“Believe what you like,” he finally said. He pulled away and stepped out into the parking lot in a move almost too hard tofollow, leaving Nuri there to deal with the tight knot in his chest on his own.
He must have accidentally pushed a button he hadn’t been aware of. That was the only explanation Nuri could find for the Emperor’s odd reaction. He’d been different since his father’s death, but Nuri had attributed that to the stress of having to take on the crown and all the responsibilities that came along with it. Juggling being the emperor and running the company was a lot of work, and Silver barely got any sleep or time to himself that didn’t involve work of some sort.
Perhaps that’s all this had been. Maybe he was sleep deprived. He’d always struggled extra hard to control his anger when he hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
Straightening from the wall, Nuri adjusted his clothing and smoothed back his hair, making sure he was put together once more before he exited the elevator. Silver was already standing by the car, waiting, but he had no intention of going to dinner with the man now. Lack of sleep or not, a point needed to be made, to both of them. Nuri was allowed to have boundaries, even against the Emperor.
Since Rien Inc was located in the heart of the capital city, many employees didn’t bother owning their own vehicles. Public transportation was popular, and most things could be reached on foot. The only thing that kept people from doing so was typically the weather, which was why an entire row of the parking garage had been dedicated early on to a car service. The drivers were paid by the hour, not the number of rides they gave, so clocked in at the start of the work day and left an hour after closing.
The row allowed for twenty vehicles in total, and there were still six left, the drivers inside all doing various things as they waited for a possible customer to need them.
Nuri made his way over to them and was only halfway there when he received a call through his communicator. He didn’t have to look to know who it was, accepting it and waiting without slowing.
“What do you think you’re doing, Narek?” Silver practically growled through the line, his irritation glaringly obvious. It was honestly surprising he hadn’t stormed after him and had bothered to call at all.
Nuri rapped his knuckles on the driver’s side window of the closest car, nodding when the man within gave him the okay to enter. He moved to the back and opened the door, looking across the lot to meet the Emperor’s angry gaze. “Thank you for the dinner offer, majesty, but unfortunately, I have a previous engagement to get to. Have a good night.” He bowed and ended the call, slipping into the car.
Though he couldn’t hear it from within the vehicle, he saw out the front window as Silver swore, easily making out the movements of his mouth. He started crossing the parking garage toward them, his features twisting into one of fury.
“This is the address,” Nuri clicked the button on his multi-slate that would send the information to the GPS panel at the front of the car. “I’m late so if you could please hurry.”
“Not a problem, sir.”
They sped out of the parking garage, past the Emperor whom the driver somehow didn’t seem to see approaching. Nuri almost managed to keep himself from looking back, but ended up giving in just as they were about to make it to the street.
Silver was standing there, hands in his pockets, a dark expression on his face.
Chapter 5:
“I’m at the station right now,” Nuri assured his brother, weaving his way through a small group of travelers who’d most likely just arrived. The space station had a few off-world trips scheduled, with his taking place in about an hour.
Ignis Galactic was the top off-world traveling company this side of the galaxy, but he’d only ever gone on one business trip that had required him to leave the planet, and that had been at Silver’s side. He was admittedly a little nervous about making such a long journey through space, but he couldn’t let that doubt bleed into his tone or his brother would misunderstand.
He didn’t want his siblings to think he didn’t want to see them, because he did, it was just…He’d always struggled with being off the ground, whether that was in the sky or outer space. It was why his hover car was always flown on the ground road and not in the air lanes. Now he was about to board a ship thatwould take him on a quick six-hour flight but all he could think about was there’d be no way off if something went wrong…
“I’m going to end up losing the bet,” Nate said on the other end of the line, his steady, almost teasing tone helping to wash away some of Nuri’s unease.
“What bet?” He’d packed light and only had the one suitcase with him that rolled closely behind on its own. N.I.M., who he’d considered leaving behind, was tucked safely between a stack of shirts and pants within the case.
“We bet on whether or not you’d actually make it. After talking to you last week she was certain you would, but I had my doubts.”
“Nice.” Nuri rolled his eyes and paused to look for which check-in area he needed to be in. The station was huge, with ceilings that stretched up fifty or so feet, and since it was already mid-morning, the foot traffic was increasing every minute. He needed to get in line and get to his designated waiting area. “It’s my fault you guys are doing that. I’m sorry I haven’t visited sooner.”
“It’s only been two years,” Nate stated nonchalantly, but Nuri saw through him. Nate had grown up as the middle child, but when their mom had gotten sick, he’d been forced to take on a lot of the older sibling role that Nuri had no longer been there to do himself.
In order to pay the medical expenses, Nuri had agreed to work for the Emperor and had moved almost immediately to the boarding school to act as a confidant to Silver, as well as help keep him in line. He’d gotten into so many fights with so many people by that point, and Nuri hadn’t been sure how Sij thought he’d be able to make any sort of difference. Miraculously, he had.
Silver had been terse with him the first couple of weeks, but not awful. He’d even helped him catch up in their studies, explaining things the private school had that Nuri’sless impressive old school hadn’t. His fascination with meeting someone from a lower-class family on a planet where they made up less than twenty percent of the population had fueled much of their discussions.
Nuri had been insulted by that at first. He’d felt like Silver was silently laughing at him, but he’d soon realized that wasn’t the case. Silver simply hadn’t been able to comprehend half the things Nuri had told him, like needing the job to afford health care, or having never been to a Ruby Star restaurant before. As a kid, Silver had been self-centered, unable to see outside of his own inner world.
Now he was just an arrogant prick who preferred not to bother with anyone else’s concerns.
Admittedly, Nuri was still put off by what happened between them last night. It’d been so long since Silver had gotten physical with him, it’d thrown him and he’d reacted on instinct despite that most likely having not been in his best interest.
He should have at least gone to dinner. There was little doubt in his mind that the Emperor was furious with him now, and would take it out on him once he returned from this trip.
“Should I quit and just not come back?” He murmured, momentarily forgetting he was on a call until his brother made a startled sound.
