Enabling

Darktolight: You don’t need to point out my grammar malfunctions, I’m actually a tutor. Sometimes it’s just hard to catch every little thing, especially since I really wanted to post the last chapter. Little things like that will pop up every now and then. I more go for constructive criticism regarding how I write, not the mechanics, but thank you. Now, now, a Vox/Albel noncon fic is not bad because it is still Vox/Albel. And I would very much like to read it. But hurray for a con one as well! *throw confetti for more Vox/Albel writers* Share?

Anon: you owe prison sex art

Author’s note: Yes I know this chapter is rather late, but I think I more than make up for it in length considering this is four times as long as previous chapters. I don’t believe you can actually read it in one sitting, given the length; I couldn’t even proofread it in one sitting. Then again I’ve been working on it for the past month and I’m sick of seeing it. On the upside, I got an A on my senior thesis paper.

Chapter 20

A series of unusual events had plagued Airyglyph, putting Duke Vox in a foul mood. First an odd metal object crashed into the city, causing hundreds of dollars in damages. Then the people in the object were arrested, only to escape with the assistance of an Aquarian spy. They had gotten nothing out of the prisoners, other than the fact that they were apparently from Greeton, though their odd clothes suggested otherwise. Vox was unsure what to make of the situation--he had hoped to squeeze as much information out of the prisoners as possible; he was certain they were also Aquarian spies. It angered him that his interrogator had failed in getting more information from the two men. It had sent him into a rage to hear that they had escaped. The technology that the men had could be dangerous in Aquarian hands and it did not bode well with him that the two had been spotted with such scum. He did not know what the men were capable of or whether they could have helped in the war, but the fact that Aquaria had felt the need to dispatch spies on a rescue mission meant that they had some worth. And they had escaped! The duke had raged for days.

Albel, however, was much more intrigued by the going-ons than angered at the castle guard’s great failure in apprehending escaping criminals. To be sure he made no few degrading comments about the guards, but he was more interested in what knowledge two men from Greeton could possess that would make them such a valuable asset to the war. He understood that Arzei feared that Aquaria would build a weapon greater than what they had used before. He also understood that the scum had already built some kind of great canon, but it was malfunctioning--the Greeton engineers would be used to perfect it. Still, he was not alarmed.

“It’s not as if the scum haven’t used technological weapons on us before.” He reasoned.

“That is not the point, Albel.” The duke hissed. “The point is this weapon is reportedly greater than any they have used yet. If they get it to work it could potentially wipe out our entire front line in one blast.”

“Then we do what we always have done--find a way to destroy the damned thing. I’m sure the solution will be the same as always: ram it with a dragon.”

The man growled. “You always were simple minded; if their weapon is able to charge quickly it can shoot the dragon down before it can get close.”

Albel looked across the table at his husband. “Then teach the dumb beasts to dodge.”

The man’s face turned red in anger; Arzei and Woltar sighed. Vox had pulled all of the captains from the front lines to deal with the potential threat the escaped prisoners posed and Albel was undermining him! The meeting was imperative as there was something they all didn’t want to admit, the reason why they were so concerned over the escaped prisoners and the new weapon. Airyglyph was losing the war. For some time they had been making progress, but the last year, facing Aquaria’s improved cannons and technological warfare, had delivered them great losses in land and soldiers. If these Greeton engineers helped to perfect the weapon…there was a high chance that they would lose the war completely. And if that happened…there’s no telling what the Aquarians would do. They might even try to occupy Airyglyph. That would be a dark day indeed.

There was a tense silence for several minutes. Finally the duke stood, preparing to leave. He turned to address Albel, “You are nothing more than a child; you do not understand anything. It’s a wonder you are a captain.”

The youngest captain scoffed, dismissing the man and his insult. Their relationship had grown cold once more, stemming from concern over the welfare of the country. It was hard to be nice when the threat of losing a war and being dominated by a hated culture hung not far overhead. Albel had gotten used to it though; Vox was fully invested in the war and their union would always be the second most important thing in the man’s life, if not lower.

They walked out of the meeting together, not speaking. The duke insisted that they spend the evening together though. The boy nodded his head and gave a half hearted wave of his clawed hand to show his approval.

Vox’s anger at the situation was evident during their evening. Albel cringed as the man thrust into him, barely lubricated. Angry sex had oddly enough never appealed to him, but that could have been the fact that he was always the one suffering the results of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had been battle planning together in the castle one day when there was a harsh knock at the Duke’s door. Albel looked up, curious as to why the man would be contacted so soon after a meeting. Vox opened the door and a young cadet saluted him.

“Sir!”

“What do you want?” The man asked gruffly.

“Sir, a report for you!”

The boy extended a shaking hand which held a folded letter. Vox took it and slammed the door shut in the cadet’s face.

“And they say I’m cold.” Albel mumbled from his seat by the desk.

Vox ignored him, far more interested in the contents of the letter. A dark grin twisted his lips. “I believe we’ve come into a bit of luck.”

The man’s cheerful tone caught the young captain’s attention. “And what sort of luck have we come into?”

“Prisoners.”

“Prisoners?” Albel failed to see what was so lucky about having prisoners. Their dungeon was full of them.

Vox looked at his young spouse. “Two Aquarian spies to be precise.”

Albel sat up straight. “Where were they caught?”

“Outside of Kirlsa. Arzei would like you and I to take care of them. Use them if we can.”

The Duke walked back over to his seat and handed the letter over for Albel to peruse. He took a long sip of wine, suddenly in a much better mood. A silence lapsed between them. When Albel looked up he tossed the letter onto the table. His husband looked at him.

“We should hold them at the Kirlsa Training facility.” The boy said.

Vox scoffed and finished his drink off. “I think it would be best if we just kill them now.”

“Why would we do that? Arzei wanted us to get information from them.”

“Or kill them.”

“We should attempt to get information from them first.”

“What do you think my men are doing at this moment, Albel? I am not green to the task of interrogating. As soon as prisoners are taken they are interrogated.”

Albel growled low in his throat. “If you’re interrogating them, why do you wish to kill them?”

“Because they are not speaking.” The man said, as if it were obvious. “So why waste effort trying to get them to talk when we can just as easily kill them and deprive the scum of two more spies?”

“I have a better plan.” Albel said after a pause.

Vox looked at him, a wary yet curious look on his face. “Continue…”

“We can use these spies to lure more of the Aquarian scum out into the open. They will send someone to rescue these women and if we catch more spies we may be able to get information from them. And if not then we’ll just kill them all anyways. At least this way we may be able to squeeze some information from the maggots.”

Vox was silent for a moment, thinking the plan over. “I suppose that is a possible way to go about it.”

“Good,” Albel stood. “I will go to the training facility myself and watch over the proceedings.”

“No, you will stay here.”

The boy fixed his husband with a blank look. “Why would I do that?”

“Your place is not presiding over spy baitings and prisoner executions. It is on the field.”

“There is no battle for me to participate in, so I shall oversee this to keep myself occupied.”

Vox sighed. The young captain left shortly after, heading for Kirlsa. The man poured himself another glass of wine, contemplating how he should go about the matter. Regardless of the boy’s protests, Albel should remain away from the training facility. He began penning a letter to Shelby; he knew the man was after Albel’s position. If he told Shelby to take care of the matter before Albel arrived and dangled the possibility of being promoted to captain in front of the man’s face then the idiot would likely do it.

