Your only warning is now: sexual themes towards the end of this chapter. Violence as well. Neither are very detailed, however.
One more chapter after this.
Edit: Fixing something GarGoyl pointed out! Many thanks to them! Lesson learned, don't write while tipsy.
–
Alfred doesn't sleep much that night, and instead, decided to explore every nook and cranny of the castle, committing it all to memory for use later. In the morning, Ivan is still bouncing around, still cheerful. Frustrated that Ivan had kissed him, the young assassin goes about ignoring the king for most of the morning. He helps Toris as best he can, and when he can. Sometime after lunch is when the meeting was called to start, and Alfred is kicked out from their little grouping.
And he's stuck babysitting.
"This isn't what I'm being paid for," Alfred grumbles as he slumps down against the opposite wall of the child, who finds more content in playing with the dumb cat. "Hey, kid, since you're an Empath or whatever, does that mean you can predict the outcome?"
"No," the little boy sounds puzzled. "I can read minds and read people's emotions, not predict the future."
"Right," The assassin says, sighing. "I hate this waiting." Ion only shrugs, as best as he can as his arm is trapped between four gray paws, fingers lightly being bitten. "Hey, will you be okay on your own?"
"Yes,"
"Good," Alfred says as he stands up, faintly stretching. "I'll be back later."
"Don't get hurt again," Is all Alfred hears before he exits the room, shutting the door behind him.
First, he makes his way to Ivan's bedroom and peeks in. Anya hadn't been in there yet, which is a plus and the young man fixes up the bed first. He opens up every possible escape route, and peeks behind the giant curtain that covers one part of the wall, checking to make sure the trap door is still unlocked.
It's small, but Alfred is certain he could fit with some struggle. Out the window wouldn't be an option. Out the front door is a viable option, but he'd rather not risk his chances. This time, Alfred hides his dagger underneath the pillow as an easy grab.
The thing Alfred wasn't expecting was Ivan to kiss him last night, he wasn't expecting those pesky feelings to get in the way or even surface, but he can take it to his advantage. After all, he's taking too long. Any longer and someone else will be sent, and that's something Alfred is not willing to risk.
When Alfred finishes his scouring of every escape route imaginable, he returns to the room Ion and the cat were in to find Mihai sitting there, watching Ion.
"I thought you were in the meeting."
Mihai shrugs. "I was."
"What happened?"
Mihai thinks for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to word it. "Stefan said something stupid," Mihai says, finally. Alfred blinks. "I punched him."
"Okay."
"So where did you go?"
"Had to check some stuff," Ion opens his mouth to say something, but in the end, decides not to. "Soo, you work with Stefan then."
Mihai shakes his head. "No. It's a complicated story." Mihai is...nice, Alfred figures. Kind of quiet, though he may just be shy. "Anyways, it's almost time for lunch and Natalia arrived just a bit ago so she'll be joining us."
"What about the others?"
"They're still discussing who gets what."
"So the war was a territory dispute?"
Mihai shakes his head. "I wouldn't expect an outsider to know why it happened," He shifts a little, crossing his legs. "Someone important and dear to Ivan's father was assassinated, I guess, and it was believed to be foul play from another country. Especially during some royal thing. From there, things got out of hand."
"...Yeah, I think Artie mentioned that."
"Artie?"
Alfred waves his hand, "Nobody important." Soon, Anya comes by and grabs them, quietly explaining that yes, the others will be joining them besides Ivan and Stefan. And not to make any mention of what's happening.
Ion, who is happily nestled in Mihai's arm, asks why and bombards her with the same question as she does her best to avoid answering him. Eventually, she shushes him with the promise of candy later and Ion accepts the deal with no problem. It dawns on Alfred that's exactly what the kid was looking for as a small grin forms on the child's face.
Natalia is already seated at the table, near where Ivan would sit, her back straight and she playing with the dark blue ribbon that's tied in her hair. She's beautiful, to say the least, but the half-glare is enough to keep Alfred silent.
