TRIGGER/WARNINGS(overall): Rape/non-con, abduction, physical and emotional abuse.

TRIGGER/WARNINGS (THIS CHAPTER): none

Even without the metal armor, the guard is incapable of moving quietly. Kurt grits his teeth and does his best to ignore it. He resents the man for his good nature and the way he caves in to Kurt's every demand as if he knows Kurt is a prince and he is a human unworthy to even set eyes on him. But even while anger simmers under Kurt's every movement, he is grateful too and that feeling just feeds the anger.

After that first time out, the human doesn't speak at all, but Kurt sees the questions in his eyes. Sometimes he thinks about breaking the silence first, but the quasi-silence is the first measure of peace Kurt has had since his capture. And they do communicate, a conversation carried out entirely without words. Kurt learns that a tilt of a head means the man heard something and that he requires silence to determine if it's a threat or not. A quirk of the lips indicates amusement at Kurt or himself or something Kurt didn't see. Even when it seems he isn't paying attention, Kurt catches small movements that tell him the closed eyes are a ruse and that he will spring up at the slightest hint of danger.

At first Kurt thinks the conversation is one sided. Then he realizes that his body language is being read just as clearly. The guard backs off when Kurt squares his shoulders. He follows Kurt's gaze when draws himself up and pauses. When Kurt sighs, he inclines his head in silent question that Kurt never answers.

But the number one rule is that they never touch and the guard never questions why, for which Kurt is grateful. Two weeks pass and he feels more himself than he has in years. The sun no longer burns his skin and the wind doesn't chafe. At the same time, his bones ache and when his eyes are closed he almost feels his wings being curled against his body trying desperately to unfurl.

He's found a new clearing, this one closer to the palace. The guard found it, actually. Kurt saw the worry in his eyes as they neared the edge of the imposed restriction and he nearly growled in his frustration but the guard turned in to the forest and Kurt followed. A few minutes later they came into a small grove, an almost perfect circle with a single tree in the center. Since then they head there every day in the morning and spend several hours sitting in the sun and communicating in a way that makes Kurt's soul soar.

"You know what I am." Kurt doesn't phrase it as a question because there isn't one in his mind. He sees the looks the guard gives him sometimes, as if he's something fragile and foreign. His eyes are on the man and he sees the shock at being addressed and then watches the man swallow before answering.

"People said you bewitched the prince," he answers. Kurt never heard that before, but he doesn't talk to anyone.

"You agree with them." Kurt stands poised, feeling his body ready to take off and he knew the guard saw that but he makes no move to go forward.

"I did, but I don't anymore." The man's breath is harsh and the words are spoken like an apology, tumbling one after another in a strange staccato that should make his ears hurt but surprisingly didn't. "You seem unhappy, but I don't understand why. Do you miss the prince?"

Kurt sits on the ground, legs crumpling in a way that looks graceful when he does it but would make anyone else look awkward. He draws his legs up to his chest, resting his back against the tree. He's in the center of the clearing and the guard is on the edge, eyes following Kurt's movements in a way that worried him at first but now just makes him feel safe. He opens his mouth and closes it, considering the consequence of confessing. "I won't tell anyone."

The guard moves closer, slowly. Kurt resists the urge to run but holds his breath until the man stops several feet away and crouches down. He's reading Kurt and suddenly Kurt feels like he is an open book in a way he never has been before. Even his own people couldn't read him the way this man can; this nondescript human whose eyes penetrate Kurt's every defense and strip them away until he's exposed.

"I hate him," Kurt hisses, anger rising in his throat and escaping through his words and the contortion of his face. The man looks shocked and he glances over his shoulder but they are alone and when he looks at Kurt again there is no judgment, just curiosity. The fury is all consuming but it burns up quickly and Kurt is just tired at the end. He slumps, and though the guard moves forward out of instinct he stops himself before they touch and Kurt is thankful because any touch would be too much. They stay like that – Kurt sobbing soundlessly and the man watching over him – until the daylight slips away.