F O R T Y-T W O

Almost immediately, the King gave Kai a skeptical look when he walked up to the two vampires. He had that natural friendly but knowing smile on his face, and that's what gave Kai the chills.

"Hi," He greeted them nonchalantly, which was the opposite of how Kai felt when he looked at him. "Kai."

"Yes, sir?"

"Where's Iris?"

Sage shuffled the weight on her feet at the rising tension. Arlo narrowed his eyes but a smile was on his face, an expression that seemed as though he knew everything and was only challenging Kai to fib.

"Um, he–" Kai stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked down to see Iris giving his dad a dry smile.

"Just went to get a drink. You don't have to be so paranoid, dad."

The King put his hands behind his back and frowned at Iris, "I'm not paranoid."

"Dad, I don't have to have someone breathing down my neck all day. Your making it seem like this mansion isn't safe, do you want me to believe my own home isnt safe?"

"Well, no–"

"Then I should be able to go down to the kitchen and get a drink without someone holding my hand, right?"

Arlo looked visibly annoyed that Iris was in fact right.

"Yes." He mumbled.

Iris smiled then nodded at Kai. "Okay then. We're going back to my study and look," He pointed at Kai then himself, "together."

Sage snorted at his sarcasm and Arlo rolled his eyes.

"Whatever son."

Iris smiled before they turned the corner. When Kai glanced at him, his smile completely dropped.

"Where were you?" Kai asked while they made their to Iris's study.

"The kitchen."

"No way. I checked there already."

Iris quirked his eyebrows, "Well technically I was there because I was trying to get tea, but they didn't have any in stock, so I offered to help them bring the supplies in. I guess that means I was in the back then."

Kai sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "You need to stop doing that. I don't care if your nurse tolerated it, I don't want you jeopardizing my life."

"Two things," Iris suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up at Kai while holding up two fingers. "One, she was my nurse which meant she did more than just watch me, like you're poorly doing. And two, my dad obviously has a soft spot for you. He likes you. As for I can see it, he won't do anything bad to you." Kai knew Iris emphasized thr word 'he' because Ameliea was a different story. She was ruthless to the vampires unlike Arlo. She felt nothing but amusement when she watched them suffer. It made both Iris and Kai sick, but of course Kai couldn't say anything about it.

"So, no, I'm not going to stop. This is my home and I'm perfectly capable of walking a few yards away from you."

Kai furrowed his eyebrows at the prince, staring at him quizzically. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again.

"Fine. But can you at least tell me instead of just sneaking away?"

Iris widened his eyes but not enough to where it was noticeable. He turned ahead.

"Yeah. Sure."

Then they silently walked to Iris's study.

The room wasn't too big but spacious. One wall was a long bookshelf with a neat arrangement of books. A desk was in the center and a two chairs in front of it. Off to a side a lounge chair rested near a floor lamp. Another bookshelf next to it. With the leather furniture and maroon carpet, it gave off a cozy vibe. To Kai anyway, all Iris felt was anger when he stepped inside the room, because he knew the only reason he did was because he had to do work.

Iris found his seat behind his desk and Kai wandered to the lounge chair.

The silence, other than the scribbling of Iris's writing and turning of papers, lasted for a good ten minutes. Until suddenly he looked up, not particularly at anything, and sighed.

"Now that I think about it I never got my tea."

Kai raised a brow and watched Iris stand up and walk around his desk. He stopped at the door and glanced at the vampire.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Kai blinked at him before standing up.

††

To a bystander, it was probably very odd.

Kai gazed down at Iris's peacefully sleeping form before shaking his head and pacing next to his bed, chewing on his thumb nail.

After Iris finished the work he had to do, he and Kai went back to his room, however before Kai entered, one of Arlo's secretarys caught him and gave him and schedule. It was a new idea of Arlos and the intent was to help Iris get used to having to meet deadlines, getting up early, running errands, ect.. And the first thing on the list was 'The prince must be up by five o'clock'  except Kai completely forgot to tell Iris about the schedule and now he has to wake him up.

Apparently it was extremely hard for Kai, he acted like he didn't know what to do or even how to function. He paced and thought of the least awkward way to do it. This wasn't part of the job! He ranted on and on in his head, glanced at Iris, stepped forward, then coward away.

It really shouldn't be this hard. Kai knew he was over thinking it but every time his eyes landed on Iris  thoughts just kept stacking and building. He ran his hands down his face and groaned silently. He stayed awake all night, not that he needed sleep, and forced himself up around three thirty. He wasted probably an hour because when he glanced at the clock, it was four thirty. He groaned again.

