Just The Beginning... (Solangelo)

Chapter 19

Third Person’s POV:

    Over the next few days Will avoided the boy like the plague, only going in to make sure he was fed, because the human stubbornly refused to let anyone other than Will feed him. The prince also continued his vigil by the boy’s door religiously, but didn’t go to check on him the mornings after like he usually did. He spent most of his days hunting because his hunger seemed to have increased tenfold, and what seemed like gallons of blood he was consuming felt like drops to him. He was in a constant state of hunger, the gnawing feeling ever present like a headache he couldn’t get rid of. He knew exactly what was wrong with him, but he refused to admit it; knew what he needed but refused to acknowledge it.

 He knew from the number of times his gaze would linger on the door as he walked past, from the times he would find himself about to turn the knob but leave at the last minute, from the way he’d avoid the boy’s gaze as much as possible when he was feeding him.

He was neck deep in denial and he knew it.

He walked into the boy’s room one evening and found him staring out the window. He’d become more mobile lately, not letting Will help him up, and wanting to go get things by himself. Will was ecstatic that he was getting better, but the boy was going to give him a heart attack if he kept moving around so fast so soon.

He watched him stare at the gardens down below wistfully.

“Would you like to go downstairs?” The boy jumped at the sound, but a smile slowly spread across his face when he realized what Will had said. He nodded excitedly and Will couldn’t help but grin at the adorable boy in front of him.  He couldn’t really be blamed for being so excited. He’d been cooped up inside since he woke up, only wandering around Will’s room and his. The boy hurried around the room in haste to get changed and the prince couldn’t stop the small chuckle that left him at the sight of the younger bouncing impatiently by his door, waiting for him to hurry up and open it already. Will quickly grabbed a jacket for the suddenly hyperactive boy, not wanting to risk him catching a cold.

  The boy bounded outside the second the door was opened, but stopped short when he realized he had no idea where to go. He was faced with about a hundred doors and hallways and stairs. Will laughed aloud this time at the confused boy blinking up at him and began to walk in the right direction. The boy followed close beside him, still very much excited, but had decided that it wasn’t worth getting himself lost in this maze of a mansion.

  Normally, blood slaves were to follow behind their master, as a sign of respect. A blood slave not doing so would be seen as not properly trained and the blame would naturally fall on their owner. But Will watched as the boy bounced around him, sometimes running forward, then coming back when he remembered he didn’t know where to go. He would sometimes even stop to stare at one of the paintings on the wall that had caught his attention before continuing on. And Will watched all this without batting an eye. He didn’t care what people thought of him, because he was the bloody prince and he could do whatever he wanted. His father couldn’t do shit either, because he’d run out of blackmail material.  He felt the rush that came with rebellion, however slight the rebellion was. It wasn’t in his nature to go against rules, simply because he’d found no reason to do so. But the smile on his mate’s face seemed like reason enough.

   They finally got outside and Will got the pleasure of seeing the younger boy’s eyes light up in awe at his new surroundings. It took him a minute to absorb it all.

“Come on, the gardens are over here.” Will broke through the boys trance and waited for the boy to walk up to him before making their way down the path. He let the still entranced boy wander into the garden before him. He seemed to have calmed down some and was walking slowly around the enclosed area, his fingers gently brushing over the petals of each flower he passed. Will followed closely behind him, telling him the name of every plant and flower he seemed interested in.