He wrote a second letter to be delivered to the Aquarians. He demanded that in exchange for the women’s lives the two Greeton fugitives be returned. Of course he knew that the dogs would never return the engineers, but if they put on a facade of making a prisoner exchange then someone was bound to come. Perhaps even one of the higher ranking spies. Whoever came to rescue the scum, they would regret ever crossing the Glyphians.

He sent the letter to the Aquarians immediately. He needed to be quick so that Albel would not suspect a thing. Then he needed to get Albel away from the training facility. Vox grabbed his cloak and headed out of the city. He would need to distract Albel for some time while Shelby interrogated the Aquarians and then killed them. Within a matter of hours of the letter being sent, he was sure, a rescue team would be formed and sent. If he could keep Albel from the training facility for the next two days then the affair would likely be over and done with. Of course, distracting Albel was never an easy task.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found Albel the next day at the count’s house in Kirlsa. He told the guards at the mansion entrance that he had business with their lord, but he did not even greet the old man as he passed on his way to Albel’s quarters in the house. The boy looked up from his desk as his husband entered. The young captain raised an eyebrow, but made no move to stand.

“What brings you here?” he asked, returning to his work.

“Just informing you of what is happening with the Aquarian spies.”

“And?”

Vox stepped closer and rested a hand on the back of the youth’s chair. He leaned close, using his other hand to finger a piece of Albel’s hair. “We will interrogate the women for another few days. We are hoping that a day or two without food and water and receiving whippings will loosen their jaws.”

Albel looked up, his eyebrows drawn together. “You aren’t going to kill them?”

“I have decided it would be worthwhile to attempt one last time to get information from the wenches.”

“How unlike you…and the lure?”

“We will send a letter to the Aquarians after we have tried to get information from the spies.”

Something did not feel right to Albel. Vox was being far too patient, considering he had wanted to string the bitches up and gut them only half a day ago.

“I have a task for you now.”

Albel knew that something was amiss. “I don’t take orders from you, remember?”

“It is a personal favor.”

“For the war?”

“Yes, of course.”

Vox never asked for his help in war business. The man preferred to solve his own problems and if any other man infringed upon his territory then there was hell to pay. Albel lifted his eyes from his paper to look at his husband. He approached the subject warily.

“And what task do you require my aid in?”

“Spying.”

Albel stared at the man.

“In the border town, Arias. You are to leave immediately.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After seeing the young captain off, for he needed to be sure that Albel was truly gone, Vox sent his missive to Shelby. He hated the man almost as much as he hated the young upstarts that tried to join his brigade each year. Luckily, Shelby was as dumb as Albel said. The man would not suspect that he was using him. Vox would use the man’s hate of Albel and turn it against him; Shelby assumed everyone despised Albel as much as he did. It brought a dark smile to the duke’s face to think of Shelby being defeated by his own ignorance. Perhaps when the man was in jail he would reveal that he was actually quite fond of Albel--fond enough to marry the boy.

But first he needed the man to fail in capturing the rescue team. Once Shelby was defeated he would swoop in and save the pathetic lout. That Shelby was incapable of handling such a task was obvious--he had seen Albel train the man himself. Perhaps Shelby was intimidated by Albel’s youth or skill, but he refused to learn and follow orders. Albel was constantly trying to get rid of the man for being a ‘completely useless worm’ and he agreed with his spouse’s assessment of the man. Vox saw the danger of keeping such a man around. He knew Shelby was after the position of captain and was more concerned about that than the war.

Vox sent the missive to Shelby after his meeting with Albel. After having plenty of dealings with the Aquarians he knew the scum would press their luck with time and try to formulate a plan, but he had only allotted two days before the two wenches were to be killed. With one day already gone, they were bound to come the next day. He would follow to the training facility the next day and oversee the happenings himself. Before he left Kirlsa, Vox cast one last look towards the Aire Hills. It would take some time for Albel to reach Arias and infiltrate the town, so even if the boy merely mulled about the town for a day and returned the affair at the training facility should have been over by then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After reading the missive from Duke Vox, Shelby was elated. The Duke instructed him to capture the Aquarians sent to rescue the two spies and interrogate them immediately. And when they were done with the interrogation, kill all of the bitches. Should he do that, the Duke had promised to help him become the captain of the Black Brigade. It was about time people realized he should be captain, not that arrogant bastard Albel Nox. Shelby was fortunate that Vox hated the boy as much as he did. He was much better leader material than Albel. And he had the hearts of the people; Albel was disliked by everyone.

He instructed his men to rope the two spies up in the arena where they could easily ambush whoever came to the rescue. There was only one entrance and once the scum was inside his team would cut off their escape route and take them by force.

As he watched the soldiers move the women into the courtyard Shelby couldn’t help but grin to himself. He longed to see the stricken look on Albel’s face when he learned that he was demoted. And when he was captain he would put the boy through hell. It wouldn’t be anything less than what the bastard deserved. A child shouldn’t be running an elite group of men such as the Black Brigade. He would chase Albel out of the military. Let the former captain be dismissed in shame, be spit at in public, let him starve on the streets with the poor he abhorred. It would be a beautiful sight to see the Wicked One begging in the cold with nothing but a tattered cloak to shield him from the cruelty of the world and a harsh Airyglyph winter. If ever he saw Albel in the streets, Shelby would be sure to kick the boy extra hard for all the years of hell he was put through under the youth’s command.

It looked to be a glorious future. All he had to do was capture the Aquarians and then everything would fall into place. With the Duke’s trust and help he would be the new captain of the Black Brigade by noon the next day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albel was no fool. He knew something was gravely amiss when Vox asked him for help. Vox was too arrogant to ask for help, especially from his spouse. The man had the ridiculous belief that if he required help from Albel then he was weak. Or maybe the man feared that if he got help then that would mean they were actually equal. Albel knew his husband liked to think that he was in charge in their relationship and above his spouse. The man’s attitude was maddeningly frustrating. Ignoring him was the best coping mechanism Albel had come up with.

Vox never asked for his help even when they were in a domestic setting. The Duke commanded. To have Vox show up in Kirlsa and request help was stunning. It was simply baffling that the man asked for help with the war. And with such an important mission as spying.

Albel’s bullshit sensors were going off. He had left Kirlsa immediately just to humor his husband. Vox had wanted him to stay in Arias for a week and listen for talk of possible attacks and movement of the Aquarian troops. He had claimed that there was a need for haste because his spies were sending him reports of a rumored invasion to take place from the border towns. That seemed incredibly unlikely given that the border towns were monitored very closely. Still, he had left. It took him half a day to get there, and he had left in the late afternoon. The sun had begun its nightly descent, casting long, orange shadows across the landscape.

Albel decided to camp outside of the town rather than try to sneak in. He noted with some interest that a number of dragons were flying back and forth between Airyglyph and Aquaria’s royal city. He hid himself in a rocky crag where he could not be seen and observed who went in and out of the town. He took note of a suspicious group that seemed to fit the description of the engineers and the Aquarian spy. They were in Aquarian territory, so there was little he could do but watch as they passed. Perhaps Vox was not sending him on a useless errand after all.

As he sat in the dark later, knowing better than to light a fire and give himself away, Albel heard the scuffle of feet. He looked for the light of a torch, but whoever was walking was doing so without the guide of a light. A dangerous action given the thieves that prowled around at night. With amazing stealth, the young man slide from his spot in the rocks and crept closer to the road.

