The Palace Guard (MxM)

XIII

When Nikkol woke up, he stayed exactly where he was, his arm still around the sleeping prince.

He knew that he was late to training, but he didn't care at the moment. A feeling of being removed from the rest of the world existed while he still laid under those covers.

Setial was still asleep, face and body relaxed like he didn't have a problem in the world. Nikkol knew that as soon as he woke up everything would come crashing down and he'd be upset and stressed like he was the night before.

So Nikkol lay there perfectly still, trying not to wake him, trying to give him a few extra minutes of peace.

He couldn't delay the inevitable any longer when Setial began to open his eyes.

The first thing the prince did was look up at Nikkol, whose breath got caught in his throat because in the lighting, his cloudy grey eyes looked like pure silver.

The moment broke when Setial's tired eyes moved around to look around his room. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Nikkol asked, voice soft.

"Like I have a lot I need to do today." His voice was rough and grumbly.

Nikkol smiled and how he sounded and placed a light kiss on his forehead. "Yeah, I bet you do."

Setial looked towards the window then back at the guard. "Don't you have training?"

"Yeah, I'm already late. I should probably get going to that." Nikkol started to get up and out of his bed, but didn't make it far as a certain someone he was tangled up in didn't move.

"Just stay here a few more minutes."

Nikkol smiled and obliged, knowing exactly what was waiting for him when he left.

And he knew exactly what very well.

It turns out that a giant change in the royal family affected his job very little. Herval briefly mentioned it in his daily announcements and they saw a bit more foot traffic due to a lot of people being in town for the announcement, but everything else was exactly the same, Setial didn't even pass by.

Before he knew it, his shift was over, having passed unusually fast.

Since no prince had come by and taken him away, after carefully putting away all his armor and slipping into more comfortable clothing, Nikkol decided to go to the tavern and see Edgal, who he hadn't even seen in the morning due to his tardiness.

As soon as he stepped into the tavern his eyes found Edgal's. He was sitting, facing the door, with his arm around a pretty lady. Maryal, Sir Kethal, and Donal sat with them. Nikkol quickly walked over.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Edgal said as soon as he sat down across from him.

"Hey buddy," Nikkol nodded his head in greeting towards Sir Kethal, "been a while since you came around here."

"Started to think you died there on us." Donal said jokingly.

Maryal elbowed Donal lightly. "Of course he didn't die. If he did there wouldn't be updates every day about how the prince is stealing you away." He teased, now leaning towards Nikkol.

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Sir Kethal asked.

Nikkol, not wanting to go through all this again, turned towards Edgal and the lady, his best friend eyeing him knowingly. "I don't think we've met before." Nikkol said to the lady, who's cheeks turned pink when he addressed her.

Despite her bright cheeks, she boldly sat up straighter and introduced herself. "I'm Anaiah, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Anaiah, that's a pretty name, I'm Nikkol." He flashed her a smile, darkening her face even more.