Lunch is quiet, and Alfred tries to pretend he doesn't notice the way Toris is looking at Natalia, and he pretends not to notice the heavy atmosphere. Katyusha is obviously uncomfortable, with the way she plays with her food and sips at the wine. Natalia doesn't acknowledge them even after lunch, swiftly leaving, back straight and proud, blue dress swishing as she walks.
Alfred debates on forgoing his assignment and informing Katyusha that he's leaving. Now wouldn't be a good idea to assassinate him.
He lingers outside the meeting hall, trying to hear in, but the wooden door is too thick. Someone raises their voice, and he hears fists pounding against the table.
"You would think it's an easy decision," Feliks says, as he stops by. "But I don't think they're talking about the goods of war or whatever."
"What would they be talking about?"
"Ivan is a monster."
The words come out, almost wavering and Alfred winces.
"If Ivan is a monster, than so am I." The assassin replies, after a moment. Feliks only shrugs and walks away, and Alfred sighs.
Tonight.
It rings through him, and leaves a feeling almost like he's been stabbed in the gut, with a pounding heart and a feeling of dread. If Alfred were honest with himself, something that he never is, he'd rather turn the dagger on himself. Allow himself become worm food before doing this again.
He pulls away from the wall, and slinks off.
–
The outside air nips at him, skin unprotected from the unforgiving cold. The silent, vast land of a somber kingdom. Royalty is trapped behind stone walls, trapped behind guards and soldiers ready to give their lives, ready to conquer and kill on command. Nobody cares for the strange blond has he walks across the giant, white yard. A dog barks at him.
Instead of scaling the wall, he goes through the gates. Nobody questions or says anything. Despite the chatter from the peasants, despite the children running through the streets or the call of the farm animals, everything feels quiet.
"Alfred."
The voice comes, calmly from somewhere and he stupidly follows it. Almost as if he were a curious child.
"Why haven't you done your job yet?"
Finding his boss standing there, arms crossed and a frown on his handsome face, Alfred shrugs. "I'm workin' on it."
"Well, work quicker."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Unless," Abel says, voice quiet and calm. It's enough to send chills down Alfred's spine. "you no longer want this commission."
"I-I do! Just uh, y'know, things got complicated." Abel doesn't say anything, only stares. "Look, Yao , Vash and Mikkel are here, making peace talks. I don't want to disrupt it or make things worse than what they are." Alfred hesitates. "D-despite that, I plan on doing it tonight." He notices his voice had gone a few octaves higher, and Alfred clears his throat. "I promise."
"Good. Meet me here after you do it, then."
"Y-yeah." Alfred steps away from Abel, forcing a smile. "See ya then, I guess." He cannot get away from his boss fast enough, but he can't seem to escape the ever cold stare. Abel isn't really a jerk, he's just a hard-ass, Alfred knows this, but yet, Abel's straight forward and brutal honesty is always taken for rudeness. Alfred both appreciates it and hates it.
His pride feels dead.
Alfred walks around for hours now, stopping every so often to pet a dog or click his tongue at a cat in hopes to get it to come to him, or even a chicken that's walking the street. He's out long enough that he's sure he's lost all feeling in his body and the bruises from yesterday are starting to ache.
He catches sentences here and there, something about Princess Natalia being out and about. That's curious.
By now, the sun is nearly down and most people have treated indoors.
"You!"
Alfred grimaces, and groans inwardly as he turns around. Who is going to threaten his life now? Instead of someone he's probably pissed off, he finds Natalia standing there, hands on her hips and a glare on her face. She's quite scary for a woman, he thinks.
"Big brother is looking for you!" Her voice is a little shrill, and she reaches out, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along, sharp nails digging into his skin. "How could you disappear like that and make big brother worried?"
"I uh. I was bored?" Natalia says nothing as she continues to pull him along, and for some reason, he isn't at all surprised by how strong she is. "So, err, how was your trip?"
"It was fine." Short, snappy. "You ask stupid questions."
"I only asked one question!"
