75.

The walk along the river took quite long, long enough for Elai to witness the seal closing and the water disappearing. It was fascinating to look at, his hand still tightly holding onto Arlon’s.
“Look.” Arlon grins when he feels Elai’s eyes on him and quickly nods towards the white tree. He hadn’t told Elai this is where it was located; he wanted it to be a surprise. Elai seems to really like having Chay as a friend, so he thought it’d be nice of him to show the boy where he came from. Chay wouldn’t do something like that; he doesn’t like talking about himself. And so, Arlon takes the honor with a growing smile on his face. Elai’s gasp is one of disbelief and excitement, hand suddenly disappearing from the king’s. He runs closer to it, every single detail of the tree white. White leaves, flowers, branches. It is unlike anything he has ever seen before.
“This is where Chay was found?” Elai’s fingertips brush across the tree trunk, its softness quite surprising.
“Found, yes.. or made if you believe the myth.” Arlon stands a little further away from it; he wants to admire the sight. The tree isn’t extremely tall, yet it seems to swallow Elai whole. The boy walks around it, his slender fingers brushing across every little detail.
Arlon wishes he could draw right now. It would’ve been perfect to keep in his room.
“It’s so pretty..” Elai is in such complete awe he forgets to ask questions like the curious boy usually does. Arlon gets it; the prince never got to go outside to explore such beauties of their planet.
The boy eventually snaps out of his trance. “Does it have more children?” He likes thinking in a mythical way, even if he does not necessarily believe in any of them. Growing up reading many stories, it has become a habit.
“It’s quite a rare occurrence. Chay told me it only happens twice every five years. But if it has been happening since the existence of time.. Chay would have quite a few siblings.” Arlon jokes about it, but he doesn’t dismiss Elai’s way of thinking. He thinks it’s quite cute, actually. His answer makes the sparks in Elai’s eyes grow bigger.
“Hm.. can I ask you something about him?” Elai walks up to Arlon and wraps his arms around his waist. The king freezes at first, like he always does, eyes slightly widening. He doesn’t want to talk about why, or how, and he’s lucky Elai knows that.
“Go ahead, chasores..” Arlon kisses the boy’s forehead before he can ask anything.
It makes the prince’s cheeks heat up. He shouldn’t get so easily distracted by touch. By his touch.
“When I went to see my aunt, he.. accompanied me for a while..” Ah. Chay hanging around Elai really can’t mean anything good for the king. All that alchemist can say about Arlon is vile and rude. “He told me you- ah- you used him to.. to pretend he was- Eryx..” It is the second time today. They’re talking about his past.. again. And in all honesty, Arlon doesn’t know how to feel about it. he had talked to Cesilia about it, who told him it was important to let Elai in if he wanted this to work. And he does. He does want this to work. But every time he hears that name, every time he remembers that face, he feels himself rot a little more. And if he has to talk about it again and again, he might just rot away completely.
Elai looks up at the king with a heavy feeling in his stomach. “Is that true?”
Arlon doesn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes.”
“And are you doing the same thing with me?” Elai goes for it.
The two stare at each other, Arlon unable to open his mouth all of a sudden. Is he? Is he pretending to do the same, or does he truly want to see Eryx in this boy? It’s stupid to think, but it is easy to do. Elai’s hair is a little darker, but their eyes are the exact same color. He could easily be- he could easily-
“I am trying not to.” He hopes that answer is enough, because he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what he wants from Elai, doesn’t know if it is him he wants or just his image.
Elai presses his head against the man’s chest and closes his eyes when he feels Arlon hug him back. “That is enough for now..”
Elai is too kind for someone like Arlon.
The king knows this. But he enjoys the hug anyways, enjoys that someone even wants to hold him, feel him, take him in.
He doesn’t care that it is selfish, and that he doesn’t deserve any of it. He keeps his eyes open as he lets his hand travel into Elai’s hair, so that he can really hold onto him. So that he knows this isn’t a dream. He looks up the slightest bit; Eryx is looking right back at him.
He stares and he stares and doesn’t move an inch as the king breathes in the scent of Elai’s hair. He never loses eye-contact with Eryx.
He feels too good to do so.

