Dark Dominion

37. Emotions

[Content warnings: blood drinking and strong language.]

Prince Isaac always knew Charles believed himself above his station. Isaac had noticed how Charles often lorded his authority over any vampires or slaves that answered to him – the authority the royal family had very generously granted him. Charles wasn't of a noble bloodline, and though he ran the everyday goings-on of Black Palace, he was still just a servant. And never before had Isaac felt the urge to remind him of that.

"He's a runaway slave. His blood rating saves him from execution, but he needs a fitting punishment," Charles said to Isaac.

The two of them and Ian were in Isaac's office. The prince was behind his desk with a stoic but dark expression. As soon as he had arrived back at the palace with Juniper, guards had taken the boy away to the below-ground cells. And Isaac now sat, jaw tight, clenching his fists – which he imagined colliding into Charles's smug face.

"He didn't run."

"Your Highness, please. I know the slave is a new favorite plaything, but this level of transgression cannot be overlooked."

"He didn't run," Isaac growled out, a rare slip of his emotions.

Charles only smiled, as if the prince were a child unreasonably stubborn over a trifling thing. "Sir, he was found outside the palace grounds, alone. What other scenario could it have possibly be –"

The door flew open, crashing against the wall and cutting off Charles. The three vampires watched as the new potential stomped his way to Isaac's desk and set on him a brazen glare. Ian looked about ready to grab the boy and rush him out of there.

"He didn't run," Ash stated with a solid resolve that impressed even the prince.

"How dare –"

This time, Isaac cut off Charles with a glare of his own and a hand held up for silence.

"And you are so sure?" Isaac asked.

"It's Jun. He doesn't have a defiant bone in his body. And I just got here. And for some crazy reason, he's happy here – he's happy with you!" Ash fumed, and he continued staring down Isaac. The boy's intensity rose with every word spoken.

"Sir, I can't believe you would indulge this insolence – now from both slaves."

"Shut up, Charles." It was as if the prince had slapped him, the utterly stricken look Charles gave.

"Your words will be taken into consideration, Ash, but you speak out of turn," Isaac said with clear warning in his tone. "Ian, take the potential to the barracks."

There was a charged pause, the vampires all waiting to see if the human would be even more reckless. Ash straightened himself and took a deep breath. "I apologize, Your Highness. But, please know, someone else did this, and I'm worried for my brother."

Prince Isaac only nodded. Ian came forward and grabbed hold of Ash's arm. And Ash let himself be taken out of the office, leaving Isaac turning his words over in his mind.

He knew Juniper hadn't run. That brief bit of time after Lynn had reported his absence, during the tracking and search, Isaac had reached a murky depth of his emotions he'd never experienced before. Anger, yes, but fear – that was entirely new. And there were so many paths that fear burrowed into his mind: fear that indeed, the boy had run from him, fear that he'd been taken, fear that he'd been killed. The moment they'd found the boy alone in the woods, not far from the palace, his fear mixed with relief. When Juniper clutched onto him, shaken and sobbing, like he had found himself home in Isaac's arms – Isaac knew, more certain than anything, that his sweet boy would never have left him.