The Arrangement

Chapter 15

Du Fen looked pissed off. Jian Jun looked stoic. Most of the guards looked abashed. It was a strange group that got back on the road seven days later. The young lord had holed up in the carriage and would not let the Emperor sit inside with him.

The guards decided to look the other way when the boy threatened the man with his sword (once again) as he tried to climb in. It wasn't really treason if no one saw it happen right? It wasn't like the Emperor was complaining about it.

The Shadow guards knew that he could have probably taken the weapon from the lad and forced his way into the carriage if he had really wanted to. It seemed as though he was going to actually listen to the boy, to their great surprise.

The entourage went on in silence for the whole of the week, most afraid to speak above a whisper with the tension that seemed to overlay them. It was only when they stopped for the seventh night and the two came face to face with each other on the narrow road that the tension came to a head.

"Tch. Stay over there." Du Fen said with a haughty glance, nodding to the other side of the clearing.

"Look, you misunderstood me. I would never force you to..." The Emperor tried to placate him, but stopped at the furious glance. "...Do that. I was only doing what you told me to." He finished in a lower voice that the others could not hear.

"What the hell do you mean 'you were doing what I told you' huh? Did I tell you to put your... there? No! Don't even try." He raged in undertones while the guards set up camp and pretended they weren't listening.

"You told me to do something. I did something. Then you said you wanted something different. So I did something different. I was never going to... put it in. I don't know why you are so mad at me." He muttered sulkily.

Du Fen wanted to get even madder, but the truth that ran in the bastard's words made him choke on his words. He crossed his arms and stared at the man in front of him with a frown. He seemed sincere, and that just pissed him off more.

"Fine. I will be generous enough to believe you. Don't think this lets you off the hook. You can't be listening to a Ger in heat. I can't think rationally like that, so you cannot hold me to my words." He replied imperiously. He was so embarrassed for the way he had acted in the tent that night.

"Alright. I will try to remember that in the future. I will ask you when you are not in heat and abide by your wishes." Jian Jun bowed slightly to the boy. The words from Jian Jun sounded more like a threat than a promise to Du Fen and he shivered unconsciously.

*

"They are delayed a week." The Emperor's brother said with a wince as he saw the General freeze in his task. The brush hovered over the paper for a full minute before he set it down and looked at the man reading the missive.

"Why am I not surprised. I think he would be late for his own wedding if we hadn't set it so far in the future." The General lamented.

"There's still time... never mind." The Emperor's brother started to rejoin, but thought better of it when the General looked at him darkly.

"I swear the two of you do this on purpose just to spite me." He said under his breath. It was not so quiet that he couldn't hear it though.

"No, not on purpose. It's just so easy to rile you up. Besides, we wouldn't tease you if we didn't love you." The Emperor's brother batted his eyelashes at the unamused man.

"If the Emperor is the same way as you with someone he likes, the marriage is doomed." He replied dispassionately.

"Yes, ahem, well... Let's hope the two of them are still getting along when they arrive, shall we?" The brother said with a nervous chuckle.

*

The two engaged men were at an awkward impasse. The Emperor was not in trouble, but Du Fen was too embarrassed to speak to him. The Emperor on the other hand finally realised the boy didn't seem to like his wooing, and wasn't sure what to do anymore.

They really did barely know each other. Aside from a few points that they discussed along the way, and the feeling out of each other's characters, there was not much experience between the two of them. They weren't sure how to talk to each other at the moment, or what to talk about.

So they passed a few days with polite small talk that amounted to nothing, and proceeded to make the journey for the others quite tedious for the time being. The Emperor's men were somewhat hoping for a fight of some sort, so this was a let down.

"I'm surprised you let him pull a sword on you." The Captain muttered to the Emperor as they sat with a cup of tea. Du Fen had walked out of hearing range to grab another bowl of soup for lunch.

"So am I. I have to admit; he is nothing like what I expected." Jian Jun said with a glance in the boy's direction.

"What were you expecting?" The Captain asked curiously. That put a contemplative look on the ruler's face.

"Hmm, not sure. Maybe a court Ger? Or completely opposite, like the General?" He offered the two thoughts that popped into his head.

"He is like neither. Something in between, ah?" The Captain said with a grin. The Emperor didn't notice that Du Fen was returning and close enough to hear him.

"Yes, he is like neither. It is a relief. I think I could come to like him a lot." He took a sip of his tea, not seeing that Du Fen had stopped dead in his tracks behind him and was staring at the Emperor in surprise.

"How is the soup, Lord Du?" The Captain asked nonchalantly. The Emperor started at the words and turned his head to see the boy standing behind him.

"Ah, it's good. This is my second bowl." He recovered quickly and pretended he had not heard anything, smiling politely. The Emperor relaxed a bit, thinking he had not been found out talking about him behind his back.

"Yes, one of the Shadow guards is a good chef. I take him with me whenever I must go away for more than a week." The Emperor replied with a smile.

"I can understand why. Do you... uhm, that is... must you go away often?" Du Fen asked with a curious air. The Emperor's smile turned genuine.

"No, not very often. Only for special occasions." He looked at Du Fen significantly and the young man blushed, bowing his head in acknowledgement.

"I see. Thank you, then, Your Majesty." He looked away embarrassed and missed the affectionate look that the Emperor did not conceal.

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