The King of Saminu

Chapter 15

"I was on the run from Xeoys for nearly all of my life. Because of that, we were relatively poor. Moving at the drop of a dime tends to drain your savings," Brann cocked his head at my vague explanation, and we both took another gulp of wine.
"Did your parents do something wrong? Why were you on the run?" Brann asked, and I shook my head, wine sloshing in the glass I still held.
"No. Xeoys would have wanted to marry me if he had found me. He likes marrying young girls. Get more bang for your buck. Literally," Brann shook his head, brown eyebrows furrowing.

    "Is that why you're glad I'm younger than you? And why you make a big deal out of it? The man's like in his forties by now, isn't he?" I nodded. "Creepy," Brann decided, and we both finished our glasses. Brann removed his arm from my shoulder and collected our dishes, moving them to a wrack that was immediately cleared from the room.
"What about you? Do you like young girls? Was there anyone else in the picture before I showed up in your prison?" I teased, and the room felt like it was spinning from the amount of swaying I was doing in my chair. Brann chuckled, shaking his head.

    "I wasn't allowed out much. Mom and Dad didn't allow us to leave Horegi, and when we were in Horegi, we had an entourage with us. Ultimate cock block," Brann rolled his eyes at himself and laughed at his own joke. I don't know what my face must have looked like, but Brann quickly moved back to my side and pulled me towards him, my head returning to lean on his shoulder. The room swayed a little less.
"I'll let you in on a huge secret. I'm a pussy. I don't want to ruin things that work perfectly. Most of the people in the castle that were around my age were friends with me. Joneko and Þura? I'm sure they've liked me at any given point, but I would always push them away," Brann pulled away and grabbed the soft part of my cheeks with his thumb and forefinger, getting close enough to were our noses were centimeters away from each other. My breath hitched, and Brann's eyes were wild, humour hidden within the depths of them.

    "I've never had so much of a kiss," Brann pulled away after that, laughing at himself to hide his embarrassment. I cocked my head at him, and it felt as if the entire room would move with me. The furniture staying in place shocked me.
"Interesting. You're as much of a baby as I thought you were," The words left my mouth before I could think about them, and Brann huffed to himself, proving my case once more.
"I'm not a baby. I'm an adult. I run a kingdom," Brann puffed his chest out and motioned towards the royal crest on his lapel. I snorted.
"You do a fantastic job at running your kingdom, I'm sure. But you said it yourself. You've never been kissed. Have you even left Horegi yet? Do you leave the castle?" Brann stiffened and looked away. An answer enough.

    "There's plenty to do here," Brann muttered, and I reached out to force him to look in my direction once more.
"Like what? What could possibly keep you occupied for twenty years?"
"Well, for the past year I've had to completely reinvent my country. I've never really expected the amount of work that would come from the sheer amount of new laws I've put in place. That took nearly half a year. After that, I moved on to trying to save war victims, which caused me to be needed in the capital some more. Interviews don't run themselves. I work daily, and I only ever have a day or two break on the weekends. And that's if I work overtime during the week. I've only just now started to get the hang of things," I sighed, placing my hand on Brann's shoulder to help him feel my empathy.

    "You don't have to feel like you have to do everything by yourself, you know? I'm sure there are plenty of people dying to help you. You need to take breaks. Or else, you'll snap," Brann rolled his eyes at me, looking over my body that was still too unhealthy.
"You should practice what you're saying, Ren. You wouldn't eat unless you thought everyone else had a fair share-"
"It's because I can heal myself and they can't!" I interrupted, and Brann cocked his brows.
"Can you recognize the similarity? I'm the only one in this country who can make laws, approve immigrations, watch over the army. There's one of me. You make sense, sure. But you could have shared the hunger. Ellsk looks completely fine. Gamm's a little lanky, but that looks to be natural. You? Bones,"