Kelevra reached for him on the way down, catching up his body to hold him close. He pressed a row of feather-light kisses across Rin’s forehead and smiled down at him smugly. “Welcome home, Consort.”
It was the last thing Rin heard before he sunk into the dark embrace of unconsciousness.
* * *
Rin felt funny. His mouth was dry and wherever he was it, was dark.
He blinked and it took him longer than it should have to process his eyelashes brushing against cloth. His wrists were up by his head, and he was pretty sure he was vertical but he wasn’t standing. The blindfold kept him from seeing what was going on, and when he tested it, he could only move his arms and legs a fraction, and it was hard, almost as though he was fighting against secure chains.
“Awake?” Kelevra’s voice came from behind him a moment before the sound of him entering whatever room they were in followed. He set something down—probably something metallic from the way it clattered slightly—and then moved up to Rin’s side.
“What—” Rin sucked in a breath when Kel’s hand pushed lightly against his shoulder, spinning his body until he was practically hanging upside down.
“I’m doing my duty as your mentor,” Kelevra told him silkily while Rin’s brain scrambled to figure out what was going on. “You’re currently experiencing what it’s like to use the G-Tester 450.”
“The—” He frowned. That was tech used by the school for training. He’d seen the room they were kept in. Each station consisted of two circular power pads, one on the floor and one on the ceiling directly above it. Cadets were given cuffs for their wrists and ankles that were connected to the remote controls for the device. When activated, the space between the top and bottom panels altered, simulating a zero gravity experience where the cadet felt weightless.
“You wouldn’t get to train on them until next year,” Kelevra said, walking around him as he spoke. “Your Active encouraged us to share our knowledge and prepare you, and this,” he tapped on the side of Rin’s left leg, effectively sending his body spinning again until he was hovering over the ground on his stomach, “is one of my specialties.”
The Academy prepared students for their future roles as agents in the I.P.F, which would require spaceship travel. Since there wasn’t always a mechanic on those assigned ships, all cadets were given basic repair training which would require them to exit the ship while they were in space.
“I don’t think this is what Banks meant,” Rin growled, realizing that his dick was hanging which meant he was also naked. “Take this thing off and put me down.”
“The blindfold stays on,” Kelevra said. “And as for the rest,” his hand came down on Rin’s calf, causing him to jolt, and he skated his palm up his leg, over the curve of his ass, and across his spine, “I like you where you are.”
“Tell me we aren’t at the Academy.” Rin would absolutely lose it.
“Don’t fret. We’re home. I had the equipment installed over the weekend. You came just in time.” He shifted, his hand traveling up the length of Rin’s neck before he captured his jaw firmly and tilted his head up.
Rin glared behind the thick black cloth.
“Don’t you like it?” Kel cooed, stroking the pad of his thumb over Rin’s bottom lip. “I was thinking of you when I bought it. A week trapped in that head of yours, you must be itching to get out of your own skin and let loose. Were you worried the rumors were true, Flower? Did the thought of me being done with you keep you up at night?”
“You’re such a prick.” Rin tugged his head out of Kel’s hold, but that only earned him a chiding click of the Imperial Prince’s tongue.
“I’m your caretaker, actually.” Kelevra stepped away, and Rin struggled to follow him by sound alone as he moved about the room. “Do you know anything about roses?”
“What kind of random question is that?”
“Not so random, Flower.”
Rin paused and then, “You are not comparing me to an actual plant right now. I’m aperson, Kel. Not a bush. Let me down.”
“If left unchecked,” he continued, ignoring him, “roses can suffer from all kinds of diseases. It’s important to prune them, to cut away all the rot before it can infect the body.”
Something cold settled at the base of Rin’s spine and he stiffened. “Kelevra.”
He shushed him. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Are you thinking it’s a chilly blade? It’s just an ice cube, you’re the only one here who’s drawn the other’s blood with a weapon.”
Rin had nicked him with the knife in the locker room and carved up his back their first night when Kelevra had refused to stop on their third time. “Only one of us likes bleeding,” he countered.
“Want to know why roses are my favorite?”
“No.”
“It’s the thorns. Things are dull without a little resistance. A little danger.” He shifted the ice up the slope of Rin’s spine slowly. “A little bloodshed. Flowers on their own are pretty, but so many things are. What use is there in being pretty but nothing else? Imagine if I consisted purely of this shell and nothing more. If my only standing was that I look good in a suit.”
“You’re really bragging about being psychotic?” Rin ground his teeth when the ice hovered at the base of his skull. “That’s cold. Cut it out.”
