Cure For Corruptness

Chapter 3

 I'm awakened by someone running their fingers through my hair. My eyes flutter open and meet Maverick's, his face adorned with a content expression. "You're really cute when you're sleeping, Asher." he says, his voice deep and raspy. I blush and stumble on my words, while trying to change the subject.

"I-I um, thank you. W-what time is it?" I sputter out, making sure I haven't overslept.

"Half past eight, lovely. Why're you in such a rush? Are you that desperate to get away from me?" He says, chuckling nervously.

"No! I mean, I don't mind your company, b-but George and I are trying to leave the kingdom, to get as far away from Damien as possible." I blurt out, not wanting to think I don't like him.

"Understandable, but don't you think George would want to stay longer?" He replies, scratching my scalp lightly, making me twitch.

"I-I guess we could stay a little bit longer. But where would we stay? I don't have a lot of money, and I don't want to bleed your coin purse dry." He laughs and cups his hand behind my head,

"I really don't mind, but I was thinking you can stay with me. The rest of the rebellion is just west of this village. My sister runs the camp," He presses his forehead to mine, making me burn up at how close our faces are, "I was thinking, you could come with me, and I'll escort you and George to the docks, there you'll be able to get on a ferry and leave the kingdom." He mutters so softly I can barely hear him, but I can feel his breath fanning across my face. I shrink under the bed sheets,

"That would be great thanks." I mumble under my breath. He grins and wraps his arms around me. I tentatively hug back, still a bit shaken by his forwardness. He's warm and smells like pine trees and fresh coffee.

"Careful darling, don't squeeze me too tight." I don't realize how tightly I'm hugging him until I can feel his heartbeat hammering in time with my own.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." I sputter as he releases me and swings his legs off the bed and onto the floor. He groans and brings a hand to his head,

"Well, it's still a hangover, but it probably would have been much worse, had you not shown up." He looks over his shoulder and gives me a pained half-smile. I sit up and scoot over next to him, making sure he can at least stand before I go check on George. He takes a deep breath and pushes off the bed, clearly struggling to stay balanced.

"Are you alright? I'll stay if you need help." He chuckles and grins at my amount of concern,

"I'm alright, lovely. Go check on your brother." I smile and thank him as I head back to my room.

I find George spread out all over the bed, still snoring, and a little trail of drool falling from the corner of his mouth. I stifle a laugh, walking over to the bed and gently shake his shoulder. He snorts and lazily meets my gaze. I smile and wipe the saliva off his face with my sleeve. "Morning, sleepyhead." He glares up at me, " I know, I know, I'm sorry for leaving in the middle of the night, but I'm glad I did. Maverick needed my help, and we had a long talk. Turns out, he's part of a rebellion. His sister runs their camp and he promised to guide us to the docks so we can leave the kingdom! Isn't that great?" He blinks at me, slowly processing everything I said. He nods, giving me the confirmation I need to start packing. I grab all of our few belongings and make sure the pack strapped to George's back is secure before we head downstairs.

We meet Maverick in the inn lobby. He looks even more disheveled than when I last saw him. He's hunched over in a chair by the front desk, with his head in his hands. I walk close enough to where he notices my presence, but not close enough to startle him. He peeks up at me and George through his fingers. Standing up, he stumbles over to us, "Got everything?" He mumbles, trying his best to sound cheery.

"Yup! You just lead the way and we'll be right behind you." I say, one hand firmly grasping the strap of my pack and the other on George's shoulder. Maverick smiles softly at my enthusiasm and begins to walk out the door. Turning his head to talk to me as he walks,

"Alright then! Glad to see you're both on board. Before we leave this town though, I need to run a few errands." He states, looking forward again. I glance down at George, who is gripping my hand tightly with both of his tiny ones, eyeing Maverick skeptically. I turn back to Maverick and call to him,

"You go on ahead, we'll catch up with you." He turns and looks at us.

"Okay, I'll be at the bakery right over there." He walks off, greeting the old lady in standing in the doorway. I turn my attention back to my fussy little brother.

"Alright dude, what's up? He's trying to help us. Besides, you know me, the second I sense any danger I'm getting us out of there." I crouch down to his level, trying to make eye contact with him. He wrings his hands together and digs at the ground with the worn toe of his boot that's two sizes too big. I gently grab his chin and tilt his head up to meet my gaze. His eyes are still as unreadable as they were the day we started running. I've had to get used to reading his body language.

"He's gonna take you away from me." My eyes widened. He hasn't spoken in so long I almost forgot what his voice sounded like. Tears well up in his otherwise emotionless eyes. I sigh and let go of his face. I instead open my arms up for an optional hug. He hesitates before practically throwing himself into me, wrapping his arms around my neck, crying silently. I rub the back of his head,

"Shh, buddy. Hey, can you listen to me?" I prompt gently, still soothing him. He pulls his head out of the crook of my neck, and looks up at me, "Maverick is not going to take me away, okay? He's going to help us get out of here, we're going to start a new life, and even if I get married one day, you will always be my first priority." I wipe the tears off his face and kiss his forehead. He giggles and rests his head on my shoulder. "Are we good now? Are you okay?" He nods and scootches his little legs onto my lap. "Oh, I see. You want me to carry you." He nods eagerly, intertwining his fingers together around my neck to keep a secure hold on me. I huff and hook one of my arms under his legs and wrap the other around his back. "This is gonna be the last time, bud. You're getting too big for this." I say, straining under all this weight as I stand. He nods, just as aware of his approaching seventh birthday as I am. George and I arrive at the doorway of the bakery just as Maverick walks out, bag in hand. He raises an eyebrow in question,

"You guys okay?" He says, reaching into the bag and handing both of us a roll. George scarfs his down and reaches for mine, but I shove the whole thing in my mouth before he can grab it, and he pouts at me. I struggle to swallow it to respond to Maverick so I just settle for a nod. He smiles, "Okay, let's go! D.J. is gonna love you two."