Day 124, 0530hrs
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Yozak Gurrier awoke with the dawn, Conrart slept fitfully on the other side of the bed. It was a sad change in the dynamics of their relationship – but Yozak no longer touched his friend in bed unless Conrart first initiated that contact. He fully understood Conrad's shyness – but still the enforced separation hurt. So did seeing Conrad curled up on the very edge of his bed, obviously afraid of his touch.
He sighed and pulled himself out of bed, and quickly tucked the cover's more closely around Conrad's slim shoulders. He was careful not to actually touch the man. But he couldn't let him catch cold. He turned away, after gazing at his whimpering friend sadly for a moment and procceded to dress for the day ahead. An easy task considering he'd slept in his clothing baring his over tunic boots and belt.
To his immense surprise Conrad's sleepy voice called out for him.
It didn't take long to reassure his friend that he wouldn't be gone long, carefully he broke the news that they were going to be searching Aisen's room, and the rooms belonging to every single one of Conrad's men from the cadets to the officers. Since he was technically still Conrad's second in command he needed to be there. To his surprise Conrad was afraid. He didn't want to be left alone.
"What if Aisen comes back?"
Yozak blinked, it should have occurred to him that that was what Conrad was afraid of. "Aisen is currently in a cell in the dungeon, being guarded by men we can vouch for. He won't come near you again."
Hopefully those men are having some fun with the bastard!
It took a while but finally Conrad let him go. He just had to post guards outside of all the doors. He felt a little sorry for Ari, the poor man was bound to look silly guarding a stretch of what looked like empty wall.
~~~***~~~
Day 124, 0540hrs
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Yozak followed Gwendal into the barracks, his back strait and his eyes forward all of Conrad's men had been pulled off duty and replaced with men from either Gwendal's private army or Wolfram's. Wolfram walked quietly at his side – it appeared that yesterday had taken much of the wind out of the young lord's sails. Six of Gwendal's men walked behind him. They started with the officer's wing, simply barging into the room without a word and scaring the hell out of Commander Travis, who was summarily ordered to wait at attention outside (in his underwear) while they ransacked his room.
Travis was clean.
Truthfully Yozak Had expected no different.
Travis was the officer who fell directly under him in the line of command – he was also a friend.
They let the poor man back into his now very disorderly room so he could put some clothes on - and then proceeded to ransack every other officer's room. That done they walked into the lower barracks where the cavalryman bunked two to a room.
A trumpet blaring at 0600hrs is enough to scare anyone out of bed.
No amount of training changed that.
~~~***~~~
Day 124 0625hrs
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It hadn't taken long to systematically ransack every single room in the barracks reserved for Conrart's men. After all it wasn't like they were cleaning up after themselves, or being overly careful with the side of the room thing were kept on. Every once in a while one of the men was called into the room and asked to explain something they'd found before being sent back outside to stand on either side of their respective door.
They'd saved Aisen's room for last, being perfectly aware of what they might find behind the door.
About a week ago Aisen had been assigned a roommate from among the new recruits – rumor had it he wasn't happy about losing his 'private room' and was making the poor man's life hell. They went through the recruit's stuff first, stuffing everything into a canvas bag after they'd finished their inspection. Yozak slung the bag over one strong shoulder and marched out into the hallway where the men (all currently in various stages of dress or more commonly undress) waited. He dumped the bag at the young man's feet.
"Have your rooms ready for inspection in 2 hours." He ordered sharply. "I want you all to assemble in the hallway as soon as you've gotten your rooms fit for inspection. Am I Understood?"
The men didn't hesitate, "Sir Yes Sir," they chorused.
"Carter, Chandler, I want you two to find this cadet a vacant room, before you return to your own." That said he turned and went back into Aisen's room, closing the door behind him.
Unsure of where to start, he started pulling leather bound journals off the shelf. Things that out dated Aisen's assignment to Conrad's unit he tossed haphazardly to the side. They were utterly irrelevant. He found a datebook that was identical to Conrad's down to the design on the leather cover. Flipping it open he found an exact copy of Conrad's planner – written in Aisen's hand. Mildly degusted and a little perturbed he tossed it into a canvas bag, and pulled the next one from the shelf.
This one was a sketch book full of random sketches of Conrad simply going about his daily life. They were actually quite good if rather creepy he tossed that into the bag as well.
"Does Lover's Passion mean anything to anyone?" wolfram asked, sounding utterly bewildered.
" No," Gwendal responded from where he was currently inspecting a small wooden implement that looked suspiciously like a seal. "Why?"
"Because I just found a written apothecary receipt made out to Aisen for 4, 4oz packets of the stuff. It cost a pretty penny to from the looks of it." Wolfram replied "I just wondered what it was since the man spent at least 2 weeks pay on it."
