His Shield and His Sword (BoyxBoy)

The Mad Sultan

Author's Note: I am SO sorry about how long it took my to update the story!!! I've been super busy these last couple weeks. Hope you enjoy the new installment. 

Nicky's POV

I couldn't stop thinking about him, and for once it wasn't in my usual 'I hate his fucking guts' way. It got so bad that by the time we had arrived on the shore of Idoris I hadn't slept a bit. How could I sleep...how could I stop thinking about last night. I just couldn't get it out of my head, watching him fall apart in front of me, the facade he had built up over years crumbling as I held him tightly. It's what I had said to him in that moment that bothered me the most...my own words kept echoing over and over again in my head. 'I don't want you to die.' At first I had thought I had said it without thinking in some desperate attempt to calm him down but now as I thought it over I just couldn't help the feeling that maybe it really was...the truth. I didn't want Mikhos to die. It was strange...it was so easy to picture myself killing him before I could ever put a face to the false prince. Mikhos gave me every reason I should be thrilled to kill him, he was horrible to me our first months of training, he lied to me about who he was, he never planned to tell me that my sister was dead and once he did he had handled it horribly but...I couldn't even fathom actually killing him. As we made our way down the dock Gani appeared next to me tapping me on the shoulder. When I turned to look at him his eyes grew wide.

"Nicky are you alright? Pardon my saying this but...you look terrible." I forced a laugh.

"Yeah uh...the cat kept me up, I think the waves were a little rougher than usual last night and she didn't enjoy it very much." The care for Alabaster luckily had finally been given to a servant who would from now on till the end of the trip be looking after her.

"Isn't Idoria just beautiful! We've only been here a few moments and I'm already completely captivated!" Gani said with a chuckle. A small welcoming party had come to meet us and they had promised us that a much larger one was waiting at the palace where we would meet the princess and her brother, the current sultan of Idoria, Jaasim.

"Well I for one already don't like it," a voice snapped from behind me. Startled Gani and I turned around. There was Mikhos accompanied by his three other Kingsmen. I searched his face for something different, something to prove to me that his melt down last night hadn't just been some crazy hallucination but he appeared as chipper and well rested as ever...I noted that he was back to his normal obnoxious attitude as well. I shrugged.

"What's there not to like? We're literally only standing on the docks your majesty." Mikhos sighed heavily, pulling at his collar.

"It's too hot here. It was winter back home, I prefer that." It took everything in me not to roll my eyes, any sympathy I had built up for him last night almost immediately vanished.

"I'm sorry sir but we can't simply 'wish' the weather to be one way or another for you." Sabri, who had somehow managed to join us as well stepped forward nodding.

"Yes, I'm afraid we don't really have a...winter here."

"You could always unbutton your shirt a bit sir-" Sullivan began to suggest.

"No." Mikhos must have realized how abruptly he had snapped at the boy because he immediately grew silent. Right...the tattoos, that's why Mikhos always covered himself fully at all times. Knowing Mikhos was the prince only gave me more questions about the mysterious marks. It made no sense that the crown prince would be marked that way and he clearly wasn't happy about them. Even I wasn't brave enough to ask him about it directly, I wondered if anyone else even knew. Mira would have known. Mira would have seen him like....I swallowed hard trying to erase the image that had just come into my head. For some reason just the thought of it made my chest feel tight-