Chapter 480 - 481: Take Him Away....From Me.

Chapter 480: Chapter 481: Take Him Away....From Me.

It’s great, right ?

Khobi’s gonna get to go home. He’s gonna get to go back to his mountains with his family; back to their forests and their waterfalls and the hot springs that monkeys like to swim in during winter. Just like he always wanted.

So why does Loac feel so fucking sick?

He doesn’t know what’s happening to him; why he feels this way. The way Ma talked, love was something beautiful ; that when you loved someone, sometimes just seeing them happy was enough to make you happy as well. To an extent Loac believes that, now. Khobi Frost has always emanated a kind of light that draws not just the eye but the body, mind, and soul; some bright burning essence about him that drew Loac in like moth to flame and made him want to reach out and touch even knowing it might set him ablaze. Perhaps even hoping that it would. But from the moment he’d embraced his uncle for the first time that light had been radiant ; summer sunrise red and positively blinding. And because Loac knows that he loves him; loves that light, that red, that smile, just seeing the open, easy joy in his face had made Loac happier than he thought another person’s happiness could ever make him.

Sitting with them, they’d seemed like...like a real family. Like how even though they hadn’t seen each other in so long, nothing had changed. They were still his family, and he was still theirs. And from the soft way Khobi laughs around them; how he smiles, and how at ease he is around him, he seems to know that.

Which is why even though Ma said falling in love was beautiful, right now it feels nauseatingly, unforgivably ugly. Because festering below the surface, buried deep, there’s that ugly, vicious feeling stirring again. A broiling, sickening jealousy that twists in his gut; burning violent and frothing and tearing at him.

I want him.

It tastes so bitter and feels so rotten and he hates that he feels like this. Hates the bitterness that had boiled up when Khojin had looked at him back in that room with such hopeful, kind eyes, like he truly believed that Loac was the kind of man he could rely on. And Loac wants to be that, really, truly he does, because Khojin is important to Khobi, and Khobi is...

Khobi is important to him .

(Everything, maybe.)

It’s why he’d promised to help him, even though it had hurt his heart more than he thought a heart could hurt without taking a wound.

But Khojin is also the reason Khobi’s leaving him; the reason Loac had had to leave that room with those vicious claws trying to tear their way out through his stomach, nasty and ugly. A beast wounded with no way out and nowhere to go.

Being able to move without sound was something both learned and innate; Ma had always been light footed and his old man even more so, but today Loac’s feet pound into the stone like thunder, breaking upon the corridors like there’s a tempest raging beyond the walls. Bile rising in his chest and leaking like poison through his veins as he goes, Loac suddenly needs to see the sky, watch the clouds, maybe pick up a sword and beat something until it no longer hurts so much.

Why can’t I have him .

It’s not the suit of armour’s fault, but it’s nice to pretend that it is. With a snarl, Loac grabs it in both hands and throws the whole damn thing with all its strength. It’s heavy, but he doesn’t give a shit how heavy it is; he just heaves harder until the whole thing comes loose from its goddamned pedestal and goes flying. It makes an ungodly clamour as it shatters across the stone, but it doesn’t make him feel any better.

Maybe tearing down that tapestry will.

Why doesn’t he want me, too?

Unsurprisingly, it does not. But there’s a shitload of useless crap in this castle, and maybe, just maybe if he breaks enough of it it’ll stop feeling like he’s the one that’s about to fall apart at the seams.

I thought he did. ℴℴ𝘮

Suddenly, the stupid ring resting in his pocket feels like the most useless thing of all, and before he can think better of it, Loac yanks it loose and hurls it as hard as he can down right down the hall. He doesn’t so much as see where it falls; doesn’t hear it shatter because while he doesn’t remember yelling he must’ve because the echoes come back to haunt him, filled not with rage but with despair.

"I can see you’re taking this well."

Caught off guard by the sudden sound amidst his tantrum, Loac whirls in place, teeth gritted so tight it makes his eyes water.

"What are you still doing here?" he snaps, eyes burning not with heat but ice when he sees who has stumbled upon him. Unimpressed and uncowed by the vehemence in his voice, Uncle just gives him a reproachful look as he makes his slow approach, hands folded behind his back as he appraises him and the damage he’s already caused. Lucky him , Loac was just getting started.

"I thought you might chase after me," Uncle admits, glancing around at the torn tapestry and the fallen pieces of armour scattered around him. One of the pieces is still rolling. They both watch its journey down the hall, until it finally clangs against the wall and topples to rest with a pitiful, tinny ring. "...I must say, I’m glad you didn’t catch me."

" How could you do this to me ?" The words are out before Loac can think better of them; bitter and reeking of betrayal. Uncle seems genuinely taken aback by them.

"Excuse me?"

"You planned this, right?" he snarls, balling up the stupid fucking tapestry in his hands; wanting to tear it for something to tear, so that his own chest will stop tearing, "For them to come and take him away?"