Anders's teeth chattered against themselves, fighting off the brisk air straining to drink the warmth from his breath, and the urge to completely sever his tongue from his mouth. In the span of three seconds, he had already broken all three rules.
Georg and Kai's words burned in the back of his mind, lashing his every shiver with a bitter, "We told you so" chant echoing its' laughter. And even if this wasn't who he thought he was—the churning pit in stomach told him he was doomed anyway.
If you should ever encounter his majesty of this castle, never speak unless spoken to.
Always bow.
And never look the master in the eye.
So much for pie, Anders's thought glumly. He gazed up at the man towering over him with those icy eyes burying themselves into his own, like the snow outside itself. Oh, if only this were snow. Out of the corner of his eye, Anders noticed a faint movement of lips; pale lips that seemed to glow under the ribbons of light that slithered into the study. Anders slowly placed the distant mouth to a face that soon drunk in the icy eyes into its' skull with ease. And ever, so carefully, Anders's ears—deaf from the blood roaring through them—pieced together the voice with words. Words that flowed like velvet as the voice said,
"Are you going to stand there all day?"
Anders flinched away from the figure and stumbled forward, turning on his heel to face him once more. Boredom laced the corners of the man's lips with a thin frown as his arms crossed over his chest. Heat crawled across Anders's cheeks and he threw his self into a low bow.
"I-I," he stumbled over his words, his flush searing his cheeks against the cold. He spared a glance up at the man. "I'm sorr—"
The man raised a hand; freezing the words from pouring from the boy's mouth. His pale, blue eyes roamed over Anders's quaking frame, seeming to chip away his skin with ease. He watched the boy chew on his tongue, beads of sweat freezing to his brow before they could even surface, as he looked up at him with his flittering gaze.
"Do you know who I am?" The man leaned back against his desk.
Anders's mouth dropped, then closed, gaping like a fish for a moment before his ears turned red—whether it was from the man's presence or the cold he didn't know. "…no." He grumbled.
A low chuckle rumbled in the back of the man's throat, bringing Anders's gaze up to him immediately. The man's head tilted to the side as he stepped toward the boy. Anders froze, fighting the urge to cover his self with his arms as the man circled around him slowly. The man rubbed a finger at his chin and drunk in every shiver the boy made once his eyes trailed down him, almost as if he were stripping him of not his clothes—but his babe flesh. A chill ran down Anders's spine at the thought and felt his heart claw at his chest. Begging to race out of the study while his body was left to freeze under this man's—stranger's—deadly gaze that burned him.
If only I could, Anders wept inwardly.
"So," The man mused, jerking Anders's out of his thoughts. Anders's blood ran cold as a finger, colder than ice, brought his chin up. The man let a bitter chuckle rouse in his mouth before letting a dark flash cross his features. His fingers crept along Anders's cheeks, leaving trails of frost along the soft skin before his nails traced over them teasingly. "You're the little prince Kai and Georg have been rearing, hmm?"
Anders's heart sank at how the man spat the words at him. As Anders's hands balled up at his sides, the man rolled his eyes as he let go, making Anders tumble forward. He strolled over behind his desk and fell back into the air as a chair crafted of ice formed instantly to catch him. He crossed a leg over the other and slid up to his desk. Anders stared at him until he snapped his fingers, the shadows of the study sliding back to their domains behind bookcases as a pale glow emitted from the ice. The walls glowed a faint bluish white, dancing over the floor's snowflake center that mirrored the domed ceiling overhead. Anders's jaw dropped as awe fell from his lips.
He bit back a gasp as he eyed the rows of books, bounded by ice and leather, circle around the study until one slid off the shelf. Miniscule flurries of snowflakes whirled around the thick book, carrying it through the air as it landed with a soft thud on the man's desk. Anders brought his gaze up at the man and felt his heart shudder.
Golden, ivory locks were brushed back from the man's face, a lone strand of a bang brushing just above his eye as the light seemed to caress his skin—trapping it underneath even if not emitting. His thin fingers whisked across the pages of the book, eyes roaming across its words as he snatched a quill at his side to scribble mercilessly across thick parchment papers stacked neatly around his wide desk. Anders blinked while another flush burned its way across his cheeks. How could this be the same creature towering over him just seconds ago? He was so…so…
"Pretty," Anders whispered in a hushed voice, careful not to flinch at his thoughts being voice aloud. Yet, the man didn't look up, eyes lost in the papers around him while he rolled his parchment up into a scroll. Pressing his index finger onto its' center, a crest of ice in the shape of a single snowflake circled around the paper. He moved it to the side of the ice desk as he snatched another blank parchment and began to scribble once more. Anders stared on in silence, eagerly drinking in the way the man's fingers seemed to dance along the paper as he wrote.
