Shane had enough. Ever since he came to this country, although it wasn't that long, he hadn't done anything useful. His current post was that of a sex toy for the sadistic prince, which was really not in his preferences. However, no matter how he looked at it, he couldn´t find an opportunity to fulfill his own duties. He knew that Nielle wasn't going to let him do anything under his surveillance and Shane tried to think about a way to get rid of it. On the one hand, because Nielle was really holding him back, on the other hand, because he was getting really exhausted.
He wasn't mentally weak, and he wasn't going to submit after a few rapes like he saw on the Lacrisans in the upper room. However, it didn´t change the fact that he was still only a human, and his body was beginning to feel its own limits. Especially because of the loss of blood, which he hadn´t had time to replenish since the ambush.
He was trying to think of the best way to change his situation, and although he had been trying to do so all along, right now, when Nielle was fucking him with a weird vibrating toy, he was trying even harder. He had a feeling that he would go crazy otherwise. He needed something to focus on, but no matter how much effort he put in, in the end he still felt the sensations from his stuffed ass shooting into all his nerves.
Nielle didn't seem to be disappointed that he didn't say a word about his goal in Rinsel. He was still having fun with his body and Shane without knowing how long it would last, at times felt like he was losing consciousness.
After his first orgasm into prince's mouth, Nielle didn't let him come again. Although Shane hated the feeling of his luck being transferred in this disgusting way, torture with pleasure with preventing orgasm was enough to make his self-control disappear...literally. Especially when he was fucked by something he had never experienced before.
"Nghaaah! Ahh! Aaaah-ágh!" he gasped, eyes closed, trying to ignore Nielle's taunts as he violently tortured him.
"You won't answer because your masochistic ass likes it?" Nielle joked and amusedly thrust the toy all the way into Shane's ass. Lacrisan only clenched his teeth painfully and when the movement was repeated, he screamed shrill.
"AAAAAH!" he tried to take a deep breath as a wave of heat shot from his prostate to his cock. However, it stopped painfully before it could get any further because of the tightly tied ribbon on the base of his dick.
"Nghá-áágh!" he moaned and jerked his hands cuffed above his head with all his strength. He was shaking all over, despite the amount of saliva in his mouth he felt like he was going to collapse from thirst and was currently putting all his self-control into the effort to resist the urge to squeeze his thighs together and rub them a little to make his cock move at least a bit.
He had no idea how long they were already doing it, but he had the feeling that if Nielle won't let him come, he would forget his mission and really kill him at night. Even if he knew he couldn't.
"Would you like to come?" Nielle teased, gripping his hard cock in his palm. Once the grip tightened, Shane let out a growl through gritted teeth. Nielle smiled as he pressed Shane's tip, running his fingers over his glans and chuckling contentedly as Shane let out a desperate cry. The subsequent pathetic moans he let out made Nielle laugh.
"Do you like it better when it hurts?" the prince massaged his glans with his thumb amused.
"B-bastard…ágh…I will kill…ágh..you…ágh...ah-ah!" Shane tried to ignore Nielle's hand on his hard cock. His entire crotch burned incredibly as he felt like his testicles were going to explode. Still, Nielle didn't let go of his cock, but gripped it tighter, until it hurt Shane worse than the vibrator itself in his ass. Even so the prince didn't look like he wanted to show his exhausted Lacrisan any mercy.
"Kill me? I think the more I play with you, the hornier and more daring you are…you little masochist." Nielle laughed, pulling his palm back and slapping him roughly across his cock.
"AAAAgh!" Shane screamed as his hard dick flared with new pain.
"At least you don't object," Nielle was amused.
Shane glared at him, "I'm not-ágh..masochist-ngh!" he growled.
Although it wasn't entirely true, he didn't have to admit it to Nielle...plus, his form of masochism wasn't so much associated with pleasure as it was with relief, so he didn't count it as masochism. Not that he sees any form as wrong. Shane believed that anything that can help a person overcome a difficult time is appropriate and beneficial. For example, Nielle's murder would really help him right now.
"I see," Nielle was playing with his body and again clasped his penis in his palm.
