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It begins when that damned sorcerer approaches him.
“Fancy seeing you here, Tsukasa-kun.”
It’s the annual spring ball, meant to celebrate whatever new royal marriage is happening at that time of year. It’s often for proposals or newlyweds, or even new pacts made with other kingdoms. It is typically a time to be happy and rejoice, think of all the progress that the kingdom has made, and yet.
This year, people aren’t so excited.
A certain Kamishiro Rui takes Tsukasa’s hand and brings it to his lips, kissing his knuckles. “May I have this dance?”
This year, the princess went missing.
A kidnapping, they say. Orchestrated by the other kingdom. The one this very sorcerer is from. He no doubt had some part in it—magic is the only way they could have gotten past the defense mechanisms put in place.
As a knight, Tsukasa led several search parties. None were successful.
Tsukasa glances around. There’s dancing couples around them, all peacefully talking, and he can’t cause a scene now. He’s a respected knight, and he wouldn’t want to refuse. What sort of rumors would the sorcerer stir up if he did?
His skin tingles from where Rui had kissed his hand. “You may,” he replies quietly, before Rui places a hand on his waist and a hand on his shoulder and sweeps him into a ballroom dance. It feels horribly wrong to be so close to him. The man who might have killed the princess that he’d known his entire life.
“I know you know where she is,” Tsukasa whispers as they spin, looking the sorcerer straight in the eye. “Tell me where the princess is.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” Rui shrugs, smiling cattishly. “Either way, I wouldn’t tell a knight like you.”
“Your kingdom has had her for months,” Tsukasa hisses. “What else could you need from her?”
“Information, perhaps? I am not the person in charge of her.” He pauses talking to spin Tsukasa around, pulling him closer after he twirls so their chests are pressed together and their noses are almost touching— “You’d be better off asking someone at the head of the kingdom. Not a lowly sorcerer such as myself.”
Bastard. “Why did you ask to dance with me, then?”
“I just wanted to see my little knight. Is that too much to ask?”
“Tell me where the princess is,” Tsukasa insists again.
Rui digs his nails into Tsukasa’s waist, so much so that it hurts. “I’m not telling you where she is. Now be quiet about it, or else we’ll attract attention. You wouldn’t want to cause issues at your own kingdom’s ball, would you?”
Their breaths mingle as they move across the floor. “I don’t,” Tsukasa admits, “but the princess is more important. Tell me where she is.” In some attempt to intimidate the sorcerer, he squeezes his shoulder, hard, but Rui just lets out a low chuckle.
“Do we need to take this outside? Do you intend to pull out your sword on me right here?”
That’s right, Tsukasa has his sword at his hip right now. He could very well stab the man right there, but then he’d be charged with murder. And besides, he has no real evidence that Rui is involved with the kidnapping of the princess.
“Maybe I will.” No, he won’t.
“Feisty.”
“It’s like you want me to kill you.”
“It’d truly be an honor. To be killed by the great Tenma Tsukasa, the head knight. Not many can say they have been. I see how many people you spare on the battlefield.”
“I only kill the people I need to. I’m not some sort of monster like you are.”
“A monster?” Rui mockingly gasps. “What cruel language.” He spins Tsukasa around again, arm secure around his waist. “You’re so mean to me.”
“I’m just calling you out for what you are.”
“I’m not any sort of a monster. In fact, there’s no proof I’ve done anything wrong at all.”
“Don’t even try to lie to me. We’re taking this out of the ballroom.”
“Ooh, exciting~! What will Tsukasa-kun do? Will he hurt me? Torture the information out of me? Such a golden retriever knight wouldn’t dare…”
“Now.”
“Alright, alright.” Rui interlocks their fingers and plasters on his most pleasant smile—they’re just leaving for a quick breath of fresh air, there’s nothing going on. “I don’t think that sword of yours will do anything to defeat me, though.”
Tsukasa leads them through the crowd, swerving through dancing couples and conversing nobles. He spots his sister and her girlfriends all talking near the refreshments table, and he hurriedly goes up to them, careful not to loosen his grip on Rui’s hand.
“Onii-chan! Hi! Are you enjoying the ball?” Saki smiles at him. None the wiser.
“Of course, dearest sister! I’m just stepping outside for a moment.” He smiles back. “I need a breath of fresh air. The music and the people are getting to me.”
His sister eyes his and Rui’s hands for a moment, before raising her eyebrows and grinning at him like she knows something he doesn’t. “Alright then! Have fun!” She elbows Ichika, who giggles.
