How Many Times I'd Live For You

Chapter Four

When Fiore's vision finally faded from black, the rain had long stopped. Abir was nowhere to be found in the cave, leaving just himself and the mare. Something- besides Abir's sarcastic chimes- was missing. Something important.

The prisoner!

Fiore shot up but immediately regretted it, falling back to the blanketed floor with a wrack of coughs. Fuckin stupid weak ass body, he hissed mentally, giving himself a second before slowly pushing himself back up.

The mare seemed to notice his presence, neighing happily and trotting over to nuzzle her snout into his chest. "Aiye! Come on horse get off," he grumbled, trying to push the mare away, but that only further incited the horse to nuzzle closer. "Stop! Shit, you don't have a name. Horse get off!"

"Marie."

At the sound of Abir's voice rang through the small cave, the horse immediately backing off and trotting happily over to Abir. Fiore sat up from where the horse shoved him down, under-robe rumpled and messy from the horse's nose. "Marie? Who's that?"

Fiore looked up to see the horse fondly nuzzling Abir's hand, the man allowing her to have her way with no complaints. "The horse. Her saddle had the name stitched into it so I figured it's what they naked her," he explained while stroking the horse's hair, eyes watching her with a gentle fondness no Beast could ever have.

Fiore didn't like how it made him feel.

"Whatever. Where's the prisoner?" He snapped back to business, preferring to keep his relationship with Abir purely business.

"Dead"

Fiore choked on his saliva, coughing and heaving for air at Abir's abrupt answer. "Dead??" He wheezed out, eyes staring up at the Beast as if to ask him are you joking?

"Dead. Not breathing, impaled, deceased, un-living," Abir began to list off any other word for dead, making some up along the way as well. Fiore couldn't believe this man or this not man. He sometimes forgot Abir Abir wasn't human. It was a little unsettling, but they had bigger fish to fry.

"Okay, so why did you un-live him?" Fiore snapped in his usual haughty tone, reaching for his now dried and folded robes.

"He outlived his use, and was too dangerous to be let go alive," Abir shrugged, walking forward to add more wood to the almost dead fire. The flames began to slowly grow back in his care, eagerly devouring the new wood with crackles of joy.

Fiore's eyes narrowed, his beautiful sunset pink irises somehow becoming threatening in the man's disapproving glare. "Abir. Don't skip around my questions. What did you find out from him?"

Abir didn't look up from the fire, even with Fiore's stern tone. His crimson eyes were fixated on the flames, but his mind was elsewhere, completely lost in thought as silence filled the air between them.

After a long stretch of silence under Fiore's glare, Abir finally spilled. "He took the job from a second source, not the head of the operation. He wasn't given any information on the mastermind, only that there was a hefty reward for your head. Alive or dead." Abir prodded the fire as he spoke, the flames crackling higher with each prod.

Fiore nodded slowly, his stomach churning at the man's words, but never would he dare show that fear. At the end of the day, Fiore was a spoiled Prince that came from one of the richest kingdoms in the world. His swordsmanship and fighting skills were once a luxury, but now a necessity. It was truly terrifying how much had changed in his life... but there was no point in crying over spilled milk.