Albel crouched down behind a boulder and stared at the traveler. It was the woman he had seen earlier accompanying the two men that he suspected were the escaped engineers. She could have been the spy, but there was no detailed description for him to compare her to. As much as he hated the Aquarians, he didn’t think it was excusable to kill one of them because he thought she looked like someone who could be a spy. Vox wouldn’t agree, but unlike that pig he had morals. A few at any rate.

As the woman moved along the path in the dark Albel followed, crouching and crawling on his hand and knees, gliding along the rocks like a ghost. After tailing her for several minutes he was certain that she was a soldier of some sort. She could not hear him or see him, but she could sense him. Several times she would stop and look about, trying to find the source of her uneasiness. But she never did, Albel made certain of that. He lost interest in her eventually and moved back to his camping spot. The young captain decided he would spend the next day watching the town exit; he suspected that something interesting would happen.

Albel’s suspicions didn’t disappoint him. Early the next day he saw the two men that looked like the escaped engineers leave the town in a hurry. He made the decision quickly to abandon Vox’s questionable mission and follow the men. Such a high rate of traffic to Kirlsa from the border town needed to be looked into.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It came as no great surprise to Vox that Shelby failed in capturing the rescue team. He had been pleasantly surprised, however, to see that the two escaped prisoners had returned. What did not please him was Albel’s unplanned appearance. He had been about to step out and make his presence known and raise an alarm when Albel stepped out instead. His plans were ruined. He prayed that Albel did not destroy everything with his rash nature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was hardly a shock to Albel when he heard that arrogant twit Shelby talking about being promoted to captain. That he actually had the balls to try and pull such a stunt as this, however, surprised him a bit. He had planned with Vox to lure the scum into the compound, but he did not plan on Shelby trying to ambush the group or give the order to kill every one of them. Not to mention, he did not anticipated his plan to be enacted without him. He had no qualms with saying that all of the proceedings had happened without his consent. And it was not a lie when he said so to the little party; he knew nothing about the ransoming of the two women--he was supposed to be in Arias spying and he had been told that the ‘prisoner exchange’ would take place days later.

He took the time to look over the two men that he had learned were indeed the Greeton engineers. The little blue haired one didn’t look like anything special--he could probably fillet the boy in under a minute. The kid was too thin and his skills underdeveloped. The man, however, piqued his interest. Muscles didn’t necessarily mean strength, he knew that from dealing with muscle brained idiots like Shelby, but after watching the man take down Shelby AND some of his strongest men Albel was intrigued. Perhaps even slightly impressed.

After casting one last distasteful look at Shelby’s corpse, Albel dismissed the maggots. He scoffed when the little one told him he had to take responsibility for Shelby’s actions. The large engineer was muttering something angrily to the women; it brought a grin to his face. He loved to rile his opponents up. The next time they would meet the man would be fired up and ready for a good fight. After seeing their potential, he would have liked to challenge them, but they were fatigued from fighting Shelby and the guards. They wouldn’t be much of a challenge in such a state; their fight would have to wait. That was alright though, he needed to report his findings to Vox. No invasion was imminent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albel’s actions troubled the Duke. He left the training facility shortly after Albel; he stayed and watched the escapees and the spies flee from the facility. He could have stopped them, should have really, but his mind was too full. How could Albel have simply let them go? Was it not the boy’s own plan to lure a rescue team in and capture them? The fact that the escaped prisoners showed up was great luck--and the boy had let them go! In his perplexed state the duke was even willing to overlook Albel’s nasty remark about him enjoying ‘trouncing weaklings’.

Regardless of Albel’s reckless behavior, he should have recaptured the prisoners and taken the women hostage. Vox was just about to swoop down and attack the traveling party as they wobbled towards Kirlsa, but his attention was caught by something else. There was a man sneaking away from the training facility. A thrill of panic went through the Duke; if the man had been spying he had likely seen the entire affair, including Albel’s dubious actions. It was dangerous for a civilian to have such knowledge. To go after the man or the Aquarian party?

The Duke made his decision. His dragon swooped down, coming out of its hiding place in the banks of clouds, and knocked the man to the ground. While the man was struggling to get to his feet, trying to discern what had happened, Vox impaled him. He left the body in the woods; one civilian did not matter. If people cared for him then they would send out a search party for the body.

By the time he returned to the royal city Albel was waiting for him in his quarters. The boy looked up as he walked in the room and grinned. Vox said nothing; he was uncertain whether he should reveal that he was at the training facility or not. He decided he would allow Albel to speak on the subject first and pretend he had no idea what had happened.

“You’re back from Arias rather early.”

Albel watched as his husband took a seat across from him. “I got a bit distracted and returned early.”

“So I see. What distracted you?”

“I followed the escaped engineers to the Kirlsa Training Facility.”

Vox frowned. “Did you? And you captured them?”

“No; apparently that idiot Shelby had it in his head that he would capture the rescue team all by himself. He seemed to think that if he did that he would be promoted to captain of the Black Brigade. Can you image? That worm in charge of a brigade! We’d lose the war very shortly if he was in such a position of power.”

The duke leaned forward and rested his hand on his spouse’s knee. Albel looked at him, his expression changing from dark amusement to puzzlement. “Albel, why did you not recapture the prisoners?”

The boy scoffed and slapped the man’s hand off of his leg. “Why should I have? Shelby was the one who thought he could capture all of them, not me. He failed at capturing them, not me.”

“But you were still present. You know how important those engineers could be to the war. It was your duty to the King and to your country to capture them.”

A pang of uneasiness went through Albel. That ignorant blue haired kid had said something similar. “I was supposed to be away in Arias, I shouldn’t have been counted on to clean up after Shelby.”

“That does not change the fact that you were still at the training facility. You said yourself that you followed the engineers. Why then did you not capture them? You obviously knew how important they are.”

“I--”

“You let your anger get in the way of doing your duty, is what happened.” Vox said matter-of-factly.

“I would never!” Albel barked, clenching his fists in fury.

“But you did. You cannot argue that you should not have been expected to clean up after Shelby because you were supposed to be away in Arias. You followed the engineers from Arias. And you cannot say that you should not have been responsible for recapturing them because Shelby thought he could do it. How many times have you told me how incompetent the man is? You knew he did not have the skill to capture them, therefore you should have been prepared to assist him.”

“Don’t lecture me!”

A silence lapsed between the two. The color had drained from the youth’s face and the duke got up to pour him a glass of wine. Albel took the glass without a word. The boy drained the glass and Vox poured him another.

“Do you feel better?” He ventured to ask after several minutes. Albel snorted in derision. It was all the answer he was bound to get. Vox sat and crossed his leg over his knee. He eyed his spouse. “Tell me what you saw there.”

There was another pause as Albel gathered his thoughts. The small male sighed and his frame seemed to droop. “I saw Shelby, that great fool, get himself and his men killed.”

“By whom?”

“The escaped prisoners and the one Aquarian woman.”

“Were they skilled fighters?”

“Yes. Perhaps.”

The duke canted his head to the side slightly. “What do you mean ‘perhaps’? Was one more skilled than the others?”

At that Albel’s back straightened. When he fixed the man with his crimson eyes there was a glean in them. A grin had made its way onto the boy’s face. All concern over his actions seemed to have vanished.

