Chapter Text
╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗
Chapter Five: The Dragonborn
╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝
Sweat drips down his temples as the hot air swirls around him—his own flames burning his skin and leaving blisters while he forces them forward. The flames rhythmically change colors—orange, red, white—becoming hotter with each second.
His body is begging him to give it some rest—his limbs trembling, skin burning, and thoughts racing—but he doesn’t listen to the silent pleas. Instead, he grits his teeth before another fresh wave of flames erupts from his body.
“You should stop“, a warning voice echoes in his ears, barely loud enough to be heard over the roaring sound of the flames around him.
He shakes his head. He cannot stop. Not now. He is so close.
He ignores the warning, ignores the thumping pain in his veins, and keeps moving forward. He forces his body to the limit, his flames slowly consuming him whole.
It burns hot.
“Jungkook!“, the voice is louder now. Closer.
He can see the familiar silhouette from the corner of his eyes, but his focus is solely on the flames that just don’t want to act right.
“I can do it!“, he grits out between his teeth—he doesn’t know if these words are meant for him or for the other person who swiftly moves closer. A moment later he feels a cold hand around his wrist, but it is too late. A burst of flames erupts from his body, setting his whole body on fire and threatening to consume anything around him. He screams—he doesn't know if it is from the pain or the deep disappointment that settles in his chest once again. He screams until his voice is hoarse, his throat hurting.
The flames disappear as quickly as they came when water is poured all over him.
Jungkook’s skin is red and covered with blisters, but he thinks the heavy weight of disappointment burns hotter on his skin than the flames had. It burns brighter than his flames could ever burn.
He falls to his knees. His eyes fixed on nothing in particular while he tries to keep the tears in. He doesn't have to embarrass himself even further by crying.
“I told you to stop! Why are you so stubborn?“, the woman asks, her voice loud and angry. “You will kill yourself one day if you continue like that!“
Jungkook scoffs—the tears forgotten when anger spreads through his body: “I can do it; I was almost there.“ He looks up at his master, “I would have gotten there if you hadn't intervened.“
“You would have killed yourself, and you know it“, she replies, crossing her arms over her chest.
For a moment no one says anything. They just stare at each other before the woman sighs deeply: “Look, Jungkook, I know that you are frustrated...“ Jungkook scoffs again. Frustrated doesn't even begin to describe it. “...but you have to stop this madness! You cannot continue to force your body to these extremes!“
Jungkook averts his gaze from her and instead finds himself staring at his hands. The once smooth skin disappeared long ago. Now his hands are covered in blisters, scars, and calluses. Even when they hurt, Jungkook wears them with pride. It shows how hard he works for his magic. Shows that he doesn't allow himself to give up. So why isn't it enough? Why does his magic refuse to come easily to him? Why is it refusing to be controlled by him?
Jungkook doesn't know anyone else who has had problems like this. Some children are more advanced at their magic than he is. He is twenty-three; when will his magic finally cooperate with him?
“You should go home for the day“, his master finally decides. There will be no more training for the day. It would be too dangerous when Jungkook is in this state of mind.
Again, Jungkook feels the tears sting in his eyes, but he refuses to let them fall.
“Okay...“, he murmurs before accepting the woman's hand to help him up. “Okay, yeah...“
She accompanies him back home, making sure that he indeed goes home instead of sneaking into the forest to keep on training on his own—something he has done a lot in the past and that only got him into trouble. Once he accidentally set himself on fire when his magic burst out of him, nearly killing him because there was no one there to protect him from his own magic.
Once they reach the door to Jungkook's family home, his master says her goodbye before leaving. Jungkook opens the door—his head still lowered to the ground. The tears start to sting again.
“Jungkook? You're already back? Is everything okay?" he hears his mother's voice, but he doesn't look at her. Instead, he glances at the clock and realizes that it had only been an hour of training. The magic outburst seems to appear sooner and sooner. Only a few weeks earlier, he had been able to push himself to his limits for hours before bursting into flames. Why is it getting shorter?
