Chapter Text
Three sharp raps on the door of his rooms interrupted Cyno’s reading, and he scowled briefly before calling out, “Who is it?”
“It’s the captain, my lord,” replied the guard standing outside in a querulous voice. Cyno felt his eyebrows go up on his forehead.
“Let him in,” he ordered, getting up from his desk and moving to the sofa in the centre of the room. Not seconds later, the door swung open and an older man walked in, dropping to one knee the moment he laid eyes on Cyno.
“Your Highness, I’ve discovered something that I believe requires your immediate attention.”
That tight, worried voice brought back memories. When he’d been younger, it was the only one that could get him to listen; the staff being pityingly indulgent of the orphaned prince’s every desire meant that there were almost none who dared to set rules in place for the boy. Key word: almost.
“Taj.” He dipped his chin in acknowledgement. “Please rise. You know how I feel when you put on this needless show of respect.”
Taj Radkani gave him a weak smile that turned into a grimace as he lifted himself up from the floor. He was no longer the spry thirty-something that could chase Cyno endlessly around the palace, screaming his head off about rules and etiquette; age was catching up with the captain of the guard, and though he wore it well, it had worn on him too.
“Old habits die hard, my prince. Surely you know this?”
“I know better that you were never in the habit of kneeling to me. You much preferred to throw knives at my head.”
“Only ever for your own good, my dear prince.”
“Sit down. I’d send for tea, but…” Cyno winced slightly. There were complications involved with offering his guests food that he hadn’t prepared and served by hand, and he’d rather not take any risks with the ever-reliable Taj Radkani. It was hard to come by men like him.
A flinch passed over Taj’s face as he nodded and sat down. Seriousness returned to his lined face, weathered like sandstone. “We haven't time for tea anyway. Cyno, I’ll be candid. I have urgent news. And I know you might not be entirely amenable to it.”
“Urgent news,” Cyno repeated. “What about?”
Taj hesitated. “I… put simply, you will not like it.”
“Cut to the chase, Taj.” Cyno crossed one leg over the other and stared down the captain of his guard. “What is it?”
Taj swallowed. “It’s… my prince. Cyno. You must understand, I am only saying this as someone who cares deeply about you. Please do not mistake my intentions to be malicious.”
“If it needs this much prefacing, perhaps it would be more efficient to lay it out first.” Cyno let his shoulders drop. “You’re beginning to worry me.”
“It’s about Tighnari,” said Taj very quickly, and Cyno shot up in his seat.
“Say that again?”
“It’s about Tighnari. Your fiancé, Tighnari.” Taj exhaled. “I know… I know that he adores you beyond belief. I don’t think he bears any ill will towards you. But I have reason to suspect he’s not as perfect as you think he is.”
“By which you mean?” Cyno’s stomach churned. If Taj was insinuating what he thought he was…
“I mean he’s poisoning and killing anyone who he so much as thinks might turn against you.”
Cyno swallowed. A second passed, two, then three…
“You didn’t know about this,” Taj said in a soft, horrified whisper. “You didn’t. You can’t have known. My prince, Cyno, please… please tell me you didn’t know .”
Cyno clenched his jaw and said nothing. Taj’s face lost its rosy undertone.
“Cyno,” he said once more, half-begging. “Please.”
The scales hung in the air. They tipped this way, that way, wildly unbalanced.
There was only one thing to be done.
“How dare you accuse my beloved of that sort of underhanded behaviour?” He tried to say it harshly, but it fell flat, the words limp and meaningless in front of the truth. “Get out of my sight. I don’t want to see hide or hair of you right now.”
“My prince… surely, surely you wouldn’t let love blind you like this?” Taj’s voice fractured. “You are a man of principles. Honour and integrity come more naturally than anything else to you. How can you even think of protecting him, when you know—“
“Silence yourself,” Cyno snapped, but his tone wavered. “If you do not take back your allegations, I will have no choice but to banish you for treason.”
