The chandelier was in pieces where it had crashed to the ground with a shuddering shake of the ground. It's delicately shaped metal had broken in some parts and the crystals were in pieces and covering the ground with the softly glittering shards all around the room. Riccardo could see pieces all around where he'd dove for the ground to avoid the falling chandelier and considered himself lucky that they'd all avoided him some how. He'd been lucky in general to have quickly moved out of the way of its crash landing. No, he realized, looking up and in the direction of Leon. He couldn't see him around the chandelier and people crowded around the perimeter, but he knew where their eyes had met just moments before the chandelier had crashed to the ground. Moments before Leon had warned him in time to dive out of the way of the heavy thing falling on top of him. How had he known?

The ballroom came alive with people talking and moving and suddenly someone was hoisting Riccardo up with their hands under his arms, others crowding in around him.

"On your feet, Riccardo," came Ruben's voice from behind him.

Riccardo got his feet under him and quickly stepped away from his father's general.

"What happened?"

"How'd it fall?"

"Shoddy worksmanship has to be to blame."

"Are you alright?"

It was hard to tell who was saying what as everyone seemed to approach Riccardo at once, but the last question made him turn, unsurprised to see his mother there, his father at her side.

"He's fine," his father answered his mother before Riccardo could.

Erik came from out of nowhere at this moment and hugged Riccardo tightly and Riccardo put his hand on his brother's back.

"So much for a dance," someone was saying in the crowd.

"So much for the Night Mother blessing anything here tonight," someone else sniggered.

"You don't think someone caused this on purpose do you," someone else voiced.

"Silence," his father boomed the command and just like that everyone was hushed. "We will not be continuing our celebrations here, obviously," he continued. "The chandelier will need to be cleaned up before resuming any festitivites safely in the ballroom. I assure you you are all safe in my home in the mean time. I'll be conducting an investigation, but I doubt this was anything more than an unfortunate accident."

"We do apologize for the inconvenience," his mother added. "But the rest of the palace is well equipped for all of you to enjoy. I'd like to invite you all to mingle with each other in my parlor, my husband's very comfortable cigar lounge, the bar, and activity room downstairs." She looked pointedly from the slow and sweeping gaze she'd been giving as she addressed everyone, her eyes focusing on one point in particular. "The staff will all escort you and provide the best in hospitality our palace can provide." Riccardo didn't have to look to know it was either the butler or housekeeper she'd spotted.

"Thank you all for your flexibility as we field this accident," his father added. "If you'll see yourselves to the exits where our staff are already ready to escort you. We will join you all shortly."

Their guests were slow to do so, but they turned and began to filter out to the exits as instructed, their low roar of voices starting up again now that they'd been released to talk amongst themselves once more.

"That was so crazy you got out of the way so fast," Erik said and Riccardo looked down where his brother unpeeled himself from the hug, looking up at him. "But someone yelled to you. I heard it."

"Yes, someone did," their mother said. "The fae, wasn't it?"

"It was," a gruff voice added. Ivan had joined their grouping in the middle of the floor. "I told Luka to bring it to us."

"How did it know to warn you," Erik asked Riccardo.

"I don't know," Riccardo said, frowning in worry at hearing Luka was collecting Leon from the side of the room. "He just... did."

"Likely because he was the one to cause this," his mother said.

Riccardo turned, a brow furrowing. "How could he have?"

"Did you not study them in your history lessons," his father asked, disapprovingly.

"I had a wheelchair for a reason, you fucking prick!"

Riccardo looked at the sound of Leon's voice, watching as Luka held him up by the collar of his shirt so that he stumbled and limped on his broken leg towards them.

"There really was no need to lift him out of it," Arthur meanwhile said as he pushed the empty wheelchair after them.

Riccardo's eyes were drawn past them, however, to a smirking face that had stopped in the crowd. Mahvash was behind them, one of the last people still filing out behind everyone else. He may not have noticed her if she were not so far behind everyone else. Her moment of amusement at the scene unfolding among the Tenepris and the shattered chandelier lasted only a half a second before she turned and walked with the rest of her people to exit the ballroom.

A thud turned Riccardo's gaze again to where Leon had apparently been thrown down at his father's feet. Riccardo stepped forward towards Leon, but stopped at the hiss that escaped his father. His father's fangs were bared, dark eyes gleaming with warning. It rooted Riccardo to his spot.

