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Skadj stirred awake to find cold metal against his neck and he tensed up. He was about to shout for his guards to come save him when a hand was clamped over his mouth. It took him a moment to recognize the girl on top of him, the darkness making it harder than it needed to be.
“I wouldn’t suggest calling for help this time,” Her voice was dangerous, cold, like she didn’t quite care about if he died or not more so she didn’t want to be caught. Skadj narrowed his eyes and nodded, prompting her to remove her hand from his mouth.
“There are a lot more conventional ways to get my attention, you know?” He asked and she rolled her eyes.
“I know that,” She said, using one of her hands to balance on his chest while still holding the knife to his throat. Other than that she was sitting on his stomach, which was not fun. He was used to her being in a dress, so after realizing she was in a fully black suit she was a little thrown off.
“So what exactly do you want? Because I know you didn’t come here just to talk, princess,” He practically spat. Sue him for being a dick, he was annoyed at being woken up and seeing his old friend turned against him.
“I came here to see if you have any…information, prince. I, as well as you, know that since you aren’t the one in line for the throne you’ve taken over as battle strategist. And so that means you have information we want,”
“Why? Daddy couldn’t get that from one of my guys?” Skadj hissed at her. He was still angry at the loss of one of his men, Commander Chaos had been a great guy and usually very reliable so the fact that he had been caught, tortured, and then executed…it pushed the war further than before.
And sure, part of that probably came from his brother who had a thing for Chilled, but honestly it had pissed him off too and if he was in Ze’s place he probably would’ve just bombed the other kingdom. Sadly, that idea had been shut down. How very rude.
“Chaos needed to go. It’s not like I killed Anthony, the guy Ze’s been in love with since we were all kids,” Kara scoffed and Skadj glanced to his side, carefully avoiding her eyes. Chilled had become a nickname during the war, because he always kept them from stressing themselves out more than needed. “Skadj?”
“Yeah?”
“He was Anthony, wasn’t he?”
“He was,” Skadj answered, finally looking at her once again through the dark. The knife wasn’t quite pulled away from his neck but it wasn’t exactly being held there either.
“I’m sorry,” Kara’s voice was soft but Skadj just shook his head. There was no point in apologizing when it was already done, besides he was pretty ok but his brother wasn’t.
“I’m not the one you need to be apologizing to,” He said and Kara let out a sigh.
“I’m not sure he would believe me,”
“Kara, I don’t believe that you’re sorry,” Skadj said and she looked a little thrown off from that. “Don’t look so surprised, you’re holding a knife to my neck after breaking into my room. Thanks to you that means Greg and Cheesy are going to be standing guard in my room with me,”
“Your parents were always a little overprotective,” Kara shrugged but he stared at her in shock before letting out a bitter sounding laugh.
“They’re dead, remember? Besides, it’s not their choice and it’s not Ze’s. It’s mine,” He told her and she looked confused, which was a rare sight when it came to Kara as she always seemed one step ahead of everything.
“You hate other people in your room when you sleep,”
“Yeah? You know what else I hate?” He asked and glared at her. “You being in my room right now,” He moved slowly, pushing her off of him. It wasn’t hard or enough to make her go flying, it was just enough pressure to urge her to move off of him and get the knife away from his neck. He’d be lying if he said he was going to call the guards still. He didn’t think she was going to hurt him.
“Skadj, I-”
“This is stupid Kara!” He said, maybe a bit louder than he intended but she flinched back and he took that as a small win. He stood up off of the bed, pacing and shifting around. “You’re supposed to be my friend!”
“I am your friend!” Kara was on the defensive now.
“Are you, Kara? Are you?” He asked and she looked dejected for a moment, staring at the ground. “A friend wouldn’t have let this war get started. A friend wouldn’t wake me up with a knife to my throat. A friend…a friend isn’t you anymore,” Skadj softened his voice at the end.
“How could you say that?” Kara asked, voice shaking and it was evident enough to him that she was trying not to cry. He must’ve gotten loud enough though because there was banging on his door that he was just now realizing she had barricaded.
“Go home Corvus. You aren’t welcome here anymore and they’re about to get in,” he said, turning his back to her. He didn’t hear her move or anything but he figured she wasn’t stupid enough to stay here.
“Prince Skadj, are you ok?” The familiar voice of Greg rang out as his door was ripped from its hinges.
“I’m fine Greg,” he gave him the most confident smile he could. “Just a small dispute with Kara,”
“She was here?” Cheesy asked. The younger guard looked shocked and Skadj just shrugged.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. I’m going back to bed now. Would you two mind staying in the room with me?” He asked and Greg nodded to him without a facial change. Cheesy quickly corrected his shocked look and forced a serious look into his face. “Thank you,”
Skadj glanced at the open window, which was now being shut courtesy of Cheesy, and he laid down in his bed. He wished things could’ve been different but that just wasn’t his luck and would never be.