Unable to use the town as a rendezvous point, they were forced to set up camp a handful of miles away from the soldiers’ encampment. From the point they had left and until they arrived and after Linias was eerily quiet. He had always been the silent sort but Revi knew with absolute certainty that his silence wasn’t of his usual sort.
In all honesty, Revi did feel guilty, and something told her Haetia didn’t on the other hand and nor did he notice or care about his own retainer’s mental state. She wanted to find an opportunity to check in on him but she couldn’t find a single chance to do so until after they settled down.
“Master,” were the first words the retainer spoke since then, “We’re going to scout out their camp. Please stay here.”
The ivory prince rolled his eyes and folded his arms: defiant acceptance as always.
Without so much as a sigh or even a slightly longer inhale, Linias grew a few shrubs and trees around to camouflage the horses and his Master. He didn’t so much as even indicate for Revi to follow, only silently walking away which she had to assume to do so.
As soon as she opened her mouth to speak, Linias cut her off – unknowingly or knowingly she didn’t know.
“The buildings are made out of wood, so we’ll go with the plan that I discussed with you before.”
Revi wanted to ask how he could tell if they hadn’t even arrived yet but she assumed it was his vines or something of the sort.
Those were the only words he spoke until they reached the encampment, or rather a safe distance from it. The pair climbed a high reaching tree in order to get a better look.
“There is a siren with them. In that building.” He pointed to one of the barracks closer to the outskirts. “Make it seem like an accident. Sirens get dehydrated if they’re exposed to fire, heat, or smoke, so they’ll likely leave to the lake nearby. I’ll meet them there and catch them.”
Before Revi could confirm or deny the plan or even ask any questions she might’ve had Linias already leapt down from the tree and began walking back.
Nearly having enough of his antics, she rushed to catch up to him and clear things up before tensions got any worse.
“Hey–! Linias wait up–”
He didn’t even turn around but considering he ever so slightly slowed his pace he was at least mildly listening.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about…Elena. Their daughter.”
Linias’s tone was distant and disdainful as he continued to not even glance in her general direction. “Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to her parents. Apologize to the town.”
“Do you think I was just so oh-so eager to burn other people’s children?!”
“You had a choice.”
“And I chose the harder one! That’s something they never would’ve been able to do!” Her locks started to ignite until she strangely enough calmed herself for once and stopped walking. “Linias, look at me.”
Begrudgingly, the retainer stopped and turned.
“Sometimes you have to do what you have to, even if it’s not exactly the right thing to do.”
For the first time since the previous town, Linias’s expression and demeanor returned to normal as he donned a somewhat confused twitch in his silver-hazel eyes.
“As in?”
“Like what just happened. You’re right, the right thing to do was to let her parents choose what to do, but she had to die and was already going to, whether her parents realize it in their lifetime or not. Either we do it ourselves and let them see us as a bunch of heartless outsiders or they end up dying the same way eventually.”
His visage constricts more as if her words were driving a knife through his optimism.
“Look, you’ve probably done a lot of bad things, maybe killed people that you may not have wanted to for the sake of protecting Haetia, right?”
Linias doesn’t directly answer but his pained expression is enough.
“It’s the same thing. At least in short terms…” Revi paused, collecting her courage before continuing, “I do feel guilty, a thousand times more than I make it seem. But someone had to do it, even if that means having to bear that weight for the rest of my life. I would rather be known as a heartless murderer in their eyes than let a parent have to decide between burning their child with their own hands to end the pain or to watch them die slowly. Especially because…”
She gathers herself again. “...Around the time I was born my clan went through one of the worst winters they’d ever seen. Killed a lot of us. Because of that not many of them had children since not many survived–Really was just me and Andrae in the end, he’s like a brother to me. But point being…my dad was old and…well you can guess haha. Not the best sight for a kid. Not just my old man but everyone else–I mean you get the point.” The fire elemental smiled weakly.
