Taehyung's eyes were filled with tears, his face had gone paler than it had been all evening. He lifted a shaking hand to grasp Yoongi's arm, without any strength. His lips quivered as he struggled to form words, "Hyung, why did you just say that?...what do you mean he's g-g-gone?...Yoongi hyung!" Taehyung's other arm grasped Yoongi's and he tried to shake Yoongi but failed, he did not have any strength. Taehyung's shoulders fell and he hunched, seeming to be incapable of standing upright. Yoongi grasped Taehyung's arms and steadied him.

"Prince Taehyung!...Please!...Get a grip on yourself." Yoongi pulled Taehyung to the nearest bench and made him sit down. 
Yoongi kneeled down in front of Taehyung,who was now shaking all over and put a hand on his knee. "Prince Taehyung, please calm down."

"C-c-calm?...What do you mean...why did you say my Hyung was gone?!...ANSWER ME Yoongi hyung!" Taehyung's deep voice cracked as more tears ran down his cheeks.

A  frustrated hiss came from behind Yoongi and the next second, he had been pulled up to stand upright by an arm around his elbow. Yoongi's eyes widened in shock as he looked into Jimin's. Jimin had been about to say something but he noticed Yoongi's shocked face and stopped, seeming to have realised a moment late, how much force he had just used.
He let go of Yoongi's elbow and blinked, his face embarrassed. 
"I-I'm sorry!...But Yoongi, seriously," Jimin sighed, "What the hell is happening here?" He looked at Taehyung and his face grew panicked. "Yoongi, what happened? Where is Seokjin?"

"Jimin ah..." Yoongi's eyebrows furrowed as he hesitated, looking back and forth between Taehyung and Jimin. Jimin narrowed his eyes at him, raising his arms up in the air, waiting for an answer. Taehyung looked like he would  faint.

Yoongi let out a deep breath and said, "He's gone-...g-g-gone on a mission!" 

Taehyung's frantic sobbing stopped and Jimin raised his eyebrows. 
"He's gone...on a what?" Jimin asked, enunciating every word, his disbelief evident in his voice.

"A diplomatic mission." Yoongi exhaled, his face forehead now covered in sweat.

Taehyung's eyes widened and he exhaled loudly, sinking his face down into his hands. 
Jimin's face hadn't changed a bit. He let out a small scoffing sound.

"A diplomatic mission?" Jimin uttered another scoffing little sound. "And what use is Seokjin in something like that?"

Yoongi looked at Jimin with an exasperated face. Taehyung looked up, his face still wet with tears and gave Jimin an angry look before looking at Yoongi.

"Yoongi hyung! You gave me SUCH a fright!" Taehyung said, wiping his face with the back of his hands like a child. He his lips. This was a lifelong habit he'd had - his lips went dry when he was nervous. "I'm sorry I shouted at you! But how?...Why so suddenly? Why didn’t hyung tell us anything before? And what's this mission for?" 

Yoongi pressed his eyelids together tightly, preparing himself for a long series of false explanations, which he knew would follow. 
But, it was nothing new. This wasn't the first time he'd have to tell a long succession of lies, all against his conscience, for Seokjin's sake.

"He's meeting certain warlocks who are helping with tackling the rebel situation at the capital. I can't tell you the rest. He wanted it to be top secret. And he didn't want anyone to find out before he leaves. He said he had his reasons. He would have gone later but he had to pre-pone it to this night.”

Jimin was at the door in a flash and tossed it closed. Yoongi looked at him,confused.
"Yeah, yeah, I know...that's no help against hybrid hearing. But it will give us privacy. I don't want someone walking in right now." Jimin said and Yoongi stumbled back a step as Jimin was right in front of him the next moment, glaring at him.

"So, in that case. We have nothing to fear. Taehyung has nothing to fear, is that right, Yoongi?" Jimin asked, his eyes fixed on Yoongi's. Yoongi found himself lowering his eyes.

"Yes...Prince Taehyung has nothing to worry about." Yoongi said, his voice low.

"What about the king's throne?...What happens to the decisions to be made here, at the capital, while Seokjin is away?  Jimin asked.

Yoongi sighed.

Why are you grilling me at such a time, Jimin? He thought.

"The next in command will be responsible for the time being."  Yoongi replied.

"Next in command?" Taehyung asked, confused. "Oh! That would be you! You're the high minister!...So that would make you responsible for the decisions on behalf of the king in his absence, right?" 

"No, Prince Taehyung...That's not the way it works." Yoongi said.

