I'm going crazy with you! Im going crazy! My little white boy, so fair! Gods, how I adore you! You are like a porcelain figurine, your hair is thick and as snow! repeated Kors, tightly squeezing Nik in his arms, admiring his neat features, unable to calm down and fall asleep, despite the fact that it was already deep night:
I love you with unconditional love, do you understand what it is?
Not really
I'll explain it to you later. It is very rare in our life that someone loves us with unconditional love.
Does that mean just like that? Without conditions?
Yes! Put on your mask! Cover your face, I can no longer see such a sweet face of yours, otherwise I will now be torn apart!
Nik immediately put on the mask, and Kors waited impatiently for him to do so, and again impulsively pulled him to himself. From the feelings that overwhelmed him and the constant fear of losing his boy, he started something like a hysteria, and tears flowed from his eyes:
They will take you, take you from me! I know it! He repeated, shuddering and sobbing.
No, no, I'm not Iness, no one will steal me!
They will steal you! Leonardo will steal you from me! He will make you obey and serve him, Kors didnt let go of Nik, continuing to convulsively press his face to his chest, now covered by a mask of an unclean one convicted of murder.
I wont survive this! Kors began to sway from side to side, tears continued to flow down his cheeks, he could not calm down.
Nik freed himself a little from his embrace.
Eh, he doesnt think about me! Leonardo doesn't know about me.
He will know! He will know everything, I wont survive it!
Vitor, Vitor, please stop. Dont cry, they won't take me away from you!
I cant! I can't stand it!
Vitor, stop tearing your heart, it hurts me too! You're hurting me now too!
I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you!
I myself know how to defend myself.
Yes, I know how you can, I saw it
There are three of us, and he is alone!
And at the same instant Kors felt Arels invisible hand on his throat. The prince barely squeezed his neck and let go, as if demonstrating to Kors that he possessed the Power and could use it against their enemies. Kors looked up at him, and Arel grinned.
Arel! Kill this black one with your touch immediately on the spot! To hell! Let's not stand on ceremony with him! Let's kill him now! Right now, Nik!
Vitor you can't
Are the Demons guarding him too? Eh? Order his Demon to serve you!
Not in this case. There are rules, and the first move must be made by a human, but he has not yet made it. And maybe he won't, he doesn't know about me. He doesn't care about me. I'm just a half-blood from Lower City, a commoner. I'm not interesting for Leonardo, not at all interesting! He doesnt think about me and doesnt perceive me as a person. I'm trash that he doesn't care about.
Okay. If you cannot do this due to the severe restrictions that have been imposed on you, let Arel do it! Leonardo is the main culprit of all his troubles! Arel, you don't have to follow the rules that Nik must obey, do you?
I dont have to.
The High Demons havent punished you, so do it!
We are too far from the Black City
Oh! Arel, develop your Gift more, damn it! Train! Learn!
I now have more strength and capabilities than before, said Nik.
This is wonderful, but somehow it doesnt calm me down! Kors wiped away his tears.
Dont be afraid of anything.
Nik
Why are you so afraid of Leonardo?! He treats you quite well, you never interfered in his affairs, never entered into conflict with him. You see, he invited you to his secret meetings, which are only for the elite. He doesnt consider you to be his enemy or competitor.
He will take you! He will make you fulfill his wishes!
He doesn't even think about me. Did you think about me a lot when you were given the assignment?
No I didn't think at all
You see
But he will learn that you are not a man, not a commoner
He wont know. He will decide that these are stupid inventions.
He will know. When I retired, I put all papers in order and left them to my successor. I didn't expect it to be him! And I left your case too. What for! Why did I do it! Everything is described there! That's it, Nik, in detail! There are your data, signs, recorded interrogation, my questions and your answers, every word, and how you behaved. What substances and drugs Balthazar injected you with. Your diagnosis. My personal conclusions based on interrogation. My conclusion is that I completely agree with the royal sages and seers and, of course, consider it appropriate to get rid of the suspicious half-blood. But first I proposed to make a laughing stock out of you, humiliate you, make you look like a fool, in order to show everyone that you are not the Son of the Devil, but an ordinary miserable person. And everything that is said about you is just stupid inventions, thought of to intimidate fools, and only ignorant commoners from Lower City can believe in them. So that the sirs have fun at the ball, and laugh. Well, and then, without trial and investigation, I offered to quietly rot you in a stone sack, writing off death for natural causes. And the kings permission. He liked this idea. And that's all Leonardo will read it all!
He didnt read anything. Didnt even look at these papers. He is not interested in this. So he thinks exactly as you wanted, that I am an ordinary half-blood, and everything that is said about me is just stupid inventions of commoners. And he, just like you, considers the king to be an old senile.
