Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There is a flurry of commotion as the crowd gathers around the small temporary stage set up where a figure dressed in bright, expensive clothes, the town crier, currently stands. People are nervously glancing at one another, desperate for any news at all. 

Once the town crier seems satisfied that there is a sufficiently large enough crowd, she begins to speak. 

“We have received word from the palace that the Ruler of Sumeru, Queen Faranak, has renounced her position as Queen, effective immediately. Her last instructions were as follows: Her son, Prince Kaveh of the Kingdom of Sumeru, will be crowned as King one month from now for which a large celebration should be held kingdom wide. Until the coronation, her Advisor and most senior member of the council of Sages, Azar, will be temporarily acting as regent. May Kaveh’s Reign be peaceful and plentiful”.

The crowd erupts into a cacophony of shouts and whispers, all looking at one another in shock and worry. The Queen hadn’t been physically present in Sumeru for a long time now, spending time in the kingdom of Fontaine instead and hearing nothing from her. For some, it was a relief, that finally something has happened and Queen Faranak has freed them from wondering what will happen to them. Others were furious that she wouldn’t even plan the coronation herself and wait for her son to be crowned king before abandoning them. Most, however, were scared. Scared of what a life under the rule of Prince Kaveh would look like. Tension was thick in the air, all thinking the same thing:

Things will never be the same again.

Icy blue eyes watch patiently as he observes the prince sleeping peacefully, hunched over a desk filled with sheets of paper messily strewn about. 

Prince Kaveh is exactly where he needs him to be: asleep, unable to attempt to defend himself. He would only know a few moments of pain (if that) before his passing, a quick yet precise strike to the throat that would allow for no wasted time and ample time for escape. 

The palace guards stationed outside would find the Prince’s body in the morning, an announcement would be made, and then Alhaitham could continue his life like he always did for the rest of his days, unbothered by the idea of being ruled over by Prince Kaveh.

Alhaitham gets up from his crouch and quietly steps out of his hiding position where he was hidden in the dark, knife at the ready and sharpened for a clean and quick kill. 

He walks up to Kaveh with light, undetectable measures steps behind Kaveh’s chair, where he’s hunched over, head laying on the table, neck bared and open, vulnerable to attack. 

He wastes no time, quickly winding his arm for the final step, when in an instant, a small breeze makes its way past the smallest of openings in the curtains, lightly rustling some of the pages and brushing against the messy hair that now tickles his face in his sleep.

Haitham notices his nose scrunching up a little bit, and realizing that he is at risk of being caught, quickly slides back into his hiding place.

Evidently, he muses, the prince is a light sleeper. An extremely light sleeper.

He watches, as the prince slowly wakes up from his slumber on the table, and gathers his bearings as he realizes where he has slept. Kaveh sleepily gathers all of the papers that were strewn about on the table, creating a neat pile and putting them in the middle.

Alhaitham notices, only mildly amused, that Prince Kaveh had accidentally dropped a page onto the floor. 

The prince then goes over to his bed, and makes himself comfortable before finally falling asleep properly this time. As he waits for the prince to fall into sleep once more, he realizes that another slight breeze has to push the stray piece of paper in his direction, and with the smallest sliver of moonlight let in from the curtains, he is able to read the contents.

Blueprint for improved architecture of town homes

Before all Haitham chose to assassinate prince Kaveh, he spent several days working as a scribe in the palace. He listened to what all of the nobles and attendants had to say about him. Based on the information he was given, the prince spends his days in his room, drawing, and when not drawing, sleeping and being moody with the attendants and nobles. He is often yawning through every meeting, and often has to make people repeat themselves because he didn’t hear them the first time.

Alhaitham likes to work with facts. However, for this task, he knew that there was a good chance that he may not have all of the information as evidently, no one has gotten close enough to the prince to know for certainty what he does with his time.

However, the kingdom had been in shambles for years already after the death of the prince consort and husband of the queen. For the common folk, the queen suddenly resigning her position was the final straw. The queen had spent her final years as queen isolated within the palace, mourning her husband, taking care of her son, and ignoring the cries of the poor and hungry. 

When it comes to the prince, people had only seen him walking through the towns, looking through the various markets in buying supplies for his personal use, such as inks, papers, and pens. People have overheard him how he spends all day on a single painting, sometimes more.

By comparison, the Royal advisor, Azar had been working for the royalty for many many many years, and is a familiar face for many people within the palace. While the queen was indisposed, he had been the one taking over some of the duties she was neglecting that was still within his power to take, and it comes as no surprise to anyone that she chose Azar as a regent until the prince’s coronation.

Logically, based on the information he had, it would be much better for the kingdom, if Azar simply stayed and ruled as the king. Then things could stay the same and wouldn’t need to potentially put the kingdom at risk of collapse.

Now curious, Alhaitham walks up to the table, where the prince had left his stack of papers. He read the page at the top of the pile. 

Allocation of funds for citizens in the desert

Skimming over the rest of it, he sees a detailed plan for the amount of funds going in and where exactly they would be going. Some of it was going toward schooling, some of it was going towards improving some of the more damaged buildings, and some were going towards increasing the amount of merchants going into the area, among other things.

Alhaitham now has a new understanding, now faced with a new truth. Kaveh is not all like how people paint him out to be.

He needs to go back and gain more information. If he’s right, he may not even have to kill the Prince at all and he can simply simply go back and work as he usually did, for pay. 

Making his way out of the castle and making the trek back to his house, he ponders on what his next steps should be. He remains wary. It is possible that it was not even him who wrote the documents and was simply looking over them, but even this is still better than what he knew of the prince before.

He would have to observe

Kaveh sprints as fast as he can across the hallways, hoping, internally begging, for somewhere to hide or someone willing to help.

In the back of his mind, he acknowledges that if he finds someone they too, could be after him.

The one chasing him was a guard, after all. Or someone disguised as such.

He senses that his pursuer is gaining on him, getting closer and closer, and Kaveh internally curses himself for his lack of stamina and pushes himself harder, his lungs screaming for air and muscles burning.