Shane had no idea how long he continued in this position, with the vibrator in his ass, the ribbon on his cock, and the prince sadistically playing with his body before Nielle got tired of it and turned the thing off in his ass.
Shane was just breathing heavily, his erection burned wildly with no signs of release and he wondered if they were done. However, Nielle's satisfied expression gave him enough answer that he wasn't. The prince went to the end of the ropes attached to the wall and released them. Shane's knees buckled and he fell to the ground exhausted.
He just lay there for a while, trying to blink away the fog that appeared before his eyes, and when he managed to do so, he tried to sit up with his wrists tied. A sharp pain immediately hit his ass, after which he just hissed softly and supported himself.
Nielle stopped right in front of him and looked down on him with a smile, "You look adorable when you're tame," he joked.
Shane gave him an irritated look, but since he didn't have much energy to react, he just took a deep breath. At least he calmed down his pounding heart a little and slowly looked at Nielle.
"I'm tired...you had your fun. How about you let me go to sleep? In exchange, I won't cause you any trouble for the next few days," he promised.
Nielle looked at him in disbelief for a moment before laughing out loud, "Trouble? You won´t cause any trouble for me?" he was amused, "What trouble do you think some Lacrisan can cause that it would hurt me?" he bent down and roughly grabbed his hair.
Shane raised his arms in defence and tried to soften Nielle's grip, but it wasn't the best try with his wrists. Nielle gripped his hair even more harshly. Shane clenched his eyelids, but just then, a piercing pain hit his crotch as Nielle's foot pushed hard into his erection. Shane screamed in pain as his hard cock pressed against his belly. He could just clench his teeth shakily and try to stop the prince.
Nielle, however, only intensified the pressure of his foot on Shane's crotch, "I'm really wondering...how in your situation are you able you think that you can threaten me somehow...and impose conditions," he pushed harder, causing Shane to let go his hand in his hair and try to shake his leg off his cock.
"AAAAAAGH!" he screamed, to which Nielle only responded with an amused laugh and a rougher movement of his foot on his cock.
"Don't you like it? I get the impression that this makes you even harder? Are you teasing me because you want more?" Nielle knew that wasn't true, but he was thoroughly enjoying the idea.
Shane endured his sadistic amusement for a while longer before the prince finally removed his foot from his erection.
"You're not going to sleep...but I'm very curious about the ingenuity you'll come up with creating trouble," he laughed and roughly grabbed Shane's handcuffed arms. He began dragging him to the narrow iron table that only one person could be chained to. Shane didn't even resist when Nielle already pulled him on top of it positioned on his back. At least he knew that nothing was going to be shoved up his ass again, which was a relief for him. So he didn't object.
He knew that it would only prolong his time in this disgusting room, and he clearly didn´t want that. His penis was still hard, drops of pre-ejaculate were running down its length, and he had the impression that if Nielle had loosened the ribbon, he would have come even without stimulation.
However, he knew that he was about to get too much stimulation. Looking at Nielle who had slowly removed his clothes and placed them on the bed next to him, he sighed inwardly.
"You should thank me, your ass will get a chance to regenerate for a moment." Nielle laughed and lightly ran his cock with his hand before moving closer to Shane and straddling his whipped thighs.
"All Rinselans can talk so superior when they're about to stuff a cock up their asses or is that your specialty?" Shane asked.
Nielle laughed, "Who knows, no one else will get your luck, until I think that you will need a similar re-education, so you won't find out...but I don't think you are stupid enough to think that the position in sex determines superiority," he laughed and strongly gripped Shane's cock in his palm, getting a pained grunt from him, "whatever position we're in...I own you...not the other way around." he declared.
Shane didn't answer as his cock was in NieIle's palm and he didn't want more torture when he didn't have to.
Shane gently closed his eyes for a moment and tried to get somewhere in his mind where he wasn't waiting for a long night in a hideous red room. However, the clear touch on his tip was enough to tell him that he couldn't. He only looked again at Nielle, who with a satisfied expression on his face, lightly positioned his ass over his cock. Shane had no idea how he got prepared, when...if at all, but his entrance wasn't unbearably tight or dry, so he figured that his cock really wasn't going to cause Nielle any pain.
