taemin woke to a soft breath against his cheek & a familiar voice murmuring his name. his eyes opened upon the wall he had faced when he fell asleep, the breath now at his neck. he turned quickly, startled by the intrusion.

“hello your highness.” a thin woman crouched beside his bed, her back pressed against the wall. they were in the room he had spent so many nights, locked away within its narrow confines. there had been a shift in the way minho looked at him after their dual in the yard. he had been taken on his knees & then shut away with the familiar click of a lock. how then his brother’s bodyguard had gained entry he had no immediate idea, though he knew that if any would have found a way through the barred windows above it would have been she.

“taeyeon.” he kept his voice steady, pausing in a half-risen position & waiting for clues. they had been close as children but grew apart as they aged. & it had been months since they had lain eyes on one another, a lifetime of change lay between them.

“you look well.”, she said with a smile that would have passed for kind if he did not know her temperament better.

warily he responded, “i am.”

“lord minho seems well also.” her smile remained & taemin’s heart beat quickened. “perhaps you have just been waiting for the right time?” taemin nodded mutely. “it is now.” she pulled out an ornate blade in a golden case from behind her back & placed it in taemin’s hand. he pulled it out of its sheath, the knife glinting in the light & the faintest touch enough for him to be sure of its deadly power, a sliver of blood blooming across his fingertip. he stared at it before slipping it back into its encasement, keeping his eyes on the weapon.

“why did you not do it yourself when you entered the fortress?”

“lord minho is not here.” he looked up, confused.

“what?”

“he is at the king’s castle.” she leaned in, her eyes narrowing though her smile never wavered. “he could hardly be found murdered on the very night the prince arrived now could he?”

“what would you have me do?” she leaned back.

“you must kill him. when he returns to you.” taemin nodded, thinking.

“he is a skilled warrior. he would sense me & i would be dead before i could even take a step.” taeyeon raised an eyebrow.

“that sounds like praise.” taemin swallowed.

“it is the truth.”

“a distraction will be provided. you have a consort now. here.” she reached out her hand & taemin relinquished it into her grasp. she tucked it back where she had pulled it from. “your brother will visit lord minho’s chambers tonight. when his attention is fully on the prince, pull it out & attack. it will be waiting for you in the alcove beside the table where lord minho keeps his oils.” her eyes opened playfully & taemin nodded again, blushing. a thought nagged at the back of his mind that he let swirl through his thoughts. he was still nodding when he realized that taeyeon had disappeared.

minho did not come for him until after evening meal. he spent the day in his room with meals brought by minjung & her sympathetic smile. the arrival of his master had him on his knees at the end of his bed as his door opened. he waited for a command that never came & minho, bared down to his trousers, walked away from him after scowling down at his prone form. he waited silently, watching & listening to the sounds of minho as he moved through the room: the rustle of papers & the scratch of a pen. he had not been at it long before there was a knock on the door & he watched as minho looked up & said “enter”.

minjung stepped in, closing the door behind her.

“prince kibum is on his way, sir. lady gwiboon is leading him & he will be here within moments.” minho nodded & turned back to his papers, still dressed only in his trousers.

another knock & the door opened again, a pair of footsteps crossing the marble floor.

“his highness prince kibum wishes to address you, sir.” gwiboon’s tone was calm & professional but he could hear a thread of underlying irritation.

“of course.” the door closed & the sound of footsteps had been reduced to one as whom he presumed to be his brother stepped further into the room.

“your highness.”, minho said, a bit stiffly.

“lord minho.” minho glanced at taemin who looked down at the ground, still kneeling just inside his doorway.

“what brings you to my bed chamber at this hour, your highness?”

“i have come to see your slave.” out of the corner of his eye, taemin could see minho’s spine stiffen.

“may i ask why?”

“many of my people now reside in this kingdom. i feel it is my duty to speak with as many as i can while i am here, be certain that they are well.”

minho nodded, moving between the prince & his slave, standing just off to the side to keep his presence known but not too close as to interfere.

“come.” taemin stood on shaky legs at the command & slowly stepped off the soft carpet out onto the cool marble. he kept his eyes to the ground as he bowed. he glanced at minho who was keeping his eyes on kibum & he wondered how long he would have to wait for the distraction he was promised.

he didn’t actually hear their conversation, didn’t notice that they had moved in the room & that he now stood next to the alcove where taeyeon had said she would hide the knife. he hears “now!” & on instinct he obeyed.

it happens swiftly. taemin has the blade against minho’s throat so quickly even he doesn’t realize what is happening. his blood runs cold & he feels dizzy. he shakes because he knows that there’s no way that minho didn’t sense him, there’s no way that he should be alive now, that minho could break his hold at any second. it frightens him that he hasn’t. almost as much as the realization he had come to when taeyeon had visited him in the night.

“why aren’t you fighting?”, he whispered.

“we all have our secrets your highness.” taemin’s eyes widen in confusion.

“you knew?”

“no.” he was watching taemin placidly, that blank stare that held so much more now that taemin knew him intimately. the pieces were falling into place & the question on the tip of his tongue needed to be asked now that his secret was known by the one he had hoped never would.