"You brought the chandelier down, didn't you," his father asked, glaring down at Leon now that Riccardo had halted.

"I didn't do shit," Leon said, defiantly.

"Father, how could he have," Riccardo asked, finding courage to at least ask this.

"There is a reason the fae were hunted near to extinction, Riccardo," his father answered without lifting his gaze from Leon. "Their gifts from the sun goddess were not the only reason. Their light abilities are easily deflected, in fact. And, if that were all there was to be concerned about, humanity wouldn't have driven them away from their towns and helped hunt them."

"Humanity's full of supersitious assholes, that's why they helped," Leon spat.

Ivan stepped forward and smacked Leon so hard for that that his head whipped to the ground and hit it with a thud. Riccardo winced, and had to look away. Even if he tried to step in, it wouldn't really stop Leon from being hurt at this point. In fact, the likely outcome was that Leon would continue to be smacked around and Riccardo, too, would be hurt for attempting to stop it. And maybe this was for the better? Maybe Leon would learn to stop around certain people. Quiet was the only safe way to be outside of private spaces.

"As I was saying," Riccardo's father continued, "the fae have always been rumored to cause great devastation in their wake. Groups of them have been known to cause tornados, hurricanes, and wildfires. A single fae is not nearly so dangerous, but bringing a chandelier down is certainly in the realm of possibilities."

Riccardo slowly lifted his gaze, first letting his eyes linger over where Leon was partially propped up on one elbow, his other hand rubbing at where his head had no doubt smacked into the ground. From there, he looked further up at his father, brow furrowing. Was this true? Why would Leon bring a chandelier down over him if it were? A better question was why Leon would warn him he was bringing it down.

"It's never been safe to keep them alive for any extended period of time," his father went on. "You drain a fae for its blood, and you dispose of it. That is the way."

"We should kill it then, shouldn't we?"

Riccardo looked down at Erik, horror filling him at his brother's suggestion. "No," he yelled. Before he could think about it, he stepped forward, and had placed himself between his father and Leon. Rage flashed in his father's eyes, and Riccardo couldn't care less about it.

"Your highness, surely you can't mean to do that," Arthur spoke up. Riccardo wouldn't look away from his father, now, but he saw Arthur step forward from his peripherals. "There's so few left of them in the world, and there's a certain balance that is our responsibility to keep in this world. The Sun Goddess' people are as important to this world as The Night Mother's. It would disrupt -"

"That is enough, doctor," Ivan said. "Spare us the lecture. We all know what Archimedes' argument was at the summit."

"Dr. Seavers, you are dismissed," his father added. "Your medical expertise is not needed here, and I would hate for you to say something that may be interpreted as treason."

Riccardo felt his chest tighten at that. He had never had any reason to worry about Arthur's safety before. His father doing anything to Arthur had always felt so outside the realm of possibility that he had never even considered it a possibility. This wasn't even the first time Arthur had disagreed with his father about something. Arthur had stepped in many a time to argue on Riccardo's benefit for health reasons, and his father had never made any comments about it being treasonous before. Apparently, there was a limit to Arthur's influence in the house, and Riccardo hated to have witnessed where it was.

"Yes, your highness," Arthur said. Riccardo had finally looked away from his father and watched as the doctor bowed. "My apologies. I did not intend to overstep."

"See to it you don't do it again," his father said.

Riccardo swallowed, and could only watch as Arthur straightened from his bow, nodded, and went to exit the same way the guests had. His footsteps echoed in the now empty room, and Riccardo felt like some of his courage left with him. Still, he turned to his father, very aware of Leon on the ground behind him.

"I don't intend to kill this fae yet," his father went on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Their blood is too potent to waste, especially with the war reaching the high stakes that it has. The ambush on the road proved to me our enemy is feeling emboldened and we need more aggressive tactics if we are going to dissuade them from any further attacks. It's important to synthesize the fae's blood and find the properties that increase our physical abilities when we drink it."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Finella already thinks she knows what it is," Ivan added. "She just wants it healthy before she starts studying it."

Riccardo felt his blood run cold at the royal scientist's name. His fangs lengthened from his gums and a low hiss escaped him without his permission. "You are not letting Finella touch him," he growled.