"NGH!" Shane gritted his teeth as his gland penetrated Nielle's hole into the prince's hot insides, wrapping around his dick and making him gasp painfully at how sensitive his erection was.
"I know, first class, right?" Nielle laughed and slowly lowered himself down Shane´s length.
He smiled softly as Shane's cock slipped deeper inside him. He moved forward lightly, trying to give himself some pleasure on that side as well. He lowered himself even more accompanied by the Shane´s moans beneath him as his entire member burned. But his hurt voice only excited Nielle more and more, so he gradually lowered himself onto Shane´s cock almost entirely. Shane's nature hit his prostate, Nielle slightly opened his mouth and sat on Shane's thighs. He stayed like that for a moment, slowly circling his hips.
Although Nielle was enjoying the pleasant filling of his insides, Shane underneath him was the greatest satisfaction, as his shivers showed how uncomfortable he was.
However, Nielle wasn´t going to mess with the gentle approach for long, so after a while he pushed himself up and sat down back sharply.
"Agh-ágh!" Shane screamed, the burning pleasure that shot through his body with each of Nielle's movements, as if a hot palm was pumping his cock. But it wasn't a palm, it was Nielle's ass, which, although he didn't want to admit it, were really perfect. Not too tight, not too loose...Nielle obviously knew just what to do to drive him insane in no time while also bringing himself the pleasure that Shane could see in his satisfied half-smile.
He couldn't stand it, he was trembling as Nielle began to mount his cock harder, as he accelerated his riding and when he added soft moans to it, Shane had the impression that his cock was going to explode despite the obstacle. The sight of Nielle's body was exciting, as much as he hated him, as much as he wanted to kill him, the natural reaction to having the handsome young prince ride his cock was excitement.
"Ahh..." Nielle breathed out satisfied, after which Shane only violently shook his handcuffed hands and tried to pull out of Nielle.
But the prince just placed his hands on his abdomen and continued, "Where do you think you go?" he asked and roughly sat down on his hard cock. He tilted his head slightly, how precisely Shane's cock hit him and after a while of repeating the self-pleasuring movements, he decided that he wanted something more.
"Do you want to come, Lacrisan?" Nielle asked.
Shane just gritted his teeth as he didn't want to admit how much he craved it…though at the same time the thought of the pain of giving his luck into Nielle's body terrified him.
"It doesn't really matter...you don't decide," Nielle smiled and reached his fingers to the ribbon at the base of Shane's cock. He loosened it in one fell swoop, forcing Lacrisan to gasp loudly and subconsciously thrust upwards.
"Aagh!" Nielle jumped up on his penis in surprise and in a second pushed Shane's body down sharply. He held him tight on the bench and glared at him in anger, "You move on your own one more time and I'll castrate you." he snarled threateningly, causing Shane to blink in surprise.
"I don't understand you," he said after a while, "you want sex... you stuffed it in you by yourself-" he started, but Nielle only put a finger to his lips in irritation.
"Shh...I said... you're going to thrust in me without permission one more time... and you'll lose your balls," he said.
Shane didn't understand at all, but since it was subconscious before and he had no plans to cooperate with Nielle at all, it wasn't a hard thing for him.
When it looked like Shane understood, Nielle pulled his fingers from his lips. He gently leaned against Shane´s body and started moving on his cock again.
He circled his hips on his hard penis, enjoying the satisfaction it brought him. While Nielle seemed satisfied again, Shane tried not to come right away. But it wasn't in his power, so after Nielle increased the pace of his riding on his cock, after the massaging of his hard dick deep in Nielle's ass became faster, he didn't even have time to object, when he came into the prince's body with a loud scream.
"AAAAGH!" he cried out after the initial horny moan as the thrill of his orgasm was followed by pain as his luck left his body and went into Nielle.
Nielle sighed in pleasure as he kept moving at the same time. He could feel the rush of energy, the rush of what he needed, and at the same time he was riding Shane's cock to make himself come. He didn't stop even after Shane started to protest, and even after he started shaking his head and verbally objecting to how his cock was despite remaining hard too sensitive. Nielle, however, continued to ride him, staring sadistically into his pain-contorted face and reaching for the climax whit a beautiful sight Shane was offering him.
