Noticing the gentle breathing of the person sleeping next to him, Darius opened his eyes.
Hush, little one, the stars shine so bright,
An angel is here to guard you tonight.
A quiet smirk played on his lips as he murmured.
"Silence, little one, there is no star in the dark sky,
A devil is here to haunt you all night."
The way his soft voice uttered those words in a deadly calm tone made it more eerie than the menacing darkness outside.
His abraded fingers brushed Xion's soft cheek with a deceptive tenderness.
Warmth radiated from the sleeping boy. His heat was so foreign yet oddly soothing that Darius found himself chuckling softly.
The angel's lullaby still lingered in his mind.
"With big glowing wings, they chase away fear,
Sleep safe and sound, for the angel is near."
Darius's smile deepened and a dangerous gleam shone in his venomous eyes as he continued.
"With bloody sinful hands, he will chase his light,
Sleep, little angel - anyway, you can't fight."
Darius was thrilled. There was something making his chest tingle, something that made him excited. This sweet rush was different from the one he felt when he butchered his enemies.
No, it was not even closer to that. He thought for a while... Affection?
Now that was a pretty strong word.
He still had his suspicion that one night the boy might show his real face and try to poison him. Thrusting a dagger seemed too heavy a task for Xion's tender hands.
So, no. The Archduke refuted himself. It was not affection.
That would be too absurd. Affection for someone he had known barely a week? Ridiculous.
And yet, he found himself drawn to the strange softness radiating from the innocent boy.
Darius had killed his first human when he was six. His dear uncle had tried to feed him to wolves. Darius had taken a poisoned dagger and plunged it deep into his uncle's chest.
Despite it being his self-defence, no one believed him.
He could not recall how his father, the then Archduke, had hidden that incident from his uncle's family.
Though the way all those servants and nobles called him "Devil" openly and secretly, his father's actions sure did not achieve good results.
Or perhaps, his father never intended to shield him from harm as more assassins approached him.
Then, he continued with his demonic, as the head priest had labelled them, actions of eradicating any nuisance in his way of survival.
Each time, his view of people would twist. He no longer saw them as humans.
They were nothing but a lump of flesh messily strewn together with their rotten souls. And Darius enjoyed tearing those stitches apart as a form of their punishment.
With each new corpse, his palms would feel heavier than the last punishment. It would make him feel dirty.
He would scrub his hands more viciously, more violently, until his tender skin was torn apart and blood seeped out.
Oh, how he loathed when he was touched by those disgusting creatures. Their touch made his skin crawl. But now...
Darius stared at his finger still poking the tender skin until it dented under his whim. He liked that. He liked the feeling of control over his things.
His fingertips were free from any smudges of those disgusting blood stains. This young healer, whose soul he could not look upon, had so carefully cleaned them. Very gently at that.
"Xion..." The name left his lips without any reason. He repeated it again as if tasting it. And each time, his smirk grew wider, deeper. "Xion."
With a smile, he covered the black-haired boy with a duvet. The simple act stirred the sleeping Xion slightly, his brow furrowing in mild annoyance at the disturbance.
Darius halted. His gaze instinctively turned to his hand, expecting it to be swatted away just like the last time. But that did not happen.
Instead of an angry rebuttal, Xion's arms instinctively tightened their hold around Darius, and a soft murmur escaped his lips.
"Shh, it's okay," Xion mumbled in his sleep. "You're safe with me, baby."
Archduke's eyes narrowed, analyzing the unconscious boy who clung to him so effortlessly, so naively.
Then he laughed.
A deep, throaty sound of genuine amusement escaped him, echoing softly in the dim room.
He leaned closer, his emerald eyes glinting in the dark, "What an odd creature you are, little baby," he deliberately spoke in the same tone as Xion.
For the first time in a long while, Darius felt... entertained.
In his pleasing mood, he stared at Xion, aligning his breath with the now softly snoring boy. His eyes felt slightly heavy and unexpectedly, Darius drifted off to deep sleep.
Morning arrived with bright rays which eradicated the previous darkness covering the entire sky. Xion groaned in his half-awake state.
There was a weight pressing on his chest. His delicate brows furrowed slightly in confusion. His long raven-black lashes fluttered like the wings of a butterfly trying to dispel the remnants of sleep.
With his hazy eyes adjusted, Xion peered down only to see Rael snuggling, and almost sleeping on his body. At the same time, those thin arms were wrapped tightly around his waist.
Gone was the unpleasant frown. The sight of Rael's peacefully sleeping face brought a smile to his lips.
Xion lay there, his fingers combing those long silver strands. After making sure that he did not wake Rael up, Xion slowly stirred from his position.
Even if he wanted to stay in the comfort of his bed, his hollowed stomach did not allow such luxury.
He very gently removed the arm draping over his body and wondered why this tiny kid was this strong. It took him nearly ten minutes to get rid of Rael's hand clinging to his shirt!
Shaking his head at the boy now sprawled all over the bed, Xion went to freshen up in the attached bathroom.
Even if they were not as comfortable as the modern bathrooms, Xion was glad that with the help of magic, he had the warm water at his back and call.
Humming slightly, he brushed his teeth with the brush and toothpaste he had bought from his system. No matter what, those bitter teeth cleaners of this world did not sit well with him.