Nick wasn't sure he had heard the words correctly.
No. It wasn't possible.
It wasn't possible.
It couldn't be true.
"Landel... what?" Adam asked him, putting a hand on the Prince's shoulder.
"My dad is The One." The young man's eyes were wide, horrified. "He's been The One this whole time, working to destroy The Goddess from the inside of this palace." He breathed in, a desperate gulp of air. He looked to be on the verge of tears. "Goddess..."
Nick shook his head. "That's impossible." He turned to Breck, met the other man's dark eyes. "He's the King, for God's sake."
"Nick, he just confessed to me." Landel squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head. "He... he asked me to join him." When his eyes opened again, his gaze was intense. He clenched his fists. "Soul was leaking out of him. The Goddess's essence was inside of him."
"There must be an explanation..." Breck said. "This can't be right."
"We need to bring him into custody. We need to arrest him. now" Landel straightened suddenly, eyes getting even rounder. "And... fuck. No." The Prince's panic was infectious. "Fuck. He told me that the city is going to be taken, that there are cultists hiding in plain sight, waiting for a signal. Fuck." He ran a hand through his hair, anxiously scratching the back of his head. "It... it can't be true, right? It can't be true."
Nick's mind was racing. They had been hearing screams, odd noises coming from the palace and the city. Had those been the sounds of The Golden Spire taking back Sesstria?
"We need to tell the defenders," Landel said, pulling Adam down the hallway. "They need to know."
"Wait, Landel. Just wait." Nick followed after them, the rest of the group sticking close behind.
"There is no time," the Prince said, turning back. "We have to save this city, or The Goddess is finished."
"This is fucking crazy, man," Chris said. "How many cultists could be hiding in plain sight?"
"For all of our sakes, I hope the answer is, 'not enough.'" Landel started to run, the rest of the group followed.
Nick's body was moving, but he felt paralyzed. He didn't know what to do. Part of him wanted to run to The King's office and have the whole thing clarified. Surely, his son was mistaken. But that would be crazy, as well, right? For Landel to accuse his dad of something like this? The Prince wouldn't have done it without good reason.
Whatever the truth was, Nick needed to know what was going on. His eyes kept finding his son, who was running in front of him. His instinct was to grab Adam and run in the opposite direction, to find him some place to hide. As it was, his son was running towards potential danger. But Nick forced away that instinct, the way he had been teaching himself to. Adam was in charge of his own fate.
His other son was a different story. Breck was beside him, staying close, their son attached to the front of his chest. Nick had no doubt that the big man would protect their kid with his life, but Nick couldn't bear the thought of something happening to their son, their Drappel. They needed to get him out of here.
When they reached the entrance chamber, they scrambled down the stairs and began to run for the drawbridge. As they approached, and as the upper part of Hilltown came into view, their sprinting slowed.
There was no fight happening on the streets, but that was the problem.
When Nick saw what was coming, he wished that the plaza outside of The Palace was filled with fighting and conflict. But it wasn't, and, so, the dozens of red-robed cultists that were walking up the cobbled streets, weapons in hand, blood adorning their clothing were not being challenged. There were no defenders there to stop their progress.
YOU ARE READING
💎A Collision of Fates💎 (Straight to Gay) (MxM) (18+)
Roman d'amour"Whatever else happened to him, Chris knew three things would never change: (1) The only d*ck he would ever touch was his own. (2) The only man he loved was his dad. (3) He was totally, completely, 100% straight." 💎...
