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He really hated this. Not only did he have to upset that cute guy from the training grounds but he had to lock him up in the dungeon per his father's orders. With the king dead his father seemed to naturally take hold of the throne...or try to at least. They were always close together so it didn’t seem that unnatural. It seemed the rest of the palace and the general disagreed in that respect.
Sighing to himself he checked his back for the two guardsmen his father sent with him to get Gren. This was so embarrassing. After that training match, he only saw him in passing, always following Amaya around, speaking her words and living as her shadow. Though he didn’t hide away, far from it. His presence was strong and warm, his laughter filling a room and his smile brighter than a sun.
“Going to check in on your boyfriend?”
Soren jumps at the sudden figure that appeared before him. The glowing purple eyes of his sister mid-spell. “Holy shit Claudia don’t scare me like that.” He huffs a scowl written across his face for just a moment before he settles and looks her over. “And he’s not my boyfriend. I’ve barely even spoken to him.”
The young mage chuckles at him, her nose crinkling with her laughter. “But that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t like him to be your boyfriend.” Claudia tosses her hair over her shoulder and falls in step beside him, heading down the Long halls of the castle to soon find the ginger commander. “I suppose locking him up is going to put a damper on that though.” The smirk on her face is one of the most irritating things he’s ever seen.
“Oh give it a rest. How did you even get here anyway? You weren’t in front of me two seconds ago.” Claudia grins with excitement, bopping her nose a few times before pulling the book she had out from under her arm to show him the spell. “Moon moth larva.” She beams pointing out the diagram. “I found a spell that cloaks me like a Moonshadow elf. All it takes is moon moth larva, a juniper beetle, and blood from a bloodworm.”
It amazed Soren every time Claudia spoke, that she wasn’t grossed out by her own spells. His lips curl but he does end up chuckling. “You’re gross.” He smiles. “And you smell but what else is new.” She fires back, bumping shoulders with him, her own giggle joining with his.
She always had a way of calming him down. She was a mess but she was his mess and he wouldn’t trade her. “You know as fun as this whole mission seems, I want to do it less and less after this order.” His sister smiles with sympathy, patting him on the shoulder. “There are other boys Sor, you’re a looker it won’t be hard to find one...if your intelligence doesn’t scare them away first, or lack thereof.” Claudia smiles sticking her tongue out at him before darting off down the hall.
“For the record, You don’t meet girls with your heads in books!” He called back after her departure, giving a soft chase before letting her go with a breathless laugh. Claudia disappeared around the corner and Soren continued down his path to the courtyard. With the guardsman flanked on either side, he scans the field for the commander. He finds Gren resting against a tree, book in hand as he flips through the pages. The sun was slowly setting, the light in the air melting into a warm glow that set his shadowy hair on fire.
Why did he have to be cute? Like why couldn't Amaya have an ugly commander? that would have made his life so much easier. He sighs, gesturing to the man on the ground before moving with the guards. Gren sat up at the sound of their armor, standing up promptly with a small smile as greeting.
“Soren, I assume you’re here for the talk we need to have. Where’s Lord Viren?” Why did he have to do this? Why not Claudia? Why not his own father? He sighs, cringing as he signals the guards to grab him. “I really don’t want to be doing this.”
Gren's eyes widen, the other guardsmen taking him by surprise and pinning his arms back. “Soren what are you doing. You know general Amaya wants me to lead this mission, why are you defying her?” Where he expects to hear rages he hears betrayal. They barely knew each other and yet he’s already screwed up.
His face flushes with frustration. “I don’t want to do this you know. Well, I mean I do want this mission, but it’s not like I want to do this to you.” He huffs back at him, the blush on his face making Gren quirk a brow.
“What do you mean? Don’t you side with your own father?” He rolls his head, hair falling across his forehead with the action. His heart pics up at how stupidly sweet he looked. Sweeter than all the jelly tarts and berry juice this kingdom had to offer. It lights his cheeks a brighter hue before he turns his head. “Of course I am! I just don’t think wrongly imprisoning someone is the right way to finally start a conversation.”
“You want to talk to me?” Shit. That wasn’t what he wanted to say. The young commander gasped lightly before a slow smirk curled on his lips. Damn it he was so judging him. Soren turns around and started marching off, cheeks a flame as the guards follow him with Gren.
The walk is silent that much he’s thankful for. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t stay silent once they reach the dungeon. He starts to shackle the older man as per orders, the other guards leaving to report to Viren and leaving them alone. Gren seemed to be fairly calm for being locked up but it must be because he knew he was still safe in the long run.
“So...you wanted to talk to me?” The sudden speech makes Soren jerk his head back in surprise, knocking his head into Gren’s chin. “Shit I’m sorry.” Soren quickly cups the gingers cheek, looking to make sure he didn’t hurt him before pulling away completely. It was a pleasant surprise to see his cheeks were pink too.
“Uh no...well yes but not..” He grunts, bringing a hand to his face and spinning towards the stairs. This wasn’t the time nor the place to even begin to talk about this. Gren shifted, the sounds of the shackles cluing the young guard into the movements.
“Does this have to do with why you were staring at me the other day.” He could feel his face burning. God this was dumb. So dumb. Maximum levels of dumb right now and he could not deal with this. He turns back around and huffs.
“No! Kinda. Yes, it is about that actually.” He sighs, looking around as if Claudia could out from one of the corners and surprise them. “I just wanted to say..” he pauses, trying to piece together just what to say. What could he say? Hi! I think you’re really cute, but I have to lock you up thanks to my dad! Yeah great plan, excellent. What if Gren wasn’t even into dudes, that would be a shit show in itself.
“You’re cute... I guess. That’s all that I want to talk to you about. Or to say...to you.” He looked back up to Gren’s eyes, ones that while even shackled were soft and sweet. Gren chuckles, looking down at him with a shrug. “Thanks for telling me.”
With that now all out in the open, the room now felt more awkward than ever. The young protege, looked down, then to his sides, before starting to slowly shuffle away. “Great that’s...ok, well I’ll just….cool.” His voice cracks, making him scurry a little faster up the stairs.
“Soren!” Gren calls for him, making the guard stop and duck down to see him from the staircase.
“You’re pretty cute too by the way...before the whole locking me up thing.”
Maybe getting put on this mission wasn’t too bad after all.