“The Aquarian wench spent most of her time casting spells; if one of the idiots had bothered to take her out early in the battle they wouldn’t have been bombarded with needles of ice and might have faired better. As for the prisoners, the blue one has some potential, but he was swinging his little metal pipe with rather little tact.”

“And the other prisoner?”

Albel’s grin widened. “Most impressive. I don’t think I’ve met a man yet with as much skill when it comes to the body as a weapon. His physical strength was more than commendable. I would gladly fight him in single combat.”

“As I recall, hand to hand combat is not your area of expertise. You might fare well with your gauntlet, but you are too used to fighting with a weapon.”

“I know. I would fight him with my sword.”

“That hardly seems a fair fight.” The man said.

“You didn’t see this man. Even with my sword it would be a fair fight. He’s more than capable of taking a blow from my sword and continuing to fight.”

Vox frowned. “You seem to think highly of him, for an escaped prisoner.”

“I do.” Albel conceded. “I think he could be a great opponent. And I look forward to our next meeting when I will be able to combat him.”

Their conversation moved on to what to do about Shelby’s defeat. None of the other men had seen Albel so for the moment they would keep the incident hushed. Vox had taken care of the man who could have been a potential problem. Only he and Albel knew what had truly transpired at the training facility. Still, the boy’s actions worried him some. It was a lapse on the young captain’s judgment and if another situation like that occurred actions would need to be taken. For the time being then, the duke decided, he would watch Albel very closely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After watching Albel for some time, wary of the boy’s loyalty, Vox decided to test his young spouse. His spies had warned him of Aquaria’s plans to steal copper ore from the Glyphian mines. That had sent him into a rage. The scum planned on blowing them up and they planned on doing so with ore stolen from their own mines. It was an insult not to be brooked. Test aside, Albel’s ruthlessness in battle seemed fitting. The scum thought they could trick the great people of Airyglyph? Well then they could suffer a horrid and bloody death at the hands of Airyglyph’s best swordsman.

“And don’t go easy on them.” Vox told the boy.

Albel looked at him with his usual bored expression. “ I don’t go easy on trash that walks into my country and expects to commit a crime without punishment.”

The duke nodded. He looked his spouse over carefully; his stomach tightened in apprehension. He worried about the results of the test. He began to worry more when that mischievous glint returned to the youth’s eyes and he grinned, saying,

“I look forward to seeing who they send. If it is our escaped prisoners I will enjoy being able to battle the large one. It could be a good fight.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had grown cocky with his skill, Albel admitted as he was forced down on one knee. He had been training weak worms for so long and killing useless Aquarians for so long he had forgotten what it was like to fight a REAL battle. A battle that actually worked him into a sweat, a battle that actually cost him blood. The first battle he had with the Aquarians, with the two wenches, was nothing. It seemed over with a mere flick of his wrist. They didn’t even have time to cast spells; he was that damn good. Being the best Airyglyph had to offer was so boring at times. Things got interesting shortly after though when the next party arrived. It was the same red hair wench that he saw at the training facility and the two escaped prisoners. They exchanged some friendly banter and Albel laughed when he heard that that idiot Demetrio had tried to convince the men to switch sides. Their new orders were to kill whoever stood in their way; the engineers would have already told the enemy all they wanted to know so they were of little use any longer.

Albel’s memory got a little fuzzy after the first few minutes of the battle. Even with his skill as Airyglyph’s best swordsman, it was not exactly an even fight. His men were down within seconds, but that didn’t surprise him much. Then it was him against the three. He had tried to take out the witch first, knowing that she would take advantage of distance and throw spell after spell at him. The blue hair boy had tried to block him but he sent the child sprawling with a hit and then dodged the larger man as he tried to strike. Just as he was reaching out to claw the woman’s eyes out the man grabbed him and threw him across the field; an impressive display of strength.

It was at that point he began to lose. The young captain was constantly bombarded with fist attacks from the blonde man. It took a good deal of effort just to block the blows, much less strike in return. He couldn’t get back over to the witch and as a consequence he was hit with spells repeatedly. Albel was confident that if he had been able to throw the large one off, even for a few seconds, he could have gotten to the woman and killed her. Then he could have focused on the other two and after taking out the pint-sized blue thing he could have taken his time to enjoy the battle with the muscled one. And then killed the man.

But things did not go according to his plan. A blow was delivered to the back of his head and he was lucky he didn’t pass out right then. He smacked the blue thing for having the audacity to hit him in the head with a metal pipe. How tactless. The rest of the fight was a muddled mess in his mind. All that really mattered was that he lost. After years of keeping a spotless record, of killing hundreds on the battlefield, of killing spies, after training the defenders of his country and taking on opponent after opponent and never once coming close to losing…Albel lost.

When he went down on his knee the three stopped attacking. They watched him, guards still up lest he made a sudden lunge. It was an idle fear. They readied their weapons when his chest heaved, but the defeated captain only leaned forward to vomit. There was a good deal of blood in the bile. He chuckled a little; he had lost and he would suffer an undignified death. To die by their hands…it chaffed the boy‘s pride. Only one of them was worthy of taking his life but the other two would get to share that glory.

The three talked some bit about finishing him off but in the end they refused to do so. Albel looked up at that. It was worse to be defeated and left alive and considered of no threat than to be defeated and killed. They were dismissing him, the Wicked captain, Airyglyph’s best swordsman, Airyglyph’s most ruthless man, as not threatening! That insult boiled his blood, but when he tried to stand and begin their fight anew his foot gave out and he went down on his knees again.

The Aquarians and the engineers left, taking the stolen ore with them. They mocked him and once they had disappeared an animalistic scream of rage and hate tore itself from his throat. The sound echoed throughout the hills and the mine, bouncing back into his body. No words could express his anger at being left to die, his self loathing for being defeated and humiliated, his hate for the people who came into his country and stole from them; he hated and there were no words for how deep his hatred ran. That scream spoke to Albel, rang deep in his soul. For a brief moment he felt a sense of harmony settle on him, but the feeling was short lived. The pain started to ease into his self-awareness and the youth had to curl around himself to relieve it some.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He did not know how long he waited, but Airyglpyh soldiers eventually came. Albel assumed they were told to investigate the situation if no one reported back after a certain amount of time. The men hastily made a litter to carry him on. The young captain protested strongly, but when he saw that his legs couldn’t support him he eventually conceded to be carried by the men. It seemed his pride had more indignities to suffer that day.

They brought him to the healing room of Airyglyph castle and wasted numerous potions and tonics on him. The things tasted vile and several times Albel spit the shit back out, one time spitting it in the nurse’s face. He was not an easy patient, but eventually the pain began to subside and they stopped forcing him to drink the filth. The doctors set his bones and rubbed ointment on him to heal the wounds and numb his pain. Albel would have rather felt the pain. It reminded him that he was still alive, though at the time he was unsure whether that was a good thing or whether it made a mockery of him.

After a day of rest the boy was in better spirits. He still hated himself and vowed vengeance on the Aquarian scum that had bested him, but he didn’t take his anger out on the medical staff. Oh, he snapped at them and belittled them, but that was normal behavior for Albel Nox. His anger was channeled inward, as he had taught himself to do years ago.

The king himself came to see how he was fairing, accompanied by Vox and Woltar. Albel scowled at them; they were just witnesses to the aftereffects of his spectacular failure. They asked him many questions and all the young captain could hear was accusation and the ringing question ‘how could you fail?’ Even he wondered that. The rage continued to grow inside of him with each question they asked and after the interview ended he sent a tray flying across the room.

