The King and I {Damien X Shayne}

Chapter 8

Shayne saw Damien's shoulders relax and slump lightly as they traversed the many hallways to the dining hall. He was back to his old, jokey, not too serious self again. And it showed, as Damien slowed down to walk at Shayne's side rather than in front of him. "So, how'd I do?" "Honestly, far better than Ian," this put a gleeful smile on Damien's face, "I mean, Ian had no idea what he was doing, and a few people used that to their advantage, and Mari and Boze had to keep intervening and deny certain requests." Damien laughed at this, to think of Ian being so unlearned was hard to imagine. "You however," Shayne continued, "were amazing, I didn't think you could truly answer any requests to the fullest extent, but you went above and beyond! And to think this is your first day..." Shayne trailed off.

Damien glared at his friend, "What? You expected less? For me to fumble my words and be unprofessional?" After a long morning, Damien had misconstrued what Shayne had said, and now had to defend himself against a hangry Damien. "No, that's not what I said, it's that you completely exceeded my expectations. I never said you'd be bad, but I thought it would take longer, needing more time to process and decide. I was wrong." Shayne spurted honestly. Damien was still annoyed at what Shayne had 'said' and now only wanted to get to the table to eat something, anything. He could almost go back to sleep after the toll of the court that morning; but audiences were still to come.

As they reached the dining hall, Shayne opened the door, and escorted Damien to his seat, habitually pulling it out for him, but this time Damien reacted as if it was a normal thing; to be better than Shayne. Never had this mindset appeared before, for he considered himself an equal to his best friend, but after his earlier comments, Damien felt some right, some requirement for him to be more than Shayne. To truly be a king with his protector. Breakfast was supposed to be a reverie from that mornings court proceedings, but it became painful for Shayne to watch; to see Damien purposefully and meticulously do and request things to make him go out of his way to please him. And he was starting to get sick of it, what ever game Damien was playing, it had to end sooner rather than later.

Shayne took a step forward as to just be in his peripheral vision, and attempted to reason with his friend. But first he dismissed the guards in the room until it was just the two of them, alone. "Look, Damien-" Damien's head turned rapidly to meet Shayne's gaze, clearly aware of the lack of title, "-sir, whatever you're dealing with, I- we ask you to deal with in private, as afterwards you have this mornings audiences, and they'll be your first as King." Damien just stared at Shayne. "We? You represent the whole kingdom of Aveil do you?" Shayne sighed. "No, I know exactly what you're doing, you're twisting our friendship for your own gain now that I'm king, now that I have more power and authority than you."

Damien was spiraling. "And for the sake of my people, I will see to the morning audiences, surely to be basked in glorious praise and gifts." He was bordering on delusional. "Now of that's all you have to say, leave me to eat in peace, then you shall escort me to my throne for the day." Shayne gawked at his friends direct speech, and stood back against a wall and watched Damien's demeanor harden and become less forgiving ever slowly.

The time came, and Shayne knew so by a horrid look in Damien's eyes as he looked over to him. His kind, glistening eyes were now shadowed, and dull, which reflected his current personality. "Come." And Shayne did so, taking the empty plate dotted with various fruit stems, cores and skins, and tried desperately not to worsen the situation, by bowing his head as Damien stood up. "Good, he's learning." Spat Damien. Whatever was happening to him was a horrific sight to see, and Shayne had to find a way to fix it. It was only is first true day on the job, and if the next decade was to be spent like this, nothing good would come of it.

Shayne lead the way to the throne room for the audiences to begin, and stopped at the bottom of the steps as he watched Damien ascend, and sit not as he did before with a awkward air about him, as if unsuited or unfit for the job, but instead so defiantly, no one would dare challenge his position as he looked so confident atop his rightful throne. "I shall send for the first request, sire." Shayne said as calmly as he could, not to provoke Damien any further. The doors at the other end of the hall swung open, and there began the townsfolk of Aveil along with foreign parties to voice their grievances, requests or praise to their new king. Unfazed as the hours pulled morning into midday, Damien had changed very little in the ways to his former self. And Shayne's legs ached for the first time while he stood 'protecting' Damien.