“Why would I ever be upset over that? If you wish to cut it, I certainly don’t mind.” I assure him, not entirely sure why he even asked the question. Who am I to tell this beautiful man what to do with his own hair of all things?“Well, I know you like to play with it and braid it. Cutting it might make it harder to do so.” He tries to reason, though I wasn’t sure if it was more meant for himself or me.

I hum in thought at his words. He wasn’t wrong about his hair being shorter likely making it a little more difficult to braid it the way I usually do, but I would find ways around it. “I would play with your hair no matter how short you decide to go with it, the length is not the reason it play with it so much.”

“It’s not? Why then?” He was clearly surprised by what I said. Though he probably knows it’s an odd comfort for me, it never occurred to me that I never told him why it I enjoyed playing with it so much or why it was such a comfort for me.

“Your hair is soft to the touch and the color reminds me of the field of red flowers my mother would take me to, daunting yet so beautiful. I can barely pull my gaze away.” I chuckle at myself when I realize my hands stop moving and I was doing mothing more than staring at his hair. “You put me in such a trance sometimes that it’s hard to remember I am a prince with many responsibilities.”

“And speaking of those responsibilities, Prince Faelix, your father requests that you assemble your troops and ready your ship early tomorrow morning.” Oculon’s sudden presence cause both me and Ivorix to nearly jump out of our skin and snap our surprised gazes to where she stood in the doorway of the gazebo.

“Gods, don’t sneak up on us like that. You scared us half to death.” I scold her, meeting her unimpressed gaze. She clearly did not care that she startled us, though that was no shock, she has been this way since she was first assigned to me. “I will do exactly as my father requests of me. Thank you for informing me, you may go now.” I barely had to dismiss her as I watch her start to leave before the words even left my lips, leaving me to sigh at the tense silence Ivorix and I have been left in.

I let him think over his words before speaking, knowing it was something he needed to do to feel more comfortable expressing himself, no matter who it is he’s speaking to. “Your father is wanting you to punish the world that was demanding freedom.” He doesn’t ask. He doesn’t have to. It’s already been made clear that my father isn’t exactly known to be kind after being slighted in any way, even if that slight is simply a world wanting to be free of us.

“Yes, he is.”

“Please come back safely.”

“I will.”

We don’t speak much more on the matter. There was no need to, he knows how things involving my father work already and knows there is no disobeying him. So we sit in silence until I start humming a gentle lullaby my mother used to sing to me. The melody easing the tension in the air and in his shoulders, and soon he’s leaning back into my chest so that I can wrap my arms securely and comfortably around him. The both of us staring out at the snow-covered landscape around us.

It had been days since arriving on the world my father wished to punish and it was clear that they were prepared for us, it actually hurt me a little to watch mothers and fathers, siblings, friends, and neighbors fighting alongside each other to protect their home. The longer I had to witness and participate in all the fighting and bloodshed broke down everything I was taught and had once believed in more and more. It wasn’t anything new, but it was getting to me the more I actually saw the fear and anger and desperation on every face as they did their damnedest to hold my troops back from the rest of their cities. Despite our forces being far stranger and pushing them back with unfair ease.

What finally broke me was when I discovered a woman hiding in bushes, beaten down and bloody and cradling a bundle of stained yellow fabric close to her chest, her pastel rainbow eyes brimming with tears that quickly started to fall while staring up at me in fear. Her tears clear away streaks of the dirt and blood covering her cheeks, revealing hints of the dark iridescent skin underneath while her fiery red, orange, and yellow hair was an absolute mess. When my gaze fell to the bundle of fabric, her arms tightening to hold it even closer, protectively.

She started talking – no, not talking, she was pleading. She started pleading with me, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. The Drendirians had so many languages to learn and it seemed this one wasn’t any that I had managed to learn. Still, I was confused as to why she was pleading with me, then the bundle started to wriggle and cry. That’s when it dawned on me. This woman was likely a mother, a mother that was hiding away with her little blanket bundled baby. This mother was hiding after getting caught in the middle of an unnecessary battle and was just trying to protect her child.

I quickly holster my weapon and kneel down with my hands up, trying my best to look as nonthreatening as I possible could. “It’s alright, you don’t need to fear me. I’m not going to hurt you or the baby, I promise.” I kept my voice as soft as I do when speaking with Ivorix and the others, in the hopes of it conveying that she is safe with me. That I am not so monstrous that I’d hurt her or the child she is protecting.

She stared at me for a long silent moment, reminding me of how Ivorix stares sometimes when he’s thinking over his words. Then she looks down at the bundled-up infant in her arms, her face becoming very solemn as she says something to them in a loving a sweet tone, before glaring up at me again. The melodic, foreign words she spoke weren’t ones I needed to actually understand as she handed the infant over to me, especially since it was that movement that uncovered the terribly large blood-covered tear in the middle of her once very colorful tunic. She was going to die, based on the amount of blue-black blood that soaked her tunic and even the blanket the infant was wrapped in, but she still wanted this child to have the best opportunity to live a good life. Even if it meant giving them to me, a man she likely recognized the moment she laid eyes on me. She wants me to at the very least get them somewhere safe and knew that I would.