We will return to the Black City, Leonardo will take an interest in you, take your case and read it! What have I done!
And what will he read? That I am a half-blood slave from the command of Prince Arel?
I described your criminal biography
What Zagpeace and everyone else know about me anyway? Will he read this? The supreme masters are not interested in this. You didnt write there that I wasa Demon in a human body.
No, of course, I didnt make such an categorical statement, and, seeing that Nik was embarrassedly silent, Kors simply mentally conveyed to him the vision of the case, as he wrote it, page after page, realizing that the Demon will have time to perceive this information and understand everything and see what Kors wrote.
Nik was silent. And Kors heart was breaking.
Get rid of him like rubbish, no longer attracting attention, Nik said quietly, repeating Kors entry from his case.
And Kors, in despair, covered his face with his hands.
You like to put everything on the shelves, you are neat, said Nik, well, to hell with that! He has not read it, and wont read it. He doesnt care.
Are you sure?
Yes, Vitor, yes. Dont worry like that, please. Everything will be fine.
I cant, said Kors, I cant
The fear of losing his love didnt let him go.
He pushed Nik slightly away from him, peering into the faceless blackness of the mask and the narrow slits for his eyes. He saw how Nik was looking at him intently, how he blinked, and this made his light eyelids visible in the slits of the mask for a second, and the eyelashes almost rubbed against the edge and prevented him from blinking. Kors practically howled and inaccurately pulled off his mask, and Nik hissed barely audibly. Now Kors saw his white face, and the way Nick wrinkled his nose from the fact that Kors pulled off the mask from his face, involuntarily painfully pulled on his hair. Long bangs immediately fell on his forehead and eyes, obscuring them. Recently, Niks hair has always been clean and combed, and the bangs, cut by strands of different lengths, have become even more naughty.
The blonde strands that Kors loved so much were so thick and fluffy that they covered not only Niks right eye and cheek, as before, but literally the entire upper part of her face. And now Kors saw only his pierced lips with two thick carved half-blood rings.
It seems like its time to cut your bangs, Kors said with affection and as if thinking aloud, or, maybe, leave it to grow some more
Slightly sliding it back, he ran his fingers into the roots of his hair, enjoying its color, softness and density, opening his bright devoted eyes, pressed his boy to his chest with force again and in despair began to sway from side to side, thus trying calm down and at the same time, as it were, rocking Nik. At some point, Kors very clearly heard Nik jerk sharply in his arms. This is what people do when they fall asleep, and Nik, from the affectionate hugs and rocking, fell asleep in Kors arms like a child. Kors felt how much Nik loved him. He was not worried or hurt by what Kors wrote about him. Nik trusted him, was not afraid of anything, he was with his tough and best father, and he was calm and happy. And, having caught these emotions in the head of his son, Kors, despite all the fears, felt boundless happiness. Nik considered him very brave, handsome, noble, true black, elite, the best. Nik was proud of him and the fact that he was his father. Kors couldnt help crying again. Not daring to wake Nik, he awkwardly wiped away his tears and looked at Arel:
Arel, I love you very much, you are also my son. Call me Vitor if you want.
Arel got up and covered the stone flower jar with a rag. It became dark in the tent. The prince lay down next to Kors, and Kors, having neatly laid Nik down, hugged Arel. So he lay between them, hugging his boys to him:
Everything will be fine, and a great future awaits us, he said to Arel, apparently trying to convince himself of this not the prince, but himself.
Arel pressed closer to him, falling asleep, and Kors, hearing their measured breathing, also fell into a short and anxious sleep. Very soon he woke up. It seemed to him that he had dozed off for only a minute, but it was already dawn, and in the gray predawn haze Kors saw some terrible creature next to him. Very thin, like a skeleton, it seemed to consist of only sharp bones and ribs, tightly covered with shiny black skin with tightly attached scales, like a snake, and this vile creature, curled up into a ball, gently pressed against Kors. It lay next to him, very close, embracing him with several long, articulated appendages, like spider legs. Not yet fully awake, Kors involuntarily cried out, experiencing some indescribable deep horror, and, recoiling, he unconsciously pushed the abomination away from himself with force, also hitting the protruding ribs. At the same moment he heard a choked sob, and the darkness fell asleep. Kors looked at his boy with all his eyes, and he sat and looked at him. Yes, his body was thin and black from tattoos, but beautiful and not at all disgusting and his face was so familiar, and now it is also confused:
Daddy what's wrong with you? asked Nik, stunned and even somehow a little scared, his hand involuntarily twitched several times.
