In Pieces

Chapter 24: Gentleman's visit.

When Niki couldn't find Adnan, Kai thought his uncle might have trapped him in some torturous magical formation. Helpless, unsure, and angry, he spent the entire night in and out of sleep, hunted by dreams.

Recently, the distinct dreams he had about General Minn had become more frequent. In every one of those, at some point, the man with warm eyes would smile sincerely at Kai and call him "sunshine". Most often, Kai would see him next to the river bank on a windy day. But he also started dreaming of different locations – in one dream, they were both in a tea house. For some reason, Kai poured tea for Adnan while the man was carefully observing him.

In another dream, they both had strange clothes on. They were in a place that looked like a food market, but it was indoors. There were no candles around, yet the light was so bright it hurt the eyes. It also seemed that invisible minstrels were playing countless instruments in all the corners of this huge place.

"I'm so tired, sunshine. Can we go home?" Adnan asked him in that dream. That Adnan looked much thinner than the real one and had dark circles under his eyes.

The most confusing dream was one where Adnan was pointing a small metal object at him. The mysterious object had a handle and some kind of tiny lever where Adnan's finger was resting. Kai didn't understand the significance behind this tool, so he just stared at it with no expression.

"You really think I won't do it, sunshine?" Adnan smiled at him.

Kai didn't know what he meant. He smiled back.

Among all the dreams, there was one that scared him the most – in that dream, Adnan stood on top of a very high construction made of grey stone. Kai was sure it was created by magic, as mere humans wouldn't be able to build something so high. Kai looked up at Adnan and shouted: "Come down!"

Adnan waved at him in response. He then mouthed something that Kai could not understand and threw himself off the building. Every time after that dream, Kai would wake up, covered in a cold sweat.

He didn't know what these dreams meant, but his intuition told him that something about them wasn't quite right.

Finally, at the end of his nerve, Kai couldn't stay in bed anymore. He left his bedroom in the wee hours of the morning to wake his uncle up and demand that he give him General Minn's location. He didn't even bother putting on formal attire or brushing his hair. He suspected that when he ran into Adnan and the Regent he looked like a madman.

But Kai wasn't worried about that at the time. His heart was about to jump out of his mouth when he saw Adnan alive and seemingly well right in front of his eyes. He was so relieved, he couldn't control his emotions even in front of his uncle.

Kai was also glad to hear that the Regent sent Adnan away to his manor, meaning that the man didn't have to stay in the dungeons anymore.

After making sure that the General had peacefully left the palace, Kai went down to Adnan's cell and retrieved the blanket he had brought for him earlier. It was dirty and even had some blood on it, yet Kai had no intention of asking the servants to clean it. For some reason, he wanted to keep it just the way it was.

A couple of days later, he crashed the council meeting, wanting to know all the details about General Minn's punishment and the reasons for his release.

"Nephew, to what do we owe this sudden pleasure?" his uncle smiled at him, as he entered the room.

"Am I not part of the council?"

"Yes, you are. It's just unusual to see you acting like one."

Kai knew that the line was not meant for him but rather for the other council members. This was a way for Reo Atarian to present Kai as a good-for-nothing, incapable ruler. Kai decided to keep quiet – he just gave the Regent a cold smile.