The duke lingered in the room, patiently waiting for Woltar to finish questioning the doctors about the boy’s condition. Once the old man was gone he fixed Albel with a calculating stare.

“That was an interesting story you told.”

“It was no story, it was my report.”

“I must confess,” Vox said carefully, “I did not expect you to be defeated.”

“Nor did I.” The youth spat. He sent a withering glare to the duke, but the angry furrow between his brows smoothed soon enough. “Perhaps I approached them too arrogantly.”

“That’s a surprising thing to hear you say.”

“They were a mix-matched bunch, but their oddity worked in their favor this time. Their number was hardly anything to worry over--in fact it hurts my pride to be defeated by so few. And by nothing more than worthless worms!”

Vox held up a hand to silence the boy, hoping to stop the rant and keep Albel calm. “Tell me why you think you were defeated then.”

“I blame the muscled mammoth.”

“What?”

That odd gleam that Vox had seen before returned to the young captain’s eyes. Albel grinned. “The engineer. He was a far better fighter than I hoped he would be. He had skill and finesse. And power. More power than I could have dreamed he would have. He took my blows as if they were nothing. I had to put effort into dodging his attacks; he could have easily broken my bones with a well placed blow.”

The duke narrowed his eyes. “You seem rather enthralled. I expected you to be in a much greater rage than this. Are you not angry at him?”

“Angry? I swear I will smear his blood on the ground when next we meet! I’ve never been so humiliated in my life and even a fool like you should know I will not brook such an insult!” He paused for a moment. “Still, there is no shame in admiring the prowess of another warrior. It was a good fight. And had those other maggots not been there to interrupt I believe we would have had a fine match indeed.”

“You still look forward to fighting him?” Vox was incredulous.

Albel leaned back into the pillow he was cushioned against. His grin returned. “I could be content having such an able warrior about to fight all my life.”

The man left then. Albel was confined for several more days, his bones needing to recover from being set back into place. The interview he had had with the boy did not bode well with Vox. It all seemed quite odd to him. Albel, one of Airyglyph’s finest and most able warriors, was defeated and had not taken down a single opponent with him. The boy had said that he had beaten on some women before the escaped prisoners had shown up, but that seemed a useless boast. Perhaps even a lie.

Albel should have been able to defeat the three opponents. A single Aquarian witch should have been no trouble for him, nor a young sprig of a man. Even the large man shouldn’t have troubled the young captain so. Albel claimed that together they were formidable, but Vox thought that if they had captured the two men before then it should have been no problem for the boy to destroy them. It was all very questionable.

After Albel was released from the hospital he dwelled all night on such thoughts, which had only festered after so many days. There was a war meeting to be held now that Albel was discharged and the man was having grave doubts about the validity of the boy’s report. He racked his brain to think of logical ways in which Albel could have been defeated. The number should have been no problem. The three certainly couldn’t have been skilled enough to be much trouble. So then how could Albel have failed? It was impossible! Unless the boy had let himself be defeated. Or let the group go yet again. Vox sighed to himself and drank down another glass of wine. There was no other logical reason, he decided. Albel would never throw a fight, so he must have let the three walk away. It was a dangerous habit and the man was starting to see a pattern in his spouse’s behavior.

He swallowed another drink. He would just have to take matters into his own hands then. He would not allow Albel to willingly, though unwittingly, follow down the path of a traitor. But what to do? A battle was quickly approaching that could decide the fate of the country. They would not afford to lose the battle. If Albel was present and had another lapse in judgment and let the enemy escape with their lives or if he dismissed the battle to fight the one escaped prisoner then it could be fatal to their triumph in the battle and the war.

Vox buried his head in his hands and tried to massage away his headache. He would need to address the issue himself and deal with Albel, but he had very few ideas. The few notions he had seemed drastic, but he reminded himself that treason and the war was not to be taken lightly. Damn the boy for putting him in such a position! When they had been joined in a union the duke had not planned on actually having to deal with Albel in ‘the worst of times’, especially when Albel was contributing to those times. If the boy had just killed the enemy when he had seen them at the Kirlsa Training Facility then the whole affair would not have spun out of control.

Another drink. Vox sat down and put his mind to work, thinking of some way he could keep Albel out of trouble. Keep him from even participating in the battle if it had to come to that. His skill with a sword would be missed, but if he risked the success of the country then it was a sacrifice that had to be made.

The minutes slipped away quickly. The first gray rays of light were beginning to seep in through the dirty window panes and creep across the floor. The duke had come to a decision. It was not one he particularly liked, but it was one that suited his need. The meeting that afternoon was quickly approaching and he had not slept and it seemed likely that he would not sleep. With a sigh the man heaved himself from the chair he had been sitting in and gathered his cloak and the documents he would need later that day. He left his comfortable quarters and made his way from the castle into the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A sharp rap on the door early in the morning jarred Albel from his thoughts. His pen slipped and a dark blot of ink destroyed the word he had been writing. He cursed softly then stood to answer the door; he wondered if perhaps the meeting had been pushed up, for it was not usual for someone to be knocking at his door so early.

When the door was opened the boy was greeted by the haggard face of his husband. Albel blinked, surprised to see Vox at his doorstep and even more surprised to see the man looking so disheveled.

“Are you drunk?” He asked bluntly.

The man grunted and pushed past him into the apartment.

“Has the meeting been moved up?” He asked, closing the door behind the man.

“No.”

Albel watched as the man ambled around aimlessly. The behavior confused him just enough to take the bite from his tongue and he asked with a barely perceptible trace of concern, “Are you feeling well?”

At that the duke turned, fixing dark eyes on the youth. There were dark circles under the man’s eyes and his beard was not groomed. Albel highly doubted that the man had come to borrow a razor.

“Why did you come, Vox?”

“Perhaps I am tired.”

“So you left your quarters in the palace to come here? I don’t believe you. Why are you here?”

“Perhaps I wanted to see you.”

“Another lie. Give me a reason. Now.”

Vox eyed the boy and made his way from the open parlor towards Albel’s bedroom. For a moment the young captain remained by the door. He was unused to the duke being so cryptic. Vox was usually blunt, a trait the man seemed to be proud of.

Albel followed after his husband, curious. He had never seen the man blitzed; it was not as funny as he had thought it would be. Still, it was not a usual happening and he had been so bored lately.

The duke was looking out of the window, perhaps contemplating the falling snow. When he entered, the man turned and approached. A hand was put to the boy’s throat and a finger looped around the metal of the hideous collar Albel wore.

“Take this off. I want to see my choker on you.”

The youth looked at him critically. “You speak as though I am your pet.”

The man sighed and he seemed more exhausted than exasperated. “Do not put up a fight today, Albel. Take the damned collar off.”

Albel was feeling just nice enough to oblige. He put the collar on his desk, on top of his unfinished paper, and the man’s hand was back at his throat, fingering the golden trinket.

“You have a slender neck. The choker suits you.”

The young captain was uncertain how to take the compliment. He settled for a mere nod of his head. Vox’s hand moved from his throat, dropping to trail down his chest and slide to his back to pull the slender body closer to his own. Albel scoffed at himself mentally for not having foreseen that the man would want to bed him. Really, did Vox ever come to his quarters and NOT try to bed him? He could only think of the time when the man’s mood had been soured towards him that Vox had not been desired the pleasure of his body.

