Silver had graced more than one magazine cover in his day, and that was only partially because of his high-standing position in society. Even if he’d been a nobody on the streets, someone would have plucked him from the pavement and put him on a glossy cover. Gorgeous was an understatement.
In the daytime, Silver’s hair was silky black. He wore it short on the sides, with his bangs swept off his face. More often than not, like right now, they dropped over his right eye anyway, with him too focused on work to even notice. His eyes were a dark amethyst, cold and calculating most of the time, with long sooty lashes. High cheekbones, a sharp jawline, and full, rounded lips were the icing on the cake.
Even when he was working, he was dressed in a three-piece suit, today’s reminding Nuri of the devilish nature that could rear its head at a moment's notice. Sometimes those little reminders were nice to have because Silver could fool just about anyone into believing he was calm and collected, even Nuri on occasion.
At night, Silver’s Swift nature took over and the dark locks turned to almost glittery silver-white. His eyes lightened somewhat, to more of a lavender shade with a ring of gold around them, and curved dark blue horns sprouted on his head. It was the look of all Swifts, which made up about twenty percent of the population on Ignite.
Not many people got to see this side of him as he only attended nighttime events when absolutely necessary, and the change only happened once he’d been hit by moonlight. If he did go out at night, he was careful to avoid that happening, making sure to keep shielded by an umbrella, typically carried by Nuri, until he made it safely into the event. Not all Swifts were that secretive or protective of their second images, but for Silver, discretion had always been of utmost importance, as it was for most of the Imperial family for the past hundred years or so.
Another reason why having that video broadcast had been so bad. It’d been an insult to the late emperor, even if the target had been his son. Up until then, there’d only ever been one photograph of Sij Rien in his Swift form made public and it’dbeen taken when he’d been in his mid-twenties and had let his guard down while out with friends.
“Secretary Narek,” Silver called him, snapping him out of his spinning thoughts.
“Yes, sorry what was that?” Nuri cleared his throat.
“I asked what the real reason is.”
He frowned. “Real reason, sir?”
“The one you just gave was clearly tailored to me.” Silver waved at him and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers before him. “What’s the reason you would have given most people if asked the same question?”
It was rare for Silver to care about such things, and for a second Nuri was thrown before he got a hold of himself.
“Generally, people care about other people’s safety, especially if they know them.”
“I don’t know them,” Silver said, only to have Nuri shake his head.
“You do because they’re your employees. That makes a connection between you and them, and as the boss, their wellbeing should be something you take into consideration.”
He made an absent noise. “That sounds tedious and like a complete waste of my energy.”
“Yes well, that’s what normal people do, sir.”
Silver’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but Nuri caught it and dipped his chin.
“Forgive me, sir. That was a poor word choice on my part.” He kept his eyes down until he heard Silver rise a moment later, then he straightened and watched as the Emperor reached for the heavy charcoal coat hung on the coat rack in the corner between the window and desk.
“Send an email to the department heads letting them know to release everyone early,” Silver ordered as he slipped on his coat.
“I’ll go do that now.” Nuri exited and headed over to his own desk, tapping on the flat-screen computer he had. Using his multi-slate as the keyboard, he quickly drafted a message to everyone in the building and sent a copy to all department heads, waiting for the boxes next to each name to turn from blue to red to indicate the messages had been opened. The final box had just been checked when Silver walked in and shut his office door behind him.
“Hurry up,” he said, glancing at Nuri and noting that he still wasn’t dressed to leave.
He grabbed his cream-colored coat and tossed it on, then bent down to retrieve N.I.M. from its charging station. When the weather was good, he let the A.I. roam ahead of them, but since there was already at least half a foot of snow outside, he shoved the glass orb into his front pocket. Since all the important documents he needed to go over tonight had been sent to his multi-slate already, there was nothing else he needed.
Silver seemed to sense the moment Nuri was ready, making his way toward the hallway without another word. He didn’t even wait to be followed, his long legs eating up space as he moved toward the elevator. At six feet three inches, he was a lot taller than Nuri’s five’ nine”, a fact he often forgot when the two of them were walking together, forcing Nuri to jog now and again just to keep up.
He huffed before he could help it then hiked his coat collar up around his face, already preparing for the cold front outside as he met Silver at the elevator just as the doors pinged and slid open. The two of them stepped inside and from within his pocket, N.I.M. activated the button for the parking garage.
Silver’s car was kept in a separate section from the other employees, one that had far more security around it. Nuri was allowed to park there as well on the days he drove separately, though that wasn’t as frequently as he would have liked. He’donly just moved out before the death of Sij, and had finally convinced Silver to allow him to drive his own vehicle to and from work around that time as well.
After losing his father and taking on the role of Emperor, Silver had tightened the leash yet again. It’d been a fight between the two of them when Nuri had refused to move back to the Imperial Estate where Silver lived, and he’d had to compromise by allowing the other man to pick him up before work on most days. In Silver’s defense, going from Crown Prince to Emperor had meant a lot of big changes, and he’d needed help to navigate all of his new duties.
Silver had never wanted to be Emperor, and the fact the job was more a chore for him than anything meant he approached it with even more indifference than he did the safety of his employees driving in a massive snowstorm. Nuri was the one who kept him in check, reminding him about the importance of keeping things running smoothly. He’d helped Silver select officials to take over important government roles that they both knew Silver would never have made time for, and at the end of the week when the reports came in, Nuri and Silver went over them together over dinner.
Well, Nuri went over them and passed on any information he deemed important, in any case.
When they made it to the garage a gust of icy air slapped against Nuri’s cheeks and he paused just within the elevator. Perhaps he should go back upstairs and revisit the idea of sleeping on the couch in the waiting area of the office.
