The girl hurried to take one of the two glasses from a nearby table and pour water from a pitcher into it before presenting it to him with a small bow. Shi’chen took the glass with a mumbled “thank you,” and the two servants moved over to his personal rooms further down the length of the hall, closed off from the main room by another set of double doors. The doors closed behind them, leaving him alone.
Shi’chen sat down on a pile of cushions, taking a long sip of the water before setting it aside and lying back against a pillow. He closed his eyes, draping his non-bleeding arm over his eyes to rest. He didn’t know how long he laid there, pretending he was not angry at himself for rising to Hi’jan‘s bait, before the doors opened, and his twin brother, A’bbni, hurried into the room with a swish of black scholar robes. “What did you do?” A’bbni asked, hurrying over to him and dropping to his knees next to the cushion.
“Hello to you, too,” Shi’chen said, not moving his arm from his eyes.
A’bbni suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled it toward him to examine the cut. Shi’chen winced. “Ouch,” he said pointedly.
A’bbni rolled his eyes, getting to his feet. “I will be right back. Do not move.” And then he was gone into his rooms with the same haste as he had entered.
Shi’chen sighed and stood up, moving over to the low table to refill his water glass. A’bbni was going to fuss over him, and he was not going to hear the end of it for the rest of the evening. At least his brother didn’t seem upset about him pulling him away from whatever he had been doing. A’bbni often became lost in a book, or researching something he had just discovered, or trying his hand at some new scientific venture. Or sometimes, he found one of the pretty library guardians, and they disappeared deep into the archives, to emerge later a bit more ruffled and bright-eyed. Shi’chen very much decided to leave all that nonsense to his brother.
A’bbni came back into the main room, carrying a black bag. He gave Shi’chen a slight glower. “I told you not to move.”
“I am not going to bleed out on the floor, i-sha,” Shi’chen said, moving back to the cushion to sit down.
A’bbni tossed his ponytail over his shoulder, but his posture softened at the affectionate address. He knelt down next to him, pulling out a cloth and some sort of oil from the bag before taking Shi’chen’s arm. “At least it is a clean cut. What happened?”
Shi’chen shrugged, taking another sip of water with his free hand. “Hi’jan,” he said by way of explanation.
A’bbni sighed, starting to swab the oil-covered cloth over his twin’s arm. “You know he tries to provoke you to get you in trouble.”
“I know,” Shi’chen said.
“Then why do you let him?” A’bbni asked pointedly.
“Because I don’t like the way he talks about you,” Shi’chen said darkly.
“I do not need you to defend my honor, i-sha.” A’bbni’s touch on his wounded skin was gentle.
“I know you don’t,” Shi’chen said, his ears dropping shamefully. “But that does not mean he should be able to say such things.”
A’bbni was silent a moment, his eyes on his work as he wiped away the drying blood from Shi’chen’s arm. Hi’jan was and always had been after as much power as he could get. When he had joined the palace guards a year ago after being transferred from a northern company, already almost ten years Shi’chen’s senior, he had immediately tried to seduce the elder twin. His efforts had proven more than a little futile, as nearly everyone in the palace knew that Shi’chen had no interest in bedding anyone and found the whole notion entirely unappealing. That was when Hi’jan‘s attention had turned to the Captain’s twin brother, who had more of a reputation for trysts. But A’bbni had seen through the attempts as easily as through a pane of glass. He was kind and compassionate, almost to a fault sometimes, but he was not stupid. Even without Shi’chen’s warnings of what Hi’jan was trying to do, he knew the older Captain was only trying to use him to gain more power within the court. With his advances to both of the Regent’s sons rebuffed, Hi’jan’s flattery and romancing had turned to spite.
“I understand. But they are just words.”
“For now,” Shi’chen mumbled into his glass as he took another swallow of the water.
“We are princes of the realm, i-sha,” A’bbni said, giving Shi’chen’s arm a last pat with the oiled cloth. “He would not be able to act against us without repercussions.”
Shi’chen gave a pointed look at his arm. “Perhaps not against you.”
A’bbni frowned, giving his twin’s hand a squeeze. “Do not let him goad you. He is not worth it.”
Shi’chen slumped back against the cushions and swirled the water around in the bottom of his glass to avoid answering.
A’bbni sighed again, then suddenly brightened as he dug in his bag. “This is actually perfect. Hold still.”
Shi’chen sat up sharply. “What sort of test are you going to try to run on me?” he asked. It was not uncommon for A’bbni to develop new treatment ideas, and patching up his twin brother was often the easiest way for him to try them out.
“It is just a powder to prevent infection,” A’bbni said, finding a small vial in his bag and pulling the stopper out. “But I think it may also help with coagulation.”
Shi’chen groaned. “I-sha, do you have to?” he asked with a dramatic whine.
A’bbni ignored him, and Shi’chen didn’t protest further. He would cut off his own leg if his brother asked him to, and seeing the excitement in his twin’s ember-orange eyes, so much like his own, was his favorite thing in the world. He held still as A’bbni sprinkled the slightly pinkish powder over the shallow cut, then reached for a bandage to wrap around it. “I will check that later. Try not to scratch it.”
“Yes, Your Reverence,” Shi’chen said teasingly, addressing A’bbni by the formal title his scholarship merited, then winced as the spot began to sting. “Ke’sa’s balls, what the fuck did you use?”
A’bbni closed the bag and set it aside, then turned to Shi’chen with a much less compassionate look as he started to wrap the bandage. “It is your own fault for getting into a fight.”
