A Heart's Price

Chapter Five: Adonis

Adonis had broken his leg before and he knew he could handle the pain. The real challenge was hiding that from everyone else.

Eleni suspected it the most. She kept asking Adonis if he was okay and he'd keep on saying that he'd tripped and fell and he just had a little limp. The only time he saw his mother was at breakfast and dinner and there wasn't much she could pick up on while he was sitting. Hiding it from his lesson instructors was a little bit harder though, especially when it came to his fencing mentor.

He somehow managed it though.

And as much as he hated to admit it, it was mostly thanks to Leif. Though Adonis shared secrets about Mer in exchange for him to keep his mouth shut, Leif was surprisingly patient and almost...kind with him. It was startling and so unlike everything Adonis had assumed about humans.

"You have to tell me a secret today," Leif said as he untucked the cloth around Adonis' leg. The swelling had somewhat settled and though Adonis' leg was still purple it didn't hurt as much anymore.

Adonis squeezed his eyes shut as Leif applied some of the healing cream. "How about I tell you two?" he offered.

Leif looked at him with those cautious blue eyes. "What's the catch?"

Adonis shrugged. "There's no catch."

Leif shook one of the painkiller candies out of a jar and handed one to Adonis. His blond hair was still aggressively disheveled from their etiquette lessons earlier that day. It was as if every time the servants put oyster oil in his hair he'd purposely wash it all out and mess his hair up just to annoy them.

"Okay, then. I'm listening," Leif said.

Adonis swallowed the painkiller. He'd already thought of what the first secret would be. "My family isn't true royalty. My great grandfather killed for the crown."

Leif stared at Adonis, seeming to recalculate something about him. His brows furrowed and his lips tucked in. "Okay, next secret," he said.

"My mother is from a Mer island called Syliar."

Leif frowned. "Sylair?"

"It's on the east coast. The tide is bad there. My dad met her on a hunting trip."

Leif seemed to be satisfied by this information. He reached for a new cloth and wrapped it tightly around Adonis' leg. Adonis watched him. He was so careful and precise.

"So what do you get?" Leif asked after a while.

Adonis blinked. "Get what?"

Leif's eyes flicked up to his. "When you win the pentathlon."

"A shiny trophy," Adonis kneaded his bottom lip with his teeth, "A cash prize, some honorable mention or something - but mostly bragging rights."

Leif raised his eyebrows. "So why do you want to win so much? You're the prince. You don't need bragging rights."

Adonis felt his cheeks warm. "It's not that simple." He wished it was.

"Why?"

"Everyone in my family has won at least once," Adonis said, feeling unsettled under the intense gaze of Leif's eyes, "It would kind of be sad if I was the only one who lost." As soon as he said it he wished he could take it back. Leif was the last person that he should've been confessing his vulnerabilities to.

"So," Leif smiled crookedly, "Bragging rights, then."

Adonis felt himself returning his smile. "Yeah."

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Over the next few days, Adonis could feel Leif relaxing. Though Adonis knew the only reason for that was all the secrets he told him in exchange for his help, it was nice to see him let down his guard some.