This time, thought, it was not a hasty bout of angry sex or make up sex. It was no quick fuck and run. Vox took his time undressing them both. He stripped Albel first, allowing his hands to wander over the plains of the boy’s body, appreciating Albel’s oddly soft skin and his lithe, warrior body. As he worked his hand between the boy’s leg, fondling him into hardness, Albel unfastened his shirt for him. The youth ran his hands over the man’s muscled chest as his crimson eyes became dark with lust and hungrily took in his husband’s body.

Vox lowered himself onto a knee and tugged at Albel’s stockings, rolling them down the boy’s legs and tossing them aside once the boy had stepped out of them. When his spouse was nude before him Vox took hold of the boy’s shoulders and held him at arms length for a moment, taking in the sight. Albel was beautiful. It was ridiculous how soft the boy’s features were compared to the battle hardened body, mind, and soul the youth had. The oddity made Albel all the more enticing.

Vox pressed the youth’s body close to his own, rubbing his arousal against the boy’s thigh. They never embraced, both of them deploring public displays of affection and such close proximity. Albel growled in response, though it seemed to be a sound of lust rather than a sound of anger at being held so close.

Albel pulled away and looked up at the man with a teasing grin. He moved away to sit on the edge of his bed and when Vox followed he leaned forward to unbuckle the man’s pants. The duke shed his own clothing and joined his spouse on the bed, lying his body over Albel’s much smaller one. His body was eager, aroused at the sight of his spouse’s prone and willing body.

Lithe limbs wrapped around the man, pulling him into the only embrace they allowed themselves, the intimate kind that they could write off as nothing more than lust driven. It was the only time they could be near one another and not be mad with frustration or desire to rip the other’s eyes out.

For a moment the man was still, looking down into Albel’s glazed eyes. The intense stare troubled the youth enough to prompt him to ask,

“What?”

The duke shook his head. “Nothing.”

He leaned down and kissed the boy, softly at first, but when the boy’s mouth opened in invitation he eagerly delved in, tasting the tart tang of fruit. It brought a soft curve to his lips, being reminded of Albel’s sweet tooth even when in the midst of intimate activities. Vox pressed closer, pulling the smaller body closer to him and kissing deeper, attempting to devour the youth.

Palms pushed against his shoulders, protesting the rough kiss. Vox pulled back, planting one last kiss on bruised lips, tugging a bit at the boy’s lower lip with his teeth. Albel growled at him and bucked upwards, hard and yearning for attention. The man laughed, reaching a hand between them to lightly stroke the youth’s stiff cock. He played with Albel for several long minutes, stroking him quickly and firmly, then slow and softly, teasing the boy and bringing him to the brink of ecstasy before unwrapping his fingers and sliding his hand up to circle a soft pink nipple. Albel cursed loudly while the man played with him, eventually allowing himself to moan at the feel of his husband‘s calloused hand bringing him such pleasure. When Vox stopped he hissed out a string of expletives and shifted his hips unintentionally.

“Why did you stop!?” The young captain demanded in a low voice.

Vox chuckled, amused. “You aren’t to come yet.”

Before Albel could spit out some acidic remark the man took hold of the boy’s skinny legs and hefted them onto his shoulders. The young captain leaned back, relaxing his body and suppressing his excitement for what was to come. Vox stroked his cock a few times, getting himself wet so that he would be able to slide into his spouse’s body with ease. When he was content, he leaned forward and spread Albel wide and pressed the tip of his cock against the boy’s opening. There was a sharp intake of breath beneath him, but the man pushed in quickly, before any protest could be made. The small body convulsed around him for a moment. He held still, allowing Albel to adjust.

Albel arched off the mattress when he was filled so suddenly. He cursed loudly and grabbed onto the man, digging his claws into the duke’s back and--he hoped--leaving deep scratches down the man’s back. He clamped his teeth together and panted, then slowly willed his body to un-tense. As soon as he was lying still on the bed Vox began to move within him, pulling out just a bit and then rocking forward. The rhythm was steady and slow and as the boy began to relax the duke slowly increased his momentum, thrusting just a tad harder and pulling out just a bit further than before.

Once his body was relaxed, Albel released his hold on his husband and raised his hands above his head to grasp his pillow. Vox shifted forward and wrapped the boy’s legs around his waist, allowing him to rest on his elbows above Albel as he began to thrust relentlessly into that tight passage he loved so much. The slim body beneath him did not mind the change in position at all; Albel shifted easily, biting the inside of his lip to keep in a deep moan.

It felt immeasurably good to Albel, after the stress of the past weeks, to be so utterly filled and used as he was at that moment. With each thrust that Vox delivered the man brushed that wonderful spot that made his toes curl and his body shift forward to meet the man’s next thrust. By the end, when Vox was slamming into his body, grunting with the apex of each thrust, the youth was bucking forward to meet him, desperate to find that blissful end he so craved. When it came, Albel gripped his pillow so tightly his knuckles turned white. As he came he clenched his teeth shut, desperate not to make any noise which might seem odd to any servants about in the corridors. Vox finished a minute later, holding his body still as he released into his spouse’s body.

They panted together, catching their breath as they remained joined together so intimately. Eventually, when the man showed no sign of pulling out, Albel shifted and the duke’s cock slipped from his loose passage. He turned on his side, as was his habit after sex. There was time for a quick nap before the meeting.

Just as he was about to slip into slumber the trailing of fingers up his side brought Albel back to his senses. Vox had since moved, lying on his side behind the boy. The young captain glared over his shoulder.

“What?”

Vox did not answer. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the youth’s shoulder, then turned the boy onto his stomach. Albel was hardly sensible as his husband mounted him, but he did not protest. The man was lucky that he was so lethargic after sex. He slowly came to his senses and responded, growling and pushing back as his husband claimed him like an animal. It was a brief stint that took the last of the duke’s energy. He fell asleep in the boy’s bed, but Albel himself could find no rest. It felt odd to have the man in his bed. It made the youthl laugh, thinking that it felt odd to have his husband of nearly six years sleeping in his bed. He slipped from the sheets and redressed, going back to work on his reports. He would wake the man when it was time to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vox watched as Albel fastened the ugly metal collar over his choker before they left for the meeting. He pulled on his gloves, lowering his eyes to the floor and steeling his resolve. Minutes later they were walking away from the boy’s apartments towards the castle, not speaking or looking at one another.

Woltar and Arzei were already in the conference room, seated and holding a frivolous conversation. Albel immediately went to his spot beside the old count and sat down. Vox remained standing. When the door was shut and they were to begin the duke still had not taken his seat.

“Is something wrong, Duke Vox?” Arzei asked, puzzled by the man’s behavior.

Vox was silent for a moment, the only sound coming from him the deep inhalation and exhalation of breath. He leaned forward and put his hands on the table. “I cannot allow this meeting to begin.”

“Why not?” The king asked.

When the man looked up he examined each face carefully. He spent an extra second reading, memorizing, the look on his spouse’s face. Albel looked back at him with his usual bored expression, seemingly irritated that there was a delay. As if he had more important business to attend to. Vox sighed and straightened himself, taking a step back from the table.

“Why can this meeting not begin?” Arzei asked again.

“Because there is a traitor in our midst.”