His father reached out to grab at him and Riccardo dodged the attack with another hiss as he stepped into a protective crouch over Leon. His father's fist came at him, and he dodged that one, too, and took the opening to grab his father's wrist in a stranglehold. He jerked at it, and started to shift to bring his opposite leg up to kick his father away, but his father moved and pulled Riccardo off balance. This time, when a fist came his way, it landed into the soft flesh of Riccardo's belly, and all the air left Riccardo's lungs. He was thrown down and before he could even see it coming, a foot connected with his side and he flopped onto his back. Riccardo coughed, and sucked air in as his father stepped over him to look down.

"Do I have to remind you of your place," his father asked.

"No, sir," Riccardo just managed to wheeze.

"You must learn to get over this attachment to this fae you've been cultivating. For the good of your people and our family, its blood will be studied and then killed. That is what it is good for. Do you understand this?"

"Yes, sir," Riccardo answered. He didn't dare look at Leon.

"Take the fae to the dungeons," his father instructed. "And find me in my study to continue this lesson."

"Demetri, we have guests here," he heard his mother argue as he struggled to rise up, grimacing at the ache in his ribs from his father's food. "He needs to rejoin them."

"They can wait," his father growled.

"You shouldn't have argued with him." Riccardo glanced up at his brother's voice. Erik was looking at the ground, his brows knit together in anger. "You always argue with him and look what happens."

"Erik, dear, come here," their mother interjected before Riccardo could address his brother. He watched with an ache in his heart as Erik immediately went to join her.

"I'm taking Erik to go see to our guests," his mother said, sharply. Riccardo wasn't surprised that she was angry now. Now that she had to explain away Riccardo's disappearance from the party, and Riccardo couldn't help but feel more than a little bitter that this was when she decided to show any kind of displeasure at what had just transpired.

"Enjoy yourself," his father said, and added in the next breath, "Get up, Riccardo."

Riccardo let out a heavy breath, but got up to his feet. He finally dared to look down at Leon who he'd fallen besides, but the fae wasn't looking at him or anyone for that matter. Leon's face was still pointed down both elbows on the ground supporting him where he was otherwise laid out below them all. Under Leon's face, Riccardo was pretty sure he saw a drop of wet reflecting light off of it.

"Get the fae to the dungeons now," his father instructed again.

"Perhaps I should, my lord," Luka offered.

"No, Riccardo needs to do this," his father reaffirmed.

Riccardo wouldn't have wanted Luka taking Leon anywhere, anyways. He didn't want to take Leon to the dungeon himself, for that matter, but at least with him he knew Leon would not be abused the entire way.

"Come on, Leon. Get up," Riccardo said, offering a hand down for Leon to take.

Leon didn't look up. Didn't move.

"Get it up," his father instructed.

Riccardo's ears angled downwards. Don't make me have to do that, he thought at Leon.

"Get up," he tried again.

When Leon still didn't move, Riccardo clenched his jaw against what he knew he had to do next. It would be worse for both of them if he didn't do what his father said. He bent down to grab at Leon with one hand, and forced him up to his feet. To his surprise and relief, Leon didn't fight against him. Riccardo got Leon up and guided him to the wheelchair, glad when his father didn't protest against that decision. Leon sank down into it with a bowed head, almost ragdoll limp with the way his posture slumped in the chair.

Riccardo stepped up behind the chair. With only one good arm, pushing it was going to be awkward, but he grabbed onto the back and silently started to push Leon in it towards an exit.

"Meet me in my study," his father reminded him as Riccardo reached the exit of the ballroom.

"Yes, sir," Riccardo said, whisper-soft, knowing his father would still be able to hear it.

Riccardo didn't say a word as he wheeled Leon away from the ballroom, feeling grateful that Leon kept their silence as well. For a long stretch of time, the only sound between the two of them was Riccardo's footsteps echoing mutedly on the carpet and the sound of the wheels of Leon's chair turning. Riccardo knew he had to say something to Leon, but what? His mind was racing, spinning over what his father had said to him. He didn't know how, but he had to stop Finella from being allowed to study Leon. The idea sent cold dread through his body, and a tightness in his chest that made his breath heavier. How could he stop it, though? What power did he have to keep his father from doing what he wanted with Leon? He had to figure it out somehow. If the end goal was to kill Leon, he had to do something.

