It’s Time

            Yongguk stormed his way through the castle.  Servants were quick to scurry as the prince stomped down the halls, slamming doors behind him.  He and Youngjae had just gotten back not too long ago and now he was on a search for his cousin.  He was frustrated, confused and, most importantly, deprived.  He didn’t know why, but after the picnic night he had spent with Youngjae, the younger prince had reverted to his old ways and erased any footing he had gained.  Youngjae had clammed up, refusing to talk and flinching away from all of Yongguk’s touches.  He had also refused Yongguk at night and the one time Yongguk felt overwhelmed with his ual frustration and took the boy, the younger prince had just lay there motionless, like a dead fish.  Yongguk couldn’t understand it and it was eating away at him.  He needed to talk to his sole confidant. 

            He finally arrived in front of his cousin’s door and entered to the sitting room.  He heard voices in the bedroom and proceeded to throw the door open.  “Channie, I need to-“ his words stopped themselves at the sight in front of him.  Himchan was hogtied and gagged on the bed dressed in a cat’s outfit while Junhong stood over him, dressed as a mouse with a leash in hand.

            “Ah, welcome back, Your Majesty.”  Junhong flashed the very confused prince a smile and bowed.

            “I…uh…I’ll come back later… Sorry for interrupting you two…” Yongguk let his eyes flick once more between the servant boy who as smiling just a little too widely, and his cousin who was thrashing on the bed, calling out something that couldn’t be heard through the gag.  He knew Himchan was a little freaky in bed and had walked in on his cousin’s strange “activities” before and honestly, never wanted to have to see that again.  He quickly backtracked out the door, closing it behind him.

            “Now where were we…” Junhong smirked and reached over and pulled down Himchan’s gag. 

            “GUK!  COME BACK!  YONGUUK! SAVE ME!” Junhong jerked on the leash, which tightened Himchan’s choke collar and promptly shut him up.

            “Hey.  You said you wanted to play a cat and mouse chase game, right?  And that’s what we’re doing.  Why are you complaining?”

            “Because the cat is supposed to catch the mouse, not the other way around,” Himchan choked out, but Junhong’s stern glare made him stop.

            “Those were not the rules.  Now, are you going to be a good kitty, or do I need to get the handcuffs and paddle back out?”  Himchan quickly shook his head with a whimper at the memories of yesterday’s cops and robbers’ game.

            Honestly, the brunette boy was regretting having his cousin talk to the young servant.  He had known that the boy was strong willed, but didn’t realize that he was also a cunning little brat that would twist and turn all of his games back on him.  His image of the cute, innocent Junhong from the past was entirely shot to hell.  The past week had been one long torture session and Himchan had hoped that Yongguk’s return would save him, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

            “Alright, let’s finish our game,” Junhong sneered and jerked the leash again, causing Himchan to topple to the floor.

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            Yongguk made his way back through the hallways, running his hands through his hair in frustration.  Now he had not only his previous problems filling up his head, but he had that scarring image plaguing his mind as well.  He finally reached his own bedroom just as he came to the decision to sit down and talk with the younger prince to find out what was wrong.  Maybe there was something bothering his husband that he hadn’t noticed.  He put his hand on the door handle but stopped when he heard a voice coming from the other side.  Was that Youngjae?  Who could he be talking to?  He pressed his ear against the door to listen in.

            “I’m so sorry, Dae,” he heard Youngjae sob.  Dae?  There was no way Daehyun could be in there, right?  He controlled his urge to go running in and stayed in place to listen.

            “I betrayed you.  I tried to be happy without you but I just can’t.  Now I just feel worse and disgusted with myself.  God, I’m so sorry.”  Youngjae had to stop and try to control his sobs.  It was becoming hard for him to breathe.  “But I’ll never love anyone other than you, until the day I die.  No matter what happens, I promise that.”

