A few weeks later…
Yuuri looked up as a messenger charged towards him. He was in the gardens outside the castle, minding his own business, reading a book with Phichit.
"Yes, Minami, what is it?"
Minami gasped for air. "I came… from the prison… breakout…"
"Breakout?" Yuuri felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Who?"
Minami looked up. "Knise."
The castle was chaos when Yuuri was rushed inside. He was pushed inside a small room off the hall, where Phichit was led inside with his parents. Otabek silently stepped inside as the doors were locked shut.
Yuuri sat down in a cushioned chair to hide his shaking legs. Benz looked concernedly at him, and Phichit looked mortified.
Yuuri waved the servants away who tried to fuss over him. His heart was pounding. He thought of writing to Viktor at first, but convinced himself against it, not wanting to get Viktor worried. The two had been writing letters regularly over the last two months, but hadn't seen each other since they had danced in the cave near the Tree of Dreams.
"Knise… the guy who staged the assassination?" Yuuri snapped to attention as Phichit's question broke the silence.
"Yes," Benz said quietly.
Otabek spoke up: "The guards were found dead outside his cell a few hours ago. We got held up, though. Another high-security prisoner was causing some trouble."
"Who?" The question slipped out of Yuuri's lips before he could stop it.
"The old Prime Minister, James Orson."
Yuuri sank back into the chair again. Knise, the man who murdered his family, had escaped. Who knew what he would do next. "What's the plan?"
"As soon as the coast is clear, we plan to move you to the castle in Midworld. We plan to alert Solis from there. It would be wise to keep you there until Knise is found again."
Yuuri wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep. Overwhelmed with stress, he turned away from the rest of the group. Sending a letter to Viktor wasn't an option, and he would find out soon enough.
A few hours later, Yuuri found himself in a carriage on his way to Midworld. He looked out the window. A team of elite soldiers had been picked to escort them to the castle. The sun was already peeking into the cloudy sky by the time they reached Midworld.
Yuuri stepped out of the carriage, Phichit and Otabek not far behind. Otabek followed him up to his temporary room, and Yuuri crashed onto the bed after changing out of his traveling clothes. Before he could stop them, tears started streaming down his face, and he cried himself to sleep.
He woke up to the sound of the door creaking open. Thinking it was Otabek, he didn't open his eyes. He was greatly surprised, however, when the bed sank down a little bit and a pair of lips was pressed against his own.
His eyes fluttered open, and brown met striking blue. Yuuri sat up almost instantly.
"I didn't realize I was awake for so long."
Viktor smiled. "We left as soon as we heard. But," he paused and frowned, "are you all right?"
Yuuri forced out a smile. "I'm fine."
Viktor was not reassured. He took Yuuri's face in his hands, causing a gasp to escape his mouth.
Yuuri fought as hard as he could against the tears again. His chest tightened, and he pressed his lips together, but it was all in vain. He buried his face into Viktor's shoulder and sobbed.
Viktor wrapped his arms around the other man and gently rubbed his back.
It felt like hours before Yuuri finally stopped crying, and when that finally happened, he let his head droop onto Viktor's shoulder, exhausted. "'M sorry," he mumbled.
"Don't be," Viktor murmured back.
Yuuri sat back and dug his palms into his eyes. "I'm just… tired."
"Do you want me to run a bath?" Viktor asked quietly.
Yuuri just shrugged. Viktor gave a knowing smile and departed to let a servant know.
A few minutes later, Yuuri was soaking in a blissfully warm bath. His eyes fluttered shut as he let his head droop back onto the side of the tub. The door creaked open, and Yuuri saw Viktor peeking through the crack, blushing slightly. He had changed from his traveling clothes into simple civilian clothes.
Yuuri just watched as Viktor opened the door further, stepping inside, and locking the door behind him, all to raised eyebrows from Yuuri.
"Safety precautions," Viktor grinned.
Yuuri snorted, letting his head rest back again, eyes still on the other man. "'Safe' wouldn't be the word I'd use, having two kings in a bathroom with no guards on duty."
"There are guards all around the grounds, and outside the bedroom door," Viktor retorted, stepping closer to the tub and pulling up a stool.
Yuuri just kept watching him.
"Which means…" Viktor continued. "We're safe and alone."
"Alone…" Yuuri repeated slowly as Viktor leaned in closer, lips ghosting across the other's.
"Mhm." Yuuri smirked and leaned back. Viktor let out a pitiful whine. He sat back again and took off his boots.
Yuuri laughed. "What are you-" He was cut off as a pair of lips was smashed against his own. Viktor clambered into the tub, water splashing onto the ground. Yuuri didn't care.
Yuuri sat back from Viktor again, blushing as the shocking revelation came to him- he was naked, in a tub with Viktor, whose hands were everywhere on him.
"We're going to get caught," he mumbled ashamedly. He couldn't focus, not with the way Viktor was mouthing his neck.
"I locked the door," Viktor grinned, pressing his lips against Yuuri's again.
About an hour later, the water had been left cold in the tub, and Viktor had left to ease Yuuri's worries about a "missing king".
Yuuri stretched out his limbs across the mussed sheets. Slowly getting up, he walked up to his traveling cloak, and meaning move it to a hook from the chair he had it thrown across, a pendant slipped out of the pocket.
He picked it up, curiosity overwhelming, and looked carefully at the pattern: a gilded tree across.
His brow furrowed. The only person who would have this pendant was Takeshi, as the guardian of the Tree of Dreams.
A memory flashed in his head, of Takeshi's letter sent to him reporting the loss of this pendant, just the day before Knise escaped.
Knise, the former guardian of the Tree of Dreams.