Right as he turns the corner, he is suddenly pulled to the side into a room, a hand over his mouth stopping the yell trying to make its way out in its tracks. He hears a barely audible ‘click’ of a door locking when he’s suddenly pulled once again to the back of a room and pulled into a decently sized closet full of supplies, the door closing behind him.

“You were being followed?” a voice whispers.

Kaveh nods, slightly untensing. It looks like he found someone who would help him. 

“Were you injured?”

He shakes his head. The hand leaves his mouth, allowing him to speak again. He takes a deep breath before saying, “Thank you”.

They do not reply, instead they reach into a box, and suddenly there is light as a match is lit and lighting a nearby candle on the wall. 

In the low light of the candle, he can see the silhouette of a broad man with short gray hair. His eyes are gazing over at him intently, as though checking him for injuries anyways.  There’s something familiar about him…

“Oh, it’s you!”

The man harshly shushes him and they stay still a moment, and hearing no activity, relax once more.

After a moment, he replies, “You know me?”

Kaveh nods. “The nobles have been complaining for days now that some new scribe was organizing documents differently and the books are never where they usually find them anymore. And a lot of the staff have been working here a while, and you’re the only new face I’ve seen around”.

The scribe crosses his arms. “It is simply the way I work best, and the others will get used to it. Now—”.

“May I know your name by any chance?”

“Alhaitham”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance”

“Your Highness, now is not the time for any more formalities. You were running, you were being followed. What happened?”

He almost protests, wanting to know more about the man who saved him, but decides against it. Kaveh’s lips turn into a thin line as he contemplates where to start. 

“Well”, he finally says, “I was going over some of the plans that the planners handed to me for my upcoming coronation. But I noticed a small shine of light reflected on the wall. I turn around and see it’s a knife! So of course I get out of the way and it’s a guard! One of the royal guards was trying to kill me!”

He pauses. “Well, a guard or someone in disguise. But regardless, they left the door open and so I ran out and kept running until I reached where you were”.

Alhaitham hums. “Leaving the door open was a bit irresponsible even if they were planning on using that as their own escape route. Not only did they not anticipate their plans falling through, and you escaping, but anyone could have passed by and noticed the crime taking place”.

Kaveh lets out a small squawk, jaw dropping. “Are you seriously criticizing their skill right now?”

Ignoring him, Alhaitham continues. “I am assuming that the fact that the perpetrator appeared to be a guard is the reason you did not call for help from other guards. Are you going to alert anyone else in the palace?”

Kaveh shakes his head, and lets out a shaky breath. 

“I am… well aware that I am not well liked within the palace. I don’t know who in the palace could be conspiring against me. I don't know what the reasons are. It could be someone vying for power, someone who simply hates me”.

Kaveh wraps his arms around himself, hugging himself tightly. “I didn’t think anyone would try to come after me like this. I just thought, if everyone really thinks I would be such a terrible ruler, then I just have to be crowned and prove everyone wrong. I haven’t even gotten the chance to prove myself yet and they’re already writing me off, and now someone, or hell, even several someones, want me dead”.

He shakes his head and organizes his thoughts. “If I alert the palace now, whoever it is will double down before any investigation can go too far. Believe me, I would rather not die”.

“So what will you do, wait until they succeed and no one will ever know who did it, or get crowned and hope they leave you alone then? It really could be someone trying to make their way up to the position of king, and you would be making it so easy for them”.

“I can see why the nobles are so frustrated by you, you could be a little more sympathetic about the fact that I really did think I would not make it to the next day, you know?”.

Alhaitham simply looks straight at him, then closes his eyes and takes a deep, slow breath. 

“Alright. Sorry, that was insensitive of me”.

He doesn't know whether to believe it is genuine or not, but accepts it and nods, appeased. 

“If you won’t be alerting anyone, you’ll need to be extremely careful. Whoever tried to kill you, they know you escaped alive and that you are aware that someone is out to get you. If they were sent by a higher up, they will also know too”.

This is an impossible situation, he thinks. It could be anyone, who can I trust?

Wait.

Wait.

He slowly turns to look at Alhaitham, who looks back at him, looking mildly confused.

“Say, Alhaitham, you did very well in saving me. You knew exactly what to do. If that guard followed us in, would you be able to go up against them?”

Alhaitham narrows his eyes at him in suspicion. “I suppose I would”.

Perfect! “So you could! For a scribe, you seem very fit, strong enough to fight someone from the royal guard, and knowledgeable in these types of matters. While we figure out what to do and how to investigate, you could be my personal guard”.

At this, Alhaitham looks fully annoyed. “I work as a scribe”.

“But you’ve definitely worked as a guard before, haven’t you?”. And for an instant, there’s an emotion that passes through those bright blue eyes that he can’t identify before it’s gone. 

“It wasn’t for me”

“Alhaitham. I don’t know who else I can trust”.

“You can’t be sure I’m not also here to kill you. I could do it so easily”

“If you were here to kill me, you would have done it already. You could kill me, but you didn’t. You could have let that guard catch me, but you didn’t. You could have killed me as soon as you put me in this closet in fact, but I’m still alive. That’s several points in your favor”

Alhaitham, looking resigned, asks him something else. “You don’t have any guards that you trust? Anyone you know for sure would not be behind this in the palace?”.

“I am a bit ashamed to admit, but I’m not particularly close to any people in this palace. I have a few good friends outside of the palace, but here… I’ve only got one, the captain of the royal guard, Cyno. I will talk to him about this attack, but being a personal guard requires being around me all the time, something that as the captain, he cannot do without disrupting his other duties”.

“The one who attacked you was a guard, how can you be so sure he isn’t a part of it?”

He vehemently shakes his head. “No, he wouldn’t. He believes in justice very strongly. It would go against his personal beliefs to do something like this, and we have been friends for years. We became closer when I met another good friend of mine, Tighnari, and it turned out that Cyno is his spouse. We meet regularly as a group”.

Finally, Alhaitham seems to untense. “Alright. That’s a good start”.