“I—“ Taj’s eyes flashed with a series of emotions. If Cyno hadn’t known him as long as he had, he wouldn’t have recognised any of them; yet now he noted every single one. Anger, incredulity, frustration, disappointment, worry, and finally the quiet, sad acceptance that settled into the lines of his face like the sand after a particularly rough gust of wind. “If that is what you wish, then I will leave your service and your lands, my prince. But… you know I'm right.”
“ Out ,” Cyno spat as best he could. His eyes burned, and he lowered them to the ground. “I command you, leave and never return. Before… before I—”
Before I begin to see reason , he did not say. He didn’t have to look to feel the deeply pitying gaze that his—now former—chief retainer cast upon him.
“Very well, my dear prince. You have changed, and I no longer know you as I once did; but I have not, and neither has my loyalty to you. I shall do as you wish, and bid you farewell. May you rule as long as you desire to.”
A pause. Then soft footsteps walked away, the door creaked open and fell shut, and silence overtook the room. Cyno waited for a moment, then put his head in his hands and let himself cry.
It wasn’t long before another knock sounded on his door. Cyno wiped his eyes and called out, “Who is it?”
“The botanist, Your Highness,” replied the guard. “Should I allow him in?”
Oh. The very accused. Cyno set his jaw and bit back, “What sort of question is that? Allow him in at once!”
The door flew open not seconds later and the aforementioned botanist stormed in, a black look on his face that dissipated the second he laid eyes on Cyno.
“Oh, Cyno, love. Have you been crying?” Tighnari said it with such a worried tenderness, sitting down next to him, that Cyno took one look at him and burst into soft sobs once more. Tighnari took him in his arms at once and petted his hair, pressing kisses onto the crown of his head as Cyno quivered in his embrace.
“I love you. It’s okay, just let it out… I’ll make them pay, okay? Whoever hurt you will pay. I love you so much. I won’t let anyone get away with making you cry.”
And though he knew—though he had known since the very first one—the idea of Taj falling to the same nearly drove a stave through his heart. A fresh wave of tears overcame Cyno and he blubbered, “Please don't. Please, please don’t.”
“Don't what?” Tighnari grew a little stiff. “Did I say something?”
Cyno collected himself, drying his tears. Tighnari’s hands in his hair slowed and stopped, coming down to cup his cheeks.
“No,” he said, looking into Tighnari’s green-golden eyes. “No, I was simply… recalling a terrible dream I had. That’s—that’s why I was crying.” For someone who hated when others lied, he had gotten rather good at doing it.
“A dream so bad it made you cry?” Tighnari cocked an eyebrow. “Do you need me to sleep by your side that badly?”
Cyno nodded vigorously. Tighnari chuckled a little, his eyes fond.
“I’ll have to make sure to always sleep with you, then. You haven’t any work left, have you? Let’s take a nap together.”
He stood from the sofa, extending a hand. Cyno took it, allowing Tighnari to lead him to the bedroom. Tighnari fluffed the pillows on the large four-poster and loosened the covers, gesturing for him to lie down. Cyno complied, sinking into the comfortable mattress, and Tighnari kissed his forehead, promising to be back in just two minutes.
He held true to his word, back not a minute later. “I was just telling the guards that you were resting. Two of them are guarding your door now.”
Cyno didn’t deign to respond, grabbing Tighnari by the waist and pulling him into bed with him. Tighnari’s arms snaked around him, holding him so tightly that Cyno almost thought they might fuse together.
“I love you,” he whispered. Tighnari huffed against his neck.
“I love you too. Go to sleep.”
And as his breathing evened out, Cyno knew: in a million other universes, given a million other choices and chances, he would still always pick Tighnari over anything else. No matter what the consequences. Even justice came second to the man next to him.
He stared at the ceiling as Tighnari slept, and thought of how best to explain the death of that poor researcher and the sudden departure of the captain of the guard. But as his own eyes grew heavy, he decided those matters could wait, and let himself succumb to sleep.
After all, no harm could come to him when he was so safely ensconced in the arms of his beloved.