Emrys watched as Jo disappeared into the tavern, knowing exactly what it was that she had gone in there to ask.

He felt horrible, selfish  even, at the pooling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

Something had felt off about the little riverside village as they had approached it, something that they had not felt as they had passed through. Surely, something was here.

He felt horrible, but Emrys hadn’t wanted to stop. Not here.

Maybe he was just tired, maybe it had been the longest he’d been away from Elderwood in quite sometime.

Maybe this place had just reminded him of his home.

Regardless, while it was their sworn duty to help, Emrys really did not want to.

He wanted to be back home, in his study, near his bed and teas.

It didn’t help matters in the slightest, of course, that their prisoner was so atrociously obnoxious. Even silent, Emrys found it hard not to let his mind wander to what it would be like to strangle his bronze, toned little neck.

Prisoners died all the time, the initiation killed more recruits than the job itself.

No one would have to know it wasn’t an accident.

The obnoxious twat in question peered up at Emrys from where he had seated himself on the ground, next to the horses as he drank.

There were millions of things the prince could have been paying attention to. The horses for one, as they were beautiful creatures in general, but Emrys’ precious pet was definitely the more magnificent of the two.

He was also incredibly partial to Daisy, as she was his pet, but that wasn’t necessarily the issue.

Fawkes could have stared at them, or the eerie village, or the river that the horses were currently drinking from, or the forest on the other end, it’s branches welcoming and foreboding all at once- but no. Instead those eyes, that unsettlingly intense gaze, was currently boring into Emrys.

Emrys felt at a complete loss. He wasn’t interesting in the slightest, either aesthetically or in terms of personality.

His skin was a dull, pale, ashen hue. His eyes were like the dirty river water. His hair was black, inky, and plain.

He was covered in scars.

If anything, he supposed he could at least be considered ugly enough to be interesting. A thought he found an odd amount of comfort in.

“You know,” Emrys said, praying he didn’t visibly cringe at the crack in his voice as he feared he may have, “If you stare any longer, your face will get stuck scowling like that.”

A grin spread across the man’s face, crinkling the corners of his eyes as it did, “Is that what happened to you?”

Emrys scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Tell you what, if you can survive the initiation ritual, I’ll tell you.”

Why did I say that? Emrys wondered angrily, immediately kicking himself. I don’t owe him any explanation nor do I feel any particular need to bond with him.

Emrys didn’t make it a habit to tell people what had happened to him. To his knowledge, only Jo and a select other few knew. And he had only told her. Despite himself, he glanced over to see that gaze still focused on him, only this time it was smiling.

Perhaps, Emrys figured, it was the royalty in him. He’d always heard people like that commanded respect just by breathing.

Maybe it was true.

Then again, maybe it was because Emrys had very strong doubts that Fawkes would survive initiation. Yes, of course. That’s why he’d said that. This actually made sense. Emrys couldn’t very well tell a story to a dead man.

“Are you willing to shake on that?” Fawkes asked, a twinkle of something Emrys couldn’t quite place in his eyes, “I’d hate for you to back out on me.”

Emrys fought the urge to roll his eyes or scowl anymore than he knew he already was, “If I shake your hand, will you stop talking to me?”

“One for two? That’s not really fair.” Fawkes pouted, “Besides, If I’m not mistaken, you started this particular conversation.”

“You were staring at me!” Emrys felt himself genuinely annoyed, unnerved, and he hated it, “You started this.”

“Still, one for two isn’t really fair wagering.”

Where does he get off, Emrys groaned, “It isn’t one for two, imbecile. The handshake is for your silence and to agree to your terms.”

Fawkes held up two fingers, “That’s two things for one handshake.”

Everything about his usually calm composure was threatening to come apart by this man who simply existed and Emrys was already close to snapping.

He strode over to where Fawkes sat in what felt like one, annoyed stride, jutting his hand into the man’s face as he did.

“Here.” Emrys said as the prince took his hand, shaking it with one, sharp, borderline violent gesture, “To agree to your terms.”

Emrys snatched his hand away, switching hands and forcing Fawkes’ hand into the opposite of his, repeating the motion, “And another handshake for your silence. Two for two.”

Fawkes made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a snort, “Are you always this hostile?”

Emrys shot a look that he hoped conveyed: I’m only hostile to people who annoy me, as you have absolutely and thoroughly done, and I put both of my hands in yours in exchange for your stupid mouth to stop making noise. Silence.

“I’ll ... take that as a yes.” Fawkes answered instead, still smiling.

Before Emrys could give in to the temptation to simply kill him here and kick the body into the river, Joanna strode back to them, her expression wary.

“It sounds like we’ve got ourselves a bit of a job before we can make it back.” She eyed Emrys suspiciously, “There’s a house just past the village line. Should I inspect it, or have you had enough of our ward?”

“Can’t we just inspect it and leave him here?” Emrys mumbled under his breath as Jo placed the small pouch of coin in his hand, “We had enough to make it back, you know.”

Jo’s brow furrowed in a way that made Emrys feel out of place in his own skin, like he’d said the wrong thing, “They need our help.”

Ah, he had said the wrong thing. His comment disappointed her. He didn’t like that feeling almost as much as he didn’t like the prince.

“We could both inspect it.” Emrys offered quickly, hoping to quickly absolve his own guilt, “I don’t see why any of us should be put through the torture of watching...him.”

Fawkes either didn’t hear him or ignored his comment. Either way, it wasn’t as though Emrys cared.

