I am your king.

Chapter I | Part VII

"Where is your personal guard?" Rachel folded her hands and rested her chin on them. She stared at Adrian without glancing at Sir Othello standing behind him.

"This is my personal guard," Adrian gestured to Sir Othello.

"No, he isn't. Dear me, lying shouldn't be the first thing you do to your wife-to-be," she chuckled. "I'm talking about the cute one. What was his name? Vincent?"

"Don't concern yourself with that filth," the Queen took long strides when entering the room. She sat down at the edge of the table.

"Filth? He saved your life," Adrian frowned.

"And put it in danger too."

"I seem to remember you being the one that did that." Adrian sighed. "Vincent did nothing wrong. You're placing unnecessary amounts of hatred into him. He is guiltless."

"Stop defending that insolent brat. He is not worthy of your praise."

"If you insult him one more time, Mother, I will exit out that very door and never return. I will forfeit all right to the throne, refuse to wed this woman, and leave you to search for my brother in this time of dire need. Don't test me, Your Highness," he spat.

"Dear me," Rachel snickered. "I do like me a man that speaks his mind. Vincent Phantomhive is guiltless. I ran into him on my way over. Diedrich and I got lost in the woods. We spent a considerable amount of time wandering around before Vincent gave us directions."

"Is this true?" the Queen looked to Rachel.

"Do you doubt my honesty?" Rachel returned the fierce gaze.

"I-"

"I should hope not," Adrian interrupted. "She is meant to be my wife. It would be quite rude of you to doubt her words."

"If I say Vincent is innocent then he is innocent. Trust my intentions," Rachel smiled. "Set the man free to return to his rightful position as the prince's personal guard. You have nothing to fear if you should be a strong matriarch. Assert your dominance, my Queen."

"If you insist," she sighed. "Guards," she called and they entered the room immediately. "Get the boy, bring him here. Sir Othello, you're free to leave."

...

The doors opened widely and guards grabbed Vincent's arms on either side and dragged him in. He was pushed forward, to stand by Adrian. "Your Majesty," the princess began, "I would like to have a word with my husband-to-be alone. If you don't mind," she smiled.

"I imagine you two have much to discuss," she nodded and stood up. No one spoke until the doors closed leaving the four of them alone.

"I have two conditions before we ever start our marriage negotiations," Rachel raised her hand. "The first is that your personal guard kisses my personal guard. It's a custom in my kingdom and symbolizes a sign of friendship."

"Is that absolutely necessary?" Adrian's face remained neutral but his jealousy soon boiled.

"Do you have something against it?" she gazed at him carefully, not looking away once.

"Very well," Adrian waves his hand at Vincent. "Carry on."

"If you have no qualms, please make it as passionate as possible," Rachel smiled. "Treat him as you would a lover." Did she mean Diedrich treat Vincent? Or vice versa?

Adrian watched intently as the two closed the space between them. Diedrich grabbed Vincent and pulled him into an embrace of sorts. He kissed him, regretting it soon afterwards, as Vincent took full control and he wound up on his knees. Vincent cupped his face, refusing to let him look away, and continued the kiss as instructed, not leaving an ounce of passion out of it.

"That's enough," Rachel hadn't looked away from Adrian once during this. She never so much as glanced in the direction of the personal guards. He tried his best to remain calm, maintain eye contact too, but his eyes kept drifting back to the scene.

Vincent took a step back, offering a hand to Diedrich, but the man remained frozen. He was stuck to the ground as if his innocence had been taken. Vincent grabbed him by the shoulders and picked him up, placing him on his feet. He lightly tapped his face. Diedrich blinked, blushed, and returned to his spot by Rachel.

"The second condition is that you kiss him."

"What?" Adrian looked to Vincent then to Rachel.

"Well? Get on with it," Rachel smiled warmly.

"This is madness. Why should I kiss my personal guard?" Adrian frowned.

"Do you wish to begin our negotiations or not? I must see you kiss him before I can say anything else. I need to gauge what type of person you are, Prince Adrian."

"Poppycock."

"Your Majesty, I don't think she is going to let up on this," Vincent returned to his spot by Adrian. He grabbed the handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth from saliva lurking as remnants of that kiss. No signs of disgust or contentment on his face. Did he not care at all about kissing Diedrich? Anger stirred within Adrian. Possession and the like growing.

He wasn't thinking when he grabbed Vincent's uniform. He just did. He also wasn't thinking when he pulled that uniform, dragged Vincent to his level, and kissed him. He wanted to rid Vincent of all the contamination Diedrich had provided. Vincent was his. His personal slave, guard, and lover all in one. Whether he liked it or not.

"My, my," Rachel snickered. "It's worse than I expected." Her voice rang in Adrian's ears, making him conscious of his actions. He pushed Vincent away and remained as calm as he possibly could manage. Neutral expression.

"Are you satisfied?"

"I believe I am," Rachel smiled. "But this makes my offer a bit harder to say. I know you'll refuse." Her eyes wandered back to Vincent. She stood up. "You're bleeding!"

Vincent looked down at his chest, blood soaking into his shirt where Adrian had grabbed. "Please don't concern yourself."

"Nonsense!" Rachel circled the table and made her way over. Vincent took a step back with each step she took.

"Please, I'm quite alright. Don't worry yourself over it." Vincent, try as he might to remain standing, tripped over his feet and fell to the ground. Something quite uncommon for a trained specialist like himself.

"You've been struggling to stand for a while now," Adrian looked down at Vincent. "What is the extent of your injuries?"

"I-" Vincent lost consciousness.