already well as it is. It was worth it. It would always be worth it.
"... It is well into the evening and... things must be done ahead of time."
"Why is that?"
Ake saw the hesitation plain as the sun in the sky, but words came spilling out from him not longer after.
"Griffins and gwasas, Ake."
Ake's eyes widened but Karos wrapped a hand around his waist keeping him in place.
"But do not worry. I will handle this. I care for your people as I care for my own."
"I do not doubt that... but they are my people. You must first worry for your own. Is that not right?" Ake kissed him again and rose wishing he could spend some more intimate time with him. It was his duty as the crowned prince to see his people to safety and no other.
"Rakkaus had taken over the palace and much of the command of the human soldiers there. He had locked Bash and Analia in a dungeon."
"He had what?"
"So you must speak some sense into him."
Karos rose and handed him a fresh set of human clothes causing Ake to look at him and smile. Something was amiss and he was not telling him. For what reason, he wondered.
"Why had he done that?"
Karos was closed-lipped as he rubbed at his eyes and took a hand through his hair. "You may hear it from him." God of Mercy, he was nothing but gorgeous to him. Every little thing he did just made Ake want to kiss him. The will it took not to was exhausting, to say the very least.
"Bash had done a terrible thing... worthy of your greatest scorn... Ake, and I cannot ask you to forgive him, but try to put it aside in this moment. Togetherness is what we need right now."
Ake nodded as he undid his bandaging ready for a shirt. He did not bother to further inquire. If Karos did not want to tell him then so be it. He took Karos' hand in his stopping him from walking away and stared at him. It made Karos' eyes falter causing his smile to grow wider. Ake pressed his lips to it and let him go. He hadn't the slightest idea how it happened, but Karos meant the world to him. His happiness and his wants were like his own now.
"Very well then. I will keep that in mind. In return, come and kiss me."
Karos bent down with a smile tugging at his lips and covered Ake's with his.
"Deeply," Ake murmured just as he was about to move away.
He felt Karos' hand at his sides going onto his back causing him to shudder and wrap an arm around his neck pulling him closer.
The moon was high in the sky when Ake woke again from the bed he shared with Karos. He dressed quickly and headed out the room without a noise. He tore down the corridor in silence making sure to nod to the guards along the way. There was tension in the air; he could feel it. He looked behind himself and saw that no one was following behind him before veering off in an entirely different direction.
Just as he started going down the hallway, guards stood in front of him backing him away from the stairs. They said something in their human language and pushed him back again as he tried to move passed them. He did not want to use force when there was already enough tension in the air to suffocate from, but he had to get passed.
Ake pursed his lips and nodded his head as if he understood them. Going in a different direction would be best. Instead of going down another hallway, Ake decided to go by an opened balcony. He could drop down from there. He looked down below and saw it was a small drop compared to heights he was used to jumping from. Ake wrapped an arm around one of the nearby pillars and landed with a thud to ground thick with snow.
The palace should be large and grand. It would be nearby. Ake looked around and hid behind one of the buildings as he saw a guard passing by. As soon as he left, Ake ran towards another building. He went to one after another until he saw a very large structure on the top of a hill. The sound waves crashing against hard stone became clearer the closer he had gotten. As he neared the gates dragons stood at the gates and soon lowered to their knees at his presence.
"Our Most Honored One... " They all said in unison.
Ake nodded and walked passed them. The gate opened after a moment and an entourage of dragons was there to greet him at the door causing his eyes to narrow.
"Ake, My Prince. We have been notified of your arrival and came to greet you as ordered." They bowed. "This way."
"Rakkaus, where is he?"
"In his chambers, My Prince."
"Take me to him."
"It is late into the ni--"
"Take me to him."
"As you wish."
The dragon cleared a path for him and lead him inside the building. It was large with high ceilings and painted glass windows. The moonlight shone through causing a beautiful ray of light to sit atop of one of the winding staircases. As he looked around some more paintings stared back at him with eyes cold as ice.
"This way."
Ake followed the dragon up the Nothern stairwell. As soon as they reached the top, they went down a long hallway before turning right and passing down a very beautiful scenic balcony. It had statues of griffins chiseled through its railings causing his eyebrows to furrow.
"My Prince." The man lowered his eyes and opened the door for him.
