In Pieces

Chapter 19: Watching him sleep.

Late at night Kai slipped out of his room and made his way to the dungeons. He found the guards sleeping. This would normally merit a harsh punishment but this time around Kai just didn't care.

"Leave," he ordered as he kicked one of the snoring men awake.

As soon as the guards realized who the midnight visitor was, they jumped up and looked at Kai in terror.

"Forgive us, Your Highness, we were just..."

"I told you to leave!" Kai didn't like repeating himself.

The men were now stepping from one foot to another while exchanging looks. It seemed they wanted to say something but didn't have the courage.

"Nobody is allowed to see the prisoner," one of the men finally whispered.

"Since when?" Kai asked. He ran into no problems yesterday or the day before.

"The Regent's order came today," the man's voice was trembling.

"What do you think my uncle will do when he finds out you're sleeping on duty?" Kai asked, examining his nails.

He could see that the guards were now caught between a rock and a hard place – whether they chose to let Kai in or not, there would be severe punishment. Their best bet was pretending nothing had happened and keeping their mouths shut. As soon as the men realized that, they took off like the wind.

Kai walked towards Adnan's cell as quietly as he could. He didn't want the man to find out that he came to see him almost every night. For some reason, Kai just couldn't keep away, even though their last conversation didn't go very well.

Kai knew that Adnan blamed him for what had happened to his slave. When his uncle allowed Minn to accompany him for spiritual healing, he was aware that Reo would use the opportunity to kidnap the guy. But Kai didn't think that this nobody was so important to Adnan. So much so that he would openly and so stupidly go against his uncle.

"Why is that man so special to you?" Kai thought as he watched Adnan quietly breathing, curled up on the floor behind bars. Adnan was using the blanket that Kai had brought him earlier. This made Kai really happy for some reason - it was almost as if they were indirectly sharing a bed.

Kai came closer to the bars, hoping that Adnan would turn around and he'd be able to catch a glimpse of his face. But as he did so, he felt a strong smell of alcohol coming from the cell. Kai scratched his head. How did Minn get his hands on wine here? The guards were too cowardly to do anything that wasn't ordered by his uncle. So that could only mean one thing...

Still, it didn't make any sense. Why would Reo Atarian allow the guy whom he despised so much and who had publicly humiliated him to drink wine in his cell? Kai was sure that his uncle wasn't doing it out of the goodness of his heart. There was a sinister reason behind it. With his father's brother, there always was one.

"I'll get you out of here alive," Kai whispered through the bars.

The next morning Kai came to see his uncle at breakfast. Something he had always tried to avoid like the plague.

When Kai entered the dining hall, Reo Atarian was sitting there completely alone behind a giant table and meticulously cutting up his vegetables.

"Uncle," Kai said shortly.

Reo looked up at him and nodded:

"Nephew."

Kai took a seat to the left side of the man and filled his plate. But as soon as he looked at the food in front of him, he realized that he wouldn't be able to keep anything down.