But then again, what if his father was right? If Leon had brought down a chandelier, hadn't it been the one directly over Riccardo's head? Out of all of them, why that one? And then, why had Leon warned him to move out of its way?

A sniffling sound made Riccardo's ears prick up suddenly, and he looked down at Leon in front of him. He couldn't see more than his blonde curls with the way his face was angled down into one of his hands. His whole body was tense, and as Riccardo watched, he saw him shudder.

Was he crying?

Riccardo's ears turned downwards and immediately he looked up and around them for somewhere safe to talk. There were always guards and servants just out of sight, but none would question him if he slipped into a room and closed the door. Thankfully, there was a sitting room overlooking the gardens just ahead, and Riccardo picked up the pace to steer Leon towards it.

The room he pushed Leon into was small with a round table on one side and two couches facing each other near a fire on the other. Most importantly, it was empty, though. Riccardo's ears pricked up as he listened once they were inside, but he could hear nothing but himself and Leon. He sniffed at the air as well, but all he could smell was the scent of the cleaner the servants used to dust with. Now that he was sure they had privacy here, he closed the door behind them.

"What're we doin' in here," Leon asked thickly.

Riccardo walked around to kneel in front of Leon. Leon had tears streamed down his face, and though he tried to look away to hide it, Riccardo could see his blue eyes were puffy and red, too.

"I needed to talk to you," Riccardo said, softly. "Keep your voice low. There's servants and guards all over the palace."

Leon sniffled. "Talk about what," he asked, bitterly. "Why even fucking bother talking to me? You're just gonna do what you're told, aren't you? Take me to the fucking - hell, why do you guys even have a dungeon?" He turned a hard gaze on Riccardo.

Riccardo was surprised by Leon's tone, and even more by the fire he was sure would have come out of Leon's eyes to turn him into ash on the spot.

"I... Um..." Riccardo's one good arm recoiled in towards his chest. "I can't do anything about the dungeon," he admitted, weakly.

"That's what I thought," Leon huffed, looking away again. "So why the fuck are you dragging this out?"

"If you hadn't brought down the chandelier, we wouldn't be in this mess, you know," Riccardo snapped back, defensively.

"Oh great, the fucking stereotyping is coming out from you, now, too," Leon said, rolling his eyes. He sniffled and wiped roughly at his tear stained cheeks.

Riccardo paused at those words, and tilted his head. "Stereoty-" His brows furrowed. "Did you not bring down the chandelier?"

Leon huffed softly. "I don't - shit." He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Look, what your dickhead dad said is right. My people are known as luck changers, but it's not an exact science. We used to have seers who studied everything that happened around us." He sniffled and wiped at his face more.

Riccardo finally reached into his pocket and pulled a handkerchief from inside to pass to Leon.

Leon stared at it for such a long moment that Riccardo was about to ask if he'd never seen one before, but then he took it and wiped at his nose.

"Thanks," Leon said. "Like I was saying, we used to have seers who studied that shit. Back when there was more of us. From what I know, it's damn near impossible to tell what's caused by us and what's not."

"So you didn't bring the chandelier down," Riccardo had to ask.

Leon sighed. "I don't know," he admitted. "I knew it was coming down, though. Maybe I did... You were about to choose someone to dance with and when you looked at me, you just looked -" He looked up and away. "I'm fucking stupid," he muttered.

Riccardo could feel heat rise in his cheeks at Leon mentioning their moment of eye contact in the ballroom. He looked down as his fingers traced around the collar of his shirt. "I just... I didn't want to dance," he confirmed. "And I saw you and was thinking about talking to you in the clinic and how much better I felt talking to you than I would dancing with a stranger and... um..."

It had been stupid, really. He'd caught himself when he'd taken a step in Leon's direction; had had to question himself and what he was doing in front of everyone. The Hell he would have paid if he'd let himself walk to Leon in the middle of the ballroom... He didn't even want to know. Mahvash's comments on the road already hung over his head and surely in his father's mind, too. He didn't want Leon's company in that way, though. He just hadn't ever had a friend like Leon before. In his moment of stress and discomfort on the dance floor, he'd wanted the safer company that Leon provided.

"Yeah, well, that doesn't really matter, does it," Leon muttered. "Gonna die here, now. Never gonna see sunlight again, grass... my family..."

