The Gift of War [bxb]

Recruitment

DAMN it's been a while huh.

Sorry for the wait. Life happened :( But, we'll get through this!

Anyways, enjoy!

...

Ryan tossed and turned in his bed all night, his heart beating against his ribcage like a war drum. Sweat accumulated on his back from the heat in his room, and it made lying down on the hard bed uncomfortable.

Knowing he was fighting a losing battle against sleep, he got up.

There was no place for slaves to wander around at night, and if he was caught there would be hell to pay. But sneaking around the castle to escape his caretakers over all these year had made him very slealthy in his ways.

He creeped through the narrow passageway and towards the kitchen, where his mission would be to acquire a warm glass of milk and make his way back to the confines of his room as quietly as a mouse.

If only.

He stopped in his tracks when he found the kitchen preoccupied, but it was too late to turn tail and run, the other wanderer had noticed the disturbance and turned around.

"Rafael?"

Gulping down a breath he didn't realise he was holding, Ryan fell into a deep bow.

"Forgive me, my lord."

He kept his head down, hoping the crown prince would let him off the hook this time and he could go berate himself in the safety of his room.

Alas, if only.

"You annoy me."

He looked up at the dark prince, whose face was pinched in irritation, his grip around his pitcher bruising.

"My lord?"

"You really annoy me."

"I'm sorry, my lord."

"I don't get you at all." Prince Naveen shook his head, in disbelief of sorts.

"My lord?" Ryan parroted, non-plussed.

"See? And I thought you were different." The prince bit out, bitterness lacing his tone.

When Ryan didn't respond, he spoke again, a little louder, still quiet, but quite booming in the stillness of the night.

"I thought you treated me differently than the others!"

"I... don't understand..."

"I don't require a servant, Rafael. I have a plethora of them."

Ryan bit his lip before speaking, hesitantly, "Then... whatever my lord requires of me, I shall become."

The crown prince quirked an eyebrow as he took a step closer towards Ryan.

"Really? Whatever I require of you?"

"Of course, my lord." Ryan felt he was stretching out his leg more than what his status allowed, but he was too far to go back now.

"You make a bold claim." The prince's voice was deeper than anything he had ever heard.

"I'm in your service, only." His breath had left him, a mix of fear and anticipation making his limbs tremble. He couldn't afford to lose the crown prince's favour, and he'd do anything to acquire it, even if staring into the prince's dark eyes made his stomach roll around in itself.

"Can you be a friend then, Rafael?"

"...What?"

"A friend. A companion of sorts. Occassionally, an advisor. Editor when I feel like it. Conversationalist, maybe. Can you do that, Rafael?".

"I..." Breathless he was moments ago, but now Ryan was bewildered.

"Go out of the kitchen if you refuse, and we shall speak of it no more."

Ryan contemplated on his options for less than a second, because in reality, there were none. Staying close to the crown prince was his only option for his journey to freedom.

He waited until the prince had lost the hopeful spark in his eyes and was moving to dismiss him, and then spoke in a hazy, suddenly sleepy voice.

"I accept, my prince."

...

Ryan opened his eyes to the dark, dingy ceiling of his room. Despite the hollering of the head servant in the hallway signalling it was morning, it hardly felt like it.

He realised just how miserable a servant's life must be, anywhere really, even back at Sythia. They got up way before their masters, had to rush through their routines before they prepared the routines for their lazy masters.

A fitful night of sleep was not the most ideal for a servant, but he wasn't a real one, was he?

He was the the crown prince's personal servant, and between the two of them, he knew he'd be more of a assistant than servant, anyway.

He was wrong. He was not a servant. He was a slave.

"Wake up little missy!" Someone rapped at his door. "Your prince awaits!"

Oh, the retorts were astounding. It seemed like everyone was against him all of a sudden. He had risen among the ranks at once, seemingly without any efforts at all. All he did was flaunt his eyelashes at the Prince and the man fell.

Ryan scoffed as he got up.

As if.

When he had settled down for his breakfast, Amber had sat beside him. Th other girls were nowhere to be found.

"Rafael. Good morning." She greeted. Ryan appreciated her tact more than anything.

"Good morning." He replied with a smile.

"There was a... rumour last night." She cut straight to the chase. She never seemed like someone who would beat around the bush anyway.

"Oh?"

"Yes." She lowered her voice. "Tell me, were you out of bed?"

"Yesterday? No, I wasn't." He replied nonchalantly, dipping a piece of bread into soup.

"Listen, Rya-Rafael." Her voice has dropped even further. "It is pertinent for you to remain on toes right now. Our situation will only get worse if you are... caught." She continued, as if letting him on a conspiracy. "We can be killed, do you understand?"

"I know, and I have been tactful." Ryan defended himself. Everything he had been doing, it was for the better of the captured Sythians, it was for their freedom.

Right?

"I believe you, I really do." She assured him, though her voice and face remained devoid of emotion. "But that man you're working for, he is not to be trusted. And his father, even less."

"Why do you say so?" He inquired, curious to know more about the strange prince.

"I... might have heard some... things from the servants." She took a breath, looking around her. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper, barely a whisper over the chatter in the room. "Rafael, these people are unbelievably cruel in their ways."

She looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Do not get close to that man, at any cost."

...

Uh-oh.

Ok, pick one, who's the sus one, Nusrat or Amber? Or... Neither?

Anyways, I'm sorry for the wait. I did lose all inspiration for this book for a long while but now I have the plot laid out and I'm fully geared up to follow through it! :D

Please support me by voting and commenting a lot!