Yozak looked up "sounds like a aphrodisiac, based on the name. Keep looking."
Gwendal dumped the seal and a partly used stick of red wax into a smaller bag and, began pulling open drawers. "Sick bastard," he muttered holding up a pair of familiar cotton boxers, the elastic waistband proclaiming their origins to be earth. A pair of black silk drawstring boxers followed - then white, gray, tan, green and several others – all high quality silk. He dumped them unceremoniously into the bag and went back to searching.
~~~***~~~
Day 124, 0650hrs
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Yozak sighed as he opened yet another journal so far all he'd found was proof that the man had an unhealthy fascination with his lover. Gwendal's discovery of Conrad's missing undergarments, was by far more incriminating than anything he'd found in the man's journals so far, the man kept one for each month all he had to do was find the right ones. The sketchbook had more incriminating evidence – although so far they were little more than sketches of Conrad astride his horse or Conrart watering his little patch of flowers in the former Queen's private garden.
However it seemed that as time went by Aisen became more and more bold, and more and more deranged. Conrad was the most loved captain in the Maou's armies, because he was kind, considerate, and treated all of his men with respect. In addition to that he did his best to remain approachable, there wasn't a single problem in the Barracks he didn't know about – and he gladly gave up what little free time he had to help his men in any way he could. Unfortunately it seemed that was what had first attracted Aisen to him. From what he could tell it had started out as admiration and moved into hero worship - he had no idea how it had become sexual.
He blinked in surprise, and actually read the paragraph he'd just skimmed through. It described the night Conrad had gone drinking with his men. In its pages he discovered exactly how Conrad had ingested the aphrodisiac. That bastard had been watching Conrad and paying enough attention to realize that the man always had time (or rather made time) for children. He'd used that to his advantage apparently and employed his brother's children in distracting Conrad. He'd mixed the drug with Conrad's bitter ale – hoping that come morning Conrad would think he'd had too much to drink and would come to 'realize his feelings'.
He was about to close the book and mark it as one of the ones that likely had a lot of the information they needed, when something slipped out from the pages. He caught the little thing before it could come completely free and looked at it. It looked to be nothing more than a coin turned into a bookmark or a small pendent at first glance. But it was made of gold – pure enough that it was no longer completely circular. It was only about half the size of a gold noble, but it bore the original crest of Conrart's House. And marked him as the true heir to the throne of Big Shimaron – and like his father before him Conrad had stored it in a small box in a locked drawer of his office.
Aisen's possession of it meant he'd been in Conrad's lock drawer.
He wondered at the fact that it was being used as a bookmark, and curious as to what it marked and whether it could be important he flipped the journal open to that page.
And nearly vomited at the mere sight of the sketch, on one page
He knew Conrart, he knew everything about the man, from little things like the fact that he loved honey but thought peanut butter was to chunky, to the sounds the man made as they made love, to his favorite position. He knew his facial expressions, so even in a sketch he could see the pain on Conrad's face just as clearly as he could see –
Everything else.
He skimmed the content of the page beside it, completely horrified –
He dropped the book and bolted for the nearest rubbish bin. He had the presence of mind to empty it (in case it held anything important) before he lost last night's dinner.
He was almost completely oblivious to the hand's holding back his hair. Wolfram's hands by the feel of it. He rose to his feet and whipping tears from his eyes with one hand before he used a corner of his tunic to wipe his mouth. "I found what we need to charge that bastard with rape." He said after taking a second to regain control of himself.
He paused for a second, the rage bubbling in his breast. He hated Aisen, he wanted to kill him slowly with his bare hands! he wanted
He didn't know what he wanted!
He should have been there! He should have protected Conrart!
Conrart was his everything
And he hadn't been there to protect him.
He'd never been this angry before.
He was utterly useless!
Without thinking he turned sharply and slammed his fist into the side of the armoire, venting a bit of his rage.
To his immense surprise the back of the armoire (they'd already searched) popped open revealing a false back. He closed his eyes and investigated the content and found six candle stubs, some dried rose petals, and a pair of stained underwear.
He couldn't take it anymore. He shouldn't be here Conrad, was his lover he had no place investigating his rape. But then under that logic neither did Gwendal and Wolfram. Tears running down his cheeks he got back to work going through that bastard's things looking for anything else they could use to have the man put away for a very long time. He didn't want that man to have the chance to be anywhere near Conrart ever again.
If he ever saw that pervert near his beloved best friend and lover again, he was going to kill him.