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"ÁGH-stop! AGh-agh!" Shane tried to get out from under Nielle, but he was moving too fast on top of him, so he didn't get a chance.
However, it didn't take long at all for his body to react naturally. Nielle quickens his movements, his ass pressing harder and harder against Shane's hard cock, the sounds of skin slapping against skin getting louder and Nielle's breathing deepening as he nears orgasm. Shane just gritted his teeth as he, looking at a horny Nielle, began to feel excitement again instead of pain.
However, despite Nielle's way of self-fucking with his dick, he didn't have time to do so, as Nielle came before him. At one point, Nielle closed his eyes in delight, fell silent for a few seconds and, as if he could no longer perceive anything else, took his own penis in his palm. He complemented the riding on Shane´s cock with a fast handjob that brought him to orgasm in a matter of seconds, accompanied by a soft sigh full of pleasure.
Shane was looking at him the whole time for some reason, even though he was sick inside of what he was doing here. His chest was covered in cum and after Nielle continued with his slow work for a little while after his ejaculation, he was completely hard again.
"Ah," Nielle looked satisfied, "a bench is always better than a bed." he laughed and slowly git up himself, dislodging Shane's cock.
Shane was still hard, but he didn't say anything...he didn't even know what he would say...he was both physically tired and pissed off at himself for even letting the sight of Nielle excite him...especially when he knew what a jerk Nielle was.
Nevertheless, he was filled with the desire to break free from the ropes, punch Nielle, send him to the ground and fuck him until he would never sit down voluntarily again, anywhere... not on someone else's cock. Especially when he found out how opposed Nielle is to someone else's initiative in sex. Shane couldn't wait for the moment when their positions will turn in his favor.
"Nghá!" Shane gasped suddenly as he felt the touch on his cock again. Nielle just turned his back to him and positioned himself over his hard member again.
"I'm going to get as much luck out of you as I can today, Lacrisan," Nielle laughed contentedly and sat down again in a new position on Shane's cock.
Shane gritted his teeth and closed his eyelids as he realized he was in for a long night...and he was right.
***
As they tried to leave the village, Ylre spotted a group of guards standing by the road they had taken to get here during the day. He found it strange that he hadn't seen any so far, but since he didn't feel like dealing with them and Rue didn't look like he was in the mood to fight...plus Ylre wasn't going to let him do anything like that again, they returned to the village.
Fortunately, it had a smaller bathhouse where they could wash and eat something for dinner. Ylre knew that Rue wouldn't go into public bath areas, so he automatically bought entry to the private bath and waited in the changing room in front of it. Just like a guard.
A few guys walked by as it was unusual for anyone other than women to rent out private spaces, but one hostile look from Ylre quickly made them disappear. Ylre was sure that if he hadn't been sitting there, at least one or two would have peeked inside, the thought of which was enough to fill him with aggression.
When Rue was done, Ylre took turns with him, and after dinner they went back to the teahouse´s room, where they could sleep.
Despite the late hour, the shop was still open, even without customers. The owner was just sitting at the counter drinking tea as if he was waiting for them.
"Where have you been?" he asked when he caught sight of them.
"It´s not your problem," Ylre said and went upstairs to the room.
"In the bath and at dinner," Rue smiled at the salesman and followed Ylre.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind them, Ylre nodded to the bed, "You can take it for the night...I'll sleep on the floor," he said.
"No need," he objected, "yesterday you gave the bed to me, I'm grateful to you...today, you can sleep in the bed." he smiled.
"I don't have a problem sleeping on the floor," said Ylre.
"I'll sleep anywhere too... for a long time I slept on more uncomfortable place than the ground in a nice village," he laughed.
Ylre looked at him for a while: "In that case, it's just one more reason to sleep on the bed. Go enjoy it."
Since Ylre didn't give in to persuasion, Rue sighed softly, "In that case, we will decide according to the will of Luck," he said.
Ylre blinked softly, as he never got used to that the highest Infeys associate everything with Luck, "No," he disagreed.
Rue blinked, "Why not?"
Ylre knew that Rue would lose, but he didn't mean to say so. It was clear to him that Rue was aware of this fact and was proposing it on purpose.
