A Battle Inside Two Hearts. {king x male knight}

Chapter 8: Entwined with Royalty 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾👑

Warning(s): Mentioning of what I call the 'Slashing of the Citadel'. I shouldn't have to explain what that means. Y'all should know.

...

Vanilla walked the large twisting and bending hallways of the Citadel. This was something he did every day, and every so often at night. He was in a pretty good mood that day, so he laughed and giggled like a baby, just enjoying himself. Many different personas roamed the castle halls, gossiping, eating breakfast, or waking up. It was early morning around 6:30 am. While many were sitting in the mess hall, Vanilla was not. He was walking towards the Royal Office to go say hello and good morning to his giant of a boyfriend. He knocked twice, and tapped the tips of his fingers on the door three times. Because of the Citadel being a royal environment, there was certain ways to knock on a door of a fellow comrade or the king himself such as;

Knock twice, tap once. This would signal an emergency.

Knock once. This means hello or asking to come in.

Knock five times. This only used during the night, and is usually done with a great amount of force. It means invasion or breaching of the castle walls.

This one type was adapted for Vanilla only. Knock twice, tap with the fingers three times. He uses it just so Cacao knows it's him.

"Doors open."

"Okay-"

He entered, setting his sword and shield by the door.

Cacao juggled and shuffled papers in his hands, his eyes scanning across them like an ice skater.

"How'd you sleep?"

"..Okay. Not the best sleep I've ever had."

"What happened?"

Cacao set the stacks of papers he had him occupied for past hour. He was intrigued. Vanilla was doing fine last night, so why did he look so tired and...uncomfortable? He wasn't sure how to describe it, but that's the first word that came to his mind.

"Something just...kept me up. I kept hearing noises outside of my window. It was like footsteps, but the problem is my window is a long way from the ground. And it sounded like it was on tile..and-"

"And all of the flooring is brick?"

"...Yeah. You got me. I don't know if the snow is making me hear things that aren't there or what.-"

"...Strange. I'll stay in your room tonight and see if I can figure out what's going on."

"You don't have to- I can always stay up and look around outside during night patrol."

Cacao sighed.

"Sure you aren't hearing it inside the room itself?"

"Positive. I keep hearing it outside. I...I might be going insane...-!"

Cacao stood up from the chair he was sitting in, walking around his desk and over to him. He cocked an eyebrow, being confused. How can someone hear footsteps on tile outside and their room is a long way from the ground? He clasped his arms around the other, rocking himself back and forth almost like a mother rocking her newborn.

"Just relax. I'll have some guards take a look sometime later tonight."

"I'm not scared of whatever it may be that's out there..I'm just scared of going insane..-"

"Sh, shh. I understand your fear. I've been close to my final straw many times, and it's not very pretty."

"...I've gotta go eat breakfast."