            Yongguk felt a burning sensation searing in his chest.  Youngjae’s words had hit him hard and he felt betrayed.  Hadn’t he been working hard to win the younger’s heart?  Why wasn’t he enough?  What was so special about Daehyun that Youngjae would rather waste away pining after him than just give up and love Yongguk?

            Yongguk made up his mind.  He had tried to be nice and patient and that had gotten him nowhere.  He wasn’t going to tolerate this behavior any longer, not when the younger prince belonged to him.  He threw open the door, startling Youngjae from his spot on the windowsill.  The boy scrambled to shove something in his pocket, but he wasn’t fast enough.  Yongguk saw it- the necklace he had seen a few times before.  He held out his hand as he strode toward the frightened boy.

            “Give it to me.”

            “Wh-what?  I don’t have anything,” Youngjae stuttered as he quickly tried to wipe his tear-stained face.  But Yongguk was in not mood to play games.  He spotted the leather cord hanging precariously from Youngjae’s pocket and grabbed for it.

            “What is this?” He spat as he held the pendant up for closer inspection.

            “N-nothing.  It’s nothing.  Just a cheap trinket,” Youngjae tried to lie, but the panic in his voice was a dead give away.

            “Then you won’t mind if I get rid of it, will you?”  Yongguk started for the fireplace, arm raised and ready to throw the heinous necklace in.  He wasn’t stupid.  He knew exactly what it was and who it was from.

            “I-I-no-I…Wait!” Youngjae cried as Yongguk’s arm started to lower, the wooden rabbit now dangling mere inches away from the lapping flames.  “Please.  Please don’t.”

            “Why shouldn’t I, if it doesn’t mean anything?” Yongguk stopped his arm.

            “I…I just…please don’t.  I’ll do anything.  Just please don’t hurt it.”

            Yongguk retracted his arm at these words.  “Anything?”  Youngjae nodded his head.  “Fine.  As long as you do what I say and become an active participant in our relationship, then I won’t destroy it.”

            Youngjae reluctantly nodded his agreement as he outstretched his hand to take back the necklace, but Yongguk quickly jerked away from him.

            “I said I won’t destroy it.  I didn’t say I’d give it back.”  He shoved the pendant deep in his pocket, much to Youngjae’s despair.  “You don’t need anything that’s not from me.  So just forget about him.  Forget about everything.  You’re mine now and you need to get used to that.”

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            Daehyun felt like he had just fallen asleep from an exhausting day of training with Jongup when he was rudely shaken awake.  “What the hell do you want?” he grumbled into his pillow, trying to roll away from the offender.

            “Well, I figured you were anxious to go save your prince, but if you want to sleep some more, I guess we can wait.”  Daehyun shot straight up at the sound of Zitao’s voice.  Even in the dark he could make out the boy’s sharp features and lethal smirk.

            “Is it time to go?” Jongup asked, waking up as well.

            “The coup’s set to go down tomorrow during the King’s speech to the capital.  Youngjae should be there by Yongguk’s side and once we kill all the royals, you’ll be able to rescue him,” Luhan explained while the two knights began their desperate scramble for clothing. 

            “He won’t be in danger up there?” Daehyun questioned.  Zitao shook his head. 

            “No.  Everyone knows his situation and the shooters have been informed that he is not to be touched under any circumstances.”

            Daehyun gave a sigh of relief as he pulled on his pants.  “And Jiho’s men?  Have you contacted them yet?”

            “No, we didn’t know how.”

            “We need to get word out to them right away then,” Jongup chimed in.  “They have a lot farther to travel.”

            “Do you really think we’ll need them?” Luhan questioned, but Zitao nodded.

            “It’s always better to be safe than sorry.  If they arrive and everything’s done and over with, we’ll treat them to a banquet for their troubles.  If we do need their help, well, then at least they’ll be there.”

            “I’ll write a letter now and leave it with one of the other knights to have sent out first thing,” Daehyun offered and grabbed his pen and paper.  The letter was quick and to the point, scrawled in haste as he was anxious to leave.  He folded and addressed it.