“So you’ll be my guard”

Alhaitham looks away, staring at the candle instead with a far away gaze. “It would be troublesome if you died”. 

Success! “Alright then, starting now, you will be my personal guard, and tomorrow I will announce that I have taken you as my personal guard”.

Still looking mildly annoyed but fully resigned to his fate, he replies, “People will ask questions about why the scribe has suddenly become the Prince’s personal guard”

Kaveh waves him off. “We’ll talk to Cyno and I'll have him vouch for you if anyone asks him about it. People trust his word”.

Alhaitham just stares at the candle light blankly, not saying anything more.

Immediately upon returning to his room, there’s an immediate problem.

“Er, you could always return home for the night and come back tomorrow morning, and I would have the room next me set up for you”.

Alhaitham glares at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, you were almost murdered in your room tonight. I will stay here. I can sleep on the floor”.

Kaveh is absolutely horrified at the idea. Alhaitham just saved his life, he can’t just make him sleep on the door like some kind of dog.  “You can sleep in the bed!”, he says, running out of ideas. 

Alhaitham stops, and stares at him blankly. “ Sure . I will sleep in the Prince’s bed. And where will you sleep, your highness?”

Kaveh is tired, tired of running and talking about his potential death, and his crowning becoming closer to being king, something he knew he would become since he was a child, but felt so far away until suddenly it was right before his eyes. So, frankly? He decides it’s no time to get embarrased.

“I will also sleep in the bed”

Then they silently arranged themselves on the bed without speaking any further, and Kaveh, finally alive and safe in his bed, allowed the blanket of sleepiness to overtake him almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Alhaitham did not sleep for a long long time.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Kaveh starts his day with Alhaitham by his side. He has servants add an extra bed to his room despite some protest that it would be inappropriate, but quiets them when he explains he would like his personal guard to be close by, as his personal choice.

Alhaitham is… conflicted. He has never had so little control over a situation before, but granting Kaveh mercy, and then meeting him directly, has thrown him off completely. Alhaitham knows that ultimately, with how much of a large issue it has become, that guarding Kaveh and exposing whoever is going after Kaveh will have long term positive effects on the kingdom.

Then he can go live in his house again, and read books after his work, take a few well paying assassination jobs, and live according to his grandmother's wishes: To live a peaceful life. And although his line of work was most certainly not exactly what she might have had in mind for him, it does allow him comforts he would not have if he worked as a scribe like she did. Working as a scribe does not pay terribly well, and he watched her struggle to support them both.

He never forgot what she taught him about scribe work. It has allowed him direct access to information about his targets and how and when to make the final blow. However, being employed as a scribe means a little extra income as well, meaning he does not need to take on too many jobs to fulfill his needs. Exactly as he likes it.

Deep down, he knows that he isn’t just doing it to maintain his peaceful life. That something about the prince has made him agree to become his personal guard of all things. He could have easily taken down the guard chasing after Prince Kaveh without him realizing it was him and continued protecting him from afar. He could have done his own investigation and tried to take down the perpetrator behind everything himself. 

He’s choosing to shove the matter towards the back of his mind for now.

When Kaveh goes to speak with the council of sages later that morning, he announces that he’s taken a personal guard, stating that his parents had one, and with the coronation coming up, that it was a good time to have one of his own. 

While they don’t outright say anything against him having a guard, some eyebrows definitely do go up because some of them recognize him from his time as a scribe in the palace. 

“Your Highness, I applaud your proactiveness. However, I do believe that this is one of the palace scribes?”, one of the council members says, doubtful.

Kaveh smiles politely at them, perfectly patient with his reply. “Indeed, he was one of the palace scribes. However, Cyno vouched for him personally. Before his work as a scribe, he was a guard for a few smaller families among the kingdom, before deciding on a career as a scribe”.

It is not entirely untrue, he did, occasionally, assassinate for clients who had families, and hired him for a myriad of reasons that may include protection, by way of murder.

Another member’s face scrunches up a little in confusion, but thankfully does not speak against his decision. “That is certainly… a choice, to go from guard to scribe. If Cyno personally vouched for him, then I suppose he will do”.

Azar finally speaks up from where he is sitting, clearing his throat. “Let me be the first to congratulate you on having a personal guard. It is certainly something nice to have. Now, back to the task at hand. The coronation is being held soon, and we need—“

One hour before

Cyno is holding a hand up to his face, deep in thought. 

“This is extremely troubling, your highness. Whoever is going after you clearly has some knowledge of your whereabouts. They knew exactly when you would be alone. There was no one else in the area when it happened, either”.

Kaveh lets out a sigh at that. “I know. I suspect it is someone well established within the palace orchestrating this. They wouldn’t have this information otherwise, at least not without getting caught snooping around”. 

The thought that it might be someone he’s known for a long time, someone he’s trusted , even a little, hurts. That his mothers reign, while it ended on a sour note, had at least never faced something like this. He didn’t even get to start his reign before being faced with his potential death. Is he really that hated?

He just wants to be King and prove that he would never leave them abandoned, that he could fix the state of things and work towards a better, ideal kingdom where things get repaired and the monarch doesn’t leave them out to dry.

Like his mother left him.

She didn’t abandon me, he chides himself, she’s just… starting over! She’s happier now, happier than in a long time. 

He can’t help but feel a little sorrowed when his thoughts unhelpfully add, without you.

He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “We need to narrow the options down. I would also like you to observe everyone under your command a little more closely for anyone suspicious. Until we have a better idea of who it might be, we can’t really do much at the moment”.

Cyno nods. “Of course. I will do my best. Please, take care of yourself in the meantime. Try to stay in areas with more than one person, they may be less likely to strike if there are potential witnesses. I will see who to send to you at night”.

“Ah, about that. Alhaitham here will be my personal guard, so he will be with me at all times. This should help by a lot until we get this sorted”. 

Cyno looks at Alhaitham, who has been silently standing next to him the whole time, and then back at Kaveh. 