Arlon wakes up alone, to his surprise. He had promised to stay with Elai until he was fast asleep, but those tables had eventually turned. Now the king had gotten some sleep, a rare occurrence that even his body finds a little weird. He wants to get up and run out, but the need to stretch is big. It crawls from his arms all the way down to his feet, the refreshing feeling of waking up almost like a drug. He’s not one to admit it, but a smile appears on his face nonetheless; he slept more than the normal few hours he gets. Usually when such a thing happens, he doesn’t bother getting dressed. It is as if his body begs him to pretend to be sick, or to at least hide away from all the business. Today is different. He takes his sweet time getting dressed, pants tight and belts still a frustrating process to get through. He only steps out of his room when he’s satisfied with himself.
His goal is to find out where Elai is, to spend another day with him. There is something oddly addictive about it, and the time they spend together easily makes him forget his responsibilities.
“You haven’t done your hair, idiot.” To his surprise, it is Cesilia that walks up to him. He leans his head down a little to allow his friend to correct his hair. It makes him smile, even when he hears the soft giggles around him. “I was too excited to see you again.” Arlon jokes as he winks, a huff now leaving Cesilia’s mouth.
“No crown today?”
“And ruin my hair?”
Sometimes, Cesilia wishes to punch the man straight in the face. Just to knock some of that cockiness out of him, if that even is possible. Arlon sticks his tongue between his teeth and giggles, his back straightening again.
“Have you seen Elai? I have something in mind to do-“
Arlon notices the way Cesilia’s expression change in an instant.
It worries him.
“You won’t have time for him today, Arlon. We have to leave.”
“Leave?”
Cesilia nods as she grabs Arlon’s hand and pulls him with her. They rush through the doors and down the stairs. Arlon can already see the group of commanders; they’re talking loudly and not letting anyone finish their sentence.
“There’s been an ambush.” Cesilia only tells him what has happened when they get close enough for the group to hear, Connie being the first one to look up.
Gods, Arlon hates to look at him in situations like this; they barely ever agree on what to do.
“How could the Lylenians have possibly known where they were located, my king?” The mocking tone of Connie’s voice is enough to make Arlon want to snap out at him.
“I told you that boy was up to something. You don’t just come to Turi as the fucking prince of Lyle. And now they’re dead because you were so stupid to trust him.”
It is inconvenient that the other commanders are here, because now Arlon has to act like a king instead of a friend. He can’t just point at him and tell Connie that he started to trust him, too. He can’t just jump in and defend Elai, either. There it is; that responsibility that weighs so heavy on his shoulders he swears he could hear his bones break. Whatever comes out of his mouth has to be correct, smart, thought-through, strategic.
“Shocker, huh? Maybe if you weren’t so blind we wouldn’t have lost another squad.” Connie isn’t one to wait for a perfect answer. Not when he’s angry, not when he’s being a leader of his own squad.
“I’ll go out to find them.” Arlon straightens his back and looks straight into Connie’s eyes when he drops the news.
Connie stands still for a little while. He hadn’t said anything about Elai. that is the side he desperately wants to hear.
“What about the prince?” The warrior won’t even call him by his name.
A sour look drops onto Arlon’s face. “I can’t deal with two problems at a time, can I?”
He knows Elai had nothing to do with it. For some reason, he knows. He doesn’t have a clue why; he would’ve easily dropped the trust he had built up for him if he could.
“Let them look for him. Lock him up, deal with him later.”
“We don’t know if he had something to-“
Connie shuts the king’s mouth with the most simplest look.
Do not pick any sides, Arlon.
He takes a deep breath. “Cesilia, you and your men will look for Elai. throw him- throw him in the dungeons if he won’t cooperate.” This doesn’t feel right, but seeing the commanders nod, smile and agree overshadows the guilt. Being a king is his number one priority, no matter the different views, or the odd feeling in his stomach. This is what he would’ve done for his kingdom if he had not fallen for the boy. It becomes all too clear that there is no other way out. Not even now that he knows Elai will kill his own father for Turi. If he even gets the chance to do so, after this.
“Connie, we’ll take your unit.”
“You think that’s enough?”
“We’ll have to count on their strength. Taking more with us will only rat us out.” In this, Arlon is right. And Connie luckily agrees for once.
The king had not put on the right clothes for this; he had dressed himself in finest silk and leather, with belts biting into his skin everywhere.
It was to impress Elai; not to get rid of some fucking Lylenians.
But time to sulk does not exist; if he doesn’t fix this as quick as possible, the whole kingdom will know. He can’t have any more of his people speak ill of him, or he soon won’t have a kingdom at all.