Chapter 313 - The run and the chase

Chapter 313: Chapter 313 - The run and the chase

Dican moved before he had even decided what he was doing. One moment he was standing on the balcony staring down into the training arena, and the next he had pushed away from the railing and was hurrying toward the stairs.

That face. He knew that face.

The memory was still frustratingly incomplete, slipping away whenever he tried to grab hold of it, but Dican didn’t need his memories to tell him where to go. The strange pull inside his chest had become so strong that his entire body seemed to know exactly where that black-haired human was. Even the gem between his brows had grown warm.

Mate.

The word came to him so naturally that Dican couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face. His mate was down there.

Unfortunately, Nansich had a very different reaction.

He had been wiping the sweat from his forehead after the match when he glanced toward the balcony and found Dican staring directly at him. For a second, Nansich simply stood there. Then he saw the blond man suddenly disappear from the railing and immediately understood where he was going.

Fuck.

That crazy man was back.

Worse, he was coming down here.

The memory of the healing chamber returned without permission. The cold golden-blue liquid, Dican’s arms suddenly locking around him, and that damned kiss. Nansich’s face heated at the thought, and he angrily wiped his lips with the back of his hand as though he could somehow erase the memory along with it.

He had spent the last two days trying very hard not to think about what happened.

It hadn’t worked.

Every time his mind became too quiet, it kindly reminded him that a half-conscious alien prince had grabbed him inside a healing tank and kissed him without warning. What annoyed Nansich even more was remembering how he had frozen instead of immediately pushing him away.

Well, he had punched him afterward.

That part made him feel slightly better.

Nansich glanced toward the nearest exit and decided that training was officially over for the day. The Farian warriors surrounding him were still laughing and arguing about the match, completely oblivious to his sudden urgency.

"That last move was good," one of them said.

Another scoffed. "He cheated."

"How the fuck did I cheat?" Nansich shot back as he pushed between them.

"You went for his legs."

"He has legs. I’m going to use them against him."

Several warriors laughed, and one of them immediately challenged him to another match. Nansich tossed the cloth he’d been using to wipe his face toward the nearest man and started moving through the crowd.

"I’m done."

"Another round!"

"No."

"Scared?"

Nansich gave him an unimpressed look over his shoulder. "Of you? Never. I just have somewhere else to be."

Preferably somewhere very far away from a certain blond prince.

He had almost made it through the crowd when a familiar voice came from behind them.

"You..."

Nansich’s shoulders stiffened.

The noisy training arena went quiet almost immediately as every Farian warrior turned toward the entrance. Dican stood there slightly out of breath from running down from the balcony. His pale blond hair had fallen messily around his face, and he was still wearing the loose clothing from the healing room instead of anything appropriate for a prince.

The soldiers reacted the moment they recognized him.

"Second Prince!"

Dozens of warriors dropped to their knees.

Nansich blinked at them.

Then he looked at the suddenly clear path ahead of him.

Well.

That was convenient.

Without hesitation, he stepped over the nearest kneeling warrior and hurried toward the opposite entrance.

The soldier looked up in surprise when a boot passed dangerously close to his shoulder, but Nansich was already gone.

Dican stared after him.

His mate had looked directly at him and run away.

For a moment, he seemed genuinely confused.

"Wait!"

Nansich heard him and immediately started running.

Dican went after him.

Behind them, the kneeling soldiers slowly began raising their heads, exchanging confused looks as their Second Prince chased a human out of the training arena.

Nansich rushed into the corridor and increased his pace when he heard footsteps behind him.

"What the fuck is wrong with this guy?"

"Nansich!"

His head snapped around.

"How the hell do you know my name?!"

Turning around while running turned out to be a bad idea. Nansich’s shoulder clipped the wall, sending him stumbling sideways before he quickly recovered.

Dican gained several steps.

"I heard someone say it!"

"Great! Forget it!"

"Why?"

"Because I don’t want you knowing it!"

Dican frowned at that. "That doesn’t make any sense."

"I don’t care!"

Nansich rounded another corner and nearly crashed into two palace attendants. He quickly swerved around them, muttered a hurried apology and kept moving. Dican ran past them a second later, leaving both attendants staring after the Second Prince in bewilderment.

This was getting ridiculous.

Nansich had spent five years killing Graylings. He had traveled through places where sleeping too deeply could get him killed and fought creatures twice his size without thinking about running away.

Yet now he was fleeing through a palace because some blond bastard didn’t understand what stay away from me meant.

"Nansich, stop! I just want to talk!"

"I don’t want to talk to you!"

"I don’t even know what I did!"

That finally made Nansich stop.

His boots skidded slightly against the polished floor as he spun around, the Time Sword coming up in his hand.

Dican almost ran straight into the blade.

"Don’t move."

Dican stopped immediately.

Nansich stood there breathing hard, his short black hair still damp from training. His face was flushed from running, and his expression made it very clear that taking another step would be a terrible idea.

Dican stayed exactly where he was.

The strange pull inside his chest had only become stronger now that they were standing so close. His gem felt warm, and every instinct inside him wanted to close the remaining distance between them. He wanted to touch Nansich, to pull him closer and somehow confirm that this was really the person he remembered holding.

Thankfully, his newly cleared mind possessed enough common sense to realize that grabbing the angry man holding a sword would probably not improve the situation.

Nansich narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"

Dican opened his mouth, only to realize he didn’t have a particularly good answer.

"I wanted to see you."

"You saw me. Congratulations."

Nansich lowered the sword and started to turn away.

"Wait."

He stopped and looked back with growing irritation. "What now?"

Dican hesitated before asking, "Were you with me in the healing chamber?"

Nansich went completely still.

Slowly, he turned around.

The expression on his face answered the question before he said anything.

Dican blinked. "Oh."

Nansich’s eyebrow twitched. "That’s all you remember?"

"Not exactly."

"What exactly do you remember?"

Dican searched through the scattered pieces in his head. "There was water. I remember someone holding me, or maybe I was holding him. I remember..." He frowned, trying to make sense of the sensations. "Your waist."

Nansich’s expression became increasingly ugly.

Dican’s gaze then unconsciously dropped to his lips.

Nansich immediately covered his mouth with one hand.

"You fucking remember that!"

"I wasn’t sure until you did that."

"You bastard!"

Dican quickly stepped back when the Time Sword came up again.

"I was barely conscious!"

"You were conscious enough to kiss me!"

Dican’s eyes widened. "I did?"

Nansich stared at him in disbelief.

The genuine confusion on Dican’s face somehow made the entire thing more insulting.

"You don’t even remember?"

"No! I remember pieces of it."

Nansich closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Unbelievable. Absolutely fucking unbelievable."

Dican’s embarrassment slowly replaced his earlier excitement. He might not remember the kiss clearly, but Nansich obviously did, and judging from the man’s reaction, it hadn’t been welcome.

"I’m sorry."

Nansich’s hand stopped.

He looked at Dican again.

There was no grin on Dican’s face now. He looked genuinely uncomfortable, almost ashamed.

"I don’t remember enough to know what I was thinking," Dican admitted. "But if you didn’t want me to kiss you, then I shouldn’t have done it."

Nansich studied him for a moment.

This Dican felt different from the man he had seen two days ago. Back then, Dican had looked sick and hollow, with dark circles beneath his eyes and something unsettling in his expression. Even when he’d hugged Nansich, there had been an almost desperate quality