“No!” Ryu said with a laugh. “She was fun, but she’s just a bit too high energy in the end. I’d want someone a bit more low key. But my point is that she’s a princess, and an omega, but at the same time, she was cool. Like, good friend cool. So maybe if my soulmate was kind of like her, then it wouldn’t be totally awful?”
“Could you set that bar any lower?” Kentario said. “If your marital aspirations don’t get any better than ‘not totally awful’, I can’t see the point of having a soulmate in the first place.”
“Maybe I should just marry you. It would make things a lot simpler.” Goddess alive, what on earth had possessed him to say that? It was like his mouth was just running away with the first thought that came into his head, without any kind of filtering whatsoever. Ryu stared at his plate, willing hisface not to go bright red, scrambling for some witty follow-up to show he’d only been joking…
But then a warm, earthy scent filled the room, making Ryu feel disoriented. Why would his bodyguard be…? “I’d rather marry you than whatever vain dimwit is likely waiting in the wings as my soulmate,” Kentario said.
Ryu’s eyes snapped up, meeting Kentario’s darker ones in wide-eyed shock, before hastily looking away again. He toyed with his rice as he floundered for something to say. They were both bound by duty, but the idea that Kentario wasn’t entirely on board with his own supposed destiny was unsettling in ways that he didn’t dare examine too closely. The bald statement was exactly what he thought he’d wanted to hear, for months now, but actually hearing it – regardless of the fact that Kentario very likely wasn’t serious – just drove home all the reasons why it could never happen.
“Probably a good thing my parents aren’t around to hear this conversation,” he said finally, trying to break the tension. “They’d never let us eat dinner together again.”
“Not sure they’d let us do it again anyway,” Kentario said. “Once every eighteen years seems to be our limit at the moment.”
That managed to make Ryu smile. “Maybe if I’m really good, they’ll cut it down to sixteen years. Gotta get something for good behaviour, right?”
Kentario snorted. “You mean you’re going to stop climbing out the spare bedroom window? I somehow have trouble believing that. Now, finish your dinner,” he told him gruffly, helping himself to more rice. “Then we might have time for a movie before your parents get back.”
◊◊◊
Later that night, Kentario sat on the floor at the foot of his bed, legs crossed, eyes closed. His legs were covered with a pair of sweatpants, but his torso was bare. Deliberately, he relaxed his shoulders, then his abdomen, letting the sensation flow right down his legs.Relax, he coached himself silently.
If he could relax, then maybe he could get some damned sleep.
But after that conversation with Ryu, sleep seemed an elusive idea. Had he done something wrong in his duty to protect the prince? Was Maro ever going to actually tell him why he kept being sidelined, or just sack him one day out of the blue? Sou was blowing hot and cold as well, inviting Ryu to meetings, then kicking him out, barring Kentario from spending any time in the royal apartment, then blatantly telling Ryu to invite him over for dinner. And on top of all that, Ryu himself was…
Relax, Kentario reminded himself, once more making an effort to release the tension in his muscles. Normally, meditation came easily to him, a peaceful ritual at the end of each day that made falling asleep the work ofless than two minutes. Today, though, he just couldn’t get his mind to let go. Maybe he should head down to the gym, and –
A thundering boom rang out through the walls of the palace, and in a split second, Kentario was on his feet, eyes open, hand reaching for the gun at his side.
But the gun wasn’t there, already stowed in the bedside draw for the night. What the fuck had that sound been?
On the heels of that thought came another sound, and another, and this time, Kentario recognised the faint, sharp cracks as easily as he recognised Ryu’s voice.
Gunfire.
Moving as silently as a ghost, he shoved his feet into boots, pulled on a t-shirt, and then his black leather jacket. It wouldn’t do much to stop a bullet, but there was a spare clip in the pocket, and his Swiss army knife, and a tiny flashlight… a veritable boy-scout’s treasure trove. Then he retrieved the gun from the nightstand, pressing the code into the small safe where it was stored.
The Amagarda apartment was on the lower level of the residential wing, and he took a right as he came out the door, heading for the main wing of the palace. The gunfire had stopped for the moment. Most likely the Royal Guard had taken care of –
A volley of gunshots echoed through the hallway. Kentario dived for cover in a doorway, heart pounding. What the fuck? Gunshotsinsidethe palace? The Royal Guard should have stopped any would-be attackers out in the courtyard, or in the gardens. How the hell had anyone managed to get right inside the palace itself?
His pulse racing, his guts churning, Kentario slid along the hallway, his gun at the ready. His booted feet made no more than the slightest tap against the wooden boards, though even with his extensive abilities, he still stuck to treading on the rugs when possible.
At the end of the hall, he plastered himself against the wall, listening carefully before he dared even the slightest glimpse around the corner. Heavy breathing met his ears, followed by a frail moan, then a faint curse.
He knew that voice! It was Felix, Ryu’s tutor. The man hadn’t yet moved out of the palace, waiting until Ryu’s exam results came through lest there be some unfortunate mishap requiring his services for a little longer.
A dull thud sounded a moment later, followed by silence.
Kentario dared a glimpse around the corner, and what he saw made his gut lurch. Felix lay on the floor, hand pressed over a bloody wound on his abdomen. His own blood had soaked down over his hip, then further, his trousers stained red all the way to his knee.
Kentario spared a glance up the hallway. No sense rushing out into the path of danger… but when the coast was clear, he gave in to his first instinct and dashed over to the elderly man.
“Felix? What in the Goddess’s name?”
Felix didn’t waste his breath invoking the Goddess, or even acknowledging who had found him. “The king and… queen are… dead,” he gasped out. “Find Ryu. Get him out.” He coughed then, a thick, gurgling sound, and blood spurted from his mouth.
Though some might have viewed his next action as cruel, Kentario waited for no more of an explanation. He simply leapt to his feet and headed for the royal apartment at a sprint. Felix would be dead soon, regardless of any assistance Kentario tried to offer, and as he’d pointed out to more than one person in the last few weeks, he had exactly one job here; protect Ryu. At any cost.
