"Arabian Nights"
Part 57
by Mel
With nowhere else to put him, the Kittens had covered Billy with a warm blanket and got him some pillows. They had taken turns that night, shifting between watching Viggo toss and turn and Billy’s deathlike sleep.
Of the three of them only Elijah didn’t sleep a wink.
At one stage, when the sun was coming up, Elijah sat beside Billy, his knees tucked up under his chin, watching the slack, youthful face for signs of life. He thought of Dominic, wondering where he was now, and what he might be doing. Had the Pirate had his way with him? Had he liked it? Hated it? Not really cared?
Was he thinking about them? About him? Elijah knew he had done that for him, taken the Pirate’s interest away from him, offered his body instead of Elijah’s. He didn’t know if Jared or Orli had noticed, Viggo took up the grand scheme of their minds currently. He was so frail it frightened them all. So it had happened now that Elijah took care of them, making sure they ate and slept. To have someone like Dominic take care of him had thrown Elijah.
Had he read Dominic completely wrong? Obviously there was a lot in his life that he didn’t tell them, but then, wasn’t that the same with them all? There were things, people, in Elijah’s life before that he never mentioned, and for good reason too. Jared didn’t talk of his masters before the Prince, and Orli only vaguely mentioned life on the streets. Had Elijah been too obsessed with Dom’s hidden past because of a bad first impression?
Dom would probably be someone Elijah always watched. There was something about him, something big, that he hid remarkably well. But perhaps he could try a little harder to get along with him. For Orli’s sake of course.
There was a clatter and Elijah looked up, startled. Viggo swayed at the doorway to the bedroom, causing Elijah to stand quickly, before the Prince caught a hold of the wall to steady himself.
“Elijah?”
His voice slurred dangerously, half asleep and pain ridden. If Elijah hadn’t already known that he was ill, he would now. Viggo blinked foggily, clearing his eyes. It took a few moments for the Prince to collect himself, shaking his head as if to clear it.
“Have you been out here all night?”
“Not all night,” Viggo winced at the sound of his voice, and Elijah spoke as softly as he could manage. “I was watching over Billy.”
“Billy?” Viggo scowled as he desperately searched his mind to find out why that name was familiar to him, then he caught sight of the sleeping boy. Smiling slightly he patted Elijah’s shoulder. “Good, good.”
Elijah reached out to steady him as the slight movement almost rocked Viggo from his standing position. Elijah’s eyes widened in fear, what was happening? Headaches were one thing, this was something completely different.
“Has he woken?”
Elijah swallowed his fear, striving to speak in his normal, if hushed tone. He couldn’t panic the Prince, it was just a slight illness, all the stress was getting to him, it would pass. “Not yet my Prince. I don’t think he will be any more coherent than yesterday.”
Viggo nodded, “We’ll have to clear him of the drugs in his system. It could take a few days. Could you make sure he gets a cot? This could be painful for him.”
“Of course.” Elijah couldn’t be sure, but Viggo’s skin felt hot. “I’ll make sure we all look after him.”
“You’re up earlier than I expected, dear Prince!”
Viggo straightened, letting go of the wall, a grim expression falling into place. His hand squeezed tightly on Elijah’s shoulder and the young man turned to the door.
The Pirate Captain looked remarkably like a cat with a canary, all puffed, proud and full of himself. He also wore a hat today, which he appeared to use as a prop, using his saber to push it back and reveal his eyes. He had a very satisfied smirk on his lips that made Elijah want to punch him. He gave a sultry wink to Elijah and the boy suppressed an obvious shudder.
“You missed out, I’m afraid Blue Eyes, but your young friend here was remarkably good company.” Dom stood silently beside him, head bowed so Elijah couldn’t see his face. “I couldn’t have paid for better service.”
The Pirate laughed at a joke no one else in the room got, smacking Dom on the rump and all but pushing him into the room. Elijah thought he saw a shudder run through the other boy’s frame.
“You’re home now, and I can get back to my bed and some much earned sleep,” the Pirate’s eyebrows waggled and his smile grew to a leer as he watched Dom’s ass as the boy walked into the room.
Elijah was grateful the Prince was digging his fingers into his shoulder, otherwise Elijah would have quiet happily slaughtered the other man.
“By the way, my Sweet, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Dominic, sir.”
Something changed in the Pirate’s expression. Elijah wasn’t quiet sure, but he looked the way Orli did when he found the puzzle piece that was sitting right beneath his nose and pressed it into place.
“Well, young Dominic, should you, or your master require my vessel at any time, I’ll only be too happy to lend it. At a small price of course,” he leered again, catching up Dom’s hand, bowing over it and pressing a smacking kiss to it. Elijah clenched his fists, did the man never give it a rest? “We will look forward to our next meeting!”
We?
“Adieu!”
He swept out of the room as if he owned it, making Elijah seethe.
