Nothing's Conventional About Us

XX ~ Graphite

And I looked upon death,
The dark graphite in his eyes 
Shone in the mirror. 
I dollop of utter black 
Amidst the crimson of blood. 
I was death, then. 
I am death, now. 

Graphite

"The Grand Regent deemed it necessary to call upon me? A moment of such joy for a mere Prince.", his voice rang out from the doorway of the Grand Regent's suite. 

The sarcastic bite in his voice remained so well-hidden behind the impenetrable layer of indifference that the Grand Regent actually doubted his assessment of the Prince's true personality for a moment. It did not matter, he quickly decided. For, no one would believe his assessment even if he put it forward. No one would like to face the truth of the Prince's identity. 

Such absolute power. Such destructive fury... They would rather stay in denial than accept its existence. 

The ageing man, still built of muscles and bones and a will of iron, turned away from where he was staring out of a window at the expanse of the city, and waved a dismissive hand at the servants and attendants, "Dismissed." 

The royal employees seemed to be rather relieved to be disappearing from the presence of a man of such gravity, and the young prince with eyes as crimson as blood itself. He was as feared as he was desired, no doubt. His looks exuded immeasurable danger just as much as they exuded divine handsomeness. 

"The Grand Regent.", Arjuna tipped his chin barely a hair's breadth downwards in an imperceptible bow.

Bheeshma's eyes scanned his movement, agitation boiling in its dark depths, and finally bit out, "His Royal Highness seems be forgetting certain codes of behaviour."

A full-fledged laugh resounded across the expanse of the Grand Regent's residential suite, chilling and surreal.

"His Excellency may drop the act, now. I will not be sticking around for much longer, anyways. So, I do not mind being addressed by my true identity.", laughter lingered in his voice even as he spoke.

"I am afraid-", Bheeshma's answer was cut off by a mocking, "You do not understand I mean?"

The God of War arched up a dark brow at him and said, "I am afraid you do. And I am thankful to you for keeping my secret for all this time. But now I would like to be addressed by my true identity. Immortals and their whims, you know."

He shrugged at the end, and the Grand Regent sighed, never moving his eyes away from the God's.

"Immortals and their whims, indeed. I wonder what has changed?", it was his turn to try and weild a weapon, but the next moment, the room has been drowned in a dark crimson haze, heated enough to start making the human sweat.

"Your Divine Highness...", the Grand Regent trailed off, his eyes filled with a primal apprehension.

"If you do happen to stumble across information that was never supposed to touch your eyes or ears, do remember to keep them to yourself, Your Excellency.", his voice coldly sliced the heated silence in the room.

The Grand Regent nodded.

"Great!", the Lord of War exclaimed with a voice that contradicted the idea of the word, and then added, his tone deceptively calmer, "Let us proceed to the core talk, then." 

The Grand Regent simply nodded, cleared his throat and said, "The marriage is an alliance, Prince. It has great political significance to the kingdom. Significance that you must understand."

The Prince kept his face straight enough to seem to be sculpted out of solid granite and said, "Then let the great King's eldest son do the honour." He knew that it was a backhanded jibe, and he received the exact response that he had hoped to receive.