“He may have saved you, but are you sure you can trust him? I will admit, I don’t recognize him”

“I trust him. And you wouldn’t, he isn’t in the royal guard. He worked as a scribe, but before that he worked as a personal guard for some other families in the kingdom”

Cyno looks back at Alhaitham, who nods at him in confirmation.

“Alright. If you’re sure, I will respect your choice”.

Kaveh smiles at him, pleased. “Thank you. Your approval means a lot to me”.

Cyno gives a small smile back at him, before he becomes serious again and speaks, more familiarly this time. “Kaveh, please stay safe. Tighnari would be very saddened if anything happened to you”.

“Oh, just Tighnari?”

Cyno huffs. “I would be sad too, I suppose”.

And with that, they part ways.

Another week passed quietly. With two weeks remaining for the coronation, the halls are bustling with activity in preparation. 

Alhaitham has had to be on the lookout for Prince Kaveh’s safety more and more lately. It seems that the goal is for Kaveh to not reach the status of king and they are getting increasingly desperate. 

With so many people and Alhaitham around, it seems they’ve decided on more subtle and easier to hide methods for the time being.

He has identified several poisons in his meals thus far, some easily found by smell or taste, and others a little harder to identify. 

Cyno hasn't given them any news just yet, and things for the most part have been quiet apart from the attempts on his highness’s life. 

However there is one more thing that Alhaitham has to worry about.

Alhaitham crosses his arms, frustrated. “If you were so desperate to wither away and die, I would simply let the assassin get to you and end your misery”.

Kaveh glares at him from where he is sitting, eyes baggy and eyes tired. “I’m running out of time. I have lots to do. You wouldn’t understand”.

“No one is making you do this except yourself. Stick to working on the coronation for now”.

“The people will never accept me as king if I don’t do this. This entire situation is proof enough that people don’t have high hopes for me. If I can’t prove to them that I have their interest in mind, things can finally change”.

“We don’t know what the motivations are just yet. And you don’t need to fix every problem all at once. You have several documents completed already, that will be enough. You can worry about the rest later”.

Kaveh sighs, rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hand. “The people have been patient for a long time now. They’ve been waiting for something and expecting nothing . To them, I am nothing but a spoiled prince who wastes time doing nothing. I need to prove that I’m not going to be like my mother”.

 He leans back in his chair. “My mother, she tried. But she loved my father so much, and his sudden death shocked her and she never really recovered from that. It shocked me too. I think, for a while, I really was just going through the motions. Then I started to draw, and paint. It wasn’t blueprints, I didn’t learn how to do that until later, but it was soothing to me. By then, I had mastered all there is to learn about etiquette and the basics of managing the kingdom when the time came. I was a fast learner, you see. And when I stopped and started doing other things, they saw someone irresponsible and I don’t think they’ve forgotten that, even now”. 

As it stands, with Kaveh working on blueprints and documents and treaties day and night, the palace goers could only guess what Kaveh does with his time. They probably assume nothing has changed. They don’t know that their prince is working his life away to become a beacon of light to shine on their failing kingdom.

For now, though, his light is dimming as he is a detriment to himself.

He’s mourning. Even now, he suspects that he is mourning the life he used to have and, he suspects, his mother now too. They will simply have to see it differently when he is crowned, that he is good.

“You’ll be of no help to anyone if you fall over like a sack of rice during your ceremony”, is what he says instead.

Kaveh scowls at him. “So you want me to waste time?” 

“You aren’t wasting time. You have your coronation plans to worry about. Just shelf the rest of your plans for later and you can work on more of them later. Take a break, do something else”.

“Like what?” 

“Whatever you like”.

Kaveh seems to actually consider it for a second. “I could paint… we could move to the library. There is better light there”.

Kaveh picks up a basket of art supplies that he had on a shelf, and motions towards the door. 

They make it to the library and Kaveh sets up an easel and sets out all the paints while Alhaitham browses the rows of books, always keeping Kaveh in sight from the corner of his eye. 

“You like to read?” 

He nods. “I have enjoy it”

“Did you read a lot as a small child too? When I was a kid, I was always found with a book and my father joked that one day I would wake up with my head replaced with a book with how I was always holding one everywhere I went. And then he would go out and bring me more”, Kaveh says, smiling.

“I did. My grandmother always encouraged me to read. She always emphasized the importance of having knowledge, to know when to use it and when to question it”.

“She sounds amazing. I would love to meet her sometime”.

He gives Kaveh a sad smile. “She is no longer with us. She passed away some time ago”.

Kaveh immediately looks apologetic. “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss, I didn’t mean to bring it up”.

“It’s alright. It was a peaceful passing, and for what it’s worth, she would have loved to meet you”

He could imagine it. He thinks she would find him endearing and encourage him to spend more time with him. She always wondered if he was lonely. If they had met earlier, what would that look like? Picturing Kaveh and his grandmother meeting, and spending time together like they are now, fills him with a sort of warmth.

They spend the rest of the time in a warm, comfortable silence, as the sun rays from the window shine upon them, and Alhaitham keeps this day seared into his memory for the rest of his days.

Three more days pass, when Kaveh brings to light a new piece of information. Kaveh waves him over, showing him a document he received today from the scribes to approve or deny.

“See here? Here is the amount of funds going into the royal guard the day of the coronation. But it also shows past funds as well. It wasn’t as much as I would have liked before, it was one of the things I had been working on for when I became king. But look, the funds suddenly increased significantly the day the announcement of my coronation was announced. Except, the past few days Cyno is still dealing with a lack of supplies and clothing for his soldiers, which means that the royal guard is not actually receiving these funds. But they have to be going somewhere , so this means that they were using funding the royal guard as a cover. We need to talk to Cyno”.

When they meet Cyno, he seems very disturbed by this. “This confirms it has to be a noble. The nobles provide funding for various areas, including the royal guard. But we can’t know if all the nobles who are sending funds are perpetrators, or just one or two”.

