Dark Dominion

27. Comfort [M]

Content warning: explicit sexual content.

"Are you okay, Jun?" Mateo asked, pulling away from his hug and taking the boy's face in his hands. He looked over Juniper with worry and care in his eyes.

Juniper had been terribly shaken by Phoenix's words, the implication and touches. The recent flood of pleasant feelings—friends, studies, open air, and the arms of a certain vampire—Phoenix had tainted them all.

Then, Jun felt it. Mateo's concern.

Oh, how soothing it felt to know that someone cared. Phoenix's dark emotions had nearly swallowed him up.

Juniper wanted to cry. He wanted to bury himself in a comforting embrace and let the negative feelings overwhelm him for a moment. He wanted someone to pat his head and tell him that everything was going to be alright. Like his mother would have done.

Only, none of that would help him here.

Juniper willed the tears away and looked into Mateo's kind eyes. "I'll be alright," he said as firmly as he could.

"That wasn't like Nix. He seemed...agitated," Mateo mused. His hands were still on Jun's arms, warm and solid.

"What he said was true, wasn't it?" Juniper forced out the question. "About Master losing interest...and throwing us away?"

Mateo moved and sat in the chair next to Juniper and sighed. Emil had already returned to his original seat.

"Prince Isaac does have a history of short-term thralls," Mateo admitted. "For as long as Emil and I have been here, he's always been cold and detached. Before the anti-venom was developed, he only kept humans as pets, but then once he could freely release a thrall, he started to keep one or two. And no, he wouldn't keep any for long..."

Mateo's voice faded. He looked away from Juniper, knowing the words offered no comfort, only the truth.

"Phoenix. He doesn't want to be thrown away." Jun wasn't asking a question. He realized then, Phoenix was threatened by Juniper's arrival. Isaac's shifting interest posed a real danger to him.

"What happens to them—to us? When we are released?"

Mateo looked at him. It unnerved Juniper to see Mateo with such a serious expression.

"It's painful, I've heard. And when it's all over, they can't become a thrall again. Usually, they are taken back to auction, and because of good looks and blood, they will end up as a pet or in a courtesan house."

Mateo didn't sound sad as he spoke, just resigned, as he explained a human's reality in this world controlled by supernaturals.

Emil spoke then, his deep timbre always surprising Jun. "That's not going to happen to you, Juniper. He's different with you."

"Yes! We could tell, during the meeting with the king!" Mateo brightly affirmed. "He seemed kinda...possessive—when King Ulric had you. I've never seen him like that!"

"Right, my blood," Jun said low, looking down at the still uneaten lunch. "It's because of my rare blood..."

"It seems more than—"

The glass doors swung open, interrupting Mateo. Lynn came towards them with her usual friendly smile.

"Jun, I've come to collect y—you didn't eat anything?!"

"Oh, umm." Juniper fidgeted.

"Phoenix was here for a bit. Juniper didn't have a chance to eat," Emil said.

Lynn looked at the three of them and then settled on Jun. And he felt it from her, just like with Mateo earlier, an outpouring of concern. She sighed.

"His Highness has requested you. So I'm afraid I don't have time to make sure you eat, but you can at least eat this on the way."