"Because... you deserve it more, you arranged a ride for us," Ylre said, as Rue approached the seller with the car first.
"Without you, we wouldn't even know where we're going," Rue smiled and said, "So let's play some games... we'll decide by its result. What do you say?" he said.
Ylre stared at him for a moment without saying a word. He didn't say anything out loud, but one sentence flashed through his mind:
"Do you still like games so much?" he wondered, "Even if you don't win them anymore?" Ylre wanted to ask but knew he couldn't.
"Do you really want to a game?" he asked again and seeing Rue nod enthusiastically, he tried, "Why? Didn't you say you were unlucky?"
"It doesn't matter what the result is," he smiled, "the game isn´t just to find out your luck...games are fun. We enjoyed it last time with the card, didn´t we?"
Ylre stared at him for a while before reaching into the inner pocket of his robes and thinking for a moment. In a world where luck was everything, games of luck weren't primarily a source of entertainment...they were primarily a competition to compare the luck of two people. They were able to decide on smaller or more serious matters…sometimes the game could decide the life of the players, and there was even a case in the past when it was decided by a dice roll which prince from the triplets would ascend the throne after the king. Games of chance weren't fun...not in their world.
Still, Rue was the only one who didn't really play them with ulterior motives. Never...whether at the time he knew he would win or currently knowing that he wouldn´t.
Ylre slowly took out two dice from his pocket. He held out his hand to Rue and asked, "Do you recognize them?"
Rue stared at his hand for a moment, thinking. The dices were beautiful...one black with gold dots, the other gold with black dots. He felt like he had seen them before, he felt like he should answer with nod…but he didn´t lie and since he wasn't sure, he said, "I know the game." He nodded.
Ylre smiled softly with a wave of disappointment in his eyes and sat down at the table opposite the bed, "How many rounds?" he asked.
"As long as it's fun," Rue said contentedly and sat down.
Ylre placed the dice on the table: "You go first?"
"May I?" Rue gently took the dices. They were quite heavy, unusually, and Rue felt again as if he had held them before.
But he didn't want to delay, so he just happily threw them. The dice rolled for a while before stopping at the numbers 4 and 4.
"Nice," Ylre praised.
Rue nodded slightly, "Strange," he said.
"Why?" Ylre asked.
"I think my current numbers are less than 1 and 1," he laughed.
"Maybe you're luckier than you think," Ylre suggested.
"I don't think so," Rue smiled softly and added, "but my injury is healing better today...it's almost healed...I don´t know what's going on but I feel really nice and comfortable. Is it weird? I didn´t have this felling for a while now." he clarified and gently touched his chest, where he could feel a pleasant warmth.
"What´s weird about it? It's normal for your luck to fluctuate…sometimes it'll increase just because you're in the right part of the country." he explained. Ylre wasn't lying though, it was true that the Lacrisan's state of luck depended on where they were…and though that wasn't Rue's case, he couldn't tell him why he was temporarily luckier than before.
"Really?" he didn't know and when Ylre nodded, he smiled, "Thank you...I was scared that something happened at home," he laughed, "You can go now."
Ylre wasn't surprised that Rue was worried that something had happened in Infey. If Supreme Infey's luck status changed, it always meant some trouble with the resource...and since Rue was an escaped prisoner, it would clearly be more complicated for him.
Ylre took the dice and gently rolled them. The two sixes lit up exactly as he knew and he looked at Rue.
"You're really lucky," Rue cheered excitedly.
"I know," he said not quite contentedly and handed the dices to Rue, who tossed them.
Two more fours were shown on the table and after Ylre took the dices again and rolled two sixes again, the same process was repeated several more times before their state changed. After about twenty rounds, which Rue was enjoying even though the result was unchanging, he suddenly rolled the numbers 4 and 3.
"They went down," Rue looked at them, "is it going back to normal?" he thought.
"I think that's enough for today," Ylre said after a while, looking at the dice, "you won, so you sleep in bed."
"I didn't win," he pointed out.
"We didn't agree whether the winnings are in higher numbers... you had them lower, you need to recharge more... you're sleeping in bed," Ylre clarified.
