“I’m going to find Eial!”

Tahgaryn didn’t mean to hear that declaration, he had only crossed the front entrance to get from the supply room to his own room without any disturbance. Yet now that he had heard his ever so passionate brother burst in the palace with his bombastic voice, he suddenly felt an itch that he was somehow to be involved. He did not wish to be involved.

Drokn’s arms that had stretched open the doors for entrance flew back by his sides. Only a few marches forward after his announcement, he paused, noticing Targharyn, who seemed to slowly walk away with his head bowed, attempting to make his presence vanish.

“Tahgaryn!” shouted Drokn, halting the other in his footsteps. If he had paid attention, he would have heard the click of a tongue. “You saw Eial leave. Where did he go?”

Slowly twisting his head to meet the other, but straying his eyes to the side, Tahgaryn responded with thin lips. “Good to see you chipper, brother. As I’ve mentioned before, I do not know where your little elf friend is.”

Drokn had interrogated the other demon about Eial’s whereabouts when he had first left. Although, the interrogation did not go for long as the bitterness, the sadness, the denial, the misery, all congealed his heart and his thoughts.

Enough so that when he had heard a certain piece of news from the palace guards, he flung his head away in spite and with no care.

Until now.

“I heard the guards received a message before Eial had set out. Care to enlighten me?”

“Oh, did they? The first time I’ve heard.” Tahgaryn’s eyes shook as he stared into the marble tile flooring.

Drokn took a long step closer, his dense aura itself encumbering around the other. “It was from the elven royals, I hear.”

Silence.

“Tell me or your head will be the next thing displayed above our mantle!” hissed Drokn, his amber eyes changing red.

“Your threats don’t work on me, brother,” the other demon said calmly, yet uncomfortably. He did not wish to be entangled in anything emotional.

“You!” grated Drokn as he grabbed onto Tahgaryn’s collar and pulled him in with force. Baring his teeth wide, staring wide into the other’s eyes, a small voice drifted into the demon’s mind.

[“No hurting.”]

Immediately, Drokn let go of the collar, hissing a breath to the side. But soon, the demon’s eyes oddly relaxed and his left brow lifted. “Tahgaryn, what if I forced you to do the reparation documents?”

The other demon’s eyes quickly grew wide in attention.

“Perhaps also task you to meet the guests who have requested an audience.”

A cold sweat trickled down the neck of the brother.

“Might as well have you take care of all the infrastructure planning, event planning, staff organizat—”

“NO!” Tahgaryn felt faint, his clammy hands almost met the floor. All his efforts thus far of overthrowing the king were for the pure goal of not having to claim the title of king. Which meant not having to do any of the work of a king. The cunning Drokn had somehow found his weakness. Damn him. With a large gulp, he attempted to feign composure. “You know I wouldn’t do well. You wish to see the demon’s decline?” Tahgaryn shakily laughed low.

“Oh, but you had taken over most of the work while I was passed out. Surely you would be able to handle a few tasks now.”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

Drokn lifted his head to glance down at the other.

Spare me, brother!” The younger demon’s eyes were filled with dread, his voice no longer masked.

“Then, speak!”

“I can’t!” Finally, an honesty came from the other. “I promised the elf I wouldn’t say anything.”

“Oh?” Drokn’s brow twitched. A secret of the elf someone else knows without him. “And his promise is important enough for you to not break it?”

“He saved the demon lands, brother. The least I can do is respect his wishes.”

Thinning lips met with thinning eyelids as the demon glared at his brother with a discomfort he could not describe. “Fine, well if it’s about the elves, I might as well go there and ask the elf bastards, themselves!”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Does it look like I am?” Immediately, Drokn turned around and brandished his crimson wings, setting one foot forward.

“You need to request for an audience to meet with the royals first—”

“Then, you!” Drokn pointed to a random guard who had been standing aside, pretending not to overhear any of the conversation. “Request an audience from them!”

“Stop, Drokn, they wouldn’t approve an audience, anyway! You’re banned from entering…”

For a moment of silence, the two stared at each other, the younger one with his eyes wide before he composed himself with his usual uninterested gaze. “Oh. I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

Swerving around, Drokn made his way closer again to the other demon. “Banned? Why am I banned?”

Sighing deep, Tahgaryn grumbled, shaking his head with the clear regret of his unnecessary statement. “I’m not sure.” His sarcastic voice slid from word to word. “Maybe it has to do with the fact that you not only trespassed to the elven territory, but almost killed their guards. On top of escaping their high security prison.”

Drokn barely recollected those moments. Back then, lives besides his own were of no importance. The prison escape was a blur. Hearing the words of his actions from the younger felt both familiar and distant. “But I am the king now. They have to allow me to meet them!”

To that, Tahgaryn made a strange face, tilting his head to the side and biting the side of his lower lip.

“What is it?”

Again, the demon was met with silence.

“So about those tasks. Maybe I should also assign you to visit each town and make reports on—”

“I’ll speak! I’ll speak!” Tahgaryn could not take much more of this torture. So much for a promise of silence.