Cyno straightens up, determined. “I will investigate and create a list of every noble who provides money for the royal guard. Hopefully, I will find who it is and apprehend them, so we can rest easy”

“I’ll you to it, Cyno”

The next few days pass faster than Alhaitham wishes they would. Kaveh looks over plans for his coronation, works on improvements to the kingdom, and, when Alhaitham can convince him to take a break, spend time in the library. Those are his favorite times.

Right now, Kaveh is explaining to him his plans to make small trips to every town and village under disguise to better understand what every citizen needs when everything calms down after his coronation.

Listening to him talk, it’s very clear that despite the fact that they hold no high expectations for him, he holds a great love for them and wants to so desperately do right by them. Alhaitham knows that things more often than not do not exactly the way you’d like, no matter how much you want it to, but Alhaitham finds himself hoping it does anyway, for Kaveh’s sake.

Kaveh is trying so hard. 

Hearing speak is like a soothing balm to his mind, which has been a whirlwind of thoughts, the biggest of which has been, what am I doing?

What is he doing, getting so… attached, when he’s only supposed to keep him save, and alive? Not only that, but before that, he had wanted to kill Kaveh. Kaveh almost became one of his many targets, never knowing his bright mind or beautiful heart. He would have simply killed Kaveh as if it were any other day, and then go through the rest of his day never having known something was missing. 

When everything is all over, what, was he going to simply continue being Kaveh’s bodyguard for the rest of his life?

That doesn’t sound bad, now that he thinks of it.

He only hopes that when he comes clean at the end, Kaveh can find space in his heart to forgive him.

He’s listening to Kaveh’s thoughts on what the first place to visit would be when suddenly, there is a knock on the door. Alhaitham walks up to the door and cautiously calls out, “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Cyno’s voice calls out, “I have some information on one of the nobles, as well as a friend who helped me find it”.

At the sound of Cyno’s voice, they both immediately untense. He opens the door for him and the woman behind him. Cyno steps to the side to allow her to come forward. “This is Dehya. She’s one of the guards under my command”.

Seeing familiar black and blonde hair, he has to take a moment to compose himself before he gives himself away.

Dehya had worked as a personal guard for one of his clients a long while ago. She made an impression on him from how fiercely she believed in her values, which also meant that she didn’t particularly like him, as there’s a difference between protecting whoever pays you, and assassination for whoever pays you. Evidently she decided to leave that employer, perhaps for having hired him.

Her eyes immediately narrow when she lands eyes on him, looking to the prince, then back at him, subtly laying her hand onto her greatsword, as if saying, Are you involved in this.

He gives a small, almost imperceptible shake of his head, no, I am not.

Her hand remains on her greatsword but seems to let the matter go for now. 

“Your Highness. Pleased to make your acquaintance, I wish we could have met under better circumstances. I patrol the area near Sachin’s office. When Cyno asked me if there was anything suspicious about him, stating that he could possibly be involved in your attempted murder, of course I had to help”.

Kaveh nods, relieved. “Thank you. We haven’t been able to figure out who can be involved”.

“Well, nothing really obvious stands out for Sachin. Cyno told me about the funds, and when he went back to his estate for the day, Cyno had me on schedule to patrol. Found some documents, it looks like he’s been consistently sending funds meant for the royal guard. If it’s actually going there, remains in question. However, what I did see were letters. A lot of them. Some of them were dated from before the coronation, but afterwards there were significantly more. I skimmed them, and they were just talking about ‘sending money to the royal guard’, inquiries about ‘the new soldiers’ and their progress, and a few about ‘herb stores’.”

Alhaitham hums in thought. “They’re talking in code. To avoid detection. If we weren’t suspicious of Sachin, this would not stand out”.

Dehya nods. “That’s what I thought as well. Unfortunately, this means that not only is Sachin one of the perpetrators, but also that Azar, who is currently the regent, might I add, is most likely the mastermind behind all of this. And he’s the senior most member of the council, it is likely they are either taking part as well, or likely to defend him if they aren’t”.

“This is difficult. At the very least, I think that given this new evidence we have, it is worth putting him on trial. If Azar does not want to expose himself for starting a coup, he won’t do anything to me right away. And… should I eventually be murdered… he might be the first to be investigated”.

Cyno grunts in affirmative. “I will send word to my soldiers to bring them into the courtroom for questioning on trial”. 

With that, all three make their way out, splitting ways with Kaveh and Alhaitham making their way to the courtroom.

“I have watched Azar put people on trial once or twice. When my father was still alive, I watched my mother when she conducted them. I never thought I would be putting someone on trial so soon, and for something like this”.

“It’ll all come to pass eventually, and you won’t have to worry about it eventually. You also have me. I won’t let anything happen”.

Kaveh lets out a small pleased laugh. “You know, alhaitham, I’m really glad I met you. I can’t believe I’ve never told you. The fact that I met you at the time that I did, it’s a little like fate, don’t you think?”

The fact that he stopped long enough to learn about him, and saved him… he’s not as sentimental as Kaveh is maybe, or typically believes in something being fated to happen, it really is fortunate that things turned out the way they did. It could have easily been a lot worse.

“Hm. I suppose”. Kaveh gives him a small smile, before turning serious again as he turns to face the doors of the courtroom. 

Cyno and Dehya were already inside, as well as several other members of the royal guard, other nobles from the palace, all the council sages, and Azar and Sachin already seated inside in their proper spots. When Azar notices Kaveh walk in, he immediately stands up, causing the guards to tense, ready to intervene. 

“Your Highness, what is the meaning of this???”

Kaveh ignores him and makes his way over to his elevated seat at the very end of the room. Once he sits, he raises his head and acknowledges everyone in the room.

“We are here today to bring Azar, regent of the kingdom of Sumeru and senior member of the council of sages, and Sachin, noble of the Kingdom of Sumeru, to trial. I have gathered evidence that Sachin has been funding the use of assassins to take my life. Not only that, but evidence points that Azar is overseeing Sachin’s actions and covering for him, making him an accomplice. Do either of you have anything today in defense?”

Azar speaks, a grave expression on his face. “Your highness. I have loyally served your family for years, before you were even born. What reason would I have to do anything against you now?”

