Errot's eyes snapped open the moment his alarm went off. For some reason he felt terrified, lost even, until he adjusted to reality once again.
Once his heartbeat slowed down to its normal pace again, Errot pulled his covers off and got up while rubbing at his eyes, sleepily.
It was currently seven thirty in the afternoon and he approximately had half an hour for his two hours of peace to end. He felt a bit feverish, like his legs couldn't keep him up for long, but Elian had warned him for the after effects so he just brushed it off.
He started searching the room, opening random drawers just to find something decent to wear. He finally picked an all black outfit, covering each part of his body hoping that it would keep him warm enough. He didn't exactly know whose clothes he was wearing right now but they were comfy enough and suit him extremely well, almost as if they were made just for him. He took a good look at himself in the black mirror next to one of the drawers, noticing how there wasn't a single scar on his face. Nothing that could reveal the horrors of yesterday.
"Smoking hot"
Errot flinched in surprise and immediately turned around and locked eyes with a grinning Adan.
"Adan." Errot mumbled, slight shame now taking over him.
"Yeah, that's my name years now. Approximately one thousand and--"
"Yeah, I get it." Errot looked away from Adan, feeling small.
Silence.
Errot started fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt, feeling nervous all of the sudden.
"Heard the news." When Errot didn't make any effort to move or talk, Adan continued. "Are you alright?"
Errot's eyes widened just a bit at that and he decided to look at him again. "Won't you like, humiliate me, hit me, swear at me. What are you waiting for?"
Adan then frowned. "Why would I do that?"
Errot clenched his fist. "I lied to you. To everyone. I'm nothing but a Merlot that just turned into.. a fucking slave for the rest of his life."
"I'm aware of that. " Adan paused. "but I don't really give a fuck. "
"What..." Errot mumbled.
Adan started walking closer to him.
"I believe you're still the same idiotic kid I made out with a few days ago. "
Errot froze. The memory had been completely overshadowed by the events of the last 48 hours that it all came crashing down on him in a matter of seconds. His lips against his own, his hands on his body. Errot closed his eyes for a brief second and then opened them again to face Adan who was now only two steps away from him.
"You.." Errot gulped a bit. "You were my first kiss.." he whispered the rest of the sentence.
Adan's smirk could only get wider at that while Errot's cheeks turned into a light shade of red.
"Well? What did you think ?" Adan raised his eyebrows, playfully.
Errot was about to reply when Adan interrupted him.
"You probably don't remember. Should we do it again? You know, just to remind you." He said and grabbed at the back of his waist to pull him closer against his own body.
Errot felt like he stopped breathing. He opened his mouth to speak but no words could come out of it. He was literally speechless when Adan leaned in again.
"Wait. "
Adan stopped in place. "What" he mumbled against Errot's lips.
"I don't even know you. We can't just-"
"Then we should get to know each other. In the process. "
Errot frowned. "What process? What do you mean?"
"Are you attracted to me, kid? "
Silence. Errot was trying so hard to find the right words and form all the right sentences that he forgot to speak.
Adan rolled his eyes playfully, a smirk playing on his lips. " It's literally a yes or no question, I didn't ask you to explain how to make a rocketship work."
Errot rolled his eyes as well. "I don't..date guys."
Adan burst out laughing at that, his head falling a bit backwards while his arm was still wrapped around Errot's waist.
"You didn't seem to mind when you were kissing me back. Or when I was literally grabbing at- "
"Fine! Okay. " Errot run a hand through his hair.
Adan smiled and run his thumb gently on Errot's cheek. "Look Errot, you don't have to label yourself in any way. Nobody cares. Let's have fun and fall in love in the meantime " Adan grinned widely.
"I'm not gonna fall in love with you. With an Ink." Brief pause. "A guy Ink."
Adan sighed, still amused. "That's what they all say before they fall in love with me."
Errot grinned just a bit at that. "Is that so?"
"I'm known for being irresistible, what can I say? " He shrugged, playfully.
"We'll see about that. "
"So, is that a yes?" He smirked.
