Kai

My fingers curled around Dax's hand tighter as he led me down the twisting corridors of the overwhelmingly complicated castle he lived in.

"Hurry, Kai." He whispered, dragging me along behind him. "If you aren't in your chamber before your father gets there, who knows how he will react?"

"He is becoming senile and old, Dax." I whispered in return while he peeked around the corner to the next hall. "He is even unsure how he will react."

Dax laughed softly and turned back to me. "As humorous as you may be, that doesn't change the fact that your father despises me and if he finds you with me, I highly doubt you'll be returning to Madeo any time soon."

I groaned and threw my head back as he dragged me through the hall and down a flight of stairs meant for the maids.

We scurried from hall to hall, silent as mice, for fear of being discovered by anyone, but especially by my father.

My father absolutley detested my association with Dax, the Prince of Madeo, and went out of his way to be positive that we never saw one another. Since Dax had emerged as a Magi, my father believed that he would turn on me and injure, or worse, kill me. And as the eldest son and the next in line for the throne, my death would be untimely for my aging father. He did not have the time to prepare one of my younger brothers to take the throne.

So with every visit my father made to Madeo, I managed to convince him to allow me to accompany him, and as soon as we arrived I would run off to find Dax without my father ever knowing.

Suddenly, my foot caught the edge of a table pushed against the wall and I stumbled forwards into Dax's backside.

"Watch it, Kai!" He exclaimed as quietly as he could manage.

He scrambled to catch whatever fell off the tabletop, but was unable to clutch onto a vase filled with flowers, which I assumed had been freshly gathered this morning from the gardens.

The vase immediatley shattered on the hard floor, scattering shards of the porcelain everywhere.

Dax and I both stood silently for a moment, staring at one another. We listened intently to see if anyone was coming towards us.

And low and behold, footsteps rapidly approached our location.

"Go." Dax whispered to me as he shoved my back. "There is a small storage closet around there." He gestured towards another entrance to yet another hall and I quickly sprinted around the corner with him on my heels.

We stumbled into the tight space of the storage closet and shut the door behind us. Our bodies were pressed against each other, the close walls allowed little to no space between us and I could feel Dax's hand rest lightly on my hip.

It was almost as if the both of us were holding our breath, waiting to be caught and separated.

We never spoke about it, but there was always a looming threat of permanent seperation if my father discovered us in one another's company. It was obvious that we cared for one another deeply and were equally terrified for the inevitability of something going terribly wrong, but we did our best to hold on to the boyish beliefs that nothing could come between us.

As the footsteps drew nearer, I began to tremble.

I avoided telling Dax about my father and his violent tendencies, but the threat of him finding me and releasing his pentup anger on his eldest son haunted me. My father was a king, and he did not believe in having mercy. Not even on his children.

"Shhh," Dax whispered, drawing me near. "You are okay. Nothing is going to hurt you."

I allowed his embrace and melted into his touch as he let his fingers glide through my knotted hair. I wrapped my arms around his slim waist and held him tightly, afraid that if I let go, he would disappear.

The footsteps drew closer until they passed the door to our hiding place, where they paused.

My breath caught in my throat.

"Where are you going, Bartram?" Dax's father, Auden, spoke.

"I must check on my son. He can be quite troublesome if left alone." My father replied.

"Let the boy be and come have some drinks with me. It has been so long since your last visit here in Madeo." Auden seemed to be aware of Dax's affiliation with myself and he did his best to protect us both from my father's wrath and prying eyes.

My father's voice sent my body into violent shivers and Dax did all that he could to comfort me in my terrified state, but nothing could distract me from the possibility of what could happen if we were caught together.

"My son has always been a troublemaker, and I refuse to allow him to associate wit-"

"With my son." Auden, cut my father off.

"Auden, I didn't mean it like that. I cherish your company and thoroughly enjoy my visits here in Madeo, but your son is one of them and I cannot have Kai around that. You have to understand that, even in the slightest."

I glanced up and I could have sworn I felt something drip onto my face.

"Dax, are you crying?" I whispered almost inaudibly.

He shook his head and gently pushed my face back into his chest, almost as if he didn't want me to see him in that moment.

I held him tight.

"We are gonna be okay, Dax. I promise."

And with that, we sobbed into each other, letting one another's bodies absorb whatever sound that did come out of our mouths. We found ourselves in a tragedy that neither of us had the strength to put a stop to, and we both knew it.

"All I'm asking is that you come back and have a few more drinks with me, Bartram. I would hate for this dispute to inconvience our friendship." I had never in my life been more thankful to Dax's father and his ways in convincing my father.

"Fine." My father said finally and turned to walk back down the hall.

Dax gently pulled me away from him and stroked my hair.

"As much as I don't want you to go back with him, it's safer for both of us if you do." He enveloped me in another tight hug before reaching to open the door. "Are you ready?"

Truth be told, I was in no way ready to leave the haven I had with Dax, but he was right. If we stayed, it would ruin the chances of us ever seeing one another again. So I followed behind him as he led me out into the candle-lit hall and did my best to ignore his tear tracked cheeks.