Hearing the explanation, Rue was filled with a familiar subconscious feeling that he couldn't identify. That's why after a while he just smiled gently, "Thank you."
"Good night," Ylre said, pleased to hear him. He took a couple of blankets from the closet and spread them out on the floor, while Rue sat on the bed. With everything ready for night, Rue blew out the candles.
"Good night." he smiled and lay down in bed. He felt comfortable, but even though he had been out of his cell for several days, he was still slightly afraid that he was only dreaming.
But in the end, he had no choice but to hope that he was wrong and enjoy another day. It's just a shame he didn't know that the guard sleeping next to him on the ground was the same one who stood by his cell for two centuries... that in the end not much has changed and true freedom is still quite far away.
However, he was soon to find out for himself.
***
When he got up, he was completely drained. His whole body ached, he had no idea if his luck was even enough for him to stand up without falling, and mentally he wasn't in the best condition either. He gritted his teeth as he remembered last night letting the anger filled him. After Nielle rode him for an unbearably long time and forced him to numerous involuntary orgasms, he dragged him in the water. Shane felt like the last two rounds weren't even real.
His whole situation was driving him crazy, but since anger didn't solve anything, he just took a deep breath and thought about how to deal with it. Preferably with achieving some benefits.
He was thankful for the rest of his luck that Nielle hadn't used that disgusting collar on his neck yesterday which was still strangling him. But that didn't change the fact he was pretty pissed off at the prince. Therefore, he decided that today he would at least do something to get rid of him temporarily and start fulfilling his missions.
When the Lacrisans called him to breakfast, he didn't go. Actually, he didn't even know when he got into the room, whether he collapsed or how much he slept. However, he didn't feel like eating, his stomach hurt, and although he was hungry, the looks of the Lacrisans, who didn't seem to know what to say to support him, sufficiently discouraged him from joining the table. That's why he just waited with his mind full of thoughts until Nielle came to the room.
Unlike him, he seemed as if he had gotten the best luck of Lacris, which was true. He looked satisfied, full of energy and clearly not bothered by the pain in his ass like Shane, which was really strange after the rounds he rode on him yesterday.
All the Lacrisans stood up to greet the prince and although Shane knew he should if he didn't want more whipping, he didn't have the energy for unnecessary movements.
Fortunately, Nielle seemed to be quite in a hurry, so he just said, "Get up, we're going."
"Where?" he didn't understand, but Nielle walked towards the door, whereupon he slowly stood up and followed him.
He wanted to kick him off the stairs they were going down, but he knew another kind of revenge would be better, so he held back and did nothing. Plus he couldn't afford to hurt Nielle in the palace where everyone was against him. At best he would end up sent to Lacris…at worst he'd be executed…he didn't know in what order.
Although Shane didn't feel like talking to Nielle, he finally asked again, "Where are we going?" he didn't know.
"Audience," he clarified.
Nielle wasn't really enthusiastic, as he hadn't expected to have to see Shane early in the morning, and in person. As the king summoned them all to the main hall today, as he sometimes used to, and began to ask general questions about the status of their duties, things became complicated as always. Nielle wasn't left out of the seemingly friendly lecture.
After the king praised Louis for his work, after he supported Brelle in his activities, although he didn't care at all since with them his second son wasn't a threat to the eldest, he came upon Nielle, to whom he had nothing nice to say. Even though he was visibly doing the most.
"The king said that you should be at the audience as well and listen," Nielle explained to Shane as he remembered the king yelling at him for not having the new Lacrisan with him when Louis knew full well that he was supposed to be taking Iuwine to the audience. He didn't even let him to send guards for him, but he ordered Nielle to go himself.
They entered the main hall and after Nielle stopped by his brothers in front of the throne with the king, Shane stood to the side.
"I brought him father, he's fine as you can see, you can keep going," he said.
Shane looked at Nielle with disbelief, as he really wasn't feeling fine, but the king had already spoken to him, "I don't know if you've gotten the chance to meet the rest of my sons...I think it would be appropriate for you to get to know each other," the king explained.
"I introduced them-" Nielle began, but the king cut him off.
,,I speak! Haven't you learned not to interrupt the king's speech!" he barked.