"What are you doing?"

Kai flinched and turned to face Iris, who was sitting up in his bed rubbing his eyes. He lowered his hands and stared at him.

"Um..your–the king–said you had to get up at five but I forgot to tell you yesterday."

Iris just blankly blinked at him. "So, you were going to just stare at me until I woke up?"

"No! I was just–" Kai stopped when Iris chuckled. He didn't have too deep of a voice, but his chuckle was low and slightly rough; maybe because it was the morning.

"Okay," Irish said, and flopped back down on his bed. "Give me five minutes."

Kai glanced at the clock again. "It's already almost five, though."

"I get ready fast."

Kai made a sound of hesitation, he didn't know why he was worried. No, he did. He would've gotten up early, got ready early, and arrived where he needed to early if the schedule was for him. Iris wasn't Kai. He didn't particularly care if he was late, but the vampire nervously pacing near his bed clearly did.

"Fine," Iris groaned and threw his blankets off him. "I'm getting up." It was Kai's constant footsteps that woke up Iris up in the first place and they certainly didn't help when he tried to regain that lovely luxury of his conscience being pulled back into peace.

"Why exactly do I have to get up this early?" He asked Kai while walking towards his closet.

"You have a schedule."

"For what?"

" I don't know, you just have to be at certain places at a certain time and you have errands to complete."

Iris groaned again and slumped towards his bathroom. "You can tell me about it after I finish getting ready."

"Okay."

And another thing Kai learned about the prince was that he was one hundred percent lying when he said he got ready fast.

They barely made it to where they needed to be, which was only breakfast, but the King was waiting for them.

"Why so early?" Iris asked his dad while sliding into a chair at the dining room table. He propped his elbow up on the table and let his cheek fall on his palm. He yawned, still not fully awake.

"Because, other than the servants, a King must be the first to wake."

Iris frowned, "I'm not a King."

"Not yet, and get your elbow off the table. Anyway, you won't have to wake up this early everyday, just today for an example. Like a good King, you will have to know exactly what to do without having to look at your schedule."

When Iris glanced at the paper resting in front of him, his honey kissed skin paled.

"I have to memorize all of that!" He exclaimed, pointing at the long list.

"Yes. It's not that hard, you'll get used to it."

"Dad," Iris groaned and fought back to urge to glare at him. "I'm only sixteen, I still have a long time before I become a good prince! Why the urgency?"

"Iris, you're expected to be ready by the time your twenty. That's only four years away. Each year you're growing and conquering individual tasks, goals, and as you do you'll realize how little four years actually is. I know this seems like a lot, and in truth it may be more than a lot, but it's necessary. Can you at least respect that?"

Iris, regardless of what Arlo said, had his elbow back on the table and his head in his palm. He picked at the table with a blank face, though his emotions were not running empty on the inside.

"Yeah," He said. Arlo caught all those emotions when he looked up at him, but Arlo still smiled instead of pitying his reluctance.

"Good. Okay, for awhile you can have your schedule on you whenever you want, but do note that you are going to have to learn to memorize the dates and times eventually." Iris nodded, "also, whatever disagreements you two have you better sort it out because from now on it's all about respect and maturity."

Iris and Kai look at each other with surprise but they both nodded at the King, acknowledging his seriousness and stern demands.

"Good! Well, if you need anything you know were to find me." Arlo patted Iris's shoulder before leaving the dining room.

Iris glanced at Kai again and noticed he was closer than just a minute ago, instead of standing off to the side he was debating on sitting a few chairs away from Iris.

"I guess we should have argued a little more secretly," Iris mumbled while Kai finally sat down two chairs away from him.

"Yeah. But he's right. I didn't want this job, I wanted to stay where I was where I knew what I was doing, but I've been doing that for a long time. Some changes wouldn't hurt. I guess you could say I began looking forward to this."

When Kai smiled at Iris, Iris's breath hitched quietly. And when his heart refused to be tamed, he smiled back.

"Then," Iris leaned over and held out his hand, "that makes the feeling mutual."

Kai looked down at Iris's hand, a strange tingle going through his spine, and he took it.

"I look forward to working with you Kai."

The vampire gazed at Iris's smile a little longer than necessary.

"Me, too."

It really was a shame the prince of Vridora didn't smile much. It was undoubtedly charming.