            “Alright, let’s go.”

            “No need to hurry so much,” Luhan laughed at the two overly eager knights.  “You know you can’t go anywhere near your prince or servant until our plan is done with right?  You’ll compromise everything if you step one foot out of line before we’re ready for you.  No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, you CANNOT go near the castle until the Bangs are gone.  Is that understood?”

            Daehyun and Jongup nodded their heads and the four boys quickly exited the dormitories.

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            “Excuse me, your majesty.  Do you have a moment?”  Suho cautiously opened the door and stuck his head inside the princes’ sitting room.  “Yongguk, sir?”

            Yongguk emerged from the bedroom clad in only a loose pair of pants and closed the door quietly behind him.  “What is it, Suho?  Do you have a report about tomorrow?”

            “Yes sir.  But there are some…developments that we need to discuss.  Perhaps we should go somewhere more secure?” The knight glanced over to the bedroom door as a silent expression of his concern, but Yongguk shook his head.

            “I rode him pretty hard tonight.  He’ll be passed out until morning.  We can speak here as long as you keep your voice down.”

            Suho nodded his head in understanding and continued with his report.

            “Everything seems to be in place for tomorrow.  Wu Fan has ordered his men for the attack.  Obviously we’ll stop them once they’ve successfully eliminated the current king and queen but before they get to you.”

            “Good, good.  Just make sure your men keep their hands clean.  Then we can try them as traitors and no one will ever have to know the coup started as my idea.”  Yongguk let out a dark chortle.  “And then I’ll finally be king.”

            “There is a complication, however, your majesty,” Suho timidly cut in.

            Yongguk furrowed his eyebrows.  “What is it?”

            “It appears that Wu Fan’s men, without consulting us, have informed the Baekje knights, Sirs Daehyun and Jongup, about the plan.  They intend to come to the speech tomorrow and attempt a kidnapping of the prince and his former servant.”

            Yongguk paled at the news.  There was no way he could let Youngjae get even a glimpse of the knight or else everything would be all over.  Youngjae was too emotionally unstable and Yongguk would never get him to break if the young prince thought there was even a glimmer of hope that he could ever be with his knight again.

            “We can’t let him or Junhong attend the speech then.  We’ll need to keep them locked away somewhere secure.  Separately, of course.  It’s one thing if they get to Junhong- Himchan can deal with that.  But listen to me now; If Daehyun comes even within one hundred feet of Youngjae, I’ll have you all executed as traitors as well.  Is that understood?”

            Suho gulped but nodded.  At times like these he wasn’t sure if he had picked the right side, but he kept the thoughts to himself.  He had been promised to be placed as Yongguk’s top knight and that came with perks that he couldn’t deny himself or his family.  With the democratic future Wu Fan was imagining, there was no certain place for anyone.  For him, Yongguk seemed to be the lesser of two evils- even if he was a patricidal bastard.

            “I want him dead, Suho.  No matter what, Daehyun will not leave here alive tomorrow.”

            “Yes, Your Majesty.”  Suho gave a bow and left.

            Once the door was closed and he was alone, Yongguk flopped back on to the sofa with a huff.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out the rabbit pendant.  He held it in front of it eyes, letting it spin slowly before him.

            “Tomorrow, Jung Daehyun.  I’ll make sure that your death is as slow and painful as possible to make up for the torture you’ve put me through.  And then once you’re gone, Youngjae’s heart can finally be mine.”

            He shoved the pendant back in his pocket and made his way back to bed.

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Author’s note:

Hey  guys!  Sorry this is a bit on the short side :/  I didn’t want to cram in too much though.

We’re getting close to the end.  Not too much longer! (though I can’t give an exact amount of chapters yet).  I hope you guys are still enjoying the story.

Drop a comment and let me know what you think!

Until next time,

<3 Dani