Nielle's eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't speak, as it was impossible to have a normal conversation with his father.
"It's true, father, we met him," Louis said.
The king's voice changed when he talked to his eldest son, "Did you? Well then...where did we end up?"
"I said what was the results of the medical tests that Elyan offered at Nielle's instructions," Brelle said. He didn't really reveal anything about the theory with the Infey, since it would only complicate things and told the version Nielle had planned. Brelle had no reason not to cooperate.
Nielle was quite grateful that Brelle never caused trouble, even though he always had the most opportunities to do so. Anyway, the king believed his words, which was beneficial for Nielle.
"Louis, do you agree?" the king asked.
"I'm not in charge of the murders father, I believe Nielle is capable enough to solve the case...I heard there are criminals in the dungeon and they are to be punished today," he said.
The king smiled contentedly: "I'm really glad to see that you keep yourself informed about everything, even though it's not primarily your job," the king praised him.
The conversation continued. Shane listened and got the impression the king couldn't even be serious. He wondered if he really had to call an audience for such nonsense. At Lacris, the king also convened a weekly meeting with the princes and discussed with them their progress and the work assigned to them. However, while there had always been some sort of hierarchy among princes, he had never seen a hierarchy like this with this king right now.
Practically every time Nielle said something, the king reacted angrily, displeased, or cut him off...on the other hand, when Louis spoke, the king couldn't be more pleased. Although sometimes Louis only complemented Nielle on something that the king didn't allow Nielle to finish. The whole discussion looked comical and unrealistic. Shane couldn't believe that one man would treat his sons so unfairly. But he did, and Shane hypnotized Nielle for a while, trying to see if it at least aroused any feelings in him. But that didn't seem to be the case.
Nielle acted as always. He didn't have clenched fists or a tense attitude, and if it weren't for the situation from the past few days where Shane had seen how the king was treating Nielle, he would have thought it was just a one time thing. But it wasn't. Remembering how Nielle had come to the chamber with a bloody forehead…the dialogues they had with each other in his presence, he was sure that the king hated Nielle, at the very least.
Shane recalled what a strange country and government lay before him. He continued to listen to the weird nonsense in silence before they got back to the subject related to him.
It was practically nothing important. The king merely asked if he was being well taken care of as a new gift from Lacris, as if it mattered. Shane knew, than in reality he was probably just looking for another opportunity to take Nielle down. Nielle told him that he was giving him first class care, which made Shane want to laugh out loud, but ended up not doing so.
Louis said he had nothing to add as he was going to talk to Nielle in private as he obviously didn't want to harm his brother by telling the king the truth about how he was treating Shane.
Brelle said he only saw him briefly and knew nothing about their relationship.
Shane just listened to them in silence, since no one personally asked him anything. And if they asked, he wasn't planning to say how tired he felt. For words weren't enough to express, and though the king seemed to take any chance to punish Nielle, he didn't think that his words were something that wouldn't be objected by one of the other princes. At least Louis would probably stand up for Nielle.
A strange situation continued a while, with everyone commenting on things they knew nothing about, before the whole meeting drew to a close. The king praises Louis one more time and when everyone started to leave and no one expected anything else to be discussed, Shane took a step behind Nielle.
At that moment, a loud bang echoed through the hall. The fall of the body to the ground created an echo in the room making everyone look in his direction as Shane just crashed to the floor. He was lying on it with slightly narrowed eyes, wondering if he had done it on purpose or if his legs had buckled because of how exhausted he felt.
He had the impression that it was partially true for both, but despite that, he didn't intend to get up. He felt sluggish, tired, and as he could see quite a bit of shock on Nielle's face through his blurred vision, he smiled softly.
Although he wasn't sure if this would be enough to get Nielle into trouble or if it would at least get him some punishmen it was obviously worth it. Because no matter what anyone said, from what he saw, the king was the kind of person who would take any chance to punish Nielle...especially when he had clearly lied to him a while ago about how well he was taking care of him. What he really was but in another sense of words.
And even if his collapse wasn't the prince's fault, the king wouldn't care about it, since he hated his youngest son.
And Shane couldn't wait to see what trouble he'd just caused Nielle.