Errot scoffed. "Even if there was a slight possibility of that to happen, i'm forced to be with Canton twenty four-seven now. So no time for you, redhead. "
Adan rolled his eyes playfully. "Canton has a really busy schedule. Some days you won't even be able to see him. "
Errot stayed silent.
Adan smirked again. "Say yes." He whispered and leaned in once more.
Errot didn't stop him this time, his hands wrapped around Adan's neck as a form of reply.
Adan moved his hands inside of Errot's shirt and started trailing them up and down his bare body.
Adan then bit at Errot's bottom lip gently and broke the kiss. He slowly pulled away and started leaving small kisses down Errot's neck and collarbone.
Errot was breathing heavily at that and he was now grabbing at Adan's hair.
Adan then pulled away and his eyes got fixated on Errot's sweatshirt. He frowned at first and then turned to look at Errot.
"What? " He asked breathless. "Is something wrong with my shirt?" He quickly glanced at it and then back at Adan.
Adan shook his head and let out a small chuckle. "Nothing's wrong with the shirt, babe. "
Errot completely forgot about the shirt and the tortures and Canton and Ink Blood and anything that surrounds his life right now. He just blushed.
"Jesus Christ" Errot mumbled.
Adan grinned widely. "I love making you blush."
Errot rolled his eyes, his cheeks still slightly pink. "Shut up. Canton's about to burst in any minute now and if he finds you here- "
"He won't. He sent me to get you. "
"Can you stop interrupting me when I talk?"
Adan pretended to think about it for a few seconds. "Ah..no."
Errot started staring at Adan silently, slowly getting lost in his thoughts.
Adan stared back. "Are we having a staring contest? Cause I would definitely win, I'm not Canton." He smirked, not taking his eyes off Errot.
Errot blinked. "I was told not to trust you, that you're acting nice when in reality you're just as bad as the rest of them." His face now serious.
Adan snickered. "And who told you that?" The smirk still in place.
"Does it matter?"
"Call it curiosity."
"Elian and Flare."
Errot thought Adan's face turned cold for just a simple second when the smile returned to his lips in mere seconds. Then again, he might have imagined it.
"Well, why don't you form an opinion for yourself and not rely on others to tell you how to feel and act. Especially when those others have already betrayed you once."
Errot started biting at the bottom of his lip in thought. "But they are not..." He trailed.
"Evil? And I am. " He scoffed. "Let me tell you something Errot. I don't claim to be a puppy, an angel. Pink clouds and unicorns and candy canes and--"
Errot coughed.
Adan smiled sheepishly and continued. "Yes. I'm not all that. But hear me out. Sometimes, the ones that wear halos above their heads, are the biggest demons"
"Speaking out of experience?"
"Where should our next date be?"
Errot snickered. "Date. "
"What? I thought you agreed."
"I didn't agree to anything. You kissed me before I had the chance to reject you." He smirked.
Adan rolled his eyes playfully "call it what you want but you're spending time with me. End of discussion."
"Bossy."
"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go straight kid. Before Canton loses it." He said playfully and ruffled Errot's hair.
Errot placed his lips into a thin line and then sighed. He walked out of the room and followed Adan downstairs and out of the main castle.
♛♛♛
Once they were inside the left building of the castle, they were immediately bombarded by loud music and groups of people chatting, dancing and generally having fun.
Fun for Inks has a whole other definition than the one Errot had in mind. Most of the elves were drunk out of their minds, some hanging from chandeliers, others playing beer pong with pocket knives and some of them were drinking what looked like blood from cups.
Errot felt a wave of shivers down his spine at the sight of this corrupted revel and suddenly had the urge to throw up.
He didn't recognise anyone from the chaos. His eyes kept scanning the place for King Canton but he was nowhere to be found.
"Shit. I'm gonna go find cotton candy. You stay here, kay?"
Errot's eyes widened. "What? You're leaving me alone?"
"That's exactly what I'm doing. You'll be fine, just keep your head down and don't talk to people" Adan patted Errot's cheek gently.
"I'm coming with you, I have to be with him either wa-"
"Byeee." Adan grinned and disappeared through the crowd.