Jungkook doesn't answer his mother; instead, he runs past her and into his room. He just cannot look at his parents right now. How disappointed do they have to be? If Jungkook is embarrassed about his lack of skills, how embarrassed do his parents have to be? How embarrassed and disappointed does his father have to be?
Jungkook groans while he flops down on his bed, his face burrowed in his pillow before he allows a few tears to fall.
It doesn't take long until he hears a soft knock on the door. He doesn't have the strength to tell the person to go away, so the door slowly opens and he hears footsteps. He doesn't look up.
A moment later he feels the bed dip under someone else's weight before a hand brushes through his hair: “What happened, son?“ His father's voice is soft, and tears well up in Jungkook's eyes again. How can his father be so calm, so collected, so understanding when one of his sons is such a failure?
Jungkook needs a moment before he trusts his voice enough to answer without it breaking: “I set myself on fire...“, he murmurs, his cheeks burning from the embarrassment.
“Are you okay?“, his father asks immediately, his gaze traveling over his youngest son, searching for any signs of serious harm. “Does it hurt somewhere? Do we have to see a doctor?“
Jungkook cries some more. He shakes his head.
“Jungkook? Please look at me”, his father says, his hand still gentle in his son's hair. “Please?“
Jungkook hesitates for a moment, but then he sits up and faces his father. The older man looks at his son’s tear-stained cheeks, red eyes, and puffy cheeks: “It is okay. You don't have to push yourself so hard. You shouldn't push yourself to these extremes." Jungkook averts his eyes from him, but his father only puts his arms around him and pulls him against his chest. Jungkook starts crying again—this time not hiding his tears.
For a moment it is quiet between them before his father speaks again: “Just do things slowly. It is okay“, he hesitates for a second before he adds, “It's even okay if you give up on your magic altogether. You can help me with the business if you want. Plenty of people live good lives without magic“, he nudges Jungkook to look at him before he continues: “I would hate to see you get seriously injured because of this. Don't break yourself just because you want to prove something“
Jungkook pulls away, his lips pulled into an awkward smile: “I don't want to prove anything...“
His father raises his eyebrows: “No?“
Jungkook doesn't look at him. Maybe he does want to prove something, but how could he not?
“It's just...“, he groans and rubs his hands over his face, “you and Junghoon... I don't know. People talk“
“Then let them talk. "Don't listen to them!", his father answers, “I don't care what others think, and you shouldn't either."
Easier said than done. How could Jungkook not listen to what people around him say? He has heard the whispers and rumors that people are spreading about him and his family. He wants to stop them. He wants to prove them wrong. But here he is, not even able to master his own manifestation. How embarrassing.
If he continues like this, he will never be able to follow in his father's footsteps. If he continues like this, he will never be able to make his father as proud as his older brother does. If he continues like this, the whispers will only grow louder. Jungkook hates it.
If he wants all of this to stop, he has to push himself harder.
“Okay, I won't“, he lies, not meeting his father's gaze when he says it.
A loud sigh: “Okay”, his father says—clearly knowing his son is lying to him. “Come down now. Your mother and I have cooked. You will need food to recover quickly." He stands up and pulls Jungkook with him, leading him out of the room in silence.
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖
Three days have passed since Taehyung woke up in a palace far away from home, and for the most part of these three days, he has been asleep. He doesn't remember a time in which he has been that exhausted after the thing inside of him ripped out of his body, claiming control over it. It had happened before, sure, but it had never been as bad as three days ago.
It terrifies Taehyung.
Will it become even worse? What if it happens again while he stays in this palace? What if he accidentally hurts people—again—because of it?
He should go. He should run. He should disappear into the wilderness again.
But here he is, sitting on the soft mattress surrounded by blankets and the sound of flickering flames around him.
Yoongi sits behind him, slowly working a pair of scissors while he tries to even out the asymmetrical haircut Taehyung had given himself shortly after he arrived at Dragon Hill. Taehyung watches him do so through the mirror that hangs on the wall on the opposite side of the room. He watches Yoongi cutting his hair shorter and shorter—he is sure it has never been so short before.
Normally Taehyung likes to keep his hair long—the most he ever cut it was to his collarbones.
