Frostpaw

Chapter 8 - Failure

Days went by quickly.

Over time, Zèon managed to ignore the intense guilt that assaulted him when he looked Ike in the eye and lied to him saying that he loved him. It became for him almost a natural, involuntary act; he stated it automatically, sometimes so much that he feared the lion noticed that he didn't really feel what he said.

However, Ike did never doubt about him or, if he did, he never showed it. He only smiled, pleased, and licked his forehead or hugged him close, whispering in his ear how important he was for him. Zèon let him pamper him, touched by the affection the lion treated him with, but unable to give anything back more than the empty words of his lie. Silently, he wished he could have loved him. He knew that Ike deserved it, that he should find someone who loved him back as intensely as he loved the arctic fox. Zèon, unfortunately, wasn't the right person and he knew it.

Usually, Ike joined him in his bedroom and they spent the day together, sitting or lying on some bed, talking or simply enjoying mutual company. Zèon was always careful to close the door and not to let anyone saw them, since he still remembered Shiba's warning. On the other hand, he thought that he was hurting Ike enough in order to also put his right to the fehlar throne into question. The last thing he wanted was to cause more problems than necessary for him.

However, in spite of all his precautions, it was inevitable that some people noticed it. Once, Vent went into the bedroom without notice and caught them in the middle of a passionate kiss. That didn't only make him let out a surprised yell, but also made him feel so embarrassed that he couldn't talk to them for a few days, although Ike played it down. As for Shiba, she quickly noticed because of her closeness to Ike... and the fact that she could read his expressions as Zèon could read Luca's. She didn't say anything, but the arctic fox could feel her suspicious looks whenever he came across her in the Box.

Maybe the less remarkable reaction was Luca's. He just watched, understood what was happening and resumed his life. Zèon was unsure whether the wolf knew that his feelings for Ike were false or believed that he was really in love with him. The only thing he could perceive was the impatient gleam in his eyes that seemed to ask him to tell the lion everything they had found out as soon as possible. Zèon only knew that the wolf wanted to stay awake for a night and go out investigating the Box, when the guards weren't watching, because he had guessed it during one of the meals, when they had exchanged some meaningful looks. Three pairs of eyes could see more than one, and the arctic fox hoped that once they told him what they had discovered, Ike would join their improvised nightly expedition.

However, as days passed by Zèon couldn't find the moment to tell him. Every day, every hour he thought he could feel Sophia's cold look on the back of his head, piercing through him. Two weeks went by and the impatient gleam in Luca's eyes grew brighter until it almost extinguished its reddish color.

One morning, the wolf gave Zèon a meaningful look. <<Today>> he seemed to say <<. If you don't tell him about it today, we'll go without him>>.

Zèon decided that the moment to pull himself together and trust in his good luck had finally come. Maybe that day Sophia had more important things to do than thinking about the relationship that both had started more than two weeks ago.

"They're disappearing. Well, they're still there, but they are getting less visible."

The lion's paw moved slowly over his back, following the trace of the scars that the whip had left in the fox's skin. Zèon knew that his back had firstly been raw, but little by little the wounds had been closing and, although they still hurt sometimes, his suffering had been reduced greatly.