An uncomfortable hush fell over the room. Three pairs of eyes were riveted to the duke, demanding an explanation and, of more interest, a name. The man took a breath, his mouth thinning into a straight line beneath his mustache. He looked at the youngest captain.

“Albel Nox.”

There was another pause before the aforementioned captain let out a loud bark of laughter.

“Very funny, asshole.”

“It is no joke.” Vox said, his cold tone immediately sobering them all.

Albel was the first to recover from the shock, flying out of his seat and slamming palm and claw onto the table.

“What?!” He screeched in an ungodly pitch.

There was an explosion of noise after that first piercing yell. Albel demanded an explanation in his indignantly high pitched voice while Vox attempted to calmly write him off and Woltar attempted to sit the boy down and also demanded an explanation. Arzei struggled to keep them all calm and to gain order over the room. It was the first time he had raised his voice to his most trusted men in years. When a semblance of calm had settled onto the room he looked to his uncle.

“That is no light charge, Duke Vox. I take it you have reason and sufficient evidence to make such a claim, otherwise you yourself could be charged of treason.”

Vox let out a cold laugh. “I would not make such a statement idly, for I have every reason to hold Albel’s interests close to my own. …Unless they are a threat to our people and our goals.”

“You must be joking?!” Albel yelled, standing once more.

Arzei turned cold, untrusting eyes towards the young captain. “Sit.” He commanded.

Albel sat. There was a curious flip flopping sensation in his stomach. That Arzei’s attitude towards him had soured so quickly did not sit well within him. Vox was told to continue.

The duke nodded his head respectfully to the king. “I have reason to believe that Albel is a traitor helping the Aquarian forces. Whether he has contact with them or his treasonous actions have been made out of some desire to foil our efforts in defeating the Aquarians, I do not know. What I do know is that on two occasions he allowed the enemy to come into our territory, cause damage, and then leave.”

“I have seen one report Albel has made, about the mine incident.” Arzei said. “He claims he was defeated in combat, and his wounds strongly support his claim. I cannot think of another instance where he has allowed Aquarians to escape.”

“That is because he never reported the occurrence.”

Albel paled. Both Woltar and Arzei looked at him; Vox turned his gaze towards the window.

“Is that true, Albel?” The king asked, his anger flashing in his eyes. “Have you allowed our enemy to come into our land, deal us damage, and then leave and NOT report the incident?”

For a moment Albel could do nothing more than stare blankly into Arzei’s face. He felt as though the floor had dropped out from beneath him.

“Well?” The king demanded.

When Albel did not respond the king turned towards the duke for further explanation. Vox then relayed the tale of how Albel had been present at the training facility when Shelby had been killed and the prisoners had escaped. The man explained about the escaped engineers returning and how Albel turned his back on his fellow soldier and how he allowed the Aquarians to leave without a fight and did not even attempt to recapture the prisoners. He left out no detail, except that he had been there as well. He claimed that one of is men, sent there to deliver a message, had seen everything and reported it back to him. There were also apparently several of Albel’s men who saw the event as well and could testify. As the duke explained Arzei’s body became stiffer and tenser, his face losing the usual jovial smile and being replaced with a cold scowl.

As he listened, Albel tried to reason with himself. Arzei had to take an accusation of treason seriously. Naturally the man would have to change his behavior towards him. That didn’t mean that the king actually believed Vox. Who could believe such a lie?

“As for Albel’s report on his fight at the mines, I cannot believe that he lost so easily to three commoners. I have seen him combat large groups of opponents, twice the size of that. I have also seen him defeat three or four people, even with a broken arm and other injuries. I do not doubt that Albel received his wounds from combat, but I cannot believe that it is merely chance that the same group he allowed to escape at the training facility was the same to defeat him at the mines.”

That little tidbit of information sparked Arzei’s anger anew. “The same group? Are you certain?”

Vox nodded solemnly. “The descriptions in his own report are identical to the numerous descriptions his men have given of the Aquarians he allowed to leave the training facility.”

Once the information had been given a heavy silence filled the room. Each man was very still, digesting the accusation. Vox still had not sat down. Albel would not admit to himself that he was panicking, only fools panicked, but he was certainly not at ease. He managed to keep his breath calm and even, but his nails were dug into the wooden arms of the chair he was in. Surely Arzei would not believe such a lie! Arzei was too smart to be fooled by Vox’s deception! And Vox--he would kill the man himself! That type of betrayal was not to be forgiven.

The duke broke the silence. “I propose, in light of this evidence and the seriousness of the case, you imprison Albel immediately, your majesty.”

That odd sensation of the floor being removed from under his feet returned to Albel. He was glad he was sitting or he might have made a fool of himself by losing his balance.

Arzei turned to look at the youth, his face devoid of emotion. “Do you have any thing to offer in your defense, Albel?”

“No.” he said, before he even thought. He was too shocked. The three men continued to stare at him and the boy tried to gather his thoughts and form a coherent defense. “I cannot lie to you, my lord, so I will not deny that what Vox says is true; I did address the escaped prisoners at the Kirlsa Training Facility and I did allow them to leave after they had killed Shelby. However, I did not allow them to leave out of some maliciousness towards you or to my country. I cannot defend my actions at that time. I realized later that letting them escape was a foolish thing to do.”

“Indeed it was!” Arzei snapped.

“However,” Albel began, ignoring the king’s furious gaze and turning his own burning glare towards the duke, “I did not report the event to you because Vox instructed me not to. He knew the story because I told it to him. He was the one who counseled me to not report what I saw.”

He thought for a moment that he had saved himself, that Vox would now have to explain himself and would be caught in his lies, but the man excused himself with a single word, spoken so calmly;

“Lies.”

Arzei was inclined to believe his uncle. “And what of the mine event Albel? I must agree with Vox, it seems highly unlikely that you were bested by three people, one of them being a woman, another being a young boy. The only one that seemed to even be a potential threat to you was the other man you described. What do you have to say for yourself about that?”

The youth stared at his king. He could not fathom the anger--the hate in his liege lord’s eyes. He was shocked into defeat. He frowned and said softly, “Nothing.”

The king nodded. He called outside of the room for the guards and commanded shackles be brought in. As they clamped the iron around his wrists and led him away from the conference room and to the dungeon Albel tried to understand what had happened. The king and the other captains were trailing behind him. Through the roaring in his ears Albel could make out Woltar’s voice pleading on his behalf while simultaneously demanding answers from Vox. There were a few muffled responses from Vox. Arzei did not speak; he could image the man, his face stoic as he led one of his closest and most trusted subjects to the dungeons as a traitor.

As they approached the doorway that lead down to the prison the young captain turned his head and caught eyes with the duke. The look seemed to spark some sort of coherence within him and he suddenly began screaming out his defense, detailing the fight at the mines and how strong his opponents were and how the doctors and the men who had brought him back to the city could attest to the seriousness of his injuries. As they were dragging him down the dank hallway to a cell he began hurling curses at the duke, calling him every insult he knew and naming him the traitor instead. All of his yells fell on deaf ears.

He was shoved unceremoniously into a cell and the door was slammed shut. When he turned Albel saw all three men staring back at him, one with cold impassiveness, one with anxiety and concern, and the other with a strange unhappiness.

“Might I have a moment alone?” Vox asked quietly.

The king looked at the man, then towards his newest prisoner, and nodded. He left without saying a word. Woltar sent one last pitiful look his way then departed, most likely following the king and trying to talk sense to him. For once in his life Albel hoped the old man’s meddling would work.