They stay in silence while Yoongi works. When the young prince seems to be content with the new haircut, he starts to brush through the strands: “Your hair is really nice, you know? I like the color“, he murmurs, and a small smile appears on Taehyung's lips when he thanks him for the compliment.
It is strange—everything about this feels strange to Taehyung. Most of his time here has been spent sleeping or with Yoongi so far. The young prince always seems to be there when Taehyung wakes up, feeding him delicious food or bringing him new clothes to wear. It is comforting, in a way, to have someone take care of him right now that his body is still so weak from the outburst of power he had experienced a few days ago. Normally, he has to go through the recovery process on his own. It is nice to not be alone this time.
But it is still strange. Why does Yoongi take care of him? Since when was this the job of a prince? Shouldn't some servants take care of Taehyung instead?
The young prince takes a bottle into his hand before he puts some oil into his hands. It smells heavenly. Then he starts to massage Taehyung's scalp before applying the oil into his hair strands. “I'm glad you're feeling better“, Yoongi says after a while—his voice deep and quiet while he concentrates on the task he is doing. “Do you think you'll have enough energy to meet my father and the rest of my family soon?“
Taehyung tries to not show his discomfort, but apparently he doesn't do a good job. Yoongi chuckles softly before he adds, “Don't worry, I'll go with you. They are just really excited to meet you. They have been asking me about you since I told them I brought you here.”
Taehyung still doesn't know how to feel about it. He never had to meet a royal family, so he doesn't even know how to behave in front of them. Would they think he is rude? Would they punish him if he says anything wrong? If Taehyung were allowed to decide, he would rather not meet them. But that would be rude...he is living in their home.
“I'm nervous“, he admits before he flinches, surprised by his own sudden honesty.
“Don't be,” Yoongi's deep voice is soothing. “There is nothing to feel nervous about.”
Taehyung snorts at that, but Yoongi doesn‘t comment. Taehyung feels as if he has all the right to feel nervous about his situation. He randomly found himself in a kingdom he had never even heard a word about, surrounded by an icy mountain he probably wouldn‘t be able to escape from without freezing to death, the presence in his chest waiting for another possibility to show its ugly face, and a royal family that seemed too eager to meet him.
This doesn‘t seem right to him—not at all.
A royal family doesn‘t randomly decide to house a lost man from the mountains—heck, a prince doesn‘t randomly bring people to his family‘s palace, right? So there clearly has to be some kind of motive behind all of it. Taehyung doesn‘t know if he wants to know what they expect from him in return for their kindness.
“Why are you doing this?“, Taehyung finds himself asking after a long pause in which neither he nor Yoongi has said anything. The young prince only hums as a question.
“Why did you bring me here? After you found me in the mountains?“, Taehyung clarifies. He feels Yoongi‘s hands stop moving in his hair for a brief moment before he continues again: “You needed help, and I knew we could provide you with it“, he answers simply, but the answer doesn‘t satisfy Taehyung. Royals don‘t do things out of kindness to people like him.
“There has to be another reason for it“, Taehyung says while he turns around to look directly at Yoongi. “Why would a prince randomly bring a stranger into their home? I could be dangerous. There has to be a good reason for this…“ Yoongi holds his gaze but doesn‘t immediately answer.
“Do you know anything about us and who we are?“, the young prince starts to ask—his voice low. “Do you know anything about who you are? Who you belong to?“
A shiver runs down Taehyung‘s spine. Yoongi has hinted at the fact that he knew about Taehyung when he first woke up here. But since then the conversation hasn‘t come up again.
“I‘m Kim Taehyung, a villager from the far North of Inior“, Taehyung answers, trying to avoid having to say what Yoongi is implying.
“That‘s not what I mean…“, the young prince says, his eyes never leaving Taehyung‘s gaze. “You are a blood magician. You cannot deny it. I‘ve seen you wield it. Your magic called me to get you before you die because of it.”
Taehyung shakes his head: “It‘s not magic. I don't possess magic", he denies—the familiar, but unwelcome, rumbling in his chest waking up from its temporary sleep again. Taehyung forces it down. “It‘s not magic. It‘s a curse.”