“The evidence suggests otherwise. Cyno, Dehya, come forward”.

They step forward. Cyno speaks first. “His highness came to me asking me to aid him in an investigation. The week after his coronation, there had been an attempt on the Prince’s life. A guard, or as evidence now suggests, someone disguised as a guard, tried to kill him in his sleeping quarters. If it were not for his highness’s personal guard, it would have been too late. Since then he has reported multiple more attempts via poison.”

“Then, an anomaly in the funds was discovered,” he says, holding up the sheet of paper with the record. “Since the coronation, it looks like there has been a significant increase in funding for the royal guard, but only on paper. The royal guard has seen no new weapons, or other supplies, suggesting that funding the royal guard was a cover for something else”.

He holds out another sheet. “I then compiled a list of nobles who provided money for the guard. From here, I contacted Dehya, who patrolled the area where Sachin’s office was and asked her if he seemed suspicious and to investigate if there was any evidence of criminal activity”

Dehya clears her throat. Eyes turn to her, and she begins speaking.

“I found evidence of payments going towards the guard, but was likely going to a number of assassins disguised as new members of the royal guard. On top of that, Sachin and Azar began communicating with much more frequency following the announcement of Prince Kaveh’s coronation in what I believe is code. It spoke of ‘new soldiers’, constantly asking for progress, and among others. ‘Funding’ the royal guard was likely so that the employees who manage your finances and track how much is made and spent wouldn’t wonder why a significant sum of money was disappearing to nowhere”. 

As she says this, she holds a stack of paper and letters.

At this point the courtroom was filled with gasps and whispers all around. This is good, Alhaitham thinks. Their faith is Azar and Sachin is being shaken.

“May I speak?”

The whispers stop as Sachin finally speaks for the first time.

Kaveh looks surprised, but slowly nods. “Go ahead”. 

“How did you get this evidence?” 

“Pardon?”

“Cyno said Dehya found evidence of my participation in a crime. How did she find it, exactly?” He says, crossing his arms, face hard.

Cyno, looking thrown off, replied. “She found it inside of your office”

“How do we know Cyno didn’t plant it under your orders?”

The crowd erupts into a cacophony of gasps, whispers and exclamations. Dehya’s widened, inhaling sharply.

“That really is a good question,” Azar finally says when it quiets down, “this could be a ploy to remove me from power”.

Azar holds his head up higher, looking at Kaveh head on. 

“You could have conspired with the captain of the royal guard, to conduct a false investigation at your behest, planting evidence in Sachin’s office as I do not typically make many payments to the royal guard, to implicate me, and leaving Sachin as collateral. And… one other thing”

His gaze slowly turns from Kaveh, to Alhaitham.

Alhaitham’s stomach drops. He has a bad feeling.

“That man next to you, is an assassin”

Fuck

Chapter Text

Kaveh’s jaw drops, then quickly morphing into anger. “How dare you—“

Alhaitham had been working tirelessly every day, checking all his food and drinks and being on the lookout for suspicious individuals, as well as contributing to the investigation, and Azar is accusing him of being an assassin?

“I looked into it, because I was concerned. You chose a man who had only been working in the palace for a week, who worked as a scribe, as your personal guard. What sort of royal advisor would I be, if I could not use my resources to make for absolute certain that your guard could be trusted? Which he is not”.

He looks towards the audience, who are watching him intently. “He hired an assassin to be his personal guard. This guard has also been present for the entirety of the ‘investigation’. I’m not sure what his goal with this assassin was, but the facts are clear, he felt threatened by my position and wanted to undermine me”.

He looks back at Kaveh. The look in his eyes is almost mocking. “When you introduced him to us during a council meeting, you mentioned that he once worked as a guard before becoming a scribe. I asked around, had an employee of mine search for any record of you, across several towns, and I found something. Did you know that, with enough money, a person will reveal if they’ve hired a specific assassin. It wasn’t easy, they were reasonably wary, but it was done. Your guard was an assassin. Imagine my shock”

Kaveh’s face scrunches into a snarl. “You have no proof of this, all we have is your word. And if you had known that Alhaitham was an assassin, which he is not, why didn’t you say anything? You are lying”.

“If you want the proof, I would be willing to give it to you when this is all over. And truthfully, I did not say anything because I wasn’t sure if you knew. Seeing you throw these accusations at me however…”

Azar clears his throat. “Alright, how about this. I have faithfully served your mother and father for many years. I watched you grow up. Out of respect for your mother, I will give a chance to fix your mistakes. You will cease this investigation, and drop these serious allegations. If there truly has been attempts on your life, then we will simply increase the number of guards patrolling the palace every day. What does the rest of the council think?”

What a manipulative bastard!

‘The prince is young…”

“We can’t be left without a ruler, so I suppose we’ll have to keep an eye on him”.

“Azar has always been wise. If he agrees, than so do I”

All the rest of the council seem to come to an agreement.

One of them speaks up. “What about the guard?”

“Hmm… we can’t let an assassin walk free within the palace. We will have to detain him”.

“NO!” They can’t take him!

Azar crosses his arms, annoyed. “If you allow the assassin to remain with you, it won’t look good for you if you truly want to turn over a new leaf. I’m already giving you the chance to rule”.

He looks over desperately at Alhaitham, hoping he can say something in his defense. Instead, he grits his teeth and looks at him, shaking his head. Let them take me, his eyes seem to say.

And so he simply watches, as a pair of guards grab Alhaitham from each side, and lead him to his cell. He watched him go until they took him out of sight. 

As Kaveh makes his way out of the courtroom, right as he almost reaches his room, Dehya suddenly moves in front of him, blocking his way.

“I need to talk to you”. 

He opens the door to his room, closing the door behind them, and motions for her to talk.

“Did you know?”, she asks. 

“Know… what?”

“That Alhaitham was an assassin”

“Don’t listen to anything Azar says”

“Well, what he said about Alhaitham was the truth. I met him once, when he was hired by my employer to go after his daughter's husband.”

