Lovers

Karth’s warmth flowed into Liam through the intimate touch. His lips were going numb yet he no longer tried to push the other away. The excruciating pain he’d abruptly felt was slowly disappearing, it was as if it melted away; like an ice cream on a hot summer day.

Liam closed his eyes, despite wanting to hold onto the comfort, he eventually drifted off to sleep in the warm embrace of someone else.

When he woke up he was all alone, the tent was dark but Liam could tell it was morning from the strings of light at the bottom of the tent walls. He sat up, his head hurting, similar to a hungover. Forcing himself to stand up, he caught himself almost falling back in the bed.

A memory got triggered in his mind and he suddenly remembered the night before. Karth had kissed him! And he didn’t push him away, on the contrary, wasn’t he enjoying it a bit too much?!

Poof! A cloud of embarrassment left his head as he hid his flustered face. Deciding to simply forget it, Liam walked up to the exit but was stopped when he walked into someone entering. He figured it was Karth and said:

“Oh! Sorry, also about yesterday…” he trailed off when he noticed it wasn’t Karth, but a complete stranger.

“What happened yesterday?” the stranger energetically asked, he was smirking and his thoughts about ‘the night before’ were obvious.

Liam backed away, the man wore a lighter coat and his ashy grey hair, which reached to his hips, was tied up in a lower ponytail.

“By the way, who are you?” the man asked.

Could it be so that Liam had just exposed himself? And after Karth went to the trouble of hiding him too. He thought of a million different reasons as to why he would be in the prince’s quarters; in the end it was narrowed down to two possibilities.

One was him being an assassin, something he already knew what the reaction to it would be, Karth certainly showed him the consequences. As he felt the time run out, soon enough the person in front of him would begin to wonder why he wasn’t answering, and the man did eventually speak again.

“Could it be, you’re the-”

When the man raised an eyebrow in his direction, Liam couldn’t handle the pressure anymore as he blurted out, “Lover!”

“Guest,”

“...”

“...”

“Oh,” the man said, and then nothing more.

If Liam stumbled upon a hole now, he’d crawl into it and simply cease to exist. His face went red and he jumbled on an explanation for why he was indeed a guest but the man shushed him instead.

“I understand,” he calmly said as he bowed down, “I am Verthral, Lord Karthremith’s best friend!”

Best friend? That barely talking, murderous looking saviour actually had a normal best friend. One with sunshine energy as well; friends really are a chosen family. Liam extended his hand when it was grabbed by a black glove.

“Best friend? Who said so? You’re the doctor, right hand man at most,” Karth entered the tent. He held Liam’s hand until the curious doctor stepped closer to observe the contact.

“You should be glad someone dares call them your friend, really, no appreciation anywhere,” Verthral muttered.

He piped quiet when Karth turned to glare at him. “Did you take a look at him?” Karth said, nodding to Liam who stood listening to their bickering. They reminded him a bit of an old married couple with the way they spoke to each other.

“Ah, no, not yet,”

“Why not? Get to it,” Karth said, almost forcefully.

“Alright, alright. Take it easy,” Verthral gestured for Liam to take a seat as he knelt down before him. Closely next to them stood the lord, intently watching as he breathed down the doctor’s neck.

When it came to wounds and pain in general, Liam knew he had a high tolerance. After falling from the cliff, he was very surprised to get away with only a few scratches. However, as the medical expert touched around his arms and legs, feeling and searching for any signs of abnormality, a gentle brush against Liam’s hip made an Eeep! leave his lips.

Verthral picked up on the reaction and touched again but with more pressure.

Liam couldn’t help but make some noise, “Ouch!”

Karth stepped forward, his eyes locked onto Liam holding his hand on his hip. When Verthral reached out for a third touch, he suddenly retreated his hand and waved it in the air in front of Karth.

“I get it, I won’t hurt your lover anymore, stop looking at me like you’re going to bury me, I’m afraid that could actually happen,” the doctor said, as he pulled out a small glass bottle from the bag hanging on his belt.