"Wait Adan!"
Adan was already gone. Errot groaned and started nervously playing with his sleeve again.
He started walking unsurely towards nothing, trying to at least find a familiar face to cling to and praying to god he wouldn't be used as a target for the Inks' darts game.
A few minutes passed by like that and Errot couldn't take it anymore. The feeling of nausea was growing bigger inside of him. He felt weak and dizzy and all he wanted was to escape this jungle.
He started pushing through people with force until he found a closed door at the very far right corner of the room. He opened it abruptly, not knowing where this door led to but he didn't have time to panic about that as well.
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, the noise immediately getting muffled. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the door, his ears and mind slowly finding peace again.
"Tristian?"
Errot jumped at the voice, his eyes opening abruptly in surpise.
A guy was looking straight at him, his eyes were widened and his lips parted in pure shock. A small sneer gradually started making its way into his lips the moment Errot locked eyes with him.
"Shit. It's you, isn't it? " The sly sneer was now permanently stuck on his face.
Errot frowned and looked a bit around the big hall he was now standing at, not finding another person in close proximity. Confusion was evident on his face when he turned to look at the stunning man in front of him again.
He was extremely tall, his hair as white as snow. They were carefully cut around the edges, a crown holding the rest of it in place, preventing them from falling into his face, in comparison to Canton who lets them take a free fall, covering the greatest part of his eyes.
His eyes were actually teal coloured and Errot felt like he was staring at the ocean, making it very hard not to get lost on them. His ears were bigger and sharper than an Inks', Errot's eyes now stuck on them.
He then blinked. "Excuse me?"
The guy snickered. "Memory loss, darling?"
Errot just now noticed that he had a very heavy accent, which felt like music to his ears until his mind started processing the information he just received. He realised, a bit too late, that the King that was standing before him was actually Quinn, the King of Teal Blood. He remembered reading about him in the books Elian provided for him and Oda, before coming to Ink Blood.
"Leave my slave alone." A cold voice echoed through the hall and Errot didn't have to look behind Quinn to know it belonged to Canton. He was accompanied by Adan and a dark shadow on the floor indicated that Santos was also with them, protecting his king as always.
Quinn turned around to face Canton, or his chin more precisely, for only a second when he glanced at Errot again. He then let a chuckle out.
"Your what now? Are you all taking the piss on me?"
Canton tried to contain his irritation as he walked closer to Quinn. He looked at Errot as well, his expression sharp.
"Quinn, meet Errot White. My always late, always irresponsible slave."
Quinn scoffed. "I don't know who Errot White is but that's definitely not him. " He pointed at Errot and continued. "That's Tristian Valder. "
Canton closed his eyes shut at that, his jaw and fists clenched tighter than ever.
Adan suddenly went very still, the only thing moving was his chest, indicating that he was breathing.
When Canton opened his eyes, his whole face had turned a bit red but not from embarassment. Errot was certain that it was anger that the king was feeling right now, making him wish he could just disappear.
"Errot. Come here." Canton motioned for him to approach them.
Errot walked hesitantly towards them, head down.
Canton looked at him calmly. He grabbed him by the hair and yanked him towards him with force, now having Errot in a headlock.
Errot gasped and tried to escape Canton's arms but every effort felt more useless than the next. He gave up quickly enough to at least save an ounce of his dignity.
"Pull your knife out and scratch his skin with it" Canton said coolly.
Errot's eyes widened. "What?"
Adan was just watching, calmly.
Quinn chuckled humorlessly. "You ask me to knife down your best trainee and you expect me to agree? I knew you were nuts, lad but not like that. Your condition is getting worse."
Errot looked horrified, his heart going crazy against his chest. He turned to look at Adan for help but he was just smiling at him.
Canton rolled his eyes dramatically. "Pussy" he mumbled frustrated and within seconds he had placed one of his own knives against Errot's cheek and a few drops of red blood started running down his sweatshirt.
Errot flinched hard against Canton, a muffled painful whimper struggled not to escape his lips.
Canton then freed him and Errot's legs almost gave up on him when Adan held him up.