Finally understanding her side and her actions, Linias shifts from bitterness, to comprehension, and finally to sorrow, as hardly visible all those emotions were.
“Then I’m sorry, for getting upset.”
“Don’t be sorry, your feelings are just as valid as mine and you had every right to be pissed about it. I just didn’t want you thinking that I was sitting on the edge waiting for a chance to–you know.”
“Yeah...Regardless, thank you.”
The fire spirit blinked several times over. “Woah, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say something so casually, let alone thank someone!”
Linias goes back to a slight scowl.
“N-Not like that, it would honestly be more impressive if your ‘master’,” she air quotes, “apologized for anything ever.”
The half-assed joke managed to incredibly surprisingly get a scoff out of him.
“Ah! Was that a laugh I almost heard?!”
Immediately he shook his head, causing Revi to go on a teasing fit about his stone-faced attitude.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
She used to find it difficult to speak to him with how distant and in his own world he always acted, but she was getting there. Some steps forward were better than none.
----------------------------------------
To avoid a smoke trail from their camp fire, Revi had instead placed a small ball of flame over a slab of stone, strictly telling them to start getting to sleep since it would go out over the night without her magic maintaining it.
Though, as per usual, Linias was left as the only one awake.
Instead of it being for the purpose of his duty, it was due to his inability to forget the sight of Elena. Fragments of her body falling one after another like a decomposing clay doll–
Just recalling the image was enough to send chills down his spine and make his hairs stand. To some degree he could see Revi’s point of view: that it was necessary. Someone needed to take the downfall and she decided for it to be her–or them as a whole due to guilt by association.
It hurt to watch the flames of Revi’s makeshift campfire. Within them he saw everything he wished he could forget. Elena. Haetia’s home. And…
His eyes failed him somewhere along the way. Maybe it was his body’s way of forcing him to rest. Rest and forget.
Rest and forget…
Eyelids heavy, Linias wasn’t sure if he should force himself awake or continue to sleep…but…something felt strange.
That fragrant scent his Master once had was present though not as potent as before and he felt exceedingly hot. The fire Revi made was no larger than an average sized fist so it was near impossible for it to be generating this much heat, not to mention the fact that he could tell it had dimmed from when it was initially lit like Revi said it would. Only a fraction of its light remained and barely illuminated Linias’s otherwise struggling eyes.
Now that his senses were starting to gather, he noticed that he felt…damp. Or rather, down there felt damp and–
He blinked hard a few times to force himself awake and unblur his sight. Whatever was going on right now he came to the conclusion was not worth ignoring.
Vision finally clearing, he slowly absorbed his surroundings. Everyone was still asleep–everyone, save Haetia who was straddling him, riding his dick.
…Wait.
“M-Master..!?” Linias attempted to sit up but was immediately shoved back down.
Haetia had that same feverish haze in his expression as before: melted eyes and cheeks in a full flush.
“I couldn’t wait~! You were just laying there so vulnerably~”
His Master wasn’t wearing any pants but otherwise was fully dressed. As if he wasn’t caught at all, Haetia continued to oscillate his hips in a rhythm he already discovered to be comfortable.
“W-Wait–!” Again Linias tried to get up but was pushed back all the same.
“Ah-ah-ah! I’ve already gotten this far hehe…ah~!” Haetia whimpered by the end of his sentence and consequently Linias’s heart leapt out of his chest.
In a hushed yell he reprimanded, “Sire, we can’t be doing this–...!” His statement was forced to end in a gasp as Haetia continued to ignore him. If anything, the speed of his drops only seemed to increase.
“Hha~..! But–I reeaaalllyyy wanted you…”
That same purr matched by a lust-crazed smile. He’d never acted like this with any of his other sexual partners, Linias knew that for a fact since probably anyone could smell this aromatic aphrodisiac from several meters away and he would’ve HAD to have known if Haetia emitted it before. Not to mention the fact his father or Dharax would’ve mentioned it somewhere along the line–though with the recent events concerning Elena now he wasn’t so sure.
