Keith's eyes widened, and his scream of surprise was muffled by the glove over his mouth.
Shit, he'd fucked up. Why was he so stupid? He should have watched his surroundings. Always stay vigilant. That's what Shiro always said. Why couldn't he just listen for once in his life?
He'd been trained for a situation like this, but all the lessons drowned hopelessly in fear. Keith was afraid.
His father would have been mad at him if he saw this. Fear was one of the many emotions the King despised. He was allowed to feel triumph, or anger, but not fear. No, never fear. It was a sign of weakness.
He tried to look around at his assailant, but it did nothing. Alright, go over the instructions. What to do if you get attacked.
One, get loose. That wouldn't work. The man/woman behind him was taller than he, and stronger too, and he didn't feel like slicing his neck open on that sharp metal.
Two, call for help. That wouldn't work either. Even if he could scream, the guards were at least five minutes away, at best. The thief could gather his treasure, slit his throat and still get away.
And three, if all else fails, negotiate. His father strongly disapproved of this part, but Shiro had insisted on teaching him.
According to the King, it was nobler to die than to negotiate with your captors. But Keith didn't think the man -he was almost certain it was a man, judging by his size and voice, though it was difficult to hear through that mask- was up for negotiation.
Keith couldn't let him go with the treasure. If his father found out he'd been bested by a simple thief, he might just kill him. That would be unpleasant.
He just wanted to go to bed, he was so tired. So he stopped struggling and stayed quiet, waiting for the thief to speak again.
Seconds, maybe a brief minute passed as he felt the prince freezing, then shaking and hyperventilating, panicking and probably looking through his options before surrendering under his grip.
Helpless and obedient.
"Good, here's what we'll do." He kept his tone low, almost whispering as he loosened his hand and let go of his mouth, the dagger still resting on his throat.
"You'll sit facing that corner of the room and wait for five minutes as I leave, then go to your room like nothing ever happened. Understood?"
He couldn't take much anyway, the jewels and coins already feeling heavy on his limited belt pockets. "It's just a bit of gold, you won't even notice it's gone."
Wrong, he'd apparently noticed the missing ruby, but out of all that gold? What he pretended to steal wouldn't be more but a speck of dust in all that exaggerated luxury they lived In.
Keith slowly shook his head, careful not to let the knife scrape over his throat. "I can't let you go," he whispered. "You're stealing from us. You will be hanged for this."
He didn't like making threats, but it was all he could do now. And it was the truth. Stealing from the royal castle was bad enough, but threatening the crown Prince with a knife.. He would be killed before he could walk out of here, if the guards caught him.
Then again, his father had never been one for quick deaths to criminals. He preferred to let them suffer till the end.
Keith had attended floggings and people being buried alive for disrespecting his father. Maybe he wouldn't go quite that far for his son, but still. Anyone who touched the Prince was bad for their reputation, if they were let go unpunished.
Keith remembered when one of his servants had accidentally spilled some boiling tea on him. It had been painful, but not nearly as painful as seeing that servant being flogged until his back was bare and bloody.
It had made Keith's stomach turn violently.
But his father said that any good ruler attended the execution of the punishments they'd spoken.
Back to the present, he couldn't let this man go. Especially not with that Ruby, and who knows what else he had in his pockets. The man would be torn to pieces by those who found him, and Keith didn't even want to think what would happen to hím. It wouldn't be good. So he shook his head again. "No."
The demanding tone of the prince was slightly surprising to his.. - was he an assailant now? Well, he was being pretty violent and threatening, not that he wanted to, but nothing that could be helped. - having in mind he was just shaking a brief moment ago.
He had to admit the word 'hanged' said out loud made his stomach twist a bit. Despite that he couldn't give up.
"Dead threatening the one who has a blade on your throat, pretty prince?" He dared him, pressing it just a tad more, being careful not to really cut him.
"I thought you were smarter. Just let me go, no honor nor bullshit involved, you know this won't cost you anything," he reproached, utterly disgusted by them bathing in gold while their village starved. "You don't need it. I don't want to hurt you, but you'll give me no choice if you don't loosen up your royal greediness."
Keith swallowed with difficulty, his adam's apple moving against the blade. He needed to stall. Soon, the guards would be making their rounds and they would definitely notice the door to the treasury being open.
"It's not greediness," he spoke carefully. "I don't care about the money." He didn't even have to lie. The thief could take their whole castle and he'd thank him for it. It was his father that cared about stuff like this. And if something mattered to his father, it mattered to the Prince.
"But you still can't take it. My father- The king wouldn't like that." He needed to remember to use the appropriate titles, even to this lowlife.
"So put back what you've taken, and get out. They will kill you if they catch you. Only an idiot would try to steal from the king. And I'll be fine. Or not, depending on whether you'll kill me. But you will definitely die."
He tilted his head back a little further when the knife came closer, and tilted his face to look at his assailant. All he could see before he was forced ahead again was a flash of blue amids a dark ocean.
As he made sure the prince didn't get to look at him for too long, the brunette frowned, making a mental list about all the tiny details he'd revealed him.
He didn't care about money? A prince? ...If he thought hard enough it somehow made sence. Someone who'd always had dinner served on a silver plate - the boars Lance had hunted himself - would never be able to appreciate how lucky they were, compared to peasants like himself.
True it was, that King Zarkon was probably the scariest person he'd ever seen, besides the landowner that came to their house every month asking for the rent payback of course, but something about the prince's words was... darker, as if he'd barely seen the surface of what that man was really capable of.
