Once Upon a Time

第42章 Chapter (1)

Twenty-four days later, Sirrimed Rohan. “We have a situation,” she said, sounding uncharacteristically hesitant.

Rohan grimaced and put his sleeping daughter into her crib. “What did you do?”

Immediately, Sirri went on the offensive. “It’s your own fault! You should have been here instead of doing who knows what! Where are you?”

Rohan sighed and repeated, “What did you do, Sirri?”

“I resent that!” she said. “I’ll have you know it was mostly Warrehn’s idea, not mine.”

Great. That didn’t make him feel better at all. His best friend wasn’t known for his patience or strategic thinking. When Warrehn got something into his head, he was like a stubborn, unstoppable bull, leaving only destruction in his wake. Coupled with the fact that Warrehn was a Class 6 telepath, it wasn’t exactly encouraging.

“What happened?” Rohan said, closing the door to Tmynne’s room and engaging the security locks. Jamil laughed at him and called him paranoid, but Rohan slept easier like this. If he had been able to get into the palace, it meant another high-level telepath probably could too, and he wasn’t taking chances. Not with his daughter.

Yeah, great job at not getting attached.

Pushing the thought away, Rohan went into the nearest empty room. Since he had been reinstated as Jamil’s manservant for appearances’ sake, it would be strange to be caught taking personal calls while he was supposedly at work. He could use hispulsion gift only so much before developing a hell of a headache.

Closing the door, Rohan focused on what Sirri was saying. “Wait, what did you just say?”

“Warrehn got sick of babysitting the kid and suggested that we actually use him if we’re stuck here. I mean, War kind of had a point: it’s been over a month, and the monks are showing no sign of giving up and going away! Who knows how long it will last? We had to use the kid.”

Rohan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Use him how?”

“I know the plan was to take the kid with us to Tai’Lehr and establish a contact with his master on neutral ground, but what if we didn’t wait? I mean, I know it isn’t ideal that here we have no backup if things go wrong, but there are risks worth taking, right?”

“What exactly did you two do?” Rohan said, knowing that he wasn’t going to like it.

“We allowed the kid to contact his master through hismunicator—and before you chew me out, obviously I made sure the signal was untraceable!”

Rohan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You can’t know it for sure. But fine. What’s done is done. What did you have the boy tell the Grandmaster?”

“What do you take us for? We didn’t let him say anything. I gagged him and put a blaster to his pretty face. I think that sent the message. All I had to do was tell the Grandmaster that if he wanted his apprentice alive, he should meet us tomorrow, alone, at the Blind, and he’d better remove his people.”

“I bet he took it well,” Rohan said, not knowing whether to yell at Sirri or laugh. After weighing the risks, he turned on the video feed and found himself looking at Sirri’s frowning face.

“Actually,” she said, something uneasy in her eyes. “That creep didn’t react at all. He just stared at his apprentice with that creepy as hell emotionless expression and then he said: Very well. Like, there was nothing threatening in his words, but I felt such a chill, it was…” Sirri let out an uneasy laugh. “I must have imagined it. The important part is, he agreed to our conditions. We didn’t even tell him the exact spot and time of the meeting—just told him to turn his identification chip’s beacon on the moment he arrived at the forest. He actually agreed to it. I was a little surprised, to be honest. It’s the best possible oue for us: we can track him the moment he arrives, but he won’t be able to do the same—he won’t know when to expect us. It’s as safe as it gets, Rohan. If things go wrong, we can always just activate our transponders and the Malok-1’s TNIT will teleport us away. You can’t possibly be angry with us!”

Rohan heaved a sigh. “I still don’t like it.” It stank of a trap, but he had to admit Sirri was right: if worse came to worst, they would be able to leave at a moment’s notice when they were at the Blind. “But fine. What’s done is done. Thanks for consulting with me.”

Sirri flushed. “Trust breeds trust, Rohan. Since you’re still acting fishy as fuck and refusing to tell us what the hell you’re doing—” She suddenly narrowed her eyes, looking at the wall behind Rohan. “Where exactly are you? That place sure seems a lot nicer than the tiny shithole Warrehn and I are stuck in.”

Rohan ignored the question. “All right, here’s what we’ll do.” He proceeded to explain his plan. Grudgingly, she agreed, still looking suspiciously at his surroundings. Rohan could only hope there was nothing incriminating in the room, nothing that would make it obvious where he was. His identification chip andmunicator’s signals were off, so Sirri couldn’t trace him that way. It was a smallfort. Rohan knew she wouldn’t leave the matter alone once he rejoined them tomorrow.

