Page 5
Please, let me stay, let us have it, let us keep it, please—
Zaryen stared at the headmaster while clutching at Meveris”s hand as if it was his lifeline, the only way to keep him afloat.
It kind of felt like it, right now.
He couldn”t turn towards his companion again, because the pull was too overwhelming and he wouldn”t be able to look away, but Meveris being there meant everything.
Zaryen”s whole body was brimming with it, with the knowledge that he belonged somewhere, now. That he finally had his person, his companion for the rest of their lives.
But he couldn”t relax yet. He couldn”t let himself get lost in it until he knew he was allowed.
”I have to say, while a case like this might have happened in other places, no one has ever attempted that at our school,” the headmaster said slowly with a blank face.
Before Zaryen”s admission, Master Raizen had always appeared warm and open, but now he seemed distant, which made the knot in Zaryen”s stomach tighter.
What if the headmaster refused? What then?
”I know that I”m asking for a lot,” he offered weakly. ”But please, trust that I”m capable of making my own decisions.”
Master Raizen tilted his head. ”Including a decision to deceive us by not disclosing your situation right from the start.”
Zaryen”s throat tightened. He”d tried not to lie, he”d tried… But in the end, he had deceived everyone. He couldn”t argue that.
Pulling Zaryen closer against his side again, Meveris let out a slow exhale.
”Headmaster…” he started, voice tight, then paused as Master Raizen sat back, creating more distance between them.
”Of course.” He pushed his chair even further back. ”I”m not a threat, Meveris. I”m not here to harm either of you.”
Zaryen stared at them, wide-eyed, before finally getting it. This situation was triggering his companion”s protective instincts, so much so that even Master Raizen was a potential threat.
And wasn”t that something? That Zaryen now had someone so firmly in his corner?
Wind”s curse, it meant more than he could”ve imagined.
”Hey,” he whispered, using his free hand to turn Meveris”s head towards him without thinking, only to inhale sharply at the intensity of his gaze. ”I”m here, see? We”re here, together.”
”It needs to stay this way,” Meveris said, something close to rumbling echoing in his voice.
Zaryen”s throat went dry before he cleared it quickly.
This was not the time to get aroused.
”It needs,” Meveris repeated, turning towards the headmaster, ”to stay this way.”
”It is never our intention to split pairs who have found each other.” Master Raizen kept his voice low and quiet, probably used to the volatility of emotions among his students, especially at this stage. ”Nobody wants that.”
Meveris nodded, relaxing minutely. ”Good.”
”However, we do have things to discuss,” the headmaster went on. ”And like I said, I need to confer with others on how to move forward, which is why you have to stay put, for now.” He looked towards the door. ”Traditionally, you”d separate for—”
”No.”
Meveris and Zaryen both protested at the same time, but the headmaster ignored them.
”—your individual conversations with the bonded pair, but we won”t be doing that, as things are. We wouldn”t want to further aggravate your instincts, Meveris. However, since I cannot leave the two of you here alone, either, I feel it”s best to let the bonded pair in. They will keep you company for the time being.”
With that, he stood up and approached the door slowly, then opened it to let in whoever was waiting on the other side. Meveris”s brother and his companion, from what Zaryen had understood.
It wasn”t the ideal way to meet the family, that was for sure, but he still straightened in his seat and took a deep breath. He needed to make a good impression. Or, at least, work on erasing the bad one he was definitely going to make once they learned what he had done.
As a tall dragon walked in, looking startlingly familiar, Zaryen stood up together with Meveris. His mind was obviously playing tricks on him, because this couldn”t be…
Then he glanced behind the dragon and his knees buckled.
The Prince Heir.
The companion of Meveris”s brother was the future king himself.
”Your Highness,” Zaryen croaked, clutching Meveris”s arm with his free hand.
”Oh, no, call me Caleen,” the Prince Heir said with a smile. ”We are in the Academy, after all. No titles.”
”You”re not a student here any longer,” the headmaster pointed out. ”That rule doesn”t apply to the ones who have graduated already.”
The prince”s smile only grew.
