Cruel - Prinxiety [Sequel to "Savage"] (ON HOLD)

Chapter Five

King Patton felt his chest constrict as he looked around at the faces of the innocent people in the courtyard of the palace. He felt helpless. He was supposedly the most powerful man in his kingdom, but he couldn't do anything to ease the pain of the people he saw.

There were people bleeding. There were people sobbing. He took a shuddering breath, feeling overwhelming empathy for them. 

Logan came up from beside him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we're going to help them, Pat," he told him. They looked at the people around them and tried to think of what to do. Most of them were in shock; there hadn't been magic used in battle for several years, especially against civilians. No one seemed to know what to do.

The two kings approached the leaders of the kingdoms that were there, discussing the details of the attack. The attackers were made up of dark magic users, undead mages, and illusionists. They had terrorized them in the streets of their towns and destroyed buildings. Even after evacuations started, they chased them away until they were forced to leave. They explained that they had chosen to come here because it was the biggest kingdom in the alliance. 

Patton and Logan nodded to them and stepped away to discuss the details among themselves. "What concerns me the most is the illusions' involvement," Logan said, keeping his voice low. "If these individuals have the ability to appear as anything or anyone, or even change the environment around them, how do we know if they're hidden among the refugees?"

The other king paled, swallowed. "We don't, but we'll have to take that risk," he replied. "Perhaps there's some way to smoke them out?"

"I suppose we could provide a source of threat and see which among them fails to react accordingly," Logan suggested. "If we do it well enough, it could be incredibly convincing, but pose no real danger to anyone."

"Absolutely not," Patton refused. He looked at his husband, appalled. "I want to find out if any of them are here, but I'm most certainly not going to terrify these already traumatized civilians!"

The tone of his voice made the taller man flinch. He blinked, realizing that what he'd suggested would be effective but cruel to those who were not illusionists. He felt shame wash over him as he looked down. "My apologies, Patton," he said quietly. "That... that was a very harmful suggestion. We'll find another way."

Patton nodded, eyeing him carefully. There were moments like these that happened every now and then; sometimes Logan would do or say something that showed his lack of empathy towards others. He cared about people, but it seemed to slip his mind how his words or actions affected others. 

They were interrupted as a child ran into their legs. They looked down to see a small boy with reddish-brown hair. "Oh! Sorry your Majesties!" he said, giggling. 

"It's not a problem little one, though can I ask what you were doing in such a hurry?" Patton asked, kneeling down to talk to the child.

"Oh, my friend Sapphire are playing a game! It's called: 'Hide from the Scary People' and I almost got caught by one of them," the boy laughed, seemingly unaware of what his statement implied.

Logan looked down at his husband, who met his eyes with alert ones of his own. "Oh? Who are these scary people?"

"Well, there's a few people around that have scary faces! They have weird eyes, or scars, or bumpy skin, or icky noses," he explained, grimacing. "They're really weird! Sapphire thinks I'm making them up, but she plays along anyway cause she's nice like that."

Patton's heart began to race as he stood up. "Didn't Thorn describe illusionists as having deformities?" he asked his husband. 

"She did, but no one here matches the boy's description of a 'scary person'," Logan pointed out. 

The boy looked between the two of them curiously. King Patton gazed down at him, looking him up and down. He wore the clothes of royal, but something seemed off. He was wearing gloves. Royals under the age of eighteen didn't wear gloves unless it was an incredibly formal event. The attack had been random, which meant the boy shouldn't be wearing them.

His eyes widened and he knelt back down. "Hey, what's your name?" he asked, smiling. 

"My name's Matt!" he replied. 

"Well Matt, do you mind taking off your gloves? I'd like to take a closer look at them," Patton explained. He hoped that the boy trusted him enough to do so willingly.

He looked a little uncomfortable and fidgeted with his hands. "I don't know, my parents say they should stay on at all times," Matt said. "I have to wear them even when I sleep or bathe. I'm not allowed to take them off."

"I'm a king, little one, they'll understand if I asked you too," he urged, feeling his heart hammering in his chest. 

He bit his lip but slowly began to remove the gloves. Patton's breath caught in his throat as the boy's hands were revealed. They were scared and his veins were incredibly visible under the red-tinted. He quickly clasped his own over them to hide them from the view of others near by. 

"Hey, why don't we talk inside? Okay Matt?" he said, leading him toward the palace.

Matt was trembling. "I... I didn't know what they looked like... why do my hands look like the Scary People?" he asked. He sounded terrified and the father in Patton wanted nothing more than to pull the boy into a close hug and reassure him that he was alright. 

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out okay? Everything's going to be fine," he reassured him. He ushered him into the conference room and then moved back to the door were Logan waited. "You need to go get the boys and Thorn. We need to figure out what to do before someone gets hurt. I think this boy is an illusionist, and there are others in the courtyard."

"But if Matt's an illusionist, how come we can see his deformities but not the others'?" Logan asked in a hushed voice. His eyes then widened. "Unless... illusionists can't fool each other."

Patton nodded. "That's definitely a possibility. Now go get the others. We need to sort this out."