Yoongi‘s eyes become softer: “It‘s not a curse; it‘s the magic your ancestors were able to wield. It was used to heal, to protect, and to strengthen.“ There is a small smile on Yoongi‘s lips: “My kind were blessed enough to become witnesses of its powers back in the days. Before your kind and mine were hunted down because of what we were. Before we had to flee“
Taehyung averts his gaze away. He doesn‘t know what to say. He doubts that thing inside of him can be used for anything else but for chaos and destruction.
It takes a moment before Taehyung realizes what Yoongi has just said to him: “Wait!” His eyes snap back at Yoongi. “You said your kind were able to witness it back in the day and that you were forced to flee…”, realization makes his heart beat faster when he looks at the beautiful prince in front of him. Shit.
“Are you…“, his breath gets stuck in his throat, “a dragonborn?” The last part of the question comes out squeakier than expected, and Yoongi laughs at it—his gums showing while he laughs loudly at Taehyung‘s sudden realization and the surprise that follows it.
“Yeah, I thought you figured that out already.“
“No? How should I have known?” His eyes grow bigger. He had heard about them when he was a child. He has heard stories about them—the dragonborn. Effortlessly beautiful but dangerous and prideful. They had disappeared from this earth when the blood magicians did—at least that‘s what he‘s been told.
Yoongi chuckles—the sound lovely. Taehyung tries to calm down his rapidly beating heart.
“Well, now you know. We are dragonborn, and we've been waiting for a long time for the return of a blood magician. That‘s why I immediately knew when I saw you and why I brought you here without thinking twice about it. Your magic called for me, and I simply brought you home because it asked me to“
“Home?“
Yoongi‘s cheeks blush, and a shy smile plays around his lips: “Well, yeah? You are a blood magician; you were destined to live with us“, he explains, and Taehyung feels his head spinning.
“I think you know more about this than I do“, the red-haired man says, still trying to wrap his head around the new information he gathered. “Considering that I hear about all of this for the first time today and that until a few moments ago I thought your kind didn‘t exist, could you maybe start at the top for me?“
Yoongi moves closer to Taehyung, his eyes glittering with excitement when he starts to speak: “Okay, let‘s start from the top: a long time ago, you blood magicians and we dragonborn used to live alongside each other. Your kind was excluded from human villages and towns because of your power, and we, well…we‘ve never lived close to the humans anyway.“ Taehyung listens closely. “Apparently we‘ve lived in mountains and caves—mountains really similar to these ones here.“
Taehyung glances at the window—the vastness of the snowy mountains spreading in front of his eyes. It makes sense. These mountains remind him a lot of the mountain he had resided in for the last few months—Dragon Hill. He supposes the dragonborn used to live there.
“One day your kind found us, and it wasn‘t long until we figured out that our magic complements each other—under certain circumstances.“
“Under what circumstances?“, Taehyung asks, easily getting drawn into the supposed history of the people he now seemed to be a part of.
“It seemed to be some kind of bond?” Yoongi looks a little unsure when he says it. “I don‘t really know how it supposedly worked, but apparently some blood magicians‘ magic was highly drawn to specific dragonborns‘ magic. When they allowed their magic to mix, they could both wield greater magic than alone“, Yoongi shrugs his shoulders, “but it only worked with one partner. One couldn‘t mix their magic with different people.”
“Oh, kind of like soulmates?“, Taehyung asks. It sounded a lot like the concept of a soulmate that some people believed in, just with one‘s magic and its compatibility with someone else‘s magic.
“I suppose?“
“You said my magic called for you?”, Taehyung suddenly asks, and Yoongi blushes harder. “Do you think…”, he doesn‘t manage to finish his sentence, because Yoongi jumps up from the bed—the blush traveling from his cheeks down to his neck. He shakes his head: “No, no, that‘s not what I meant by that!“
Taehyung just stares at the young prince, a little confused about the other man‘s sudden reaction. Was his question insensitive?
“But I did hope for a bond—my whole family does. Just not the two of us. You know? But. I mean, I don‘t know if there is a bond, but if there is. You know, it would be good if it were with Yongeul“, Yoongi starts to ramble, his cheeks growing redder with each moment he tries to defend himself. Taehyung doesn't even understand why the young prince tries to defend himself.