”Then let”s make it about family, since Meveris is my brother-in-law. I can”t imagine having his companion call me Your Highness. The rest of the family wouldn”t let me live it down.”
The headmaster looked around all four of them before settling his gaze on Meveris”s brother, Taveris. Who was the Prince Consort.
Wind”s curse, how much more complicated could it get?
”As it turns out, there”s a situation that requires me to seek counsel before we can move forward,” the headmaster said, ”so I”m afraid I need to ask you to stay here with the two of them until I get back.”
Zaryen closed his eyes briefly. Maybe if he didn”t watch it happening, everything would just… magically solve itself.
”Of course, we”ll stay for as long as we”re needed. The conversations are usually held separately, however.” Taveris frowned, glancing at Meveris. ”Is there an issue with that?”
”This wouldn”t be that traditional conversation… yet. Like I said, we need to pause the proceedings until the situation at hand is resolved, as much as it can be at this moment.” The headmaster met Zaryen”s gaze. ”It is not my place to speak on the issue, but if you would like to talk about it, you are free to do so.”
Zaryen nodded, his mind stuck on one little word: ”Yet”. Master Raizen said the traditional conversation couldn”t happen yet, which meant that there was still a chance.
He wasn”t saying no.
”Now, if you all would excuse me, I need to step out. I will be back as soon as I can.”
With that, the headmaster left, and it felt like the strings that were keeping Zaryen upright suddenly snapped. If Meveris wasn”t there to hold him up, he might have dropped onto the floor.
”Hey, you”re okay, you”re fine,” Meveris murmured, putting a hand on Zaryen”s neck and guiding him to meet his gaze after they sat back on the sofa. ”We”re in this together.”
”What if he—” Zaryen”s breath caught in his throat and he swallowed back a sob. He felt like he”d start shaking any moment now. ”I”m sorry. I”m so sorry. I just wanted this so badly, I couldn”t—”
”And you”re here, now. With me.” Meveris brushed his thumb over Zaryen”s cheek and a shiver of pleasure ran through Zaryen despite it all. ”We”re here and we”re not going anywhere.”
As they continued to stare at each other, Zaryen”s heartbeat came to a halt when Meveris started to lean in.
”No,” Taveris”s voice cut in, and Zaryen pulled back quickly, mortified. ”You can”t do that right now.”
Dropping his hand, Meveris glared at his brother. ”You could simply turn around, you know.”
”How nice of you, but no. This isn”t the time for that.” Taveris moved another chair towards the one the headmaster had been sitting in and both he and the Prince Heir sat down. ”What it is the time for, we apparently cannot do, however. What”s going on? Are you two alright?”
No. Yes. Zaryen had been jumping from one extreme to the next and he still had no idea where he stood. He didn”t know what to do, other than to hold onto his companion.
Who was now watching him carefully.
”I know this must be weird for you,” Meveris whispered, ”but this is my brother and his husband. They”re my family and I trust them.”
Zaryen looked down at their joined hands. He”d known, of course, that this could never have stayed a secret, especially once his family realized what had happened. But sitting here, now, waiting for a verdict that could make or break him… And with the future royal couple, too…
”Can you tell them?” he finally whispered, meeting his companion”s gaze again and pretending there was no one else in the room but them. ”I—”
”Of course.” Meveris squeezed his hand, then turned so that he was facing his brother while still being pressed alongside Zaryen.
The explanation took barely a minute, since Meveris knew only as little as Zaryen had shared with him and the headmaster. But then again, not much was needed to make the point across.
Zaryen had tricked his way into the Academy and while he hadn”t technically broken any rules—assuming the headmaster would agree with his interpretation of them—he had defied tradition in more ways than one. He had defied the order of things by going behind his family”s backs.
Once here, he had also abused the trust of anyone he”d met here—the headmaster, Feraan, even Meveris.
What if they wouldn”t let Zaryen stay and Meveris would be left alone, with a spark that never went anywhere? What then?
”I”m sorry,” Zaryen whispered into the silence once Meveris finished. ”I”m sorry I put you in this situation.”
”It”s your family who put you in an impossible situation,” Meveris told him firmly. ”You”ve done this out of desperation. You have a right to be here, and you made it happen. You also have a right to ask for help.”
