How to Make a Sinner Sleep

47 | discussion; one-sided beliefs

"There'll be an excursion soon. I expect you to attend."

Kaden knelt on the cushioned carpet, a sombre red against the swept floor, free of even slight dirt or grime. Orderly, in a way where any mess was taken as a secret to be hidden, locked in the closet or swept into the bins.

He kept his head lowered, not quite in the mood to bicker with Reed's authority. To begin with, there was a time and place to argue, and this wasn't it.

There was a delicate balance—Reed tolerated Kaden's carefree and biting remarks, but only when it suited him, only when his mood hadn't soured by the day's affairs.

Kaden had to wonder why Reed didn't abuse the curse more often, mild as it was. 

Reed regarded Kaden's silence, rather pleased. Seeing the whorl at the top of the head of pink hair both gave him a sense of authority and also discomfort. There was always some discomfort in watching Kaden, having him in the room.

The man didn't think that had always existed. 

But he couldn't recall the days where Kaden had first stepped into the castle, likely with dirt covering the expanse of his skin and sharpened, cautious eyes.

A tug ached at Reed's chest, and his lips bent in dislike. His head throbbed, though it often did, plagued by headache.

It eased him, speaking to Kaden in a rough, arrogant manner, as if looking down on the other. It eased him; and it also made him feel drawn away from reality, as if his thoughts and emotions didn't align.

Kaden, growing impatient and not wanting to remain under Reed's scrutiny, spoke. "Your highness. Is that all?"

He was tired—last night, and for several more days, he'd spent locked in his own room. After the strange conversation with Night and the man's mysterious disappearance, Kaden wasn't in much of a good mood.

The dragon's lull of conversation later, from outside the singular door they both leaned against, had brought some warmth back to him and eased his mind.

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak."

"And I don't ever recall being one to wait for permission." He raised his head, a dark flash of disobedience in the rich green eyes, carved from emeralds and gems. "Will you punish me for that?"

"It's hardly amusing when you ask for a punishment." waved Reed, looking away with a scowl.

Kaden sighed. "The excursion. What would you like from me? If it's simply my attendance, you wouldn't have called me here. You prefer living as if I don't exist."

Sharp-tongued and full of malice, Kaden was and always had been. But like a habit hammered into his brain, he would never truly go against Reed. The countless nights locked in that Room with no light or sound had worn that defiance away.

The beatings and lashes had imprinted the consequence of disobedience. Much as he'd like to pretend, Kaden, with or without the curse, could never properly stand up for himself.

See, Reed's curse didn't disallow Kaden from fighting back. 

But the idea of punishment did.

"You'll be traveling to the Land of the Fae. There have been recent cases of minor fairies or pixies disappearing on human grounds, so there'll be an investigation going on. Tell me anything to learn from it."

"Disappearing...?"

There asw a delicate balance between all races—one wouldn't attack them for no reason. Most preferred to live among themselves, in the safety of what they knew, rather than the unknowns they could never fully understand.