His heart sinks. It isn’t true. It isn’t.

“So he lied to me”.

‘For what it’s worth, he seemed genuine during the investigation, and about keeping you safe. I can at least respect him for that. I don’t really trust him at all, but I trust Azar even less.”

Kaveh’s entire body untenses. “For a second, I thought you might have believed what Azar said”.

“My opinion on him was neutral, at least until now. I’ve known Cyno for a while, he said he saw potential in me and invited me to be in the royal guard. We both know that Cyno values Justice before anything else. The second Azar accused you of using Cyno to undermine Azar’s position, I knew he was only twisting words. Cyno would never do anything like that”.

She’s right, he wouldn’t. He would rather sooner die than do something like this. 

“What will we do now?”

“I’ll be your personal guard for now. We’ll get you to your coronation alive, and then you’ll hold power over Azar and if you really want to jail him, no one can stop you, though many will definitely fight you on it, they are going to remember what Azar accused you with”.

Kaveh sighs. “Just my luck”.

“He can’t kill you now without it being immediately suspicious, so he will probably try to usurp you some other way. I suppose all we can do now is wait and see”. 

It is the day of the coronation when Alhaitham hears footsteps approaching his cell. 

He’s relieved to see it’s Cyno, but pauses when he notices something else. “Cyno. Why have you brought these people?”

“This is Nahida. And this is Nahida’s mother. She’s Azar’s housekeeper”. Nahida stares at him curiously.

“Why are they here?”

“Nahida sometimes joined her mother when she was working if her father was unable to take care of her, and helped with easy tasks. She’s very smart. Sometimes she overheard things Azar would say when he didn’t notice she was there. Sometimes Azar would leave out letters from Sachin and old contracts from assassins he fired for failing, and tell her to throw them in the fireplace but she would hide them and take them home with her and her mother stored them, just in case”.

Nahida nods at everything he said, trying to look a part of the conversation. Alhaitham turns to Nahida’s mother. 

“Why didn’t you bring this up when you first got them?”

“Azar is a trusted figure in the eyes of the entire kingdom. Who would believe a housekeeper over him? Now, I have the opportunity to bring him to justice and my contract with him can end early”.

Cyno clears his throat, interrupting them. “The coronation is underway, Kaveh is currently being crowned. If we get there in time, we can present the new evidence that they brought with them, in front of the townspeople, and then the council members cannot easily defend Azar without being criticized in front of a crowd. He won’t be able to get out of it, and Kaveh could make a good impression on the people”

Cyno pulls out a key from his pocket. “With no one believing Azar, they cannot keep you here as his previous words will hold no weight, and Prince Kaveh has been missing you”. His heart warms at that.

As they make their way outside to where the event is being held, he can see the largest crowd he’s ever seen, with guards keeping the crowd back to allow a space for Kaveh to pass through. It’s through this gap that he can see Kaveh, dressed in the most elegant and vibrant reds, blues, and yellows. Dehya is standing a good distance behind him, watchful.

On top of his head, is a Kings crown.

Despite the celebration around him, he can't help but think that Kaveh looks miserable, even as he’s smiling. Towards the crowd. He’s seen Kaveh smile before, but this one seems… soulless.

He looks like he hasn’t slept .

As they make their way through the gap left by the guards,  he can see the exact moment Kaveh notices him. 

His eyes brighten, and his lips widen into a genuine smile.  Alhaitham fights the urge to run to him immediately.

The guards seem confused at their arrival, but as they came with Cyno, who is still captain, and Kaveh, now the king, is allowing it, they stay where they are. He hears whispers and confusion from the townspeople around, wondering who these people are.

When they reach him, Kaveh says, “You missed me becoming king”

“I’m here now”, he says, taking his rightful place next to him, like he always has.

Kaveh then looks around and notices Cyno and Nahida. “Cyno, who are they?” 

“Your Majesty. This is Azar’s housekeeper, and her daughter. They’ve been secretly saving evidence against Azar”.

“You want her to testify here” 

“It’s better for more people to be watching, instead of just the nobles”

Kaveh nods in agreement, and Cyno goes to stand next to him on the right,

Looking out towards the crowd, he catches sight of Azar, who appears furious .

Kaveh raises his voice, and acknowledges the crowd. “I am here, now as King, to bring Azar, regent of the kingdom of Sumeru and senior member of the council of sages, and Sachin, noble of the Kingdom of Sumeru, to trial once again”

He gives a brief recap of the events of the last trial, and the results from it.

“Cyno has come forward with new evidence that proves, without a doubt, their involvement in the crime of trying to murder me with assassins”. He motions for Cyno to speak. He moves forward.

“Today, I had arrested Jiwani, Sachin’s son, for hiring an assassin to murder his father. I caught the assassin right before they made their first move. After questioning the assassin, I learned that they were hired by Jiwani, and thus brought him into custody as well. Once he learned that I was looking for evidence against his father, he agreed to share information.

He confessed that he confronted his father about the excess amount of money going out towards the guard, which was making their finances suffer quite a bit as they were not doing well at the time. After he failed to get through to him, he went directly to Azar’s home, which he had visited before, to speak to him. Azar agreed to speak to him, but on his way out, was quietly stopped by Azar’s housekeeper, who hoped it would be an opportunity for someone to do something and investigate Azar.

She told him that Azar had been getting a lot of money from Sachin, and it would likely not stop. He’s clearly trying to get into Azar’s good graces.

Realizing this, had reached his limit and thus planned his fathers demise. Later, when I found her and Nahida, she brought me the evidence they had been collecting”.

He turns to them and asks, “Are you ready?”

Nahida nods bravely, even when he can see her shaking a bit. She’s probably never been in front of so many people before. Her mom gives a solemn, yet determined, nod.

Cyno steps back and allows the pair to come forward. Nahida’s mom picks her up, giving her a better view. Nahida speaks first, loud as she can and clear, about saving the contracts and letters, and things she overheard Azar talking about not realizing she could hear. Then her mom took over and confirmed what was said, going into details about the contents she read, how many assassins Azar and Sachin hired, and supplies Azar provided them in secret.