Taehyung had never taken any interest in the politics of the dominion. Neither had he ever had any affinity for power. He had, rather, always been on the run, desperate to hide from it.
 He had always made the wildest and often silliest excuses,  whenever he had been asked to be present at court meetings. Arguments between noblemen made him nervous, the complicated decisions made him anxious and every time a victim or criminal was brought in for a trial, he would have the hardest time getting over the trauma of the experience. Taehyung had always, mostly intentionally, remained oblivious to Centanaio laws.

"Prince Taehyung, the next in command to a Centanaio king is one whom the king selects. Usually the person he trusts the most with his throne as well as with the safety of his subjects. And ofcourse, this person must have royal blood."  Yoongi explained. “I’m not of royal blood, Prince Taehyung.”

"So..." Taehyung looked down, confused, before turning to Jimin. "Is it Jimin? That would be the only sensible choice after you. He has royal blood from his father's side too." 

"No, Taehyung shi...There is another better alternative to the both of us."  Yoongi smiled. "King Seokjin chose you." 

Taehyung blinked once, twice, thrice. His mouth opened wide as he stared at Yoongi with a very blank face. "Me?" His voice came in a low hoarse whisper.

"Yes, Prince Taehyung." Yoongi said.

Taehyung's expression slowly changed. His eyes narrowed as he studied Yoongi's face, as if expecting Yoongi to say at any moment now that he had been joking. When Yoongi did not do so, he laughed. It was not an amused or happy laugh. It was a laugh of utter disbelief and shock.

Jimin sniggered at Yoongi's side. Yoongi turned his head slightly towards Jimin, giving him the exasperated look again. Jimin inhaled loudly, stopped laughing and now made a poker face. 

"You have GOT to be KIDDING me. TELL ME you are kidding me. Tell me, Hyung! Tell me this is a joke. I'll laugh." Taehyung said, staring at Yoongi with wide eyes. He uttered disbelieving laughs at intervals.

Yoongi walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Prince Taehyung, you're his paternal cousin. You are a perfect choice."

Taehyung looked up at him in shock. "Yoongi hyung, are you serious?! I'm the WORST possible choice that you could have searched out in the entire world. Jimin, tell him I'm the worst."

"He's right, he is." Jimin said, not laughing, standing with a smirk now, with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Yoongi shook his head at him and turned to Taehyung. "No, Prince Taehyung. King Seokjin made a well thought out decision. Please don't feel afraid." 

"I'm not afraid." Taehyung said, shaking his head violently. "I'm terrified."

Yoongi sighed. The night's events had left him drained. The anxiety for Seokjin was still very much present in his mind, but he couldn't let it show on his face, in front of Taehyung.

"Prince Taehyung, we'll talk about this later. Jimin ah, can you please take Taehyung up to his room for the time being?"
............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Yoongi walked quietly along the basement corridor that led up to the room where Namjoon was being retained by his own guards, on Yoongi's orders. Yoongi massaged the back of his neck where there was still a throbbing pain that radiated up into his skull and seemed to disorient his brain at certain moments. He stopped and glanced around to see if anyone was nearby and making sure he wouldn't be seen by anyone, he walked up to a spiral staircase up ahead and sat down on one of the bottom steps, massaging his neck. He felt a sudden shuffling movement around him and his skin got goosebumps as he felt a weight on the step above the one where he was sitting. He raised his neck and leaned back as Jimin's cool hands landed on his shoulders.

"What happened to you? You terribly at lying, do you know that? No person other than Taehyung would have bought that ." Jimin said.

"Seokjin is missing." 

"Yes, that part is obvious. Now tell me the rest." 

Yoongi narrated to him the story of his encounter with Namjoon earlier that night.

Jimin clenched his fist and stood up. In a split second he was on his way to the room where Namjoon was held.

"Jimin aaah nooo! Aargh seriously! I cannot tell this boy anything! Why are you so hot headed?" Yoongi shouted behind him.

Jimin collided with Yoongi, who had appeared out of thin air, in front of him. He tried to make his way around Yoongi, but the latter caught him and stopped his motion. 
"Jimin ah no! No!”

Jimin could have easily overpowered Yoongi if he wanted to, but Yoongi knew he wouldn't do that for fear of Yoongi getting hurt.

"How dare he hurt you, that ing-..." 

"Jimin ah, we don't know yet that he did hurt me! Please...let me... question him. Please...trust me." Yoongi said, out of breath.

Jimin stopped struggling and looked at him, worried. "Yoongi, are you okay?"

"I am!...I-...I will be. Just-...Jimin ah, we need to find out what happened today. I need to question Namjoon for that. And I can't do that if you tear him apart.” 

"Fine." Jimin said. "But I'll be there with you. And if he tries to hurt you again..."

"You can do what you like with him, are you happy?" Yoongi said, laughing, wrapping his arms around Jimin's waist.