Canton glanced at them briefly and then his gaze met the floor again. "Go to the conference room and we'll be right behind you."
Cold again.
Errot felt grateful to be away from Canton and immediately took the chance and walked away with an amused Adan next to him, while cupping at his cheek.
As soon as they were out of hearing range, Canton spoke up again.
"Cress, you can reveal yourself now."
A figure suddenly appeared next a stunned Quinn, her arm wrapped around her brother's, a sly smirk playing on her red lips.
Her hair was also dipped in white, her short curls reaching just the end of her ears. A more elegant crown was placed on her head and an even more posh black dress was covering her body.
"What do you think of my dress, your majesty? Thought it suited your aesthetic pretty good. Extremely expensive as well. All for you." Her grin couldn't get wider than that.
"What an expensive dress for such a cheap creature." Canton retorted back, his whole body tensed but his face unreadable.
Cress turned serious in an instant, all amusement gone from her beautiful face.
"That's not him."
Canton clicked his tongue at Quinn. "No shit Sherlock, did you just..think? I'm genuinely impressed."
Quinn ignored Canton's bitter comment. "We have a meeting to attend to and you're wasting time insulting us."
"That's way more fun than meetings. "
"I could gladly punch you right now." Quinn clenched his fist.
"And I could gladly break the hand you'd use to punch me."
"Why are you still stuck in the bloody past, damn it?" Quinn now looked frustrated. " You want to tear my Kingdom down, start a war..all because of that stupid day, a thousand years ago?"
Canton's body froze but his face remained the same. "Me being 'stuck in the past' would mean that I still have feelings." Canton stated coldly.
"Then why go out of your way to make us suffer?" It was Cress who decided to speak up now, her voice bitter.
Canton smirked, his expression wicked. "I already answered that, love." He paused. "Because I don't have any feelings left. And I warned you." Another pause. " I warned you. Both of you. It would be too late. You had to stop it. You never did. You laughed at my fucking face but now." His voice got a bit louder in the end. "Now, it's too late."
Quinn was shaking his head. "It's not. "
Cress was looking away, her face unreadable.
Canton nodded. "Quinn. Look at me in the eye."
Quinn chuckled humorlessly. "Is this a trap?" He kept his gaze down.
"You have permission."
Cold.
Quinn hesitated but he finally raised his eyes and looked at Canton in the eye.
Canton closed his own right away, his face tensed.
"I can..."
"No." Sharp.
Canton opened his eyes again. They were now looking at each others eyes and as much as Canton wanted to tear his gaze off and lock himself in his room, it remained still and intense. His heart picked up it's pace unwillingly and that only made Canton more dedicated at the task, his whole body tensed and stiff, his fingers colder than they have ever been.
But he never looked away.
"Do you see anyone there at all?"
Again.
Cold.
Quinn was silent for what felt like centuries. He was looking at Canton's eyes, through them, he was searching restlessly.
The emerald green shade of his eyes wasn't bright.
It was dull.
It was icy.
No fire.
It wasn't shining.
It was empty, alone. It looked like the colour was trying to hold on to something, to try not to fade away.
They looked green but they were not.
They looked green but they were black.
Dead.
Cress glanced at her brother's face and for a second she thought she saw something. A feeling she didn't exactly recognize. Maybe it was better that way.
"No." Quinn finally said. His own tone sent chills into his body.
A simple word. Two letters, that left Canton satisfied. He felt like talking right now would be completely and utterly useless. So he looked down, then away and he smiled.
It wasn't a smirk.
It wasn't a grin or a sneer.
It was a smile. Cold as ice. Dark as the night sky.
He started walking towards the conference room.
"It's never too late." Quinn's voice was heard.
Canton stopped but didn't turn around. "Don't worry. I'll be gentle with you. " Brief pause. "Maybe." He looked at the door and then turned towards the king and princess of Teal Blood, his eyes not meeting theirs. "If you still have anything to say to me in the conference room then come inside. If not. Get the hell out of my castle."
He walked inside and slammed the door shut behind him.
♛