"Stop talking." In the distance, he hears a church bell ring. Prayers to the goddess start now. The pulling stops soon, and she releases his arm and allows him to walk beside her. "Is it true?" She finally speaks.
"Is what true?"
"Don't play stupid."
"...Why do you want to know?"
"Big brother loves you."
"Don't say stupid things," He parrots back. "I don't care how he feels."
"I do."
"Of course you do, he's your brother. I'm an assassin, and we've only known each other for only four days. You can't fall in love in four fucking days, Princess. Regardless of his feelings, I have a job." Alfred draws in a deep breath. "Before you ask why I haven't done it yet, I don't know. But it's going to happen soon. Maybe I just fucking pity him."
Natalia says nothing more on their walk back to the castle.
Dinner is tense, everyone is there. Alfred tries to eat, but in the end, could barely manage. Mikkel, Vash and Yao excuse themselves and disappear to their rooms for the rest of the night. Stefan, Mihai and Ion are leaving that night.
He wonders what the outcome was.
Stefan corners Alfred in Ivan's room later on that evening, while Ivan spends time with his sisters. Arms crossed over his chest, green eyes on him.
"Shut up." Is all Alfred can say.
"I wasn't going to say anything," The sorcerer replies, with a roll of his eyes. "Just trying to understand you. Where are you from?"
"Across the seas, though I was raised in one of the Western Kingdoms with my sister."
"By whom?"
"Arthur Kirkland."
"I thought you looked familiar." They lapse into another silence. "Ion told me that you've decided then. Your boss is waiting for you."
"If I don't do it, he'll have my head." Alfred pauses. "Or I'll be stuck here."
"Would you hate that?"
"What?"
"Stuck here. With Ivan."
"I don't know," Alfred admits. "I miss my sister. I don't like this type of life, and I feel like I'm in a prison. After all, his sisters and best friend want to fucking kill me."
"Only if you hurt Ivan." Stefan points out. "I don't like you, Alfred."
"Wow. Way to state the obvious."
"It doesn't mean I'll treat you like a criminal if you do kill Ivan." He pauses for a moment. "Think of this like putting down a rabid dog. That dog was once a beloved pet, and it was bitten. What do you do? Let it suffer, possibly hurt you? One would logically kill that dog."
"But Ivan is a person."
"Do you not agree, for his crimes, that he should pay?"
"I-I um. I agree."
"I need to get going," Stefan suddenly says. "I'll leave this piece of advice with you. Don't do anything you'll regret later."
–
It's way after dark when the sorcerer and his 'followers' leave (Toris later tells Alfred in confidence that Mihai and Stefan have a bit of a relationship going on, though they fight a lot), and the goodbye's are kind of quiet, somber. Ion is already slumbering away, in Mihai's arms and if Alfred didn't know any better, he'd mistake them for brothers. It's all tight smiles and cordial words.
Alfred goes through the motions.
He suggests to Ivan they get drunk tonight. Even though the others are leaving tomorrow, they should get very drunk. Forget about the residual anger, forget responsibilities because hey, they're allowed to do that once in awhile. Natalia and Katyusha protest but ultimately don't stop them.
Ivan grabs Alfred's hand, fingers lacing in with each other and Alfred plays along. He's surprised at how soft Ivan's skin is, how tight the grip is, as though he's holding on for dear life. Alfred almost jerks his hand away.
They don't really talk as they pass the bottle of clear alcohol back and forth, munching on candy like they did just a few nights ago. It's almost a repeat.
"My caretaker was executed," Alfred finally says, out of nowhere. "For magic." Ivan is silent. "I've always held onto the anger of what happened to him. Mine and Amelia's parents died when we were very, very young. I don't remember them much."
Ivan still doesn't seem to want to say anything.
"I miss them some days," He sighs. Is this the alcohol talking or him? "For awhile after that, we lived on the streets. Stealing what we can. One day, when we were in our teens, Amelia fell sick. It's almost like it's a common story. Sick sibling, would do anything." He draws in a deep breath. "Us street kids, we sort of just...latched onto each other."
