Julian's first-person p.o.v. recollection to Hector

"The night was just like any other one at first – Prince Paris came back from the festivities earlier than everyone else and I was sent for to help him get ready for bed. He was quieter than usual, and that's saying something, but that was to be expected; he hadn't been feeling well as of late and just before he retired some drunken Greek tried to make him dance with him. I – I don't like the Greeks. I wish they would just go away because they confuse things and make them what they're not supposed to be. But anyway, the only really different thing that happened before the prince dismissed me was that he kissed my forehead when he thanked me and told me goodnight. Maybe I should have thought more about it, but I was too surprised to do that.

After all of that I went to leave out of the servants' door like I'm supposed to do. I got all the way down the corridor and even opened the door that leads out into the palace when I realized that I'd dropped my wooden goat, the one that my father carved for me. I know that I shouldn't have gone back to the prince's bedchamber without his permission but he'd just got done telling me not to lose it. He said that it was more special than all the treasure in Troy because it was a gift from my father! How could I not go back for it after Prince Paris said something like that – what if I didn't and he found it later and thought that I wasn't taking his words seriously? I had no intention of bothering him anyway, so I closed the door before a draft could come through and hurried as quietly as I could back.

I found it right behind the dressing curtain that's sort of in front of the entryway to the corridor and I should have left as soon as I got it, but I didn't because of what I saw. Prince Paris wasn't asleep or even in bed like I thought he'd be. He didn't see me because of the dressing curtain and also because he was staring out of the window anyway. I was so worried about him – he's never been happy really but I've never seen him look that confused and troubled. Of course it's not really my place to notice or say such things but since it's my job to take care of Prince Paris I try to keep track of his moods. Well, that drunken Greek had upset him plenty but still he wasn't worth all that turmoil and I guess I knew that there was more behind it.

As he was staring and I was fretting, the main door suddenly opened. That was strange enough because I know the guard locked it when Prince Paris came in. Nobody's supposed to be in there at all except for the prince and me when I'm working and most definitely not at that hour of the night. I was even more surprised when I saw that it was Lord Achilles who was coming in. I know that I should have gone for help right then and there but I didn't want to leave the prince alone with him.

For his part, Prince Paris didn't turn around, not even when Lord Achilles came right up behind him and pressed his body against his. Now I may not know much about how lords are supposed to act around princes but that's just something that he shouldn't have done! Even if it is proper among the nobility, Lord Achilles is a Greek and he can't go around touching a Trojan prince like that, right? But he did, and he wrapped his arms around his waist too.

'I missed you,' Lord Achilles murmured, which made the whole situation even more appalling. It's bad enough that he was pressing up against him but he also started talking to him with a proper greeting, like they were friends or something. He lifted up the bottom of the prince's sleeping robe to his thigh and then stuck his hands underneath. Prince Paris gasped but still didn't say anything. The hands started to move – I could see them doing so under his garment – and the prince started moaning.

'Do you like this?' asked Lord Achilles; he sounded like he was purring! Without waiting for an answer he opened his mouth and pressed it against the prince's neck. That's – that's – he's not supposed to do those kind of things to the prince!

'Yes,' Prince Paris finally said, but he was having a really hard time speaking. Then he let out this weird cry: 'Oh Apollo! Yes, there! Please!'

Lord Achilles smiled and I could see him moving his hands faster and faster while he kept on kissing and licking the prince's neck. Pardon me for saying so but dogs are supposed to lick, not people. Poor Prince Paris – he couldn't seem to say anything at all. He was moaning a lot and his breathing grew frantic. I've never seen anyone in such a fit before! I was afraid he was going to faint, but Lord Achilles wasn't going to go get a healer when that happened and I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave the prince all unconscious and alone with him after all of what he was doing. If he did stuff like that when Prince Paris was awake, who knows what he would do to him when he wasn't?

'You're close,' said Lord Achilles, though I can't imagine what he meant by that. Of course the prince knew how close he was to the Greek! 'Let me hear your release,' he urged on.

Prince Paris let loose a strangled shout and went limp against him. I thought he was going to slump to the floor but Lord Achilles had a good hold on him and kept him up and against him. Whatever was making it difficult for him to breathe must have passed somehow because he was panting so hard that I could see his chest moving up and down.

Once his knees didn't look so shaky, Lord Achilles let go of Prince Paris' waist and slid his hands up his body to mess with the clasp of his sleeping robe around his neck. 'Your garment is dirty,' he proclaimed. I swear by Apollo and every other god on Olympus that it's not true, Prince Hector! I make sure that all of the prince's unwashed clothing is out of his bedchamber and sent down to the washing women every single night and I would never, ever, give him a soiled robe to sleep in. Lord Achilles apparently thought otherwise because he continued, "You shouldn't wear such a sticky robe to bed."