When she finished, she took Nahida and stepped back, standing next to Dehya to shield her from the crowd and taking the eyes off of them.

“Having heard first hand accounts from the witnesses, is there anything either of you can say in your defense?” Kaveh says, looking at Azar and Sachin,

Azar looks outraged, but says nothing. He knows he’s backed into a corner, Kaveh thinks. With the evidence from the first trial, and the new evidence, he won’t be able to turn it back around again easily. Especially when it's more than just the council of sages here. They can’t defend him publicly without damaging their reputations.

He turns his attention to Sachin, whose face is subdued, and looks resigned. He doesn’t know exactly what made Sachin follow Azar. From what he remembered, the man used to be someone optimistic about the future of the kingdom. He was one of the nobles he liked hearing from sometimes, before he suddenly stopped and became quiet. I wonder what made him discontinue his ideas.

“If there is nothing left to say, then this trial is concluded. Guards, take them to their cells”. The guards respond immediately, and take them, Azar yelling out at him all the while, and Sachin remaining silent.

He turns back towards Nahida’s mother and walks to them. “You have no idea how thankful I am for your help in bringing them to justice. You and Nahida both”.

She nods at him, a small, genuine smile spreading across her face for the first time today.  “It is my pleasure. I couldn’t stand by and simply let his plans happen. I saw my chance and took it”.

Nahida chimes in, “Your majesty, if Azar is gone, where will my mom work now?”

Kaveh blinks. He hadn’t thought of that. “If you are agreeable to it, you could come work in the palace. You would be provided a room as well, the servants that work here live here. And Nahida would be able to learn and grow up here, and when she is older she can work in whatever area she likes. Who knows. She could someday be an advisor”. 

She lets out a sigh of relief. “That sounds wonderful. But, I wouldn’t go anywhere without my husband”.

“What does he work as?”

“He’s a blacksmith. He specializes in weaponrynox”.

That’s perfect! 

“If he agrees, he can work as an in-house blacksmith. We are in desperate need of more of them, the royal guard has been running on short supply”

“If that is the case, then I am honored at the opportunity, your majesty”.

With that, Cyno leads them back to inform the husband and gather their things.

On the other hand, he, Dehya, and Alhaitham walk back towards the palace as the crowd disperses and everyone is heading home.

Alhaitham kept pace with him, so they were standing side by side. They bid goodbye to Dehya at Kaveh’s door, and finally, they were alone.

He sat on his bed, taking a few moments to ponder in silence. He can feel Alhaitham’s gaze on him, burning a hole in him.

“I’m sorry”

So we’re having that conversation now, then.

“I had to find you were an assassin from Azar, and then Dehya. Were you ever going bro let me know, or were you simply going to leave me in the dark forever?”

Alhaitham lets out a breath, taking a moment to think. “I didn’t know how to tell you”.

“How to tell me what, that you were an assassin?” 

“That I came here to kill you”

Kaveh inhales sharply, blood going cold. “Alhaitham. I have trusted you with my life so far, so you had better explain”.

“I came here to kill you, mistakenly thinking that you would not make a good king, and peace would be disrupted. But, I noticed your plans on your desk, and was immediately faced with the truth that I was wrong. That you were very different from the way you were perceived. I don’t know why I stayed after that. Something about you made me stay.

“So you did care about me. That wasn’t a lie”

“It was not. The time we spent together was real. I grew fond of you”.

Kaveh nods, humming. He spends a few minutes in silence, pondering over his next words.

“You know, something made me believe in you, even when I realized I didn’t know you as much as I thought I did. When I was with you, I felt like I could let go of the persona as prince for a while. I liked speaking to you, and teasing you. It was good”.

“I’m glad. It was the same for me”. 

“Good. So I forgive you for lying to me”

“I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell you”

“That lying by omission!”

“Actually, there is one more thing I would like to say. Something I should say before I make it harder on both of us if it’s wrong”.

For a split second, Kaveh worried what it could be, but Alhaitham didn’t have a face of guilt like earlier, just nervousness.

“Alright… what is it?”

Alhaitham gets up where he’s seated, walks in front of him, then kneels, taking a knee and bowing his head. He then lifts up his hands, taking one of Kaveh’s hands within them. What is he doing! What is he doing!

“ Something made me stay. And something made you keep believing in me. We enjoy our time together. We feel at peace and ourselves together. This something . We should explore it together as well, if you would let me court you”

Kaveh stops breathing momentarily, heart pounding in his chest. Is this real? Is Alhaitham really asking to court him?

“I… I accept”. and then Kaveh doesn’t waste anymore time. When Alhaitham stands back up, Kaveh stands as well and brings him into a hug. They spend some time rocking while in the embrace, savoring the moment.

“Good. So I’m staying as your personal guard now. The benefits of my new job far surpass my old one. My new boss is cute as well. That’s a plus”.

This man!

He simply hugs him tighter, melting further into the embrace. For a while, he can forget about his responsibilities and roles he must play, and bask in the glow of the moment.

Eventually, he can’t hold it all in anymore. The events of the past month, the week where Alhaitham had been taken from him, the events of today…

Tears start to darken the back of Alhaitham’s shirt, falling fast. Alhaitham’s arms tighten around him.

“Kaveh?”

Kaveh let’s go of the embrace to wipe his hands across his eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling to no avail. 

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just that everything has been so much, you know? Just give me a moment”

“I understand. You spent the past month escaping death and trying to work around the manipulation from Azar and Sachin. It’s okay if you need a moment”.

To hear Alhaitham acknowledge that, it means a lot to him.

“Ah, Alhaitham, I’m trying to stop crying, and here you are making me cry more. You’re so unfair”.

“I’m not being unfair, I’m just telling the truth”

Kaveh laughs wetly, and he thinks that he’s so lucky to have made it to where he is now, that light has been shed on the truth, and a new beginning is on the horizon. 

“Just hold me, Alhaitham. We can think of everything else tomorrow”.

THE END