“how did you know i was here, kibum?” taemin asked, his face scrunched up in anger & confusion.

“what?”

“how did you know i was here?”

“what does it matter? finish it!” taemin’s eyes never left minho’s which were calm & focused & he felt his resolve harden. if his brother weren’t at his back he would have dropped the knife by now. as it was...

“how did you know?!”

“he sent you here.” minho’s voice was heavy.

“no.” he hadn’t expected to confess but the truth escaped anyhow. “no one sent me. & i told no one of my plan.”

“you discussed it with him.”

“only in the abstract. the choice was mine.”

“the abstract was enough for him to discover your plans. he notified the prince of your intentions. the prince sent you to me.”

“why?”

“so many questions.”, came kibum’s derisive voice, the tone he usually reserved for enemies & one taemin had never had directed towards himself. it was humiliating & terrifying to receive it now: he knew what his brother was capable of. “what of it soldier? i suppose you have figured it out.”

minho’s gaze broke for a moment, just long enough to glower at the prince standing across the room. when he looked back at taemin it was with broken eyes, a truth that he knew but didn’t want to reveal. he was about to break his slave’s heart.

“they needed you gone. if the favorite son of the king was found a slave in the bed of the enemy’s right hand the people would decry you as a traitor & he could assume the throne.”

“i am the youngest son, i do not stand to be the heir.”

“you are the youngest son of of the queen, you are not the youngest son of the king.”

“our succession laws allow for bastards.”

“not ones that have betrayed their country for profit. he is the reason your kingdom lost the war.”

taemin’s eyes widened. of everything he had ever thought or believed about his master “deceiver” had never been among them. he turned to find kibum’s lips set into a bitter frown, the hatred burning in his gaze.

“so very, very smart.”

“but...they would know that i was a slave.”, taemin murmured, his eyes still on his brother.

“they would know that you entered the enemy’s land. they would only need the hint of your willful entrance to piece together a story that would make you a villain.”

“you can come back home, brother. finish this & you will be a hero.”

“what home? our father is dead & jinki lives with jongin.” kibum’s eyes narrowed & he moved a hand that had been resting on his hip to the small of his back. without blinking taemin spun & threw his knife into his brother’s shoulder, running after it before kibum had a chance to pull it out. it was embedded deep & the prince had been too stunned to do anything but fall backward to the floor. taemin wrenched it out with full force, the blood pouring out of the wound a second thought as he placed the blade he had held to his master’s throat against that of his brother’s.

“after all that i have sacrificed you would pull a blade on me, brother?! i lost the only man i ever loved to your lies! a hero, kibum? you have ensured my life as a slave!”

“taemin.” minho’s careful voice came from behind & the blinding fury coursing through taemin’s veins softened slightly at the sound: the first time his master had called him by name. “do not do this. it cannot be undone.”

“he deserves to die.”

“perhaps, yes. but you do not deserve to have his blood on your hands.” minho’s strong hand rested lightly on his shoulder & taemin shook with rage, staring down at the terror in his betrayer’s eyes.

“i would be like you.”

silence.

“don’t be.” taemin took a few ragged breaths, his muscles aching with the desire for bloody revenge. finally, he nodded & rose up, keeping his blade to the offender’s throat until the last moment. his brother wasn’t going anywhere; his arm lay limp at his side. he wanted to kiss minho, he wanted to stay, wanted to see. but he knew it would be better if he knew no details, if he was left to his imagination & not vivid memories.

“go.” obeying minho’s orders was second nature by now & he followed them easily, slipping out of the bedroom without thought, passing the guards in the hall, & taking the steps down the hallway that led him to the familiarity of eunsook’s room. she glanced up from her book, dropping it as she rushed toward him, her hands at his shoulders & he realized then that he must have his brother’s blood on his body.

“i would like a bath please.”

taemin lay submerged in the scalding water staring blankly at the wall. eunsook sat just in the other room, the door slightly ajar: he hadn’t missed the anxious way she kept glancing at his face. there was so much to understand that he never would, even though minho clearly did. sterile explanations would never clarify how a brother could have hated him so greatly & taemin never noticed. he rubbed at the mark on his wrist absently.

there were murmurs outside the door & the soft click of the outer door being shut & then minho was in the bathing room with him. he watched as minho silently undressed, slipping into the water with taemin. he leaned in & kissed his slave, his sides with calloused hands before bringing them up to cup his face. he slipped his tongue into taemin’s mouth & he it in eagerly, relishing the touch & placing his own soft fingers at his master’s firm waist. he followed minho’s lead as the soldier leaned back, pulling taemin into his lap, growing hard in the water. taemin pulled away long enough to guide him inside then leaned forward again, his hands dancing over minho’s shoulders, neck, chest, pulling his head tight as minho began to at his neck & shoulders. he bounced his hips as minho up, little waves splashing around them & the sounds of their breaths & soft moans echoing through the steamy room. it wouldn’t be enough for minho, taemin knew, but it was enough for now & he moved his body in the way that minho liked, groaning as his master’s teeth scraped against his chest as he came inside his slave.