Waves of Grey - The Harem and the Guard

Chapter 3

Keith

Darkness had fallen over Altea by the time  its prince returned from the comforting glow hidden by the tense leaves of the forest trees shielding the magnificence from the exterior of the jungle.

His eyes were dry, his skin felt tight, and his chest empty as he walked through the courtyard and up the front steps. He passed only the guards his trained eye could see. Blade members stalking in the shadows in search for any intruder. They worked mainly in the night. Only limited blades ever dispersed out in the day light. That was why the Siren's attacker had managed to slip inside.

Keith's foot steps were quiet but the still echoed through the vacant halls of the palace as he slowly made his way to his quarters. 

I truly felt sick. Like if he went and sat in front of the toilet his body would eventually give in and retch up his last meal.

Everyday since the moment he arrived at the palace he was waiting he be towed away off to a more suitable home or an orphanage of some kind though he wasn't sure there were any in Altea. As he got older he'd started to hope that one day he'd be sent away. That somehow Alfor and the Queen would realize that Keith was nothing but an untrustworthy nuisance and send him away. But it never happened.

Rather than thrown out and given a life more expected from a half breed he'd been taken in and enveloped by strong arms and the gentle caresses of the Princess's mother, Melenor. She would sit at his side when he woke screaming from his nightmares as a child. She'd tried to console him, to guide him away from the horrors of his past to remember the best memories he had. 

They'd made him feel welcomed and cared for and it terrified him. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there. He should have been with his father dead or alive he didn't care. He wasn't s prince. But they didn't seem to care. He'd tried to keep himself as separated as possible by referring to Alfor as the King rather than his father. It was wrong, unfair, and dishonest . . . And in the end it didn't get him anywhere. He had the future he feared looming over him despite his efforts and only managed to hurt the most important living man in his life.

Keith had taken everything he'd been given and thee it in his gifted father's face.

He reached for his door panel and tapped while he shoved it forwards into the room. Only the door didn't open. And he squawked as his face made contact with the locked door.

"Wha the fuck!" He twisted away from the door and clutched his nose as stream of blood started the gush from his nose.

"Have I not said numerous times that you are not to say those words where Altean ears could hear you? Your father would have my tongue and then yours." A familiar voice said from behind him, giving him a good shove to the shoulder.

"Fuck off Shiro." Keith said batting his friend away half heartedly as he turned and tried to open his room again. He only managed to smear blood all over the pristine panel.

"Hey. Knock that off. I was here to tell you that your quarters have been moved. But clearly now I'm on babysitting duty. Let's go find our nearest lavatory you klutz." Shiro sighed as he wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulder. He disabled his mask and swept his hood back so that Keith could see his handsome face and and white fluff of hair.

"Why the fuck have my quarters been moved?"

"Keith, I'm serious, stop staying that." Shiro ruffled his hair, causing blood to splatter the white floor. "I'll tell you that while you're cleaning up."

"It's not that bad. It's already done." Keith argued with a sniffle. He rubbed away the blood dipping onto his lip with his sleeve. "Tell me what's going on."