"Ake!" Rakkaus' voice sounded bright and filled with happiness as he ran over and embraced him as deeply as when they were together. Rakkaus' hands went down his back and stopped at the bottom of it knowing not to go any further than that. He would not allow for it.
"I was worried about the news the dragon king had sent from Bahnasa of your unknown location. He said you would arrive here and he was right. He knows you well, Ake," Rakkaus said as he moved away fom him.
"That was because my father had chased them away. He knew there would be gwasas lurking outside the walls and he sent them away, regardless."
"Ake-- "
"So I had to leave and protect him."
Rakkaus' eyes lowered. "Is that so? Even after knowing everything?"
"I love him. No amount of knowledge would deter my heart elsewhere."
Rakkaus sighed and nodded his head. "So you heard then? What that young, human king had done to us, to your sister?"
Ake looked at him.
"My sister... "
"-- She is dead."
His eyes filled with tears and his breath hitched.
"My father could not have... No, you are lying."
"Even as his child, she had broken a sacred rule."
More water flooded his eyes until he could hardly see Rakkaus in front of him.
"He had to do what he had always done, Ake."
Ake sank to the ground wanting to keep the bile from coming up. His stomach ached and hurt along with his heart. He could barely breathe anymore.
"Calm down. Calm down," Rakkaus soothed coming closer to him but Ake pushed him away as tears streamed down his face.
"He killed my sister. He killed his eldest child. Has he no mercy now? She had done wrong," he sobbed, "but she did not deserve such a death by the hands of our own father."
"Femna had died along with Cian, Ake... "
Ake squeezed his eyes shut wanting to shut him out but he continued.
"She had killed your own brother and sister as well as hundreds of others..." Ake would hear no more of it. He put his hand up silencing him.
"Enough. I will hear no more of it."
"It was not all her doing. The humans had done this when they came. One had convinced her that it was the righteous thing to do in order to bring Isla and Ganash together."
"He did not," Ake hissed as he wiped at his eyes. "Karos would never do such a thing!"
"Surprisingly, it was not him. It was Baastian. He had done this using Eria as leverage. She thought they could be together if she did what she did because of him... "
Ake could not stop the tears going down his face. His heart was hurting at the loss of his sisters and brother. The thought that someone had done this all to them set it on fire making him become riffled with angry tears. Maybe if he had not left, he could have saved her. He could have helped her, but, once again, he was blinded by the love he had for Karos to see many other things.
"So I did as I thought you would do and locked them away." There was a finger wiping his tears away followed by a thumb. He breathed deeply trying to catch his breath and gain some composure, but he only broke down into more tears. His heart had never hurt so badly. He never felt so guilty and remorseful in all his life until now.
"There can be no togetherness with the likes of them, Ake. Every time we try to extend a friendly hand, they take advantage of our kindness. We are not meant to be friends with something that was created to destroy us. Time and time again, we have learned this," Rakkaus hissed. "So I ask of you now, what shall we do?"
"I do not know."
"Shall we help them? There are gwasas massing near and griffins had taken to sky near us as well."
"Tell the humans here to go towards the first encampment. That is where they will hold off the first wave of gwasas, am I right?" Rakkaus nodded. "All able-bodied dragons here will deal with the griffins."
"Ake!"
"We need to survive this. We must take back the skies if we ever even think to leave. And where would we leave to when the gwasas are massing near Bahnasa as well?" Ake took in a deep breath. "My father can handle that situation. He has enough dragons there to kill thousands of them. It is the griffins that we must handle and there is so few of us here."
"That is... "
"We have nothing but children and injured here. I will ask my father to send more dragons to us when he can afford to." Rakkaus bowed his head before nodding. "Rakkaus, I will protect my people, gods, I will, but do not think I will give up my love for Karos in return."
"What will you have me do?"
Ake looked out the window and looked far out into the distance.The wind carried the scent of griffins. As he had thought, the griffins would be nearly passed the first gate by sunset tomorrow.
"Ready them by early dawn."
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[A/N]
Haha, Ake can't help himself when it comes to Karos. They're so cute. But things definitely shifted into perspective for Ake in this chapter. :/
Leave me your thoughts below!
OH, and I FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE who fits Karos description almost perfectly. :D If you guys want to see how I imagined Karos to look like tell me! I'll put it down below as multimedia.