His stomach sank. He switched hismunicator off and stared blankly at the opposite wall.

Tomorrow.

Feeling oddly numb, Rohan left the room and headed back to Tmynne’s.

Closing the door softly behind him, he walked back to his daughter’s crib and stared at the sleeping baby. The familial bond between them pulsed softly with peace andfort. She was dreaming of something pleasant, her small mouth curling into a smile that was both Jamil’s and, somehow, her own. She was going to be a beauty when she grew up.

Rohan’s heart swelled, his chest so tight he could barely breathe. He breathed evenly, reinforcing his mental shields so that the turmoil of emotions inside him didn’t wake her. Their familial bond was no longer the tiny trickle it was when he’d arrived at the palace more than a month ago, but a strong stream of affection and protectiveness that flowed between their minds. It was definitely going to confuse her when he suddenly disappeared from her life. And it was entirely his fault. Every time he held her, every time he played with her and had her smile and giggle at him, the bond became stronger. He’d known that, but he had done it all the same.

Thoughtless. Selfish. Greedy.

Clenching his jaw, Rohan covered his daughter with a blanket, careful not to wake her.

And then he left.

His feet carried him in the direction his other bond pulled him. If his bond to Tmynne was like a gentle, calm stream, his bond to Jamil was like a river during springtime, with more water than the riverbanks could contain. Their bond had only be more powerful over the past month, solidifying into something that was, frankly, frightening. It went deeper than mental or physical attraction. Soul-deep. It was basic, elemental, and it changed him in ways Rohan hadn’t thought possible.

It should have frightened him.

Rohan had never felt this way about someone. He woke up and went to sleep holding Jamil in his arms, and it still somehow wasn’t enough. He felt like he would never get enough, hunger gnawing in the depth of his soul, hunger like no other. He could never get as deeply into Jamil as he wanted, could never kiss those soft, plump lips hard enough; it was never enough. He wanted more, more, and more, every day, sometimes twice or thrice a day. He felt like a green boy who’d just discovered what his dick was for, not an adult man with two decades of sexual experience. Of course it didn’t help that Jamil’s heightened senses made them both horny—it was normal for people who’d just gotten their childhood bond removed to feel heightened arousal—but it wasn’t just that. It had been over a month and Jamil was nowpletely settled in his skin, fully in control of his telepathy and his body.

They still craved each other.

Even simply being in Jamil’s presence was satisfying in ways Rohan couldn’t explain. He liked looking at Jamil, loved watching him smile. It was—

It was fucking frightening how much he loved it. He couldn’t imagine not being able to see Jamil every day. The mere thought made his stomach clench into a tight knot.

Rohan reached Jamil’s office and leaned against the wall, waiting. He could feel that Jamil was currently upied, Jamil’s mind focused on the person he was speaking to.

On the wall, the ancient clock was ticking, the sound regular and even.

Rohan glared at it, feeling a spike of irrational anger at the person who was taking away the precious little time they had left.

Jamil seemed distracted now, probably feeling him outside the office and likely feeling his anxiety. Rohan wasn’t surprised when he dismissed the person shortly afterward.

It was some councilor, who looked annoyed and baffled as he emerged out of the office. Rohan should have probably bowed to him, but at that moment he had no patience to act like a servant. He strode into the office and shut the door behind himself.

“Didn’t we have this conversation?” Jamil said in an exasperated tone that contradicted his smile. “You can’t keeping here when I’m working, Rohan! You know how distracting you are. I can never focus when you’re around. I’m the Crown Prince. I can’t just…” He trailed off, his smile fading as he peered closer at Rohan. Rohan, who still stood leaning against the door, just looking at him intently. Jamil frowned. “Rohan?”

Rohan bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood.

He stared at that lovely, dear face, and felt like he was choking on raw emotion. You’re mine. You should be mine.

He swallowed the words back in. They would only make everything worse.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. Or rather, tonight. I still have to reach the Blind on an aircraft.”

Jamil’s face went terribly still. He wasn’t even blinking.

“Tonight?” he whispered.

“Warrehn and Sirri arranged a meeting with the High Adept. Tomorrow. If all goes well, we’ll go home to plan our approach to the Council. If it doesn’t go well…” He trailed off, unable to say it.

Jamil smiled woodenly, his sm