"Aren't you going to get to it?" the man asked, not glancing up from the papers.
Anders's jumped, snapping his eyes away. "Wha-what?"
"Your dusting," the man said, pointing to the discarded washcloth and bucket on the floor with the feather of the quill. "Georg sent you up here for something, correct."
Anders blinked and grabbed the washcloth.
"R-right!" Anders said, shuffling to the corner of the study where a small chest laid. His fingers brushed over the cloth, its' bristles now soft to the touch as he dipped it into the water. He gingerly began wiping over the metal chest, forcing his eyes on the intricate carved patterns as they wandered over the desk where the man worked.
Focus! The pie! The pie! Think of the pie! He scolded his self, moving onto the bottom of one of the bookshelves.
The war between dusting and staring waged on painfully until Anders's finished dusting the last of the bottom bookshelves. He glanced up at the top of the one in the center of the study where a silver snowflake twirled in midair idly as if gazing at the world below it when it caught something interesting in its' swirls. Anders's brows furrowed, scrunching his sleeves up to his elbows as he crouched down low. He let out a grunt as he leaped upward, falling back too short while he waved his arms in the air with the washcloth.
"Let it go, boy." Anders looked back over to the man, eyes still glued to his work. "You've done enough. You're dismissed."
Anders blinked, mouth opening slightly as he pointed to the top shelf.
"But—"
"You're. Dismissed." The words slapped him harshly as ice practically dripped from them.
Anders gave a faint nod, cradling his bucket beneath his arm and moving to the door. He casted a glance back at the man over his shoulder.
"Um, sir," he murmured hesitantly, the scribbling of the quill filling the pause in between. "Wha-what do want me to call you?"
The scribbling came to an abrupt halt as the man glanced up from his work. His lips thinned once more, eyeing the boy up and down from his white hair to the wet patches of wool clinging to his skin. He stared at him for another moment before looking down at his papers again.
"Just 'Sir' is fine, boy." He said.
Anders nodded, quickly slipping out into the hallway as his feet carried him through the darkness. As soon as his feet skidded along wooden floorboards, his feet sang out at the dull warmth filling his senses. He slid past the dock where the cleaning supplies laid, dropping his bucket and washcloth into a cubby before racing towards the heart of the servants' quarters.
"I'm back!" he called out, stumbling through the kitchen door.
He instantly wished he didn't.
Two pairs of fiery glares, one softer than the other, pinned him to the floor as Kai stormed across the kitchen towards him. Her hand came down upon his head, shaking it forcefully.
"Where have you been?" she snarled, fighting against the full fire roaring in her belly. "Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?"
Anders winced at the calloused bruises digging into his scalp. "B-but," An arm wrapped around his neck, squeezing the breath out of him.
"I swear I'm gonna—" Kai started, yelping at the lash against the back of her head.
Georg stood, patting his spoon as he glared down at the two of them.
"Kai, let go of Anders." Kai spun around, tongue freezing to the roof of her mouth at the bubbling heat rising in Georg's eyes. "Now."
Kai sighed, dropping Anders from her hold as ruffled his hair. "Don't do that again kid."
Anders nodded, barely catching the hurt swimming beneath her silver eyes as she stomped back over to the table. Georg gave him a sympathetic look as beckoned him over to the table as well.
"Well now that we're finally settle," Georg sighed, but before he could finish Kai stabbed her fork down into a piece of Beo-Boar meat and tossed it in her mouth, moaning at the savory seasoning that scratched at her tongue. Anders bit back a giggle while Georg shook his head.
After the three finished delving into their meal, a pout rounded itself upon Anders's lips as Georg pulled a thick blanket over him.
"Oh, don't give me that look." Georg chastised, smoothing over the sheets with his large hands.
"But no dessert until the fourth moon?" Anders whined. "I'll be all old and brittle by then!"
"It's only four months."
"That's enough to die from lack of sugar!"
Georg rolled his eyes and rose from the bed. He kneeled down next to Anders and tilted his head to the side. The candle's flame casted shadows over Georg's face, making the thin wrinkles on his face grow deeper along his cheeks.
"Now can you tell me what really took you so long in the halls?" Anders flinched, rolling off to the side of the bed before Georg added softly, "Anders."
He groaned, rolling over to Georg once more as he huffed. His arms crossed over his chest under the blankets.
"I…was cleaning extra halls down the hallway." He murmured quietly.
Georg's eyes widened before he clamped a hand down on Anders's shoulder.
"Anders, what were you thinking?!" His voice strangled between panic and anger. "Do you have any idea who or what you could've come across?" Anders bowed his head, his pout whimpering into a frown as he shook his head. Georg sighed. "Anders, you understand that Kai and I are hard on you because we don't want anything to happen, right?"