”Did you ask for sanctuary, specifically?”
Straightening in his seat, Zaryen looked at the prince, who asked the question.
”Yes, Your Highness. I researched the matter to the best of my ability, and while I didn”t find texts specifically mentioning the Academy, I found several that mentioned that such requests have been honored in various educational and cultural institutions in the past.”
”Good.”
”Good?” It was Meveris who”d asked, but it echoed what Zaryen was thinking.
”Well, that”s the best possible option in such a case.” The Prince Heir paused. ”Not the part about waiting until now to come clean, mind you—”
Zaryen curled his shoulders forward, trying to make himself smaller.
”—but the sanctuary angle was the right choice. Because you”re right, there have been several instances of such action, and granting sanctuary is a long-lasting tradition, not only in this kingdom, but many others we know of, including Paryada.”
”So that means it should be fine, then?” Meveris pressed.
”Nothing about this is fine, Mev.” Taveris”s voice was low but clearly audible, and Zaryen felt like crying.
He knew that. He knew.
”What it means is that if the Academy grants Zaryen”s request, their decision will have the backing of a tradition, which will help with the inevitable backlash this will cause,” the Prince Heir said.
”The backlash my family will cause,” Zaryen murmured, barely loud enough to be heard.
Taveris shook his head, and the prince did, too, but when he met Zaryen”s gaze, there was something in his eyes Zaryen didn”t know how to read.
”One way or another, this story will come out, and the press will pick it up and run with it. The Academy can and will protect you, if the headmaster grants your request, but it will also have to protect itself. There”ll be questions, opinions, and, I”m sorry to say, outrage out there in the society as a whole, which is why the argument about the sanctuary will be helpful. Among all the other arguments, of course, about you having a right to be here, since you met the necessary criteria.”
”I”m surprised you”d be worried about what the press might say.” Meveris”s voice was colder than before, and Taveris shot him a hard look.
”Hey,” was a warning in itself, and Meveris gritted his teeth but stayed quiet.
The prince tilted his head to the side. ”Thinking about what people may say is a part of my job, actually,” he offered after a beat, calm and collected. ”Planning for it, too.”
The tightness in Zaryen”s chest grew even stronger. It wasn”t that he hadn”t thought about his story potentially becoming public, if his family was angry enough to make it so, but he hadn”t considered it could create a scandal on a larger scale.
He remembered vividly how vicious the attacks had gotten when the Prince Heir had publicly admitted who Taveris really was to him and a few others who were own-preferring had followed with their own confessions. That fight had ultimately been won—they could marry each other now—but it hadn”t changed their kingdom into a very accepting place overnight.
And Zaryen didn”t want to be their next target, as the one who contested another long-held tradition.
You should have stayed home, then, the voice at the back of his head, sounding suspiciously like his mother, made him curl into himself even more.
”How about we do not worry about that right now,” Meveris suggested, his warm weight against Zaryen”s side already a touchstone for him. Already necessary.
As they fell into silence, Zaryen tried not to think about anything—about his family, about the future royal couple in the room, about how badly he”d messed up everything… With his companion so close, he let himself lean on Meveris and focus on him until they were breathing in sync.
After what could have been an hour or fifteen minutes, the door opened again and the headmaster entered the room with a blank expression.
Zaryen held his breath, unable to get to his feet.
Please, let me stay. Please.
Master Raizen glanced around the room before settling his gaze on Zaryen.
Please.
”Your request is granted, Zaryen from Kingdom of Teranea. The Academy will offer you sanctuary. You”re free to stay and begin the next chapter as you wished.”
An embarrassing sound escaped Zaryen”s mouth before he dropped down and hid his face in his knees, swallowing back his tears.
He was free.
Free to stay, free to be with his companion, free to live his life on his terms, not his family”s.
”You”re good, you”re fine,” Meveris whispered, leaning over him, his nose brushing against the side of Zaryen”s neck. ”It”s like I told you. We”re here and we”re not going anywhere.”
Only then, held safely in his companion”s arms, Zaryen finally let himself believe.