The robe suddenly slipped off of Prince Paris' body and fell to the floor all around his feet. I'm so sorry – I didn't mean to see the prince naked! Lord Achilles shouldn't have either, but he, well he was looking, if you know what I mean. Then the prince turned around and I thought that Greek would look some more where he shouldn't have been but he didn't; he was only staring into Prince Paris' eyes and nowhere else. They got all pressed up against each other again and kissed on the mouth for a really long time.

'Do you remember what I taught you?' the lord asked when their mouths finally parted.

'Yes,' replied the prince with a nod.

'Show me.' And then Lord Achilles led Prince Paris over to the bed. He sort of stopped for a second like he was thinking about something and then sat down on the edge of the bed, adjusting his waist cloth in an odd way and spreading his legs apart. After that he reached behind him on the bed, grabbed a pillow like he was allowed to just take things off of there without asking permission first, and handed it to the prince while grabbing him and pulling him even closer. The prince put the pillow on the floor and got down on his knees right between the lord's legs. That's not right, sire; no Trojan prince should have to kneel before anyone, especially not a Greek! I could tell that he didn't want to do it at all because he started looking really nervous.

Lord Achilles reached out, cupping Prince Paris' face with one hand and stroking his hair with the other. It was very…gentle. I've heard so many stories about Lord Achilles the brute and Lord Achilles the merciless warrior, but never something that made it seem possible that he would do something so tender. 'Just like I taught you,' he whispered so softly that I had to strain to hear him. 'And remember that I love you no matter what.'

The look on Prince Paris' face – it was like that was just the thing he needed to hear, even though I thought he probably should have been offended at how forward Lord Achilles was being. After that he licked his lips and stuck his head under the lord's waist cloth! The lord's knees were blocking my view of what exactly he was doing under there but I could see that his head was moving and hear him making strange sucking and groaning noises. Whatever it was, it was making Lord Achilles come all undone; he was moaning and babbling things like: 'Oh, yes Paris!' and 'There. Use your tongue – yes, like that! By the gods, you're a good pupil.'

He finally managed to get a hold of his senses and grabbed the prince's shoulders. Prince Paris moved his head so that he could look up at him and I saw how flushed his cheeks had gotten in such a short amount of time. I thought that a fever had come upon him and that's why he was acting so odd. I'd hoped that Lord Achilles had noticed as well and was going to leave to let him get some rest, but all he said was, 'Do you have the oil that I gave you?'

Prince Paris gave him this look; I swear it was just like the ones that this girl named Daphne gives me all the time. When she does, I have to chase her around or else my friends will say that I – I like her. 'It's right in here,' he replied, getting up and walking to the chest of drawers by the head of the bed. He was, he was, well, he was hard, if you follow me. I'm sorry! It was so wrong of me to see him in such a state!

He opened up the top drawer and pulled out a vial to show to the lord. Lord Achilles looked as pleased as anything, like it was some grand gift or something. 'Will you join me on the bed?' he asked, sounding quite sly. Well, I imagine that I'd sound sly too if I was inviting a prince of Troy to get into his own bed like it was mine. Prince Paris didn't seem to mind, though; he just climbed right up in there. Lord Achilles removed his garments as quickly as he could – he was all hard too, and that was very inappropriate – and practically leapt onto the bed too.

I couldn't see them anymore – because of the bed's canopy I wouldn't have been able to get a look without coming out from behind the dressing curtain – but I could hear them. The prince was laughing! He was actually laughing, Prince Hector, and he sounded so happy. That's when I realized that it was the first time that I've ever heard him laugh at all. Oh, I suppose that someone doesn't really have a lot to laugh about when he's getting ready for bed, but I've been tending to him for two years and I've never heard so much of a titter out of him. I've seen him around the palace at times too, and he's never looked anything but sad. Then I thought more about it and I realized that he didn't look unhappy at all that night after the lord came in and started touching him. All of that sadness and confusion seemed to just drain away. I don't understand why that is.

'You laugh!' Lord Achilles teased him, but he didn't sound cruel or anything. 'You won't do so when you can feel me at the back of your throat.'

Like I said before, I couldn't see them but I could certainly hear them. They were really carrying on with all that moaning, crying out, and babbling – and not being very quiet about it at all. The prince would say stuff like, 'More! Harder! Oh gods, yes! My lo-' well, you know, on like that. Meanwhile, Lord Achilles was muttering things too, such as, 'So tight,' whatever that's supposed to mean. Suddenly Prince Paris shouted out 'Achilles!' and groaned loudly. A second later, the lord cried out Prince Paris' name – not using his proper title, I might add – and grunted.

After all of that all I could hear for a long time was the sound of deep breathing. I thought that the prince was finally going to be allowed to get the rest that he needed, but that wasn't the case. Just when I was wondering if now was the right time to go and get a guard or someone, I heard the covers moving and saw Lord Achilles stepping out of bed. He picked up his clothing off the floor and dressed quickly before turning back. 'Where do you keep your clothing?' he asked.

