The Broken Soldier (malexmale)

Chapter Four

"You do not come to me until I call you. You do not discuss our meetings together with anyone. You will not speak to anyone else within this palace, save myself and Magenta. Do not put on any body lotions or perfumes when you come to me. You will come to me washed and clothed. You cannot leave until I give you permission. In return, I shall heal your throat and send you to your room. I will also not mention our meetings to anyone, including your immediate family."

"But at the end of the day, nephew, your body now belongs to me and I can do with it as I please."

I grimaced as I lay on my bed that night, staring out the window on the other side of the room from the bed. The night was cool, so I'd left the panes open, the breeze sending gauzy taupe curtains billowing. The matching canopy above my bed shivered, and somehow the thick comforter I tugged over me wasn't enough to keep me warm. The cold came from my bones, came from within me.

I brushed my hand over my throat, feeling for the deep puncture wounds that had been there previously. As Horus had promised, they were gone and it was as if nothing had ever happened. At least on the outside. I still felt drained, still felt sluggish, and tired, something Horus assured me was normal considering he was feeding from my energy, from my blood.

I struggled to cope with the deal we'd made, just hours before.

Your body now belongs to me.

While there was no collar about my throat, I still felt as if it were there; heavy and cold. The place where his fangs had sank into my flesh ached. My muscles were stiff, yet somehow rubbery at the same time. I found it difficult to move. All he'd done was taken blood. My stomach churned at the thought of what else he'd ask for.

After all, I was no fool.

Horus was going to take more than my blood and I would need to mentally prepare myself for when Horus decided he wanted more than just blood from me. I squeezed my eyes shut, sucking in a shuddering breath and yanking the comforter tighter around me. Beside me on the end table carved from driftwood, my phone vibrated and startled me. I reached out tentatively, sliding it onto the bed beside me, squinting at the harsh light of the screen as I realized I'd received another text from Theo.

Good news: I'll be there tomorrow afternoon. Or, like, your morning? Or, night. Fuck, I don't get the time differences.

I felt a wobbly smile touch my lips. I brushed my fingertip over the image of his profile picture and opened up his account, blowing up the photo enough so that all I could see now was Theo and his smile, those bright playful red eyes, that thick mane of red hair that fell haphazardly around his face.

My heart bled, and I felt a wave of disgust with myself.

Theo would be furious if he knew what Horus had done. Furious that I had accepted the deal, no less. He'd always gotten angry when I did something self-sacrificing.

"Gods, you are so fucking irritating! Why do I have to put up with your superhero complex? Get off my ass, Sept!" Theo had snarled at me for taking his razors from him once again. He'd stormed about the room in search of them, only to discover I'd thrown them out. I didn't understand his anger and lashed back at him.

"And you think I'm not annoyed? I'm not doing this to be a superhero, Theo! I'm doing it because I'm fucking sick of watching you do it!"

"I told you not to watch!"

"It's not about watching you literally do it, you idiot! It's about knowing you're doing it!"

"It's got nothing to do with you! Gods, you always stick your nose where it doesn't belong! Why can't you just fucking shut up and leave me alone?!"