Agreeing to Skye's requests was the only way to appease the youth—otherwise, he'd have better been prepared to have a human attached to his arm for another few days.

What did happen to that boy after he was banished?

Reed's escape was well-known, discovered by him before he was cursed. But Skye... what had happened to Skye?

Kaden always assumed that he'd died, along with the King as every other person involved in the ridiculous scheming, every other person who opposed Noah. But in reality, killing such a character was near impossible.

Skye was too... a character hard to describe.

Happily living his life, a little selfish—much like a child. One could both despise and adore him at the same time, conflicting as those feelings were.

He was innocent; he was guilty. He was smart; he was a fool.

If Reed purposely created scars along Kaden's back, Skye had dragged him into dangerous situations, believing he would come out unscathed. The youngest would cry bubbling tears of surprise, yet never muttered a single apology.

He didn't know how to.

Whatever the case, Kaden decided not to dwell on it. The past, his first life, was exactly that. The first. His past. Not his present, nor would it ever be again.

Niklas caught up to Kaden while he was musing over his memories, tapping him on the back. Kaden almost shot three feet into the air—embarrassingly jerking back with wide, surprised eyes.

For a man who enjoyed playing the role of a sarcastic noble, it was a striking contrast of startled innocence.

A chuckle escaped Niklas's lips. "Careful, calm down. I'm not the big bad dragon that steals you away at night." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "I believe that's Noah's job."

Kaden kept a distance, warily staring at the other. "Please don't touch me."

"I'm a touchy person—I will try, but I can't guarantee it." He paused, seeing the other's reaction and nodded. "I'm sorry, I won't. Again, it is a habit, and your hair looks like the fluffy sort that one wants to ruffle, do you know what I'm saying?"

"Niklas."

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

Niklas blinked, grinning widely. "Hm, no?" He inched closer to Kaden, far enough that the other was still relatively comfortable. "You're lucky—had I a little brother like you, I would've doted on you to death."

Kaden scrunched up his face. "You're sort of disgusting."

"Hey." Niklas wagged a finger authoritative, putting on a mature and solemn expression. "Don't speak like that to your elders."

"What elders? All I see is a child, pretending to be an adult."

"I'm fairly certain that I'm older than you."

"Only physically."

Niklas's brain seemed to lag for a few moments as he slowed down, being left in the dust to think over the words. A light-bulb lit up above his head as his expression darkened, and he started to chase after Kaden.

Kaden glanced back before his expression warped into horror at the speeding man rushing down the halls. He couldn't help but speed up as well.

"Hey! I get it now, you said physically, right? Are you saying that I'm mentally a child?"

Kaden turned the corner, shouting back despite feeling ridiculous, "If it took you that long to understand, then aren't you proving that fact?"

"No! Brilliant minds take longer to process things, obviously!"

"But you're not brilliant."

As soon as the words left his lips, Kaden came to an abrupt stop. What was he doing, running down the hallway like children playing tag in a school?

It was improper, as if he were back in the slums, a disgraced child with not an ounce of elegance. Had the King seen him, he would be beaten half to death, thrown in that room without food for days and—

"Aren't you having fun, Chauvet?"

Noah's dark gaze met his. A book tucked under an arm, as one always happened to be, and rounded glasses that the dragon typically only wore inside the confines of their room.

He looked relaxed—it was after classes, and they were running down the dormitory hallways. Judging by the direction, Noah had just left the room—likely just to grab something. He didn't often leave otherwise.

The dragon liked to hole himself on his bed, reading deep into the night.

If not there, he would be in that dark corner of the library that Kaden had special permission to frequent, on occasion.

Kaden squinted. "Aren't I always enjoying myself?"

"No," replied the dragon calmly, a gravel husk to his voice from having dozed off earlier. "You only pretend to be."

"You speak nonsense, as always. Don't you get tired of it?"

"Don't you?"

Kaden laughed wryly, raising an eyebrow. "Don't I what?"

"Get tired of your nonsense."

The expression of the man changed slightly, and Noah narrowed his eyes to observe every twitch, and every movement. Every expression he tried so desperately to hide.

What nonsense. Noah didn't like to waste time on liars, though taking them apart wasn't completely pointless.

He didn't particularly care for Kaden, though watching the man laugh and tease like a maniac with that painfully fake smile grew incredibly frustrating at times. If Kaden wanted to play pretend, then why not go somewhere else to flash that falseness at?

Noah didn't want to see a fake Kaden.

Kaden peered at him oddly, as if trying to figure out why Noah even said anything to begin with.

However, at that moment, Niklas caught up, bent over and heaving as if he were about to die. He raised a finger up weakly, trying to talk through his breaths and failing.

"You... run really... really.... fast." A splutter of coughs, and he straightened himself while clutching his chest. "I'm more of an academic, than an athlete."

"You learned how to pull a carriage." said Kaden.

"Yes, but you see—I'd specifically chosen that career because I get to sit down for the majority. As long as there are no incidents, it's a pretty casual job."

Kaden didn't know how to argue with Niklas's random comments, and strange reasons for topics he never knew how came up.

"Didn't you plan to ruin Reed's carriage?"

"No, I planned to ruin Reed's day. It's different."

Noah cocked his head, slightly amused at the thought. He'd never liked that prince, brimming full of lies. "Did you?"

"Noah," grinned Niklas. "I did, I really did. Unfortunately, another upstart noble who argued with me the entire ride came along and ruined my plans."

"How unfortunate." mused the dragon as Niklas nodded regretfully.

Then, Niklas gasped. "Wait! I forgot my chicken in the oven... do you think it would've exploded by now? Maybe somebody took it out during the next class?"

Noah faltered. "...chicken?"

"There was a group of students who wanted to practice making lunch, so I kindly took it upon myself to help out. However, I left to urgently rush to the bathroom, and forgot all about it."

"......" What kind of stupidity was that? "How long ago?"

"This morning."

"......"

Kaden stared at the odd pair, tilting his head as brushed of pink grazed past green eyes. "Since when do you know how to get along with others, dearest Bellamy?"

"Since the 'others' weren't you, Chauvet."

"I quite dislike that part of you."

"Do you hate me?"

"No, I still love you." replied Kaden almost instantaneously, stretching out his tone as Noah's face begun to seep in disgust. "I adore you. Appreciate you. Think you're the most handsome human in this god-forsaken society—"

"Be quiet, fool."

And suddenly, the thoughts of being prim or proper didn't matter. The echo was embarrassing, and he was being rash, inelegant and much like one born in the slums and—

—and nobody cared.

Kaden grinned, and raised his voice even louder.