Chapter Text
Leona’s ears flicked in irritation. It was late, and his older brother was getting in the way of a long night’s rest with his incessant nagging. “Quit getting your mane in knots. It’s not like my presence matters anyways.”
Falena’s ears laid flat against his head. “You may not think so, but Cheka does. After you presented your birthday present to him and just left the party without a word, he spent the rest of the evening asking where you were.”
Leona rolled over on his silky gold chaise lounge, his back facing his brother. “Must have been one boring party if he didn’t have anything better to do than look for me.”
Falena snarled at him, the roar in his voice just barely kept at bay. “You might not think anyone cares about your actions, but if you think I’ll let you continue to hurt my son because of your petty desire for the throne—”
Petty. Leona glowered over his shoulder at his brother, his lips curled back, and his fangs displayed in warning. His brother ignored his clear show of disdain for the direction the conversation was heading.
“—then I have been far too lenient with you.”
“Is that so?” Leona asked slowly, his tail flicking back and forth.
In Leona’s opinion, his brother had never tried to understand him. Not truly. Not when Cheka was born, and his dream for the throne shattered, and not now.
It was a night where his young nephew’s future was painted so brightly in the vibrant savannah sun that Leona was more keenly aware than ever how little anyone cared about anything he did. Despite overblotting and putting some real effort into his life again, when he left Night Raven College and came back home for his nephew’s—no, the future king’s birthday—he questioned why he even tried to change.
Falena sighed and pinched his nose. “I told you once that you can still make a difference even if you cannot become king. I did not wish to broach the topic considering your lack of interest in such matters, but there are few other choices at this point.”
Leona followed Falena with his eyes as he paced back and forth across the gold and marble floors with heavy footsteps. When they were both little, their mother had shown them how to hunt with footsteps lighter than the grass they brushed away with their feet. The way Falena walked now was so different from then. His mother’s teachings were ingrained in Leona. His steps were still light and meant to be undetected. He was always hunting and hungry. Unlike him, his brother plodded around without a care. He didn’t hunger or hunt anymore, and why would he? He was the king.
Eventually, Falena stopped pacing. As his dark eyes looked down at him, Leona could tell that he was no longer planning to speak to him as a brother but as a ruler. “As I’m sure you are aware, our country is currently on the brink of drought. Many lives could be lost if we don’t find a solution, and our economy will suffer as well.”
“Are you asking me to help you find a solution?” Leona asked, his heart thumping loudly in his ears at the thought of solving a problem not even the king could fix.
Falena shook his head, his mane of hair falling in his face. “No. I’m asking you to marry one.”
Kalim was sleeping peacefully when he felt something light smack him in the face. He moaned and slowly pulled the object away from his eyes. He blinked at it. His red eyes were blurry with sleep, so he had trouble making out what it was.
“You got a letter from your parents,” Jamil said.
Kalim smiled at him, inhaling the scent of spices that always followed Jamil wherever he went. “Thanks, Jamil!” Jamil looked annoyed at his cheer, but it was much better than him chucking Kalim across the desert to die.
Their relationship was strained now like most of his relationships at this point. If it meant keeping Jamil at his side, he would happily put up with any insults he might have for him. Besides, there was a part of him that appreciated Jamil’s newfound candidness. People kissed up to Kalim more than he’d care to acknowledge, so it didn’t hurt to have at least one person in his life that actively stood up to him as an equal.
Kalim scratched his head as he sat up in bed. He examined the elegant script that belonged to his mother with curiosity. She usually only wrote to him after she was recovering from another birth. Otherwise, she was as busy managing the family business as his father.
Kalim wasn’t entirely sure, but he didn’t recall having another little sibling on the way. Well, whatever! He’d just have to open it and find out what the deal was. While Jamil would normally have opened the letter with one seamless swipe of his thumb, Kalim ended up having to tear open the envelope to get at the letter inside.
As he looked down at the elegant parchment and noticed the official wax insignia on the document, a strange feeling of dread filled his stomach. If it wasn’t for Jamil standing expectantly off to the side, waiting for him to read the letter before they got ready for classes, he might have not been able to bring himself to read it at all.
After finishing the letter though, he kind of wished that Jamil hadn’t been there after all.
“Hm? Kalim? What’s the matter? Your face doesn’t look so good.”
Kalim tried to hide the way that his hands trembled as he lowered the paper. He doubted that Jamil was fooled. Kalim smiled at him anyway. “It seems like my mother has chosen a husband for me!”
“What?” Jamil asked. He snatched the letter from his unresisting hands. “Let me see that.” Kalim watched as Jamil’s expression grew more and more sour as his eyes scanned the letter.
He tossed the letter on the bed with a scowl. “After making me go through all the trouble of serving you and making myself lesser than you, they’re planning on marrying you off and giving one of your siblings the family business? Aren’t you the first born?”
Ah. It seemed that Jamil wasn’t especially concerned about him; he only cared about whether he had been wasting his time on Kalim all these years.
Despite feeling like Jamil’s feelings were justified considering what happened during the break, Kalim would be lying to himself if he said that it didn’t hurt that his closest friend only seemed to be thinking of himself in this situation. Still, he would push through these feelings, like he always did.
“Our family may be powerful and wealthy, but we’re not royalty. If I marry a foreign prince, it will raise the family’s status.”
Jamil laughed under his breath. “Well, I guess it’s no surprise. Your family uses everyone and everything to get what they want—why would that not include you?”
Kalim laughed weakly at Jamil’s words, but otherwise, he couldn’t bring himself to refute them. His parents had been protecting him up until now with the expectation that he would take over the family, but if they found a role for him that would lead to even more prestige and prosperity then they would take advantage of that.
Kalim wished he could say he was shocked by this, but if he was being honest with himself, he knew that his parents never had a strong desire for him to take over the business to begin with. He had younger siblings that were smarter than him and relatives with far more experience running the family. The truth was that despite being the first-born, Kalim was nothing more than a figurehead all this time. He understood that fully now.
“What should I do, Jamil? If I say no, they’ll kick me out of the family.”
Jamil sat down on his bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “First of all, you should decide if it’s really worth marrying someone just because your family said so. Even if they kick you out, is that any worse than ending up with some foreign royal who doesn’t want to marry you either?”
“Probably?”
Jamil sighed, unimpressed with his answer. “Do you even like men, Kalim?”
Kalim crossed his arms and hummed in thought. “I’ve never really thought about it before. I’ve had a lot of guys ask to sleep with me since I started going here though!”
Jamil raised an elegant brow at him. “Come again?”
“They ask about you too, Jamil! Like whether you can join and become part of—what did they call it—a threesome?”
“THEY WHAT?” Jamil grabbed him by the front of his nightshirt. “Forget your marriage. You’re giving me all their names right now.”
“Eh? But I don’t remember them all.”
“Do you want to eat today?”
“Of course! I always look forward to eating your food!”
Jamil gave him a threatening glare. “Then you better remember quickly.”