Even Linias had to admit that it felt amazing inside of him but he couldn’t let his libido–or rather forced libido–get the better of him. Someone had to be the sensible one between the two of them and the job always fell on him.
“Summer and Oliver are–sleeping, and Revi as well–! We can’t–”
“I hope they catch us, wouldn’t that be hot? Mhmn~ah~!” As if getting caught up in the fantasy of it all, Haetia’s moan mixed with a chuckle.
At the sound of rustling Linias’s fear skyrocketed, then he looked to his left to see that Revi was still fast asleep. She had to be a severely deep sleeper to sleep through all of this. The horses though? Linias knew they were awake with how animals usually were and likely pretending to be asleep just to make him feel better. He was going to have to go on another apology spree tomorrow, not just to Oliver and Summer but to the surrounding vegetation too.
Haetia sped up the rising and falling of his rear until it reached the point of making an audible squelch every time it made contact with the base of his retainer’s shamefully stiff cock.
The pale prince purposefully shifted his vibrato to that of an escort before purring once more, “Tell me you like it, Linias? Ahh-~!!”
Tongue tied and twisting, Linias wasn’t sure how to respond so his expression stumbled a few times before his words came to him. “I-I do–”
“Is this how you are when you aren’t acting sexy for me? Hehe~”
He impishly spread his hands across his wide torso, absorbing every curve of his muscles before sliding his hands under his sweater for a more thorough caress. Then, he encouraged Linias to caress his thighs in order to share the sensation.
“I much–pref-fer it when you act all–sexy, but this-is fine too–ffha~!”
In the middle of his statement he climaxed, not even realizing how close he was to reaching that point in the first place, nor how close Linias was as well.
Guilt overran the retainer in a flash. This time while his Master was still exasperated he swept him off his feet and dragged a canteen of water with them, taking him where no one could see them.
He leaned Haetia’s back against the bark then knelt down, using the water and his fingers to help remove the semen he had accidentally left within. Haetia squirmed a bit here and there but otherwise wasn’t resisting at all.
A mixture of concern and distress weaving the knit of his brows, Linias swallowed a sigh. “Master, I don’t mind if you do things like this when I’m asleep, but you’re free to wake me up. And please, not around other people.”
“I’m sure you’d give me some random safety related reason just to have your way, so I’ll pretend I’m listening, hmm?”
His overzealous lust seemed to have calmed down but he wasn’t back to his normal self yet considering he smiled at Linias.
It was…dangerous, to think of Haetia of anything more than his Master and he his servant. Linias never did, but for an eeevvveerrr so slight moment, he thought that Haetia had a beautiful smile.
Whatever was going on in his Prince’s mind had to have been in the same field as he slowly knelt down to a little above his servant’s eye-level for a kiss. It started as a light peck, but the moment they separated their slitted eyes silently spoke to each other and they leaned in for another, then another and another.
Haetia’s arms found their way around his retainer’s neck, and he his Master’s waist. Their faint trade devolved into more passionate exchanges as they shared their taste with one another for an unknown amount of time. All they knew was that they wanted to continue to feel the other indefinitely. Their touch, their skin against their own, their warmth–or chill in Haetia’s case. Until they reached the point of satisfaction or their senses came back to them, whichever occurred first. But when they finally parted, they parted for the night.
Linias looked the full length of his Prince, remembering that he wasn’t wearing his shorts. “Let me dress you for bed, Master.”
Haetia wiped the slight moisture around his lips with the back of his hand, still a little flustered. “R-Right.”
It was probably for the best, this silent, mutual agreement that they shared. Linias especially knew this for a fact. No emotions, it was what Dharax always engraved into his mind.
The winter-touched prince watched his retainer walk ahead then quickly shook his head and dismissed any suggestive thoughts with it.
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