Gods, in my dream I, it seems, have not yet fully woken up, and it seemed to me, Kors looked tensely into his face, not understanding why he saw next to him instead of Nik this muck, what came over him, could the nervous state and fear made him felt like this? Nik, under his gaze, was completely embarrassed and bent his shaggy head low, not allowing Kors to look at himself anymore and look into his eyes.
Kors drew him closer:
Sorry, I had a dream, God knows about what!
You hit me in the ribs so hard Niks voice was upset, I don't understand
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my little boy, Kors gently patted him on the top of his head, well, how shaggy you are, he laughed tenderly.
Vitor, let me, please, return the rings to my nose, asked Nik, seeing that Kors again behaved as usual caressed him, touched him and was kind. Therefore, he raised one of his eyes, not covered by hair, at Kors and looked inquiringly and pleadingly.
Why do you need them? You dont take off your mask anyway.
I'm taking it off.
Only when we are alone.
Oh please
No!
Nik covered his face with his hands, and Kors stared at his black hands, still involuntarily trying to cast aside his insane vision of a vile entity.
You have a ring in each nostril, he said, trying more to distract himself than actually listening to Nik. He wasnt going to allow him to shamefully decorate his face again, and this conversation was completely useless, only Nik hadnt figured it out yet.
They are small, they dont
Dont spoil you, yes.
Nik sat huddled and said nothing.
Youll come with me to the halt today, said Kors and Nik didnt object, they did this from time to time. Kors put him in front of him on his horse and hugged him all the way, burying his face in the fluffy back of the head, and Nik turned his head slightly to the side and pressed against his chest.
Chapter 3
Their journey continued. And if in the Ore town Adrian spent all the time locked up, now Kors, on the contrary, didnt let him go in the carts. He chained his slave to the cart with a long chain, and Adrian was forced to walk all the way. After so many days spent in a cramped cage, where it was impossible either to stand up to his full height, or even just to stretch his legs, but only to sit, crouching in a practically immobilized state, poor Adrian lost the habit of walking, and even more so to overcome such long distances at once and walk a lot of hours in a row. He stumbled, fell, he was in pain, and often at the end of the march, the exhausted slave simply dragged himself behind the cart, since the red brick road was smooth, without serious potholes and bumps. Kors still covered Adrians nakedness, but this gesture was rather purely symbolic, because Kors gave Adrian only a dirty shirt made of rough linen. The shirt was short, above the knee, and it was humiliating, because the master didnt show any mercy to his slave and didnt give him pants.
Disgraced Adrian tried not to bend too much, constantly pulling his short hem down to somehow cover his bare ass, and in front a chastity belt. He tried to move carefully so that the already short shirt did not bulge up even more. With his head lowered, chained behind a collar, barefoot, with bloodshot legs, Adrian, with his last strength, trudged behind the elegant carriage of Kors, inside which, along with other riches of the Ore town, a red slave was locked. The girl also had a hard time: in a carriage crammed to overflowing with various goods, it was impossible to turn around, and Kors did not change his rules. Acting in his usual manner, he chained the slave to the wall, tied her hands behind her back and put his beloved on her head an attribute of humiliation a dense black bag, as usual, tightened around the throat with a rope. The girl was deprived of the ability to move, see and breathe normally; only at the level of his mouth did Kors cut a small gap with a knife, and if not for this hole, the slave would inevitably suffocate in the unbearable stuffiness.
Prince Arels slave, Valentine, rode next to the coachman: the boy still wore a helmet, which, on Arels orders, was put on him back in the Limit. Then Verniy, although he was forced to obey, nevertheless selected for his pet the most comfortable and light helmet made of a material that is slightly breathable. But at the moment it didnt save Valentine: the southern summer days were sunny, calm; there was often intense heat from early morning until evening. Constantly staying in a tightly laced, tightly wrapped helmet was painful. Valentine suffered from the heat and sweated under the dense material. No matter how hard he tried to lift the flap covering his mouth to relieve his condition, salty sweat ran down his parched, chapped lips onto his chin. The rays of the sun unbearably heated the black material and made the top of his head hot, by the end of the day bringing the boy almost to sunstroke. Verniy rarely received a key from Arel and could not unbutton his helmet and remove it from the exhausted slave so that he could get at least a little respite: he could refresh his face with water and wash off the sweat, wash and comb his hair, just take a break from the ever-squeezing vice. Valentine was deprived of these simple joys and therefore constantly scratched his head in unsuccessful attempts to calm the incessant itching. He scraped the tough material with his fingernails and tugged at the tight lacing on the back of his head with his fingers, trying to somehow pull the tight-fitting helmet crust away from his face and hair. He was hot, stuffy, uncomfortable, and the heavy slave collar on his throat did not add comfort. But the poor fellow couldnt help it, and anyway, he was in a better position than Adrian or the red girl.