"Were you guys like a family?"
"Yeah." Alfred mumbles. "One day, I was approached by a woman whom I had stolen from, and she propositioned me. She said if I killed her unfaithful husband, she would pay me." Alfred shook his head. "It was sloppy and hard at first. A human life, y'know. Different from an animal. Something happened, I don't know what. Suddenly, I was an assassin for hire. And then, we formed a gang like group, assassins on commission. Some of us failed. Some of us died. Some of us were captured and turned into slaves." He leans back. "I was doing this to help my sister."
"Why are you telling me this?" Ivan whispers.
Alfred licks his lips. Something hot is against his cheeks and he rubs at his eye, the same hotness touching his finger tips. Fuck. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore."
The pause is long, it's sinful. Ivan finally moves closer, until there's hardly any space between them. There's a small hesitation and Alfred goes for it. The kiss is sloppy, too much tongue, too much teeth and biting.
Motions become too blurred for him to keep up with, a desperate and silent plea to forget. Clothes are discarded around the room and Alfred thinks that Anya will be angered at the mess. And probably angered at Alfred for fucking the king.
Or maybe insist they marry.
They're on the bed soon enough, and Alfred's hand is stroking at Ivan's penis, earning quiet moans and groans. Alfred bites at Ivan's collarbone as he continues to stroke him, as hot lips nibble at his neck. Alfred forgets. He forgets for a moment what his job is, he forgets until his head is laid on the pillow where he feels the dagger underneath, until his legs are spread and fingers pressing at his entrance.
This is not his first time.
He hisses when fingers push in and he jerks when the fingers strike against something on the inside that sends a hot feeling through him and sits in his lower stomach. Ivan smiles at that.
The teasing continues, the kissing becomes more hard and without thinking, Alfred flips them over and distracts Ivan with kisses and heavy grinding as he reaches under the pillow.
With his other hand, he grabs at Ivan's cock and gently, carefully lowers himself onto it and hisses as it enters.
"Don't hurt yourself," Ivan's voice comes out husky. Movements are jerky, quick and heavy and Alfred nearly lets go of the handle and bites down at Ivan's collarbone. Leaving marks is not a good idea.
They write love notes on each others skin anyways, red marks that looks so angry and this time around, after a brief period of panting and trying to regain strength, Alfred climbs back on top of Ivan, whose eyes are closed. Softly, he runs his fingers over the scars, careful to not let Ivan feel the dagger, following his fingers, he leaves softer kisses.
Alfred doesn't rush this time around, and after awhile, after Ivan is so relaxed, he stops and sits up a little straighter, lifting the dagger up above Ivan's chest, where his heart should be.
Drawing in a deep breath, Alfred lowers it, and it overs not even an inch away from the skin and he's taken by surprise when hands wrap around both of his, tightly.
"Now, of all times?"
Alfred swallows.
"Do it." Ivan's voice is surprisingly calm, steady. "I no longer care."
"You never did," Alfred's voice is hoarse. Before he can say anything else, his hands are forcibly jerked down and he can just feel the dagger breaking through skin and bone. The blood slowly pools up and he's starting down into violet eyes, and a smile on Ivan's face.
"All you needed was a little push, yes?"
Alfred lets out a yell, accidentally tugging the dagger from the deep wound and throws it across the room. He hears it clatter somewhere and he stumbles off the bed. He fumbles with pulling his clothes on, accidentally getting what blood had surfaced on his hands onto the soft fabrics and he shudders. Without thinking of all his plans, he darts to the window and pushes it open, and quickly climbs out the best he can.
He doesn't look back as he runs, the harsh cold isn't anything compared to the way his heart throbs in his chest, threatening to burst out. Alfred clumsily scales the wall and falls over, into a soft pile of snow and he lays there, for a moment. He contemplates letting himself freeze to death, but finally, with a soft growl, Alfred forces himself out of the pile and continues his way.
When he finally stops is when the castle is out of sight, is when he's sure ghosts have stopped chasing him.
Alfred throws up.