~~~***~~~
Day 124 0800hrs
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Yozak dismissed the guards as he walked back into Conrad's rooms it had taken a while but they'd finally gone through all of Aisen's things and found everything they could use against the bastard. He blinked startled by the sight of Conrart sitting quietly in the middle of his bed. He had the covers pulled up around his waist. He just looked so damned small and young. Yozak could tell Conrad was very scared – the poor man probably hadn't gone back to sleep after he'd left.
Carefully he settled himself down on the bed and gathered the man into his arms, carding his hand through Conrad's hair to help calm him.
15 minutes later Conrad was asleep against his chest.
~~~***~~~
Day 124, 1200hrs
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Conrad awoke to a gentle hand on his shoulder and the smell of beef stew. He sat up and looked around momentarily confused. Yozak sat on the edge of his bed, having pulled away as soon as he awoke.
"Lunch," the red-head said simply, reaching over to the nightstand and calmly transporting the tray that had been resting there to his lap. "You should eat, you are feeding three."
"Thank you," Conrad replied and began eating his lunch; it was a change from yesterday when he'd still been to shaky to eat on his own. Yozak had had to feed him – it had all been rather humiliating. "Aren't you eating?" he asked abruptly realizing Yozak was just watching him.
Yozak gave him a weak smile, "I just wanted to make sure you didn't need any help." He replied before rising to his feet and walking into the other room. He came back with a tray of his own.
Conrart was thankful he hadn't seen him blush.
They ate in companionable silence for a time before Yozak spoke again. "I want you to know that no matter what you decide, you have my full support." He would have said more but Conrad cut him off.
"You think I should 'take care of the situation' don't you?" he said simply looking down into his mostly empty stew bowl like it held the answers to all of the universes problems.
Yozak sighed and set his food aside. Carefully he moved so that he sat beside Conrad. Reaching out he lifted Conrad's chin. "It doesn't matter what I think, you should do what is right for you, but for what it's worth no I don't think you should terminate this pregnancy. You've always wanted children; you're just having them a bit earlier than expected. I just wanted you to know that I'll stand by you no matter what you decide. I know that Gwendal and his wife offered to adopt the child and send you away until this whole thing blew over – I also know you refused. I'll be at your side through all of it, Conrart, I'm more than happy to be an uncle to the twins." He paused, briefly gathered his courage and swallowed his fears before he pressed on. "I'd like to be more than that; if –if you'll let me I – I'd love their father."
Conrart blinked, and pulled his chin away, his eyes locked on his lunch. He shook his head. "You c- can't want me a-after this. I- I'm filthy! I – I won't take advantage of you Yozak, I won't. You d-deserve better. I – I'm filthy, you don't deserve that, you should be with someone who, who's worthy of you."
Yozak sighed, he'd sort of expected that.
Damned Aisen,
Damn his abuse
Both mental and sexual
It was hard to face, but that bastard had done more than just impregnate Conrart – he'd broken him to! For that if nothing else he hated the man. Carefully he moved the tray out of conrad's lap and set it aside. He then carefully gathered his friend into his arms. "You're not filthy." He said simply, "Aisen's filthy. This wasn't your fault Conrart; don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
When he'd gone to see lady Cecilia, to ask for her permission to court Conrart he hadn't expected any problems – the woman was after all on a quest for 'free love'. To some extent he'd been right – lady Cecilia hadn't had a problem with him courting her second born son; after she'd finished interrogating him – that is.
Her first Question had been 'How much do you love my son?' when he'd told her he loved Conrad with all of his heart, he'd expected that to be the end of it. He'd been wrong. Her next question had startled and amused him – but he wasn't about to inform Conrad's mother that he'd been sleeping with her son since they were both old enough. Instead he'd simply told lady Cheri that he was more than willing to wait for Conrad to be ready.
He'd meant it.
He still meant it.
It was going to be a long road to recovery for Conrart, he understood that. Just as he understood that any and all sexual relations where going to be suspended at least until the twins were born, If Conrad needed to he was willing to suspend them indefinitely. It wouldn't be pleasant, but he could find other ways to express his love for Conrart.
For now he would back off and wait, he'd give Conrad the time and the space he needed to heal. But he was also going to be there for Conrart! He was going to treat Conrart the same way he would have had the man actually been carrying his children. As for the twin's he saw them as Conrad's children, he would do everything he could for them. He wanted to see them grow up to be proud and strong. If he could get Conrad to marry him, those children would be raised as his own!
He would do everything he could for his friend. He wanted his Conrart back. He wanted to see the man smile, to hear him laugh.
For that to happen Conrad needed to heal
Conrad was going to need all the help he could get and Yozak wasn't about to abandon him when he needed him the most.
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A.N. sorry this chapter took so long, it was harder to write then I anticipated. Anyway read and review please. Seriously please.