“That‘s why they want to meet you. They are really eager to meet you.”
Taehyung just stares at Yoongi—a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. Now he knows why Yoongi brought him here and why the royal family allowed him to stay in their palace. They hoped his magic could mix with the crown prince‘s magic.
“To see if we have a bond?“
Yoongi nods.
“What if we do?“, Taehyung asks. The thing inside himself stirs. He doesn‘t even want to have it for himself; would he be okay with sharing it with someone else?
“Then you‘d be able to wield greater magic together, and you‘d be able to help protect this kingdom—just like your kind did when they still lived with my kind“, Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest with a small smile on his face, “You‘d be able to do good for this kingdom and my people.“
Taehyung doesn‘t say anything to that.
He still doubts this thing inside of him would be able to protect anyone. It regularly threatened to kill Taehyung, so why would it be able to protect anyone else? And the thought of someone else having access to this power scares him.
“Would he be able to use blood magic as well?“
Yoongi shakes his head: “No, but his own magic would grow“, and after a moment he adds, “And so would yours.”
A shiver runs down Taehyung‘s spine. He doesn‘t know if this is a good idea. He can barely manage to keep it inside now; what would happen if it grew even bigger? It might destroy him.
But would it even matter? Taehyung doesn‘t want to stay here for long, anyway. He could simply string them along with excuses before he vanishes into the snowy landscape, never to be seen again. Yes. He could do that.
“Okay“, he nods. “Thank you for explaining it to me“, he offers Yoongi a small smile, which the other immediately returns.
The sun has long disappeared behind the mountain tops, the sky turning all kinds of beautiful colors before it will fall completely dark.
Taehyung‘s head hurts, and his eyes are burning from exhaustion. Yoongi seems to notice his fatigue.
“I‘ll leave you alone for the night now“, he smiles. “Can I tell my father you‘d be ready to meet them tomorrow?“
Taehyung hesitates for a moment, but then he nods his head. Why not?
“Okay“, Yoongi says before he walks to the door. He opens it and disappears halfway through it before he turns to Taehyung once more. For a moment it looks as if he wants to say something, but then he just smiles:
“Good night, Taehyung.“
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖
The next day, too early for Taehyung‘s liking, Yoongi is back in his room, waking him up. The sun is shining through the roof window, blinding Taehyung when he tries to open his eyes.
“Come on, Taehyung“, he hears Yoongi‘s voice. He sounds excited. “I brought you food.“
The smell of freshly cooked food makes Taehyung‘s stomach rumble, so he finally manages to open his eyes and sit up in bed. While he eats the food Yoongi brought him, the young prince disappears in the walk-in closet of Taehyung‘s room to pick some clothes and accessories. “My father and Yongeul agreed to meet you today“, Yoongi says casually, and Taehyung nearly chokes on the soup he just put into his mouth.
“Oh, okay“, he answers, nerves immediately growing in his stomach.
Yoongi comes back with a white robe in his hands before he indicates to Taehyung to get dressed. Once Taehyung wears the white robe with delicate silver details—similar to the one Yoongi always wears—the young prince puts a necklace around Taehyung’s neck—white pearls and red rubies glittering in the sunlight that finds its way into the room.
Yoongi then gives Taehyung long pearl earrings before he puts hair clips that are graced with red fabric roses into his hair.
The last thing the young prince does is to put red eyeshadow on Taehyung before drawing a thin red line down the other man's cheeks—the same way Yoongi is always wearing it.
“Does the line mean anything?“, Taehyung asks while he tries not to stare too much at Yoongi, who is leaning so close to draw the perfect lines on Taehyung‘s face.
Yoongi raises his eyes to look at the other. “The color represents blood—the source of your magic“, he says before drawing the line down to Taehyung’s chest, only stopping right where his heart is. “We wear it, too, to symbolize the bond we once shared with your kind.”
Taehyung nods.
When Yoongi finishes, he leans back and lets his eyes wander over Taehyung's appearance. He then nods satisfied and stretches his hand out for Taehyung to take: “Come. They are waiting for you.”