I lower my gaze to the infant that looked so very tiny in my hands, their iridescent skin lighter than both the woman in front of me and the lover I had to leave back home, their hair a beautiful mixture of deep night sky blues and purples and fiery reds and oranges. Their eye were still closed, but I was sure they would be beautiful too. It hurt my heart that they may never get to know exactly who they came from, and all because of how my father will demand the purging of their histories. I glance back up to tell her that I’ll ensure his safety for the rest of his life, but she was already gone and completely out of my sight.

I knew she likely ran to keep herself from taking back her choice and to possibly even find somewhere to die in peace, so I wouldn’t fault her for leaving so quickly. I just hope she doesn’t suffer.

Wrapped protectively in my lower pair of arms and holding my weapons up at any that dared to walk close to me as I hurriedly back to my ship, perceived friend or foe did not matter to me in that moment. No one was allowed near this infant. No one but me and the only five other beings I know would never bring any harm to them.

The moment I entered my ship and made it to the cockpit without any interruptions, I sounded the horn meant to signal our retreat, far earlier than I was told to by my father, but I no longer care what father wants from me. I will run to the farthest reaches of the universe to protect the ones I care for, and that now includes this infant.

“HOW DARE YOU?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO MAKE SUCH DECESIONS WITHOUT MY APPROVAL?! AND FOR WHAT?!” My father’s anger was expected, it was why I was so thankful that Oculon and Ryliar were the ones to meet me in the hangar. I knew they would do as I asked them to when I handed over the infant, and based off how my father was acting, he was unaware that there was an infant at all. “ANSWER ME!”

I took in a deep and calming breath before speaking, “I saw the death and destruction no longer necessary.

Half of their cities in the region I landed in were already in shambles when I arrived, only to become nothing more than rumble by the time I left.” I say, keeping my face as emotionless as physically possible, the ringed backhand that I received barely even phasing me other than to snap my head to the side. It stung and most certainly left nasty cuts that and will be bruised, but I no longer cared. This pain will be well and gone once my small lover gets the chance to help me clean and patch it up.

“THAT WAS NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE, YOU IMCOMPOTENT PIECE OF SHIT! YOU WERE TO DO AS I SAID!” His screams may deafen me if they don’t make his voice go out first, pacing the room so much he may even leave a trail in the carpet. It grated at my nerves rather than strike fear as it usually would. Seems speaking to Ivorix about my feelings and how I view things has changed something within me. “You have become quite the annoyance ever since that damned pet you seem to like so much has entered this palace, perhaps I should take it away and punish it on your behalf to teach you a lesson.”

I hadn’t even realized I had drawn my pistol and trained it on my father until I was staring him down along the barrel, my own immediate reaction would have shocked me if it weren’t for the rage I felt at my father’s threat and verbal treatment of my dear lover. “You so much as breath in his direction and you will learn just how easily I can torture and kill you and just how little your other children, current wife, and people actually care about you.” The smirk that played on his face dropped the moment I cocked my gun and rested my finger on the trigger to show just how serious I am with this threat. “Do not test this boundary, father. You do not want to learn the truth behind my words.” I warn him, not lowering my weapon until after he sits at his desk.

My father was smart enough to know that I do not lie with my words or actions as easily as my siblings do, it was never one of my strongest traits, and the glare he gives me tells me he believes my threats. “Fine, then you will be punished as planned.” He seems to pause in thought for a few moments, long enough for me to feel the cuts on my cheek start to bleed, before speaking again. “In front of it. Assuming the pet likes you as much as you like it.”

I hated the thought of Ivorix having to watch me be punished, but at least he’d be safe from getting physically hurt himself. So I feel better accepting that fate for myself, even if it means Ivorix will have to watch me be punished the way my father sees fit. My only hope is that it doesn’t affect him the way I fear it might.

I’m forced to kneel with my back to my father and my wrists cuffed and chained to the cold concrete floor of my father’s punishment room, Ivorix being held in from of me by Ryliar. They were both watching me, Ivorix with clear concern and confusion written on his face and Ryliar with worry that I could only read in his eyes. Both of their eyes went wide when the switch my father chose for this punishment struck my back, only earning a sharp hiss of pain from me.

Seeing the concern turn to horror in Ivorix’s eyes churned my stomach and made me do everything I could to not show just how painful it was to feel the switch hit my back over and over again. It took only three lashes for him to start pleading for the punishment to stop, needing to be held still by Ryliar so that he wouldn’t get hurt for trying to stop everything from happening. And unfortunately for me and my bleeding back, his pleas seemed to only encourage my father to swing harder and for longer, until he felt satisfied enough to stop and dismiss the three of us. Ryliar needed to call on Oculon to help carry me back to my living chambers and to bring a nurse to me for wound care.

Ivorix lay on his side as I lay on my stomach with him crying next to me, the infant bundled up in a new blanket in his arms, apologizing for the punishment I was given. I regret not fighting to make sure he didn’t have to witness such an awful scene. He shouldn’t have witnessed that. It was foolish of me to think he wouldn’t have been affected by it. I caress his tear-soaked cheek, rubbing circles into the apples of his cheek in my best attempt to soothe him while ignoring the pain that small movement brings me.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, my beloved. I should have fought to leave you out of that completely. That was my fault.” I murmur, silencing his apologies to instead quietly whimper beside me as I try comforting him more as best I can without irritating the cleaned and bandaged lashes on my back.