40.

Arlon's pov

“Nice trick. Isn’t going to work, though.” I reach out for my tea; my headache is getting too painful. I’m glad Chay has a mixture for everything, it is easy to avoid my problems that way.
“We’ll see if it’s a trick when the time is right.” He’s going to make my head spin. I know his words can’t be true; he wouldn’t be having his eyes on me all the time if he wasn’t out to kill me. Hell, he wouldn’t even be here. He would’ve gone back home and killed his father. But then again.. I am his mentor, for now. It makes me grin. Are you seeing this, Eryx?
“I’m leaving soon.” If I wasn’t so comfortable with him, I wouldn’t have changed the subject. I would’ve kept quite; I would’ve told him to leave. But I want to talk to him more, I want to keep talking.
“War?” He’s smart.
Or I am just very simple. “Yeah. I’ve got to show my face. I don’t want them to fight for someone who doesn’t even dare to fight with them.”
“It is brave of you.” He’s looking at me, even when I am not looking at him.
I let out a painful sigh. “It is my duty.” I wish it wasn’t true.
“My father never joined his men. All he does is drink and whore around.”
I don’t know why it makes me laugh. Probably because I didn’t expect anything else from him. I put back down my tea and watch Elai stand up. He paces around at first, as if to show me he’s nervous about something. “Do you still whore around?” The words are closer to my ear than I expected them to be. He’s right behind me, his hands now tracing down from my shoulders to my chest. I hold in a breath; if he touches me any longer than this, I will get aroused. I do not want to get aroused right now.
“Or do you want something a bit more personal? Someone a bit.. closer to you..” I bet he wishes I didn’t hear the shaky breath he lets out, but I could sense his nerves from miles away. He is easy. “What? Like my own personal whore?” I meant to offend him, but in a teasing way. I’m sure he can take that; we’ve been offending each other for weeks now. It is part of our game, or whatever we are supposed to call it.
I turn my head to look up at him, his lips almost brushing across mine. I can almost taste his breath. Fuck. I’m going to go insane; I am sure of it. “I’m sure you’d fit the job..” It puts a grin on his face as his hair falls forward. I can smell the fresh flowers he had used to clean the beautiful locks, and I dearly wish to close my eyes and take in the scent a little longer. I want him.. so bad.
Elai parts his lips. “Are you calling me a whore, my king?”
“Do you want me to call you one?”
He moves away when I ask him the question, and I am left in coldness once again. I think he might be better at playing this game than I am. I keep falling for it, I keep wanting to lean in and kiss him. He doesn’t show all that desire; he keeps his head cool. I wish I did too. I want him to think it doesn’t affect me. But oh does it affect me in every single fucking way.
“I’m sure there is someone out there who can fix that for you.” Elai points down at my pants, and I suddenly wish to disappear. I knew this was going to happen. I knew he was going to do this one of these days. I could see it in his eyes that he was out to humiliate me. I’m lucky enough it wasn’t in front of my friends. “You little bitch-“ I look at him as he walks towards the door, hips swaying and pants still digging into his skin. I need to control every nerve in my body to be able to stay put, to not run after him and take him against the door. I have had enough of the tension; I will have this boy, and I will have him soon.
“What did you just call me?” He isn’t for real; his voice is still teasing me.
“You heard me.” I snarl at him, my eyes now catching the squinted ones of his.

“Is that how you usually call your guests?”
“Why don’t you come back here and find out what I want to call you?” I hope it is enough for him to walk back to me. I will kiss him this time. I will make the tension between us explode. I will finally be able to let go of all the frustration inside of my body. I will finally be able to touch him. For the gods, Elai, come back to me.
“Maybe if you apologize properly.” He knows how to play me so fucking well.
“For calling you a little bitch? Are you telling me I’m wrong?” I watch him close the door right after I say those words, and I immediately regret them. Although, I’m pretty sure he’d have a way of getting out of here no matter how this moment would’ve gone. He was already planning on leaving after he’d give me a hard on. I know that now.
I’m lucky I don’t mind touching myself, especially now that I have a splitting headache.

I have to come up with something good. And what is better than a personalized dinner? I haven’t seen Elai after the little.. incident in the drawing room. I’m aware that he isn’t truly pissed about what I said, but I still feel like I should play in on the situation. Maybe it will show him I’m more than just a king and an idiot.. when I’m with Connie and Cesilia, for example. Just when I think of them, the doors to the kitchen burst open. I turn to look at Connie, who laughs the moment he sees an apron tightly wrapped around my waist. I turn back to my creation as soon as I know it isn’t Val or Elai; I have to focus my entire being on this dish. I want to impress Elai.
“What am I looking at?” Connie knows all too well that I love cooking, but since the maids are parental figures, I usually get scolded when I try to make dinner myself. It isn’t my job, they say. “How did you get past Val?” Connie chuckles out as I look up from the dish.
“Val doesn’t know, so you better shut your mouth.” I point at his face with a stern look. Connie has told Val multiple times, just to get back at me. I eventually lose my posture and laugh. It is hard to stay serious when I’m with Connie. He’s like a happy pill, my shot of serotonin. “What’s it for? Got some fancy hook up waiting for you? Impress before you smash?” Connie hops onto the counter and watches me do whatever I’m doing. He doesn’t understand much of cooking. Last time he tried.. well, let’s not get into that. I let out a huff as my fingers touch the softly sizzling meat. It must look painful in Connie’s eyes, but I barely feel a thing. It is what I love most about my ability; I am able to cook without burning myself. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
“If this person was my hook up, I would have stooped so fucking low. I sigh the insult out and look up at Connie with raised eyebrows. I am not ready for Connie to know yet, and it is surprisingly easy to lie how I feel about Elai. Maybe it’s because Elai had teased me only hours ago, maybe it’s because it pissed me off just the slightest fucking bit.
“Ouch! Who hurt you?” Connie digs his fingertips into the edge of the kitchen counter. I know he’s hungry. It is the only reason he’s here. If you’re ever trying to find Connie, just go to the kitchen. He will be there.
“No one hurt me. It’s like- I hurt someone. I think. See it as my.. apology.” Would it be odd to tell him I’m making this to fake apologize to someone I want to fuck senseless throughout the entire day?
Yes. I’m pretty sure it would be odd.
Connie bursts out laughing, and I’m well aware of the reason. I roll my eyes as he laughs, the loud noise enough for the maids to hear. “Stop it, Connie. I don’t want Val to drag me out of here.” My free hand tries to tap on Connie’s shoulder, who tries his hardest to stop laughing.