Anders shrugged his shoulders.
"Auntie Kai wants to take me outside," he mumbled.
"She's joking." Georg tilted Anders's chin up. "Besides, she'll have to go through me before getting a chance to take you out there."
A faint smile curled along Anders lips before he brought a hand at Georg's sleeve.
"Uncle Georg?"
"Hmm?"
Anders sucked in a harsh breath as he asked, "What's the master of the castle like?"
He could feel the muscle underneath Georg tense as he breathed out slowly.
"He's…a very, very cold man." He began. "Anytime he passes through kingdoms, all kings give up their riches, their wives—even children—to him. In fact," He leaned down close, breath ghosting the shell of Anders's ear. "Even the Devil hides when he's near."
"Why?" Anders shivered. "Is the Devil too scared to face fear?"
"No—too scared to face his own spawn."
Anders's brows morphed into a thick line. Millions of questions burned at the tip of his tongue, yet were snuffed out by the fact that Georg would never answer any of them.
Except one.
Hopefully.
"Uncle Georg?" Georg tilted his head to the side, eyeing the boy curiously. Anders gulped down the knot in his throat and asked, "What's his name?"
Georg jumped from the bed as if it were the master. He shook his head vigorously, a frown etching deep upon his mouth.
"Anders, no one is allowed to speak his name!" he said in a rush. "Not even his right hand man."
"I won't say it, I just want to know. Please!" Anders pleaded.
Georg froze, Anders bottom lip sticking out like a wounded puppy. He gnawed the inside of his cheek and rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. Casting a quick glance at the door, Georg kneeled down to the bed and leaned in close.
"You cannot and will not speak of this to anyone. Understand?" Georg said, voice thick in a low rumble as Anders nodded his head. The boy held his breath and scooted closer to the edge of the mattress. Georg let his self cast one more glance at the door and dove next to the boy's ear. His hot breath washed over the shell of Anders's ear as a single word brushed from his lips and sunk into Anders's mind.
"What are you two doing?" Kai's voice called.
The two flinched, glancing over at Kai's frame leaning against the door frame.
"Just trading secrets Kai." Georg chuckled uneasily.
Kai rolled her eyes as he rose from the floor.
"Course you are, now could you be so kind and gather the meat." Kai said, sliding back into the hall. "The blood was drained hours ago."
"I will! I will!" Georg leaned back on his heels as her frame disappeared and let out a deep sigh. He looked down at Anders, running his fingers through his ashen hair. "Now remember what I said, Anders. No one is to hear about this." Anders blinked up at him with a wide grin.
"Hear about what?" he said cheekily.
Georg chuckled, leaning down to let his lips brush against Anders's forehead. Anders giggled at the rough, cracked flesh tickling his skin as Georg rose to head to the door. He leaned over and gently blew out the candle next to the door.
"Good night Anders."
Anders grunted back and squirmed under the thick sheets. His eyes drunk in the darkness around the room as he stared up at the ice ceiling overhead shaking under the dull stomps of ice soldiers. He let his head sink back into his pillow and let out a breath, his ears buzzing from the name bouncing off the walls of his mind. Each time the name left his invisible lips, it sounded even finer as if he were chipping away ice to discover the sculpture beneath.
Elias.
Elias.
Elias.
Elias.
His tongue curled around the name, swirling it around his mouth before swallowing it down. I wish I could say it aloud. The way the light and ice danced around the man sent a shiver running down the boy's spine as the memory rose from the back of his mind. Suddenly, his stomach sank, feeling shreds of guilt begin to pierce him.
I should have told Uncle and Auntie where I was, he thought glumly, eyelids growing heavy at the darkness tucking him in. I should tell them tomorrow.
Anders's eyes shot open as he bolted up from his bed, almost as if the very thought seared his backside. He ran his fingers through his hair and gasped. He would never be able to leave the quarters again if he told them. He would be lucky to even leave his room! Yet, the same passive face lined with a foreign power drifted through Anders mind and he groaned. He plopped back onto his pillow. His lips pursed into a pout while his fingers tangled themselves together. He tossed this way and that as he tried to let sleep whisk him away, yet every time he closed his eyes the man would appear at the back of his eyelids. Anders groaned louder tugging at his hair while staring up at the ceiling.
He watched as miniscule colors of light zipped over the ceiling that rattled again; seeming to dance and fray before following another being that quelled the cacophony above. His lips thinned out into a straight line, glaring up at the ceiling with a renewed vehemence pooling beneath his eyes. His tongue finally flattened, teeth finally done batting the truth from its' system as Anders forced his eyes to close. Master of the castle, rules, phantom, his majesty, sir, or not.
He was going to see that man again.
Even if he was doomed.
A/N:
Thank you for reading! :)