With their audience gone, Vox took a step closer to the cell. Albel stepped back, scowling.

“I wouldn’t get too close, if I were you.” He threatened.

The man nodded. They looked at one another for a long minute. Then an odd sound broke the silence; a laugh. It surprised them both. It surprised Albel even more when he realized that it had come from him.

Vox stared back at him, his brows furrowed. “What can you possibly be laughing about?”

Once realizing that it was him who was laughing, Albel allowed the sound to roll out of him with ease. He had no notion as to what was so funny, but it did seem so amusing! All of his hard work and there he was, locked away in the dungeon as a traitor! It was laughable, really it was! And his marriage to the duke? That was a joke too, one he had fallen for so easily, like the densest of fools. The joke really was on him. He attempted to explain it to the man, but all that came out was a jumbled mess of words, constantly interrupted by laughter.

“God gods,” Vox sighed, “you’re hysterical.”

“Can you blame me?” the boy grinned.

Despite the earlier warning, the man stepped closer to the cell and reached a hand in to take hold of Albel’s wrist in the shackles. His touched seemed to calm the boy some, but he still seemed dazed.

“Be calm, Albel. It will all be alright.”

He laughed again. “And why do you think that?”

“I will get you out of here once the war is over. You have to understand, Albel, I know you, I can predict your behavior. This is for your own good.”

“My own good?” the boy snapped, regaining some of his coherency.

Vox gripped his wrist tightly and lowered his voice, in case one of the guards at the end of the hall might be listening. “You would have turned traitor, Albel. You let the enemy get away twice. There is no telling what could have happened if you had defeated them, but it may have been to our benefit. And there is no telling what you may do in the future. Your actions may seem harmless enough, like letting them escape at the training facility, but where would it go from there?”

“What are you babbling on about?!” Albel screamed.

“I put you here to protect you, Albel. To protect you from yourself. To protect you before you do something truly disastrous that will land you in such deep trouble that Arzei has no choice but to hack your head off. I don’t believe you are a traitor, but I am making sure you cannot become one.”

“Why?! You have no need to protect me, least of all from myself! Why, why, WHY?!”

The slightest curve touched the man’s lips and lifted the end of his mustache. Albel looked at him oddly, eagerly leaning forward to hear the answer.

“I care for you. And it is my duty as your partner to protect you. Now, I have to leave and prepare for the battle, but do not worry, I will be back sooner than you think. This battle will decide the war and once we have began marching on Aquaria I will be back here to get you released and I will fly you to the front line myself.”

Albel stared at him blankly. Vox grasped the boy’s chin and kissed him through the bars. When he pulled away he stroked the side of the youth’s face with his thumb and then left.

Albel stared off into the darkness for a long time. It wasn’t until the guard at the end of the hall shouted something that he came back to his senses and realized that his legs were cramping from standing still for so long. He moved towards the small cot in the cell and sat down. His hubris had been his downfall again. In his idiotic cockiness he had believed that he was untouchable. Perhaps that was why the betrayal had seemed to come out of nowhere. Well, anyone who was named a traitor by their spouse was likely to be blindsided, the young captain thought. He had realized, that day not long ago when he was with Vox in the man’s room, that he had made an egregious error in allowing the escaped prisoners to slip through his fingers. How could he be believed about the mine event when he admitted to the king that he had let the little group, the murderers of one of his kinsmen, just get away? What a fool he had been.

Maybe, though, his cockiness had not been so misplaced. No simpleton would have ever accused him of treason. But why Vox? How could the duke, of all people, betray him. For an hour he puzzled over their relationship, thinking perhaps that it was all a rouse from the beginning, that Vox had somehow planned for all of this to happen and their union was nothing but a part of the trick.

He paused. It made sense…except for that last look they had shared. Except for the man’s tone when he was explaining that he was merely protecting Albel from himself. He had stared at Vox blankly then, confused. He tried to process the explanation then. Vox cared. Vox was doing his duty and protecting him. Because he cared. Care. What a useless thing, care. He didn’t care about anyone and he was doing just fine…except for being locked away in his own castle’s dungeon as a traitor.

That Vox cared for him actually baffled Albel. He stared at his feet, a sudden frown pulling at his lips. He had been confused when Vox had said it, but Albel realized with a sick feeling that he had seen something in the man’s eyes. There had been love in that last look they had shared. There had been love in his husband’s eyes.

He had to lie down. Love was even more useless than care. What did love ever do but cause someone pain? He had first hand experience. He flexed his gauntlet. It was stupid and useless and he wanted nothing to do with it. Damn that idiot! Love really did just cause trouble! If the moron hadn’t loved him then he wouldn’t have been stuck in that dungeon, listening to some stupid guard bitch about his marriage as the other prisoners screamed out their innocence.

Albel took in a deep breath and stood, striding to the bars of his cell. He screamed for Vox, demanding that the man appear. The guard cast a look down the hallway, but that was all the attention he was rewarded. Still he screamed, his voice growing louder and more hoarse. He wanted to see the man one last time, to set him straight and try to talk the stupid out of him. He kept up his screams for an admiral amount of time, but eventually he realized that no succor was to be given him and Vox would not come.

After casting a withering glare at the guard’s back, Albel retreated to his bunk. He stared up at the cracks in the ceiling and seethed to himself. The idea of love crossed his mind no few times and he scowled each time he thought of the word and where it had currently landed him. He remembered the last look Vox had given him. He scoffed. No one should love him, he wasn’t called ‘wicked’ for no reason. He would mock the man for the rest of his life, if he decided to let Vox live after this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a good day for a battle, Vox thought as he watched from his dragon as his men charged. Even with those ridiculous cannons the Aquarian’s were no match. He grinned as he thought of Albel’s tart remark about teaching the dragons to dodge the cannon beams. He had run himself exhausted convincing Arzei to postpone the required torture of traitors until after the battle and creating a story that he could quickly feed his nephew to release Albel and restore all his rights and titles.

He had little time to dwell on his plan--a rather excellent one if he did say so himself--when the enemy came into his line of sight. As he lowered his dragon to address the party Vox was slightly shocked to see that his opponents were none other than the little party who had given Albel so much trouble. He would get to see their prowess for himself.

As they exchanged some ‘friendly’ banter the duke’s eyes drifted towards the large blonde man, the one Albel seemed to think so highly of. He would make certain his dragon had fun devouring that sack of scum. From their looks it baffled him that Albel had been defeated, but he had the advantage of knowledge on them and he would not underestimate them. As for them, they could only guess at his power, and he would be sure to unleash every bit of it at them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His dragon let out a pained screech and was forced to land temporarily. Vox tried to discern whether the wound was potentially fatal, but Tempest was quickly back up in the air, ready to resume the fight. The little group had put up an impressive fight; the man could see how Albel had fallen. Impressive or not, they were still no match for him. The duke turned his cold eyes onto the tired party. He would smite them just for all of the trouble they had caused Albel.

He lifted his lance, ready to advance. Just as he was about to lunge and skewer the small boy there was a loud crashing sound and a bright flash of light. Vox turned his head to look.

~END

Just one chapter left. I’m hoping that you all got the big twist ending. Usually I would say more, but like I said in the beginning, I’ve been working on this for a month and I’m just tired of seeing it. 40 freaking pages, man…