Jimin huffed and pouted.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Namjoon looked like a man, freshly out of a mental asylum. He was crouched in a chair, hugging his knees and he didn’t look up when Yoongi and Jimin entered.
Yoongi glanced at Jimin once with a warning eyebrow-raise, before he turned back to Namjoon and took a few steps forward towards him.

"Namjoon, I want you to tell us the truth. Why did you lie to me today about Jimin? And were you the person who injured me afterwards?" Yoongi asked, his voice patient and without any anger.

Namjoon blinked a few times. He did not answer.

"Namjoon?" Yoongi took another two steps up to him and leaned towards him. "Namjoon, I asked you a question. Answer me."

Nmajoon still remained unresponsive.

"Namjoon!...Answer my question. Tell me why did-...NO! JIMIN NO!" 

Namjoon screamed in pain as Jimin brought his face down against the table in front of him with one hand, twisting his arm behind his back with his other hand.
“Now will you speak?” Jimin said through gritted teeth. 

"Jimin I asked you NOT TO DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS! Namjoon is not a criminal!" Yoongi came up to Jimin's side and pulled at his arm, in vain. "JIMIN!" 

"I don't know what happened!!" Namjoon's sudden cry startled both of them. Jimin let go of him and Yoongi pulled Jimin away.

He turrned to Namjoon. "What...did you...say?"  Yoongi realised he was more breathless now, after the struggle to pry Jimin's arm off Namjoon's neck.

"I don't know! High Minister...Sir... I don't know what the hell happened!" Namjoon said, his eyes focussed on nothing in front of him.

Yoongi sat down on the table. "Namjoon...I need you to be clearer."

Namjoon looked up at him for the first time. The lost look in his eyes, suddenly transforming this skilled hybrid soldier into a helpless child, instantly raised sympathy in Yoongi. His face softened. He placed an arm on Namjoon's shoulder. There was an incredulous gasp from Jimin's direction but Yoongi silenced him by  holding up a hand.

"Sir...I saw...You won't believe me. There's no point." Namjoon whispered.

"I'll believe you. What did you see?"Yoongi said.

"I saw...Sir, I saw my father." Namjoon whispered.

Namjoon stared at Yoongi with wide eyes, studying his reaction.

Yoongi's hand fell from Namjoon's shoulder. He sat as still as stone.

Jimin walked up to him and turned to talk to Namjoon. Namjoon cowered away from him. If they had been human, the sight would have been a comic one. A man the size of Namjoon cowering away from someone Jimin's size. But anyone who knew Jimin would know that Namjoon was wise in doing this.

“Did you just say you saw your father?” Jimin said. “Yoongi he’s gone nuts.”

“I told you there was no point telling anyone, Sir.”Namjoon said, looking at Yoongi. “Noone will believe me. But I saw him. He-he hugged me and... And then...”

“Your father, who was banished from this dominion around two decades ago, with a curse that prevented him from ever being able to enter the capital?... That father?... You remember, Namjoon, that Yoongi was the one who cast that spell himself, right?”

Next to him, Jimin noticed Yoongi grip the edge of the table with his hands, hard. He looked down at Yoongi, who hadn’t spoken yet since Namjoon had mentioned his father. 

“I’m not lying! And... And then, after I hugged him. I don’t remember anything after that.” Namjoon said. 

Yoongi stood up suddenly. He looked at neither Jimin, nor Namjoon. 
“I’m not feeling well, I need to go to my room. I’ll speak with you later, Namjoon. You can go to your chambers for the night. Don’t try to leave the castle, the guards won’t let you.” Yoongi said in one breath. 

Jimin was about to say something but Yoongi ignored him, walking past him and out the door. 
......................................................................................................

Taehyung breathed in the scent of the fresh petals that had landed onto his favourite resting spot, the window sill overlooking the garden full of flowering trees. A light breeze ruffled his blonde hair, which had grown just a bit long now over his forehead. He rested his head against the lace curtains and sighed. 
“Why, Hyung? Why me?” Taehyung said to himself. “You know I’m hopeless.”
He watched the movement of castle guards below his window. 
“I’m a loser.” Taehyung said with a sad face. “Royal blood!  I’m a joke for a royal... I’m no replacement for a king. I’m barely even a prince.”
As he talked to the picture of his hyung in his mind, his hyung’s broad shouldered figure in his imagination slowly changed... It grew darker, leaner, the face now invisible in a shadow. 
This image overlapped with another. A beautiful ebony haired baby with blue eyes, the sound of his laughter still crystal clear in his mind. Sometimes, Taehyung thought he had imagined even these memories. How could he remember the baby’s face so precisely, when he himself had been a child at that time? 
The dark figure... A mystery that always accelerated his breathing, made his heart beat faster. Jungkook’s image. 
What he would have looked like today. The face was a mystery, dark and clouded. 
Why did he think so much about his long lost cousin? The child was not alive anymore, everyone told him. But a part of him did not believe it. 
“He would have been a good prince. A good king, maybe.” Taehyung said to himself.
“And he wouldn’t have been a prisoner in his own home.”

