Rebirth (boyxboy)

Chapter 5: pretty pictures

Chapter 5

CYAN'S P.O.V.

Cyan: 10 ½ months until awakening

"Excuse me?" King Elijah asked, his cocky facade falling away for a single second. My question had startled him, but that was entirely my point in asking. Here he was, obviously flirting with me, while his heart possibly belonged to someone else.

"Are you still in love with the person you bonded with?" I repeated, refusing to change my question.

He stared at me, trying to read between the lines I had read to him. He was confused. For once his feelings were clear on his face and he was struggling just like I was. I didn't know if I should be happy or sad about that. I mean sure we were finally on the same shaken plane, but he was shaken because I asked him about that person... The one that he bonded with...

He cleared his throat. "I will always be in love with the person I shared my soul with." He said slowly. "He is the only person to ever make me feel human."

He? Well that was a shock. I guess in my mind I had always pictured a beautiful woman, with porcelain skin and ruby eyes, or a tall caramel colored goddess with legs that seemed to never end. I had rarely entertained the thought that the person he had supposedly fallen so hard for could share a single similarity with me, even if it was just gender. "Why feel human though?" I found myself saying. "What's so great about feeling like the weakest beings on earth? I am human and believe me it's nothing special." I had hoped the bitterness in my heart had not transferred so obviously into my voice. What did I care if he still loved someone he had bonded with?

"Come with me." He stated, snapping me out of my own head. I watched as he held his hand out across the table for me, unsure if it would be wise for me to grab it. If he loved this guy so much why did he look at me like that? Why did he tease me so much? "If you want me to answer your question in a way that you can understand, you're going to have to take my hand." He insisted. Hesitantly, I placed my own hand in his, ignoring how my skin seemed to tingle at the contact. Bad skin! Stop that!

"Where exactly are you taking me?" I finally asked once we exited the tunnels and were climbing the stairs up to the third floor.

"To my study." He answered, seemingly ignoring how my steps staggered at his answer. I had never been inside King Elijah's study. Business happened there. Allies like Margarette would talk war strategies within those walls. Why was he taking me there? "Is something wrong Cyan?"

Before I could even formulate a response we had arrived at the large, intimidating set of double doors. They were engraved with strange markings that a worker had once told me meant sun in many different languages. And then the doors were opened and King Elijah was pulling me inside and shutting them silently behind me, something I marveled at considering I was sure the doors must have weighed a ton. "Oh my Solar." I breathed as I took on the large room surrounding me. The walls were covered, top to bottom in bookcases that I was sure housed every book known to sun kind. The only spot not converted by books was covered by a large portrait of a boy lying on his side, his face covered by long black hair. He was wearing a really big shirt and I silently mused as to whether or not he had anything underneath it. Instinctively I knew that this was him. I diverted my attention away, staring at the high ceiling which held an elaborate chandelier above our heads.

King Elijah walked past me, past his large wooden desk, and straight to standing in front of the picture I was trying my hardest to avoid. "I took this picture while he was sleeping almost eighteen years ago. I had it commissioned into a painted portrait a few months later. It was the only picture I had..."

"Does he not like pictures?" I asked, deciding that I had no choice but to contribute to this conversation.

"My mother and sister, my vampire mother and sister that is, murdered him in front of my eyes a few days later." He answered matter of factly. "I suppose I don't really know if he liked pictures or not. Do you like pictures Cyan?"