Without a further word shared between them, they leave Taehyung's room, and the younger man realizes that this is the first time he has left the room since he arrived here. His stomach rumbles and his chest feels tight while Yoongi leads him through winding corridors, but the warmth of the prince's hand against Taehyung's is calming. At least he is not completely alone.
Whenever they meet someone in the corridors, they bow deeply towards Yoongi and his companion. Taehyung has never felt as out of place as right now.
They walk through a corridor that has huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the left side—mountain tops of the neighboring mountains visible in the distance, soft clouds wrapped around them, and the tops glittering with snow. It looks beautiful, and if Taehyung wasn't as nervous, he surely would have been able to appreciate it more.
Then, Yoongi finally slows down, and they stop in front of a door. He turns to Taehyung with a comforting smile: “Are you ready?“
Taehyung's body freezes for a moment, and his hand wraps tighter around Yoongi's. He has to get it over with anyway, right?
So he nods his head with a weak smile while a guard opens the door.
An enormous throne hall comes into view once the door opens. The interior is only made of white marble and glass—the sunlight reflecting beautiful colors through the room. Pillars line the walls left and right, and huge windows allow the sunlight in. Some of them are open, so the thin, white curtains move softly due to the air streaming in.
Taehyung feels cold immediately—the thin clothes Yoongi dressed him in are not enough to shield his body from the cold that lingers in the room. But no one else seems to be affected by it.
On the other side of the room are some stairs reaching up to a plateau on which a throne is placed. A man sits on it, while another man stands on his right—a woman by his side—and two women stand on the left of the throne.
Yoongi leads Taehyung forward. A shallow pool that is covered with glass leads towards the throne, with a white marble floor next to it. Yoongi makes sure Taehyung stays on the glass while he himself walks on the marble floor.
They take a few steps, and Taehyung can feel their eyes on him. The attention feels heavy, so he averts his gaze and instead looks at the glass below his feet. The water moves under the glass, and small, translucent fish that emit a soft orange and blue glow make their way through the pool below his feet.
Taehyung focuses his attention on them, not daring to look up until Yoongi stops him. From the corner of his eyes, he can see the bottom of the stairs. He can feel their gazes on him now more clearly than before, and he takes one last deep breath before he raises his gaze. He feels small.
“Welcome,” the older man sitting on the throne—presumably the king—announces with a bright smile, “We are pleased to have you here. I hope your stay has been comfortable so far.“
Taehyung's mouth is dry, and he doesn't trust his voice right now, so he only nods—his gaze jumping from one of the strangers to another, not knowing where he should look or who he would be allowed to look at. He should have asked Yoongi about some of their customs before coming here.
“I'm glad we can finally meet. My name is Gohyun, and I am the king of Yongna“, he introduces himself before nodding towards the two women on his left. "This is Min Yejin, the queen of Yongna, and my daughter Min Seolya." They both bow their heads, and Taehyung quickly mirrors them.
Then the king turns to his right and gestures towards the other man: “And this is Min Yongeul, the crown prince of Yongna, and his wife, Maela.“
Taehyung bows awkwardly at both of them. Yongeul has a kind smile on his face, and Taehyung is momentarily taken aback by how similar he and Yoongi look. Their faces seem to be an exact copy of each other, but his eyes seem sharper, and his hair is a silver and grey color instead of Yoongi's white hair. Other than that, they would be indistinguishable.
Taehyung feels comfort rushing through his veins when the familiar face smiles kindly at him.
He then lets his eyes wander towards the woman on Yongeul's side. Her hands are placed on her stomach, and even from here Taehyung can see that she is pregnant—at least a few months along already. Their eyes meet, and the comfort Taehyung has felt while looking at Yongeul immediately leaves when his eyes meet her cold ones.
Without saying anything, he quickly averts his gaze towards the king when the old man starts to speak once more: “And I suppose you already met Yoongi, my second youngest son.“, he adds, “Now that I've introduced you to my family, I think it is time you introduce yourself properly to us.”