He couldn't even tell if his last sentence was a threat or honest concern. Probably threat, idiot. Royalty didn't care about people like him.
"I'll only die if I get caught." He pointed out the prince's own words. He knew he had to get going or else he'd had to run from the guard in shift, but no matter what: "I never get caught." Pride was obvious in his tone as he revealed he'd been there before, stolen from them before.
Hadn't he heard about him? He should be like a vivid myth to the castle guards by now.
An idiot, he'd called him? Couldn't he see he was a true professional? "Don't you think I already know the risks? That I haven't seen my people tortured to death by you?" The venom in his tongue was impossible to hide. "...I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a good reason. I... I need this money."
And just as the venom swept away, it left place to traces of begging. "I can't leave without it, I can't."
Ah, shit. Why was he being so soft to this guy? Literally nothing was stopping him from knocking him out and fleeing, nothing besides his good heart. He truly, truly didn't want to hurt him.
"Just- ugh, why can't you do as I say? Can't you see I could kidnap you and sell you for more than this whole castle is worth?" He forced him down on his knees, the dagger dangerously gracing his skin.
Keith closed his eyes. He wasn't ready to die, but it sure seemed like the thief was pushing him down to kill him.
But there was something in the man's voice, something desperate. Something scared.
He'd been here before, apparently. Why would this thief risk so much, just for money? Couldn't he get it somewhere else? He could just get a job, like a normal peasant, but no. He had to break in and steal from people. Maybe he liked the danger, the adventure. Keith couldn't really think of any other reason. There was no way people were poor enough to risk their lives for food. His father's kingdom was thriving. Sure, some people in Daibazaal had a hard time, but they could earn money if they just got a better job.
And then that last statement. "They wouldn't give you anything for me," Keith spoke, almost with a tone of humour in his voice. If he got taken, he would be useless to his father. A Prince who was weak enough to get overpowered by a common thief was no son of his, and definitely not worth paying a ransom.
Maybe his father's enemies would buy him, as leverage. Fools. Couldn't they see that would never work?
"Those jewels are important to my father. If you take them he will.." He would punish Keith for it. The boy shivered. "He'll torture you to death as well," he sneered.
The thief scowled as a growl of impatience built on his throat. Princes were supposed to be simple and dull, why was this one so goddamn complicated?
Clearly he didn't get his message, so he'd reduce his explanaition to a direct one. "I don't care," he dropped bluntly. If he cared the slightest about himself he wouldn't have come.
"I can't let..." he trailed off as his voice cracked, taking a few seconds to force himself to go on. "I need this, I have to try even if it kills me."
With that said he searched through the small bags with his free hand and began dropping the jewels - not all of them though, just the most notorious ones, with more value. Why? Besides starting to get pissed, something about the prince's tone told him he really shouldn't take that, for more reasons than he was letting see.
Maybe because he'd have to take the blame? But how bad could that actually be? Why couldn't he see he needed that more than him?
Freaking royals. Always thinking their problems were bigger.
He let the carmine red stone fall in front of him with a thud. "Have your fucking jewels," he snapped. Selfish brat. Selfish, selfish, selfish.
"Satisfied, your majesty?" Unfair. Unfair. Why had he to be the one showing him mercy? What had that prince done for his people? Nothing. Fucking nothing. Yet he was doing everything he asked. Why? Just take them and leave, fool.
Keith nodded softly. Yes, his father would notice that some things had disappeared, but at least it wouldn't be anything important. And if Keith got out of here in time, he wouldn't be able to blame him.
Somewhere deep down inside, he felt sorry for the thief. He would most likely get caught and executed. But then again, it had been his own choice to come here, right? And he obviously knew the risks. Don't feel sorry for the person holding a knife to your throat, Keith. Don't be an idiot.
But what could the man possibly need so much money for? And couldn't he get it some other way? It didn't matter. The thief would get out of here, or he wouldn't, and no one had to know that Keith had been involved in any way.
At least he'd saved some of the stones. Was it kindness? Maybe the man just wanted to shut him up. But he could have done that by killing him, right? This made no sense.
Keith sat perfectly still, though his knees were starting to hurt because of the hard stone he was kneeling on, and his throat stung where the knife had made just the tiniest cut.
"You'll regret this," he breathed, unable to raise his voice any more. "And you won't get away with this." It wasn't necessarily a threat. More like a warning. And the truth.
The boy in clothing dark as night smirked with a death chuckle, closing to whisper in his ear once again. "The only thing I'll regret is wasting my time with you.
Then again, fault is mine. Why would I ever think royalty cared for their people?" He snorted at how fucking dumb he was. "We could've done this the right way."
Before he could reply, he retired his dagger, using his other hand to grab his hair and pushing him to the floor sideways, not hard enough to make real damage but hard enough to knock him out for a few minutes.
He really hoped the guards wouldn't see him like this, explaining the situation wouldn't be easy then-- ah, again thinking with the heart instead of mind.
He saved his dagger, more gold coins to fill the empty spaces where the jewels had rested not much ago and closed the door of the treasure room after getting out, with the Prince in his arms. The next round of guards wouldn't come just yet, so he quickly made his way into his exaggeratedly luxurious room and layed him on the bed before running.
Once outside the snow hid his steps and cold posed itself on his face. He breathed again. Eventually he ended up fleeing without a problem besides stealing from the prince, and the prince still lingering on his mind.
Fucking prince.