'In that closet,' the prince answered him. Lord Achilles marched right over to the closet and starting pulling out garments. It was a very rough way to handle such expensive things and Prince Paris must have thought so too because he asked, 'What are you doing?'

'We're leaving Troy tonight,' replied the lord. 'Get dressed.' I was so surprised to hear him say that because no one told me that the prince was going away! They would have to tell me, since I would have to go with him and look after him like it's my job to do. Oh, it would have been scary to go anywhere with Greeks, but I couldn't just desert him like that.

Prince Paris did what the lord told him to do, but he was looking doubtful again and even a little frightened. 'I can't leave yet,' he protested. 'I haven't even had the chance to say goodbye to Hector.' I beg your pardon, my prince, but that's what he said; I would never not use your title otherwise.

'I can't protect you here much longer,' argued Lord Achilles. 'You'll be safe in my homeland. Your brother can even visit – if he behaves himself.'

At that moment the main door crashed open so hard that the frame got broken – I guess that Lord Achilles didn't lock it after he came in – and two guards that I'd never seen before burst inside. 'Prince Paris!' one of them shouted. 'We heard a strange voice…'

They stopped talking and sniffed at the air. It was then that I noticed that the room was filled with a strange fragrance. The guard that had been speaking got this really annoyed look on his face for a moment and then started leering at the prince like some kind of animal. 'Well, my prince,' he sneered, making that proper title sound just like an insult, 'are you getting started a couple of years early?'

The expression that came upon Lord Achilles' face – I'm so glad that I'm not a warrior and will never have to face that during a battle! It just chilled my blood. He reached down into his boot, pulled out a long knife, and struck out at the guard, stabbing him through the neck. The other guard shouted out and grabbed at his sword but Lord Achilles got him the same way before he could even draw it.

The prince looked as shocked as I felt. 'Come,' Lord Achilles told him as he grabbed his arm. Prince Paris just stood there staring at the guards bodies, so Lord Achilles pulled him out of the room.

Even then I didn't do anything because my body wasn't cooperating and all I could do was sit there. The guards were dead and I couldn't save them. Prince Paris was gone and I couldn't get him back or go with him. I'm sorry for not going for help, but I was too stunned to even think properly. Perhaps I should've told all of this to someone sooner, but what really happened that night isn't what people think happened and I didn't want them to get mad and hurt me some more. Most of all, though; I don't think that Prince Paris wasn't anyone to know – to know that a Greek could make him that happy."

OOOOOOOOO Normal p.o.v.

Hector left the room, giving orders that Julian was to be well cared-for and unharmed, and managed to get around the corner and out of sight before falling against the wall and sliding to the floor. It…wasn't possible. There was no way that what Julian had described was what truly happened that night, but the young servant boy didn't have a reason to tell such a lie. He didn't even seem to know what exactly he'd born witness to. Now he was left to face the fact that he wasn't the only one in his family who was keeping a huge secret.

Paris and Achilles had some kind of ongoing relationship between them. Two nights ago hadn't been their first encounter; from the sound of it, it was most likely that it hadn't even been Achilles' first time in Paris' bedchamber. But what did all of that mean? Achilles had told Paris that he loved him – "no matter what" – and Paris apparently reciprocated. He'd called that Greek "my love" and that was just as difficult for Hector to comprehend as it was for Julian to report it. Were they really in love? Actually, he had no doubt in his mind that Paris wouldn't use that word unless he meant it, but what about Achilles? Did he feel the same way or was he just playing along so that he could brag later on about his sexual conquest of the youngest prince of Troy?

The guards' behavior was even more confusing and disturbing. When they'd found Achilles – a foreigner, a Greek – in Paris' bedchamber, they'd chosen to insult and leer at the prince. For all they knew, Achilles could have broken in there and they had acted disgusted with Paris, accusing him of starting something early. What was that and why did they feel like they had the right to judge someone who was their better at all? Did it have something to do with the reason why Achilles thought that Paris needed protection? The boy obviously believed him on that point; Hector had no choice but to conclude from their words that they weren't disagreeing about whether or not to leave Troy but rather when to leave it. That would mean that Paris had already agreed to run away with Achilles before the events that Julian had just described ever took place.

Letting his head fall back with a thud, Hector understood all too keenly why the young servant had cowered behind the dressing curtain all night instead of going for help or leaving and pretending that he hadn't seen or heard anything. The knowledge of all of this was numbing his mind and the questions it brought on were paralyzing. 'Achilles made Paris happy,' he mused dully. Sitting on that floor, all Hector could do was hope with his whole being that Paris was still happy and safe now.

To be continued…

A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you who've taken the time to review! It means a lot to me.