As The Desert Sings

02. Kill The Lights

It had been four months since Zephyr and Killian met. They both had to sneak out of their castles to meet up with each other, which they did one or two times a week. They met in the middle of both castles in the ruins of the old kingdom that they both had grown up being taught about. It was kind of ironic that they chose that as their meeting point.

Tonight felt different to Zephyr as he approached the old ruins, him and Killian had joked about crashing each other's parties that were fast approaching. Zephyr didn't feel like it was a joke anymore, especially not tonight, as the moon was nearly dark which left very little light for him to see. Once he reached the far side of the ruins he called out for Killian, who emerged from the darkness like some sort of otherworldly being.

Zephyr let out a sigh of relief before he spoke, "Hi Leon."

"Hi Zee," Killian smiled before coming over and embracing him closely.

The duo had gotten significantly closer in the past four months. Zephyr would dare say he was in love with Killian, but he didn't voice this to him of course as he felt it might be a little too early to be saying things like that. As Killian pulled away he spooked Zephyr with his next question.

"Can I," Killian started and then stopped, taking in a deep breath before continuing, "May I kiss you Zeph?"

It took Zephyr a moment to answer, but when he did all he could blurt out was, "Of course you can you idiot," and so they did. It was magical to Zephyr, he had never felt something so right in his life. He had his doubts about what they were doing, but in that moment he knew that he would never be able to live without this man in his life. Once Killian and Zephyr parted, both of their cheeks were a lovely shade of pink.

"I think I'm falling for you," Killian said almost too quietly.

"I know that I'm falling for you," Zephyr replied before resting his forehead against Killian's.

"You do?"

"Of course I do," it was Zephyr's turn to pull away, this time he stared directly into Killian's eyes before kissing him again. He got that same warm feeling in his body once more, like electricity. Killian smiled into the kiss, which made Zephyr fall even more in love with him.

The pair of them stood there for, Gods only know how long, kissing and exchanging words of affirmation before Killian led Zephyr over to sit down on a ruined bench. They sat as closely as they could get as Killian started to speak.

"I think I found a way to get out of this stupid ass aging ritual thing and arranged marriages that we both have to go through," Killian had turned his head away from Zephyr as he spoke with an unsure voice.

"You did?" Zephyr could barely contain the excitement in his voice.

Killian's head whipped around at the tone of Zephyr's voice, "You're excited about this?"

Zephyr just sighed and nodded, "Of course I am. Anything to get out of these stupid things, not to mention anything to get me to stay with you. If that's what you were alluding to."

Killian just smiled before continuing his thought process, "So I was doing a little bit of research in our library and came across an old scroll with a weird map of an underground archive, which happens to be under your empire's castle. I decided to put it in my pocket. Here, take a look."

The two of them studied the map for a few minutes before a light bulb went off in Zephyr's brain. He remembered seeing an old key locked up in his fathers study when he was younger and when he asked his father about it all he said was that it went to a very important place in the castle. When Zephyr voiced this to Killian, he was even more excited.