"I asked..." His voice was unrecognizable, as he roughly wrapped his strong hand around Vicrims throat.

"What were you doing?"

Keial's eyes were no longer normal, and his voice had deepened and darkened, he sounded like a beast ready to pounce, as his eyes locked onto Vicrim's shaking ones.

"Y-Your Highness, it... it..." Keial took a step forward causing Vicrim to cry silently as his whole body shook,

"I expected nothing less from a newcomer... but from someone who has been here long enough to know the rules."

"You disappointed me." That is all he said before everything went deathly quiet.

Within a second, Keial had his hand around Vicrim's neck, and without another word, or so much a second for Vicrim to struggle or plead his innocence, Keial lifted him off the ground, and by that point, I saw it was already impossible.

Vicrim was dead.

Nobody spoke as we all watched Keial let go of Vicrim's neck, making his lifeless body hit the floor, his eyes still as black as night as he looked down at the now corpse of Vicrim, with no emotion.

The other two who had kicked me had gotten down to their knees and had positioned themselves into a submissive pose, a sign of complete submission and obedience, and all I could do was watch in horror, as Keial focused on them.

"W-We beg for mercy, p-please my k-king, we had made a mistake, o-one we will never do again." The smaller guy said, his voice shaking as he begged through the tears that fell down his face.

"W-We have a family, we will accept the h-harshest punishment, b-but please, mercy."

"Mercy?" Keial said deathly silently, before his eyes snapped to mine, making me freeze at the overwhelming power radiating from him.

"I'm all out of mercy."

I couldn't look, so I turned my head and closed my eyes, but that didn't block the sounds of their cries as they were dragged away, and while I wanted to open my mouth to plead for their lives, I couldn't find the strength to say a word.

My mouth opened, but the words just wouldn't come out.

After their cries could no longer be heard, I opened my eyes and saw that Keial had bent down in front of me and he was staring at my exposed stomach, which was now bruised from the beating I had just got.

Vicrim's body was no longer beside me either, just a dent in the grass from where his body once was.

I looked back at Keial, and noticed that his eyes had gone back to normal, but that didn't make me drop my guard, not after what I had just witnessed.

"Are you able to heal yourself?"

I took a moment to process what he asked, then swallowed the dryness back deeply in my throat as I shook my head slowly, my eyes warily watching his.

It was just the two of us now in the garden, as I was pretty sure Keial commanded them all to leave... or face the same end as Vicirim.

I couldn't even look at Keial in the eyes... when I did, all I saw was a monster...

"Don't flatter me with compliments." He suddenly sighed, making me flinch, as he stood back up to his full height, his eyes still looking down at mine.

Did he just hear my thoughts again?

"Get up, and then follow me." That was all he said before he turned around and started walking away, with eyes that left no room for arguments as he glared at me.

I bit my tongue and braced myself for the pain as I pushed myself up from the ground, and whilst limping, I did what he asked, and followed him back to the castle.

*****

I sat on the edge of his bed and tried to look anywhere but at Keial, as he came back into the room, holding something in his hand.

What was I doing in his bedroom?

Whilst heading back to the castle, I had not seen a single face the entire way there, and once we were inside heading to his bedroom, it was like nobody was ever there and everyone just vanished, with just the two of us left.

I felt so awkward, and uncomfortable when I was around him, I didn't know if he was going to be nice one minute or kill me the next.

It kept me on the edge, as I constantly wondered what he was thinking.

"Here." Keial had handed me a small flask, with disgusting black liquid inside.

I looked at it skeptically then looked back at Keial as he stared down at me, his golden eyes making me nervous as he never tore his eyes away from me.

"What... is it?" I asked as the contents inside smelled like rotten fish.

"It will help with the healing process."

"Just take it, before I shove it down your throat." He then snapped out angrily, making me jump and nod my head, raising the flask to my lips.

Just when I thought he was being nice... he suddenly got mad.

I put my head back and swallowed it all, as I tried desperately not to throw up the disgusting slime of what was now sliding down my throat.

It was worse than disgusting than I originally thought, the smell alone made me want to vomit, but the taste had nothing against the smell.

I had almost wished that it was me Keial had choked to death, just so I wouldn't have to swallow whatever this crap was.

Despite that, Keial was telling me the truth as I started to feel the pain from my stomach start to go away, along with the bruises and cuts, and also my cheek, which was swollen from Vicrim punching me in the face.

Even after all this, I was more confused than ever.

Keial was hot and cold whenever I was around him, but now he was treating me like a small bird, a bird he'd force feed against its will, but a bird nonetheless.

It brought me back to the last time we spoke... and just made me feel even more confused as I sat here, on his bed, in his bedroom, letting him treat me.

"Why are you..." I pause and look up at him nervously. "...Being nice to me, I just... I don't understand."

I looked down and stared at my hands, and watched as the ugly patches of blue started to completely disappear before my eyes, as my heart started beating faster in my chest.

Well, there was no going back now, I had to understand what this meant.

"Why not kill me like Vicrim, and his goons? It's not like you care, or respect me... It's just like you said..."

"I am nowhere close to being respected here... so why?" I bravely raised my head and looked at him.

Keial hummed, and then before I could predict what was to come, I was being pushed onto my back and Keial was hovering over me, with bright golden eyes filled with something I had never seen before in him.

He looked at me almost like I was... torturing him.

His hands trapped me on either side, and his body blocked any way of escape.

All I could do was accept that he had all the power over me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"You ask yourself why..." His husky deep voice tickled my ears as he leaned his face closer to my neck.

"Isn't it obvious?" He whispered in my ear, making my body squirm as I felt my body grow warmer.

"It's like you said before, Felix."

He was so close now that his scent overwhelmed me, almost intoxicatingly I drank it in as I felt his chest touch mine, and then something hard poked into my lower stomach, making my stomach twist in knots, as I felt my erection spring to life.

This was not happening, because if this was real, then Keial was...

"I like how brave you are, and how you look at me." His deep voice made my toes curl, as he slowly moved his face from my neck.

"You..."

His face was inches from my own, his nose was pressed against mine and his warm breath mixed with my own, making it harder for me to avoid looking anywhere but into his eyes, as I prayed he couldn't feel my growing erection pressing into his stomach.

"Do you know why I saved your life, Felix?" He asked me, as I tried searching for the answer in his eyes.

I felt speechless, like in the garden, but this was different, the sexual tension was too hard to ignore as my lust for him mixed with his for me.

It was intoxicating, and I was helpless to stop it, and the next words that were to come out of his mouth made me realize, that even though this was so fucked up after I just witnessed him kill someone, I just couldn't turn away from him.

"Would you like to find out?"