The moment Taehyung had said these words, he felt guilty. His hyung had only always wanted to protect him. 

“I almost lost you forever once. I will not let it happen again.” His hyung would say. 

Taehyung sighed in sadness. His hyung loved him deeply, he couldn’t complain about being loved and protected. But he couldn’t completely coax his mind every time he felt suffocated inside the cold stone castle walls. He longed to be outside, longed to have the freedom to break out of this stone cage whenever he had the wish to do so, like others could. He longed for the freedom of decision, almost as much as he longed for the summer air on his skin. 
Someday, maybe... 

​​​​​​
Taehyung mulled over the various times he had had the urge to climb out of his room and sneak out. He had always been good at climbing. That was the one skill he had, which prevented complete elimination of any similarities with his clan. But on one such endeavour, Seokjin had found out- Taehyung had taken just a little longer than he had planned to stay out. He had returned to find guards searching out the castle surroundings for him. He had evaded their eyes and climbed into his room. Seokjin and Yoongi had been there,  Seokjin in tears when he saw Taehyung safe. 
The sight of his Hyung in tears had given him so much pain that he had resolved to never repeat the same again. Nothing was worth letting that happen again. He could not watch his hyung in pain. He hated anyone who hurt his hyung, even if it were himself. 
Taehyung blinked and his eyes slowly widened, twinkling with an idea. 

But... Hyung isn’t even here at the Capital... 
He could never find out..Like Jiminnie says, what you don’t know can’t hurt you. 
But what if he finds out later?... 
I’ll return soon. Just one night. No one needs to know. 

​​​​​

Taehyung looked down at the guards patrolling the grounds and his lips curled up in a grin. 

“Its time for the chicken to flee the nest.” Taehyung grinned, making what Jimin would have called the “alien face” and moving his arms in a happy dance. 
He leaned over the edge of the granite window surface that jutted out directly above an oak tree and smiled. He turned away from it and jumped off the window, landing lightly onto the white fur carpet of his room and covered the length of the wooden floor separating him from the a black door in the wall, in three long strides. Pulling one of the doors open, he removed a black hooded sweatshirt from inside it. He removed his own white formal shirt and threw it on his bed, pulling on the sweatshirt in one swift movement. Taehyung then jumped up to the window again, crouching on the cold granite surface and surveying the front yard below, taking mental notes of the different locations of the guards. His golden hair disappeared inside the black hood as he pulled it above his head, hiding away this conspicuous part of himself. 
One of the guards, who was situated right below the Oak tree turned his head to a spot above his head at the top of the tree, his stance immediately changing to an attacking one. The other guards picked up on his tension and looked at the site of his attention. There was a movement through the thick tuft of leaves that grew as a canopy over their heads. All three of the guards at the gate came to stand beneath the tree, getting ready for intercepting whoever it was that had slid down through the branches. 
Their ears picked up on a very soft giggle coming from the same direction, somewhere above. One of the guards gave a frustrated hiss and moved to the bark of the tree, placing both hands on the bark before removing them giving a hard push against it. The leaves over their head shuffled with a large sound and a shower of old leaves fell on the three guards. This was followed by a loud wail as the guard who had pushed the tree fell to the ground.

A grey furball leapt off from his face and jumped up to crouch in front of his companions, who took a few steps back each. 

“I HATE that thing!” The guard who had been attacked by Aphrodite stood up in a flash, rubbed his face, which was now red, both with embarrassment and panic. “I hate that MUTT!”

One of the other guards raised a finger to his lips, indicating for him to keep quiet. “Don’t say that, Minhyuk. She’s prince Taehyung’s pet.”

“Pet my arse!” Minhyuk spat. “A vampire with a pet wolf pup! The abomination... Has anyone ever heard of something like this?! I still wonder how King Seokjin agreed to keep this thing in the castle!”

Aphrodite turned slowly and faced him, her head low. She bared her canines at him and a low growl rose from her. 
Minhyuk backed away a step, with a revolted face. 

“Leave her alone, Minhyuk! If someone finds out that you were saying this stuff about her, you might get kicked out. Prince Taehyung loves her a lot. And King Seokjin wants her safe at all costs.”

Minhyuk scoffed. “Yes that’s why this thing’s still safe. Or else, by now, I would have-...”

Aphrodite placed one small paw forward. Minhyuk cringed and his heel, walking away to stand at his designated spot, keeping his head turned all the time to monitor her.

The other guards did the same, gri