“Lover?” Karth asked, visible confusion painting his face as he glanced at Liam.

Liam turned his head away, he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t simply say “Oh, I accidentally said were lovers and never corrected it,” and so he kept his mouth shut. Not daring to explain himself, hoping the situation would blow past and Karth would forget about it.

But then, Verthral continued speaking, “You needn’t hide it,” he smirked, “You finally found someone! I never thought the day would come,”

“Watch it,”

“Haha,” as Verthral resumed the examination, and smeared a good amount of the vial's contents on the patient's hip, he noticed the strangely low magical pulse within Liam. This particular pulse wasn’t easy to find, therefore mostly the medically knowledgeable knew how to sense it. Through this particular pulse, one could tell the person in question’s magical condition.

The lack of energy pulsating through someone is not an issue in everyday life; as long as a certain amount exists to counter the magic in the air, you could live out your days however you wish. But professions where the involvement is higher means the user also has to be able to control it, or at the least be able to resist it.

A pulse can also be higher than average, in which it could mean two things; with much training and patience, one can get a stronger pulse resulting in the act of using it outside the body, often as a weapon. Being able to conjure it takes mental strength, therefore, many who have the ability try to utilise it rather than attack with it.

The higher pulse could also breach the mind and in turn make someone practically “lose their mind”, rationality flies out the window as desire takes over. But cases like these are rare, extreme measures need to be met for one to truly go crazy with magic.

Verthral frowned, he checked the second pulse once more, “Lord Karthremith, were you aware his pulse is low? With such low resistance, I’m surprised he hasn’t collapsed yet.”

Karth put his hand by his mouth, he cleared his throat and said, “I’m aware, it nearly took him, but…” the man looked away, “I took care of it.”

Liam also turned his face the other way, thankfully Karth didn’t mention what exactly he did to help him. As two out of the three people in the tent suddenly looked at anything except Verthral, the doctor got suspicious and stood up, he hid a smile.

“I understand, then I’ll leave that matter up to you,” he said, giving his lord a pat on the back, Verthral quietly left the tent, but once he was outside, a loud laugh was heard.

Karth raised an eyebrow, his cold gaze was piercing as he brought up something from earlier, “Lover?”

“It’s a misunderstanding! We were talking at the same time and-” Liam’s head was all over the place, he was unsure of how to even continue his defence. In the end, he simply gave up and opted to walk outside.

But he was stopped in his step by Karth standing in the way, using his body to block him.

“You can’t wander around,” tha man said, determined to not let Liam pass.

“Huh, why not?” Liam asked confused as he tried to walk around only to be held back each time.

It was suspicious. Didn’t it feel a little like being imprisoned? Supposedly the people accompanying Karth on this quest, the royals, of course, but also the guards and warriors appeared to be frightened of a stranger to the point where Karth felt the need to smuggle him in.

Perhaps it was a test, a test to see if he really was an assassin or not. So he couldn’t simply bring in Liam as a criminal but instead pretended to help him?

Liam couldn’t know for sure, so he gave up his tries of going out and sat down on a wooden chair, leaning back as he closed his eyes.

“You’re not fighting more?” he heard a voice ask.

“Why fight? If you won’t let me out, I can’t go out, right?” he said, defeated and sounding more like a prisoner than a guest.

Karth walked up to him, caressing his hair, “So different…” he mumbled.

Liam wasn’t expecting the sudden touch which startled him as he slapped the gloved hand. Karth’s hand subtly flinched as he retreated his hand to cover his mouth as he cleared his throat.

Liam quickly stood up to say, “Sorry-” but was interrupted by Karth who was walking towards the exit.

“Don’t worry.” he seemed to hesitate, however he eventually continued speaking before heading out, “Tomorrow, tomorrow we’ll go out together,” he said, a faint blush creeping up to his ears.