“My name is Kim Taehyung“, the young man starts to introduce himself—his voice thankfully steadier than he would have expected. “I am...“, he hesitates to look at Yoongi, who smiles encouragingly at him. “I am a blood magician, and I am from the kingdom of Inior”, he completes his introduction. It feels strange to voice what he had hoped to never tell anyone, but Yoongi smiles brighter at him, and it makes Taehyung feel warm.
“Inior?“, the king asks. “Tell me, are there more blood magicians in Inior?”
“To be honest, I don't know. As far as I know there aren't any, but I also only recently discovered this...“, he hesitates again, “...magic inside of me.“
The king nods his head: “Well, Taehyung from Inior, I think you understand how excited we were to hear the news that one of my sons brought a blood magician home. However, and please excuse our doubt, we want to see these powers ourselves before we can allow ourselves to believe that one member of the blood magicians finally came back to us.”
Shit.
Why didn't he think about this earlier? Of course they want to see proof of this power.
Panic rushes through his veins, a cold grip around his throat. He wouldn't be able to simply say no, right? He doesn't know how to use this power on command—he had never tried to do so because he had been busier with keeping it down. He doesn't want to use it, doesn't even really want to acknowledge it. It is a cursed power—no matter what Yoongi or his family says—a cursed power that should stay hidden deep inside of him instead of being proudly displayed.
But how could he deny the king?
He clears his throat before he answers carefully: “I understand that you want to see my magic in action...“, he cringes slightly at the word magic. He still doesn't want to acknowledge it as such: “But I am afraid to say that I am still weak from the incident a few days prior. I will need some more days to recover before I can show you the full extent of my magic.”
He holds his breath. Would they believe his lie?
The king looks at Taehyung for a moment before he turns to Yoongi: “Didn't I tell you to bring him here once he fully recovered? We cannot be reckless about his health!“
Yoongi, who has furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Taehyung's words, now turns to his father with a bow: “I am sorry, Father; I thought he had recovered fully. I may have been mistaken.”
The king’s gaze lingers a moment longer on Yoongi, who keeps his head bowed low. Then he averts it again with a small scoff before he looks at Taehyung with a smile. The smile immediately feels less inviting than it had before.
“Of course we understand that you still have to recover. My son told us about a great outburst of magic, so it is understandable you need time to regain your strength. You may rest some more“, he turns to Yongeul, who hasn't said anything the whole time, only silently observing. “Yongeul, make sure Taehyung is brought back to his room so that he can rest. Yoongi, you may stay here a moment longer.”
Yongeul nods briefly before stepping down the stairs towards Taehyung. He smiles before indicating the other to follow him. They quickly make their way over the glass floor and leave the throne hall. Before the door closes behind them, Taehyung takes one last glance at Yoongi.
⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖
It is still early in the morning when the king, Yongeul, and the noble families find themselves around a stone table—Yong Erix talking to the other noble families with furiosity in his voice:
“The second youngest prince brought a blood magician into this kingdom, and instead of informing us, the king and his family were trying to hide his presence from us!” His voice booms through the room, “We are entitled to meet him as well. How dare the royal family refuse us this right?“
“We did not have the intention of refusing you the right to meet him“, the king responds quickly, his voice annoyed: “He was on the verge of dying when my son brought him in. He had to recover first before we could verify whether he really was a blood magician. We didn’t want to bring up hope too soon.
A whisper goes through the rows.
“How can we trust you on this?“
“Do you really want to claim his majesty wanted to keep this a secret?“, an older woman with silver hair asks.
“I don’t think that’s what he meant, Uttara“, another man tries to appease the charged atmosphere. “I don’t think anyone is trying to say that. But I do agree that we should have been informed right away.“
“I do understand, but please understand our reasoning as well. You all know how significant it is for our kingdom that a blood magician returns. We simply didn’t want to build up hope just to shatter it moments later“, Goyhun wears a small smile on his face—ignoring Erix’s furious gaze on him: “But of course you all have the right to meet him. We thought about a festival to welcome him properly to Yongna. What do you think?“
The other noble families seem to be fine with this proposition, and so the planning starts right away. In two days, the palace shall hold a festival to welcome the blood magician into their kingdom.
...
*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*