Both of them simply sat with the other for a minute or two. Both of their faces were red. Their faces were inches apart, and Sebastian was still pretty much hugging Jylan. The snow was cold, and their breaths came out in great plumes of mist. If the author was here, she would have said, "Oh, look they're breathing on each other", but we're lucky she isn't because that would have ruined the romantic mood.
"So, Duke Jylan, how have you been?" Sebastian asked, smiling.
"Oh, just here and there, My Prince. How are you?" Jylan said, mildly.
"Well, congratulations, The Baron said he'd send you to the lord if he ever saw you again." Sebastian sighed, and Jylan scrambled up, dusted off his suit, and quickly tapped his foot. Sebastian got up as well, and then said, "It's fine. I'll protect you." Jylan continued to brush off his pants, and then said with a wide smile on his face, his eyes barely open, "Let's protect each other then. Deal?" Sebastian took Jylan's and. It was warm in his palm. Ah, this is what I've been missing this whole time. Sebastian thought.
"Deal."
Jylan and Sebastian walked back together, bumping shoulders and exchanging glances the whole while. Sebastian didn't want to ask, but it was what it was.
"Jylan, those slave traders earlier, did you… Were you, uhm…"
Jylan didn't say anything. He was nervously playing with his hair. Then, "Will you see me differently if I say yes?" Sebastian instantly frowned. He wouldn't. Not at all, not in the slightest, never. "I won't, I promise." Jylan sighed and folded up his sleeve to reveal a long, stretching, narrow scar across his wrist, where a slave mark would usually be.
"I used to be. My parents sold me out a long time ago."
Jylan didn't want the prince to hate him, or think of him as a lowly slave, which was why, over the years, he had done many many things, from pipe cleaning to managing back accounts of nobles, to working his way up to Duke and become someone that Prince Sebastian could be proud of. He had never wanted to please anyone so badly, and that was why, as the two stood there, Jylan couldn't bring himself to say yes. He'd finally found the prince again after two years, and even better the prince seemed happy to see him, so he'd hide his past until the end of his days.
But when he stared into those shockingly blue eyes, like a geyser or a spring, which were also looking at him, he wanted to blurt out everything on his mind like an endless waterfall. Finally, the prince turned his gaze away from Jylan, who felt his heart drop.
Yes, two years was more than enough time for anyone to start feeling differently. More than so. If it was Jylan, he probably would have lost hope by now. So it wasn't a new thing.
Yes, he was sure the prince felt differently now. Who wouldn't?
So that is why, after the line he had muttered in chapter 66, Jylan was quiet. Sebastian didn't ask anything either, and the two just walked in silence. Their shoes crunched on the wet snow, and the trees were lined with snowdrifts. The silence itself was something else - it was almost deafening.
Jylan, meanwhile, felt like his heart was slowly cracking into a million pieces.