Arranged | Jinkook ✓

Chapter 9.0

Sunlight.

He felt it wash over him like the warmth of his favorite blanket, pouring across his chilled body and slowly begining to thaw his bones. Because it felt as though ice had wrapped around them and he couldn't even move without fear of breaking something.

Slowly his eyes fluttered open, and the reality of his situation suddenly become abundantly clear.

Weather by design or accident, he had spent the remainder of the night passed out in the last position he could remember letting himself fall into. Legs curled up beneath him, arms laying flat and handing across his front. Face planted against the harsh stone, and he felt a layer of it peel away as he tried to force himself up. Felt his joints crack and his muscles practically tear, as if they had actually been frozen and were being forced into moving before they were ready.

How would he explain this? His fingers lifted, dirt covered and torn, pressing into the fresh wound on his face and felt blood rush out of pin prick like wounds. He was filthy and damp, clothes practically rotting away as they dried.

How long had it been? It was impossible to know. Only that it was day.

And he was feeling the warmth of the sun against his skin.

A soft sound escaped his lips as he turned his face upwards, soaking in the rays of warmth after feeling as though he had been trapped in the dark cold for so long. Closed his eyes and simply let himself bask in the down pouring of light, feeling his heart beat pick up until it racing.

Would they even have noticed he was gone? Even if they did, it was far too late now, wasn't it? It wasn't as though any of them could come out here.

But he could distinctly remember closing the door behind him the night before, and as he glanced upwards, he saw that it still was. That the only sets of foot prints that had been made in the mud - now dried down into dirt - were his own. And the flickering light of he lamp he had left behind surely must of died by now.

He could tell them anything. That he had fallen asleep somewhere in the library. Could come up with a lie about how he had injured his face.

Or he could just stay here. Could let himself waste away into ash and rejoin the earth.

Slowly, he let himself slip back down, bones protesting each and every movement. As if they had found the position they wished to remain in for whatever time he may have left.

...

"I want to go home." It came out as a scream, vile and ugly, and he didn't recognize his own voice. Knew that it was coming from him, but didn't remember ever speaking those words.

"Little one, listen, please. This is your home now. You have to understand." His prince's voice washed over him, and instantly the sound soothed his frazzled nerves. Had him sinking into the comfort they provided and almost gave in. "This is where you belong."

"Is it?" Was this where he belonged? He didn't know anymore. He had always thought he knew where he was meant to be, what the future held for him. And now everything was suddenly so different.

"Yes." Jungkook's voice sounded so broken - and younger. So much younger than it did within his own memories. But it was as if the other was cloaked in shadow, and all he could see or hear was the sound of his pleas. "You belong here. With me."

"Even that were true, they're never going to let me stay here." His voice sounded strange - higher and weaker, raspier than he thought it was. But maybe it was just a result of hearing it outside of his own head. "I'm not one of you."

"Then let me change that." Wasn't that the entire point? The whole plan. The way things were meant to be. Jungkook would sire him on his nineteenth birthday. Would change him. "Let me sire you. They can't make you leave if you're my mate."