Once we found ourselves outside of my bedchamber, I was sure I looked white as a ghost.

"Would you like for me to come in for a moment?" Dax asked quietly, noticing my fear. "I'm sure my father has Bartram busy. He has always been quite good at buying us time."

I gave a half hearted nod and led him into the room.

As soon as I had the door shut, he wrapped me in one last hug.

"Kai, you mean the world to me." He whispered in my ear, his warm breath fanning across my face.

I hugged him closer to me and felt more tears well up in my eyes. He meant everything to me too, and I didn't want him to go. Not now, not ever. I just wanted to keep holding him until the day that I died.

"Please don't leave me." I begged him. "Please let's just run away to Apera and get a little house by the sea. I never want to go back to Grohera again. I just want to be with you, Dax."

He stroked my hair lightly.

"I know, darling. I know. But one day you and I will be kings and no one will ever be able to touch us. You will be able to come and visit Madeo any day you'd like and we can vacation in Apera each and every summer."

We both knew his promise sounded empty, without any sort of backing. But I decided to believe in it, I decided to take it and run as far as I could with it.

"I love you, Dax." I whispered, squeezing him tighter. "I love you with everything I have."

"I love you too. But I must go now, before your father returns." He pushed away from me. "Promise me you'll be strong until we can see one another again."

"I don't know if I can be strong without you." I cried. "I don't want this to be goodbye."

He cupped my cheeks and tilted my head towards him.

"Then don't make it one. Swear to me you'll be strong, swear that you'll survive until we can see one another again."

It seemed that both of us knew this was it, that this moment would be our last for a quite a while.

"Dax, I won't be able to survive there without being able to see you. Who knows how long it'll be until I can see your face again?" I stumbled forwards and hugged him once again. "Please, please don't leave me."

He guided my body to the bed, where he gently sat me down.

"You will see me again, I swear." He squatted down in front of me and brushed strands of my long, dark hair from my eyes. "No one will ever be able to keep me away from you."

I reached out and gently touched his tanned cheeks, just barely tinted red from the hours in the sun.

"I love you." I told him again. "I will love you from across any kingdom, across any world, across any galaxy. You are mine and you must return to me."

Tears began to stream down his cheeks, and my vision began to cloud for the same reason.

"I love you." He repeated, pressing his forehead against my own. "I love you so much."

And we remained there, tears streaking down our faces with our foreheads pressed together, almost as if we believed that by staying there, we would become invincible to the wrath of my father. He played with the slight curls of hair at the base of my neck, whispering the same three words over and over, as if he were making up for all the times he would be unable to tell me in the future, and I did the same.

And, for just a moment, we were safe.

Until my father walked in, and every inch of hell broke loose.

Dax whispered to me, one last time. One last 'I love you' for the road, before my father took him by the arm and yanked his fragile body away from me.

I screamed. I wasn't sure what jumbled mess of tears and words escaped over my lips, but I shrieked at my father, praying he would release Dax so he could escape.

I leapt to my feet and yanked at his strong hands, hoping for a moment of strength to rip the boy I loved away from his grasp, but I was too weak and my father remained too determined.

"Move boy." He said cooly, shoving me away while Dax squirmed in his grip.

"No!" I screeched, swinging my fist at him, my knuckles colliding with the flesh of his right cheek. "Let him go!"

My father stumbled, but kept his hold on Dax.

"You ungrateful boy!" He delivered a slap to one side of my face. "I'll kill you for that!" Another slap.

But as I drew my father's attention away from Dax, his grip slowly loosened and Dax was finally able to break free.

He yanked his arm loose and ran to the door which was left wide open. He gave me a look that I couldn't quite decipher and then ran, leaving me alone with the one person in the entire world that terrified me the most.

"He left you." My father snarled, spitting in my face. "He left you here with me. All alone."

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Tears began running down my cheeks and I prepared for some sort of physical punishment. Maybe he would keep slapping me until my cheeks bruised to his satisfaction. Maybe he would punch me until I couldn't breathe without hurting. Whatever was to come, I took a breath and reminded myself of Dax.

But nothing ever came.

I peeled one eye open and watched as Dax stormed in and threw every ounce of his body weight into my father, throwing him off balance. And then, to my horror, I watched as my father tossed him to the side, effortlessly.

Dax hit my bed, hard, his head colliding with the corner of the frame, and the rest of his body fell to the floor.

"No!" I cried while running to his side.

My father tried to run after me, but Auden finally arrived, flanked by 4 of the finest Madean guards.

I then understood what Dax had ran to do.

"Bartram, stop this madness!" Auden called out, but the rest of their conversation drowned out as I fell to Dax's side.

I gently lifted his head into my lap and his eyes fluttered open.

"Are you okay?"

He gave me a small smile.

"You swear, right?"

For a moment I was at a loss for what he was requesting, but his words from earlier came flooding back.

I leant down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, and then rested my own on his.

"I swear. We will see each other again."

"I love you." He whispered one more time before a hand clamped around my arm and jerked me away from him, his head hitting the floor with a sickening thump.

With that, my father drug me out of the castle and into the night, where I said goodbye to Dax and all of his stars for so very long.