Riccardo turned around in time to see Leon's lip tremble before he folded over himself and buried his face into his hands. His body lurched with obvious sobs. Riccardo felt that sense of helplessness again, heart aching for the other man.

Riccardo reached a hand tentatively out, watching it shake in the air where he let it hover above Leon for a moment. When he finally let it fall to rest on Leon's shoulder, Leon tensed for a moment under him and Riccardo immediately recoiled again.

"N-no... Leave it," Leon asked.

Riccardo wordlessly put his hand back on Leon's shoulder and scooted closer to the base of Leon's chair. "I'm not going to let you die, Leon," he promised, softly. "You're... You've been more of a friend to me in a week than anyone has to me in fifty years. If you did make the chandelier fall, and it was to keep me from having to dance in front of all those people, then you're the only person I've ever had willing to do something like that for me."

"I b-believe it. P-people here fucking suck," Leon agreed. "How're you g-gonna do anything, th-though?"

"I don't know," Riccardo admitted. "But I'm going to get you out of here. There has to be something... some way..."

Leon lifted his head until their eyes met. "You have to get me out, Riccardo," he said. "Please."

Riccardo leaned slowly back to sit on his heels, his hand retracting away from Leon. "I don't know... Leon, I'm not sure -"

"I know you're afraid -"

"I'm not afraid," Riccardo argued defensively.

"I've been seeing you cower to your dad this whole time," Leon said, sitting up a little straighter. "I get it. I know what it's like to be under someone's thumb like that."

"You don't understand," Riccardo said, shaking his head. How could Leon?

"I do more than you could ever know," Leon said. "This isn't the whole world, Riccardo. There's so much out there not under your dad's control. Places you'd be free to do what you wanted and people who'd let you be yourself. You could leave with me, you know? Get me out and come with me. Hell, I'd need your skills on the road to get home safe, anyways."

Riccardo looked away from Leon. He knew this kind of life wasn't the norm. The books he'd grown up reading about fanciful tales from outside the palace walls of bravery and loyalty and love... They'd always felt so unattainable; foolish, even, to even think about. And it would be foolish, now, to entertain the idea that he could ever be anything more than his father's soldier and heir. Besides, it wasn't like he would just leave his brother behind! Erik's terrifying words for killing Leon still bounced around in his head. Erik needed him here.

"I can't, Leon," he said, softly. "I'm sorry."

He heard Leon sigh softly, and with it, Riccardo could imagine how crushed he looked. Leon wasn't the first person he had disappointed, but he was the worst.

"Yeah, okay," Leon said, softly.

"I'll find another way," Riccardo promised, weakly.

"Sure you will," Leon mumbled.

Tears stung at Riccardo's eyes that he quickly worked on blinking away.

"Let's just get moving, now, huh," Leon asked. "Your dad's waiting for you to do whatever he's gonna do."

Riccardo winced, but slowly rose to his feet. Wordlessly, he walked around behind Leon's chair and grabbed one of the handles. They spent the rest of the trip down to the dungeon in miserable silence. Even when they had to leave the chair at the top of the stairs downwards and Riccardo let Leon lean heavily onto him to descend, neither of them said a word to each other.

Riccardo only broke the silence when they got to a cell. "This... There's a bed in there. Do you want me to get you to it?"

"Sure," Leon muttered.

Riccardo walked with the hobbling Leon to the thin-mattress bed in the room and helped him sink down onto it. The way Leon reached his hand out, feeling his way confirmed for Riccardo that he couldn't see a lick.

"You can go now," Leon said as soon as he was seated on the bed.

"I can stay a moment and see if I can get you -"

"Just go, Riccardo," Leon cut him off.

Riccardo winced again, ears heavily drooping on the sides of his head. It didn't feel right to just leave Leon even if his friend was demanding it. "I could -"

"Go," Leon said, more sharply, looking up and glaring at Riccardo's direction.

Riccardo stepped to the cell door. "I'll figure something out," he promised again for all it was worth. He grabbed the cell door and ignored the shame that rose in him as he closed it on Leon. He wasn't sure if he'd ever done anything worse in his life as he turned and walked away.

I won't let them kill you, Leon, he promised in his head. I'll figure this out. I have to. I can.