Descendants of the Kings (Book 2)

Ch 65: I am your sword

The hallway leading to Fraz's room was quiet, a handful of guards dutifully standing watch on both ends.

Gidden nodded at them in greeting, stopping before Fraz's door.

"Has he gone to bed?" he quietly asked an older guard stationed outside.

"Several hours ago, but..." he muffled a smile. "I just heard him laughing."

Gidden chuckled and nodded. "I thought so."

Balancing a tray on his arm, he twisted open the door. He bit back a laugh when he saw a small figure duck beneath the duvets, the candle on the night table still smoking.

Gidden settled on the end of the bed. "It looks like Fraz is asleep," he sighed in disappointment. "Oh, well. I guess I'll have to eat this all alone. Too bad."

He made to get up. On cue, the bed began to shuffle. Fraz popped up, making a show of yawning, rubbing his eye.

"Oh," he said, pretending to be surprised. "What are you doing here, Gid? Are you back from work?"

He was all owlish brown eyes, his rusty curls messy like a bird's nest.

Gidden bit the inside of his cheek to smother a smile. "I came back just now. I wanted to see how you were." he eyed the corner of a book poking out from beneath his pillow. "Sleeping, I see."

"Yes, but I'm awake now," he said, attention sliding to the tray on Giddens's lap. "Is that for me?"

Gidden hummed. "Cake and warm milk with honey. But aren't you too sleepy?"

Fraz shook his head fervently, crawling to sit beside him. "Nuh-uh, I'm all awake now."

This time, Gidden did laugh as Fraz grabbed the tray and dug into the layered cream cake with enthusiasm.

Gidden plucked the book from beneath the pillow, a thick, cloth-bound tome.

"Are you enjoying it?" he asked, flipping through the pages.

Fraz nodded, speaking through a mouthful of cream. "Uh-huh, it's really good. They've just found a chest with a map to the island where the old pirate captain hid a treasure!"

Gidden raised his brows, and Fraz covered his mouth, grinning. He swallowed before muttering, "Sorry."

Far be it from Gidden to care about proper table manners, but their mother did. Then again, she probably wouldn't have approved of him feeding Fraz sugary foods well past his bedtime either.

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it," he said absently, thinking that ironically, the map to a treasure was just too on the nose of what was happening.

He pushed those thoughts aside and pulled out a raggedy book from his pocket. "When you're finished with that, I've got another one for you."

Fraz's eyes went wide and shiny, and he reached for the book. "What's this one about?" he asked, rifling through the frayed pages.

"Hmm, I don't know. The man who sold it to me said something about a brave archer who steals and gives gold to the poor. But you'll have to read it and tell me."

It wasn't too common for Fae to read human literature, certainly not young elvish princes. But Gidden had always thought it a shame to keep himself from consuming good material simply because it was human-made. After all, did they not all enjoy the same things? Perhaps they weren't so different.

The book was well worn and the cover was missing a corner, but Fraz looked at it reverently, the dimples on his cheeks deep as little wells. And that, that was all that mattered to Gidden.