Chương 113: Empyrean Rabbit - Part 3
{A/N: Free chapter!! Enjoy lovies~~
~Higgins}
“General," the prince said. "Under which constellation were you born?”
~
Cele’s brow arched.
“I’m sorry?”
“It's not a difficult question." Heiko stated. "Under which constellation were you born?"
“I- Aurelos,” he answered, the prince's reprimand unsettlingly effective on him.
“Aurelos would be…” The prince trailed, pondering it momentarily before his eyes widened so minutely that if one were not watching his fine brow, one wouldn't notice. With relaxed - perhaps even slacked - lips, Heiko exhaled an “oh.”
“Oh?” Cele questioned. "What 'oh'?"
"It's nothing." The prince waved him off, the tense jaw that was so characteristic of him, returning. "It's just that you are under the sign of Ozik."
The silence the observation elicited from the guardsmen made Cele all the more impatient. He opened his mouth, demands of information poised on his tongue, but Rudolf beat him to it.
“That can’t be true."
“The stars don’t lie, Rudi,” Heiko countered.
“Yes," the captain replied, brow furrowed as if he couldn't believe the argument from his charge. "But we can.”
"Yes," the prince mirrored mockingly. "But we will not."
And then he smirked at the guardsmen.
"That would be blasphemous, silly Rudi.
The captain's face turned to stone, eyes narrowed challengingly.
“Prince Heiko, you cannot think him to be qualified.”
Not knowing to what he was referring, Cele still stiffened in insult.
“Oi - what the hell are you talking about?" He demanded. "What am I not qualified for? Supposedly."
“Well, if your exploits were recorded accurately - regarding the year in which you were born," Heiko replied. "You are two months older than Rudolf, making you the eldest ulf. Nearly twenty-six winters."
“So?” Cele pressed, suppressing the thought of Heiko pored over his military records, studying his exploits with awe and admiration (though the last part was likely only wishful fantasizing).
“So," Rudolf bit, turning to him. "You’re... traditionally speaking... the al-ulf.”
“That’s… wait, that’s no good,” Kaifin piped in, and about time, Cele thought, since he always seemed to have one thing or another to say. “We can’t… that means… no, my prince, we have to say it’s Rudolf, or-”
“I will not lie in the temple of my god.” Heiko temperate voice overpowered with ease. “I am utterly offended that two of my closest men are asking me to do something of the sort.”
"Mm, you sound so broken up, Heiko" Cele added sardonically, before querying, "So what's so special about the al-ulf that the prince's guardsmen are risking angering their own gods? And worse, I supposed, their lord."
The comment didn't move the prince in the way Cele hoped it would.
“The eldest is customarily the highest order. Given entitlements that other ulfa are not.”
Cele furrowed his brow. “Such as?”
“For Muses of Pleasure,” Heiko replied, closing his book and setting it on a table beside him. “The al-ulf is chosen carefully, as they are the Muses primary protector, and their primary lover.”
The general's pulse spiked, watching the prince as he stood and crossed for the fire, lingering to feel the warmth. And then he turned.
“I’m ready for dinner. Kaifin, go tell Jan.”
While the guardsman felt no aversion to the sudden switch, it was clear to both Cele and Rudolf that Heiko had definitively chosen to end his discussion. It made sense, if indeed he was a virgin. Most that were seemed to skirt around the idea of sex - and, remembering now, Cele could recall the prince do the very thing when they shared a room at Dolfo Manor.
“Jan really hates you, doesn’t he?” The captain's voice seemed far away from the general. "What could young Prince Heiko do at the green age of nine or ten to evoke such hatred?"
Heiko chuckled.
“Quite a lot, it turns out. We mingle with the Minders of Trochta from a young age. Celebrations, holy days of Ozik, holy days of Trochta - there are many reasons for the Minders to visit, actually.” Heiko shrugged. “And Jan is incapable of comprehending the reality that he is rarely the center of attention or affection. And as you know, Rudi, I despise desperation.”
And then the general felt that jade gaze on him. He turned to meet it.
“Jan has, yet again, found something of mine that he has eyes for. Do not make a mockery of me by accepting any of his charities.”
Cele cocked a brow, feeling an influx of cheeky intentions in his belly. “He’s a Muse of Rapture. Isn’t it his purpose to please me?”
Aloud, it sounded far more harsh than he intended, but as expected, Heiko wasn’t riled. In fact, he smirked, excepting the general's challenge.
“I’m quite sure he would be the fuck of your life,” he agreed. “There is no doubt that the ecstasy in which he showers you would drive you mad once it is no longer available to you. In fact, it's rather cruel of me to deprive you of that once-in-a-millennia experience. But what can I say?" Heiko shrugged. "I can be cruel. At the price of my Musehood, I simply will not allow such an occurrence. And if it does, indeed, transpire despite my command, I will do what is only natural to any Muse of Temperance who feels unsafe in the presence of a man. I will turn him over to a Minders of Trochta.”
Cele grinned at him wolfishly. “Is that supposed to scare me, Heiko?”
There was a silence in which the young man - neither innocent nor yet jaded - studied the general, a silence that stretched out and intensified. A silence that Cele both relished and crumpled under.
And then, concluding the repartee, Heiko answered simply.
“It ought to.”
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