Oh, god, anything but what he knows his sister is thinking. He grumbles silently to himself before making his way to the grand double doors that lead out into the corridor. He slams them shut behind him, and exhales.
The hallway is empty and dead silent. They’re the only ones there. Good. Only now does he drop Rui’s hand and turn to face him.
He brings a hand to the hilt of his sword, but does not pull it from its sheath. “Tell me where she is.”
“You’re a fool if you think I’ll utter a word to you.” Rui’s tone is much less pleasant now that they’re not in a room full of people. “You won’t get a drop of information out of me, even if you run me through with that sword of yours.”
“You’re so damn petty. You only captured her because she refused Princess Minori’s hand in marriage, didn’t you?”
“I’m sure the queen had much better reasoning than that.” Rui frowns. “I’m shocked you think so lowly of our kingdom.”
“Are you really? You kidnapped our princess. We’ve been in shambles ever since.”
Rui steps forward and tilts his chin up with one gloved finger— “It’s not smart to admit your kingdom’s weaknesses to the enemy.”
Tsukasa glares at him. Something feels off about his chest. There’s some strange lump across his abdomen. It’s thin and barely noticeable, but Tsukasa’s eye is trained. Rui is hiding something.
But he knows that Rui won’t let him get close unless he catches him by surprise, so…
He grabs the collar of the sorcerer’s shirt, pulls him down, and smashes their lips together.
The change is immediate—all the tenseness in Rui’s body dissipates and he relaxes against Tsukasa, arms snaking around his waist. For a moment, he nearly forgets why he’d done it in the first place and falls into the intoxicating rhythm of Rui’s lips moving against his and his fingers tracing up his spine, but no, he did this for a reason. The knight decides not to focus on how easy it was to kiss him and how Rui had just let him do it like it was nothing, and slips his hands underneath the hem of Rui’s shirt.
There’s something cold and pointy strapped to the sorcerer’s chest. A dagger.
Ridiculous.
He pulls the dagger off of Rui and, still kissing him, holds it up to his neck, pressing the blade down on Rui’s throat.
This finally makes the sorcerer pull away. “How cruel,” he says. “You kiss me like that and now you’re going to slit my neck.”
Tsukasa flushes. “I didn’t kiss you because I wanted to.”
“You kissed me like you wanted to.” Rui smirks. “Do you? Does my little knight want to kiss me?”
Damn him and his stupid, twisting words. “Don’t joke around with the man with a knife to your throat.” How easy it would be to slit his neck. The flesh is so soft that he’d only have to press down a little harder than he already is. He’d watch the blood bubble around the wound and pour out and laugh because god, finally that motherfucker would be dead.
“Fair point,” Rui says quietly, gaze fluttering down to his lips. “I should be doing something else with my mouth, shouldn’t I?”
The sorcerer moves quickly—he wrenches the dagger away from his neck, pries it from Tsukasa’s hand and throws it on the ground, before diving in to kiss him again, harder this time. Before Tsukasa can even have time to react, he’s pinned up against a wall, and Rui is heatedly pressing his lips to his own. His teeth play with Tsukasa’s bottom lip, and fuck, it feels good.
Tsukasa breaks away. “God, I hate you so much,” he huffs, before bringing their mouths back together. It’s a perfect symphony—Rui’s hands slip underneath his shirt, the way his own did when he tried to find the dagger, except they do not search for any weapons but instead just stay there, and Tsukasa manages to slip his tongue into the sorcerer’s mouth.
Maybe Saki was right.
And maybe Tsukasa has lost his mind.
Rui drops from his lips to his jaw, and Tsukasa tilts his head up to there’s a perfect line from his chin to his collarbone. He kisses his neck gently, then more aggressively as he gets further down, skin catching on teeth. Tsukasa should have expected him to leave some sort of mark. Well, he’ll figure it out later.
“Rui,” he mumbles as Rui kisses his neck. “This is a horrible idea.”
Rui lifts his head. “You were the one who kissed me first,” he says, before bringing their lips together again, retracting his hand from underneath his shirt to attempt to remove his sword and its sheath from Tsukasa’s hip. It’s Tsukasa’s last means of defense, so if Rui does manage to remove it, he won’t have any way to fight him.
Maybe that’s okay.
(They don’t return to the ballroom for the rest of the night. When Saki comes to visit Tsukasa to make sure he’s alright, she finds the sorcerer and him in bed together, still in the clothes they had worn to the ball, clinging to each other.) (She swears she sees marks on Tsukasa’s neck, but whatever. It’s not her business. He’ll spill eventually.)