Bird of a Nest (bow 3)

Chapter 25

Ryraso woke up too hot. Shifting uncomfortably, Ryraso opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the royal nest. He had wanted to sleep with the boys but the others had insisted on normalcy. Normalcy meant the boys sleeping in their rooms and Ryraso with the royals. Ryraso didn't agree with that. Eyeri had clung on to whoever had sat next to him that evening. Aw'endo had stuck close to Fetmar too. It felt wrong to just let them sleep elsewhere after the revelations of the day. 

Or maybe being back in the link was distorting his mind. That was possible. 

Unhappily, Ryraso turned over and looked at his sleeping mates. Soon to be mates. They looked peaceful, Nel'os drooling slightly. Dyn'ad was snuggled up to Tai'ray with Tai'ray's head under his chin. Their wings were over him acting as blankets but it was still oddly too hot. Ryraso smiled fondly, curling up again and trying to fall back to sleep again. 

Only, he couldn't. The dark feelings twisting painfully in his stomach. Exhaling, Ryraso sat up slowly. Nel'os shifted, but no one else moved. Ryraso waited another moment for any other signs that someone else was awake before moving. He slipped out of the nest, Ryraso leant against the door. It was chilly that morning without being surrounded by feathers and bodies. He walked to his room only to be stopped by a guard. 

"Good Morning, Healer Ryraso," the male k'nairi greeted, a hand stopping Ryraso from moving further. 

"Morning," Ryraso said warily.

"I apologize but our orders are to keep you with your mates, unless you are accompanied by them," the man commented firmly. "Please return to the Royal Nesting chamber." The other guards shifted, clearly ready to force Ryraso back to the room if needed. Some looking more joyful about it than others.

The shift was almost painful. Ryraso suddenly wished he had his rapier. An almost alien feeling. He felt more like he was facing Dmar grunts than the palace guard. "I can't sleep," Ryraso said calmly, having no intension of letting the guard boss him around. He had defeated them in the ring during Fetmar excerises, he wasn't scared of them. Only he was wearing only a tunic and underwear at the moment. This wasn't a battlefield.  

"Not our problem," one of the other guard snorted. 

Ryraso took a step forward and they gathered around him. In some a weird few moments of Ryraso trying to dogde out of the way and being caught rather like a struggling toddler. He was firmly shoved back into the room with a slap on the arse that had Ryraso shivering at. The dim sound of laughter from behind the door. 

He growled unhappily and sat on the bed again, the others still asleep. That was unpleasent. He started tapping his foot on the ground. He didn't like this. Suddenly every instinct to run from the royal returned. What was he doing? Why was he letting this happen to him? To Eyeri? Why wasn't he trying to escape and instead of making these plans to live here? Only he wasn't living. He was doing some weird half-life where he let himself be pushed away and it wasn't right. Was it?  

"Where were you going, love?" Dyn'ad asked, in his ear. 

"Anywhere but here," Ryraso breathed, leaning backwards. Dyn'ad hands caught him and hugged him from behind, kissing his shoulder.  "I dislike the guards."