Jo let out a little sigh, giving Emrys a look he’d only seen a time or two before, “We can’t do that, he may escape.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me!” Fawkes said, not bothering to get up from his seat, “I shook on something, I’m held to the initiation process at least. You won’t be shaking me anytime soon.”

Jo raised a dark eyebrow and Emrys tried to fight off the odd sensation he felt in his stomach.

She exchanged a look between the two of them, Emrys feeling antsy as she did, before clearing her throat, “Well...In any case, the demon doesn’t apparently show until witching hour. Gives us time to get some food on our ribs and ale in our bellies, we can decide if his highness can join us or if one of us should watch him when the time comes, I suppose.”

With that, Fawkes lept to his feet, “And where is this wonderful food and ale situation happening?”

Jo nodded in the direction of the building she’d just left, “They’re preparing us a complimentary room, I assumed we’d worry about food first, the demon second, and then if we should draw straws for the bed lastly.”

Fawkes grinned, “I don’t mind sharing with either of you, I’m a fantastic snuggler.”

Emrys couldn’t stop himself from making a gagging noise, drawing yet another look he couldn’t quite place from Jo.

He was well aware he was being juvenile, but he couldn’t help it. Not that he knew why he couldn’t help it, and not knowing didn’t make it any better, but...he couldn’t help it.

“I’m sure you are.” Jo said slowly, her eyes not leaving Emrys’ expression, “Why don’t you go on ahead? I need to speak to Emrys.”

“You trust me alone that long?” Fawkes winked at her, “I’m honored.”

Jo rolled her eyes, a slight smirk playing on her expression, “As long as you behave yourself.”

“You know, if I told them who I was, not that they won’t recognize a face this iconic and legendary, I bet they’d give us a lot more free stuff.” Fawkes practically beamed.

“Or,” Emrys corrected sternly, “They’ll recognize you as the attempted murderer of their precious Augustine and kill you.”

“Please,” Fawkes huffed, “I bet people think I’m a hero for that.”

Emrys frowned, “Yes, and I highly doubt all two of your adoring fans live in this little village. It’s better you play it safe.”

“Emrys, if I didn’t know any better I would think you were concerned for me.” There is was again, that tone in his voice that made Emrys want to scream.

“You shook, be silent.” Emrys snapped back instead, inwardly praising his self-control, “Go in, sit down, and don’t pester anyone else until we get inside.”

Fawkes winked, “Yes, sir.”

Emrys knew she did, but prayed that Jo hadn’t noticed the flush that crept it’s way up to his ridiculously pale cheeks. He prayed even harder still that if she had noticed, she would blame the cold.

He forced himself to stare down at the top of her head, focusing on the snowy-white hair that cascaded from it in lieu of watching Fawkes as he made his way into the tavern.

The look on the peacekeeper’s face was nothing if not knowing, and somehow that look made Emrys more angry than Fawkes himself had.

“What?” He heard himself spit defensively before he could stop himself.

Jo fluttered her eyelashes in a gesture of feigned innocence, “Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing my ass.” Emrys huffed, “Can’t we just leave him to fend for himself when we’re done here?”

“He’s in our charge, Emrys. You know the answer to that.” She crossed her arms, though the obnoxious and knowing smirk still hung on her lips.

“He’s an ignorant fool, is what he is.” Emrys said, trying to keep his blood cool but the more she looked at him like she’d caught his hands in a cookie jar, the harder he was finding the task, “Just promise me that if things go tits up during initiation, I’m the one who gets to kill him.”

“Sure.” Jo shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t get too bad of a vibe from him, though. I think he’ll fit right in.”

He wanted to protest, but she had been the one stuck on a horse with him for an entire day now, “He’s full of himself.” He offered weakly instead.

Jo stared at him a moment before letting out a brief chuckle, “You realize you are too, right?”

“It’s different.” Emrys defended, “I’m aware of any skill I possess because I’ve worked very hard to possess them. That idiot thinks he’s special just for existing.”

“He’s royalty,” Jo shrugged, “In a way he sort of is. And he isn’t entirely wrong about the Augustine or the things he sees happening around him. He’s just ignorant of real issues and...lacks the best approach.”

“Why are you defending him so much?” Emrys said, knowing he sounded much angrier than he actually was, “We’ve known him a day, he could surprise us and be horrible! And why are we talking about him? Didn’t you need something?”

“He could also surprise us and be great, Emrys. I see potential in him.” She said warmly, “He’s annoying, but… I trust my gut with these things. And I do need something. I need you to stop being angry at him just because you find him as attractive as you find him annoying.”

“I-” Emrys opened his mouth to speak several times before he realized he wasn’t entirely sure how to argue back with Joanna, “That is absolute horse shit and you know it.”

“Do I?” She grinned at her friend, “You really only show vitriol to two sorts of people; Those who deserve it and those you find interesting…. and pretty.”

“Well he deserves it.” Emrys spat, “Obviously. Clearly. He’s a hotheaded would-be assassin who’s never had to try for anything in the entirety of his life because he was born into circumstances that provided him everything but the suffering necessary to improve upon oneself as a person. Just because someone makes a, very misguided may I add, bold move, doesn’t make them bold.”

“You don’t know that.” Jo said cryptically, “Maybe don’t be so judgemental because you’re scared by a set of pretty green eyes.”

“His eyes aren’t green, they’re brown.” Emrys corrected with an exasperated huff, “And arguably, they’re closer to the color of amber or carnelian than brown.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” Jo said, her smug smirk now a grin.

Emrys paused, wanting the argument to die, “Fuck you. Let’s go get some damned food in our system so I can go home and be rid of all of this.”

Jo laughed, "Sounds good to me."