Dominic sagged before turning to them, his face unreadable. “I had not expected you awake, my Prince.”
The hand on Elijah’s shoulder suddenly slackened and, reacting instantly, Elijah caught the Prince as he stumbled and almost fell. Dominic was at his other side quickly, catching the Prince, just as startled as Elijah.
“Viggo!”
Orli and Jared were there suddenly, apparently awoken by the Pirate. All four boys looked at each other helplessly.
“I’m a little tired,” Viggo managed in a strained voice.
Elijah plastered a smile on his face. “Then let's get you back to bed. There will be no work for you today.” He squashed the panic that rose in him. Be strong, his mind sang, don’t fall apart, they’ll all be looking to you. “Jared, can you get Sean or the Captain at a pinch, they might be able to get a hold of a healer at this time of the morning.”
Jared nodded, making sure that they had a hold of the Prince before dashing out the door. Orli, Dom and Elijah stumbled under the weight of the Prince, carrying him between them back to the bed. They got him settled, then Elijah looked into Orli’s eyes.
The other boy, Viggo’s first Kitten, looked frantic in his sudden panic. Elijah caught his fretting hands. “Calm down, breathe for me Orli.” Orli took a couple of gulping breaths, Elijah waited till his hands didn’t shake so much.
“He’ll be fine, everyone gets sick sometimes, right?” Orli nodded. “Now stay here and look after him, Jared will be back shortly, I’m sure Sean will have heaps of questions.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have to look after Dom, everything will be fine, ok?”
Orli nodded, biting his lip he stroked Viggo’s hair. He would watch over him.
Elijah shooed Dominic out of the room.
“I should clean up the courtyard, if we’re having company-“
“Dom. Bath. Now!” Elijah ordered. Dom appeared surprised for a moment before he grinned, following the orders.
“I didn’t know you cared...”
Elijah snorted, the bathing room was already hot, the early morning servants having expected the Prince to be up and bathing by now. Elijah ignored the thoughts of the Prince for the moment, one panicked kitten was enough for the time being.
“You reek! How many times did you have sex last night?”
Dom chuckled, shedding his clothing. Elijah watched carefully, looking for anything that he could add to the list of reasons he wanted to kill the Pirate Captain. Other than what looked to like teeth marks at his neck and finger shaped bruises at his hips, Dominic seemed fine as he slipped into the water, sighing in relaxed pleasure.
“Sort of lost count after the third time. The Captain had plenty of stamina.”
Elijah’s hands clenched, his vision blurring for a moment. It could have been him, underneath the Captain, used, thrown away like a doll.
“Hey.”
A pair of hands caught his, rubbing the stiffness out of them, interlacing their fingers together. Elijah blinked his eyes clear, looking down into the surprisingly worried grey eyes of Dominic.
“What happened to the Hell Cat I saw a second ago? What is it?”
Elijah swallowed, blinking. “Did he... hurt you?”
Dominic smiled a little ruefully. “He was a little harsh, but he didn’t do anything I didn’t want to begin with. He even offered me the chance to come back here, no questions asked.” He sobered quickly, “he was a little brash earlier, but I think it’s just the way he is, you know? It’s how he’s learned to act around nobility. He was rather kind to me on his ship.”
“He took you to his ship?”
“Yeah,” Dom smiled wistfully, “it’s been a while since I’ve been on a ship. But I understand now.”
“Understand?” this had to be the most surreal conversation Elijah had ever had, and it wasn’t what Elijah had expected at all, with Dom’s wet fingers clinging to his.
“I understand how you must have felt, when someone like me who wouldn’t know you from a grain of sand, called you a toy. I’m sorry.”
Elijah blinked, falling to his knees. “Thank you for what you did, I just couldn’t-“
“I know,” Dom smiled. “But it was fine, you probably would have liked him.”
“I doubt it,” Elijah snorted, “there was nothing about that man I could have liked.”
Dom laughed before sobering. “Did I hear aright? When we got here I thought Viggo said he wanted Billy clean?”
Elijah nodded, looking worried. “He does, but I don’t know, Dom, your Pirate friend seemed to think he was dangerous.”
“We can’t leave him like that, Elijah, if the Captain has seen the magic, he must have been drug free at one time. And if he really is that dangerous, we can always just put him back on them and let the Prince know when he’s better.”
Elijah bit his lip and nodded. Who knew, maybe by getting rid of the drugs the Druid would be in their debt. Or something. For now they’d stop the drugs.
“ELIJAH!”
Orli came running into the room, there were helpless tears in his eyes. He was trembling.
“What’s wrong? I thought I told you to stay with Viggo?” Elijah stood, drying his hands on his pants.
“Elijah, he threw up-“
“It’s fine! Is Sean here yet? He just has a fever-“
“You’re not listening to me!” Orli all but screamed. “He threw up blood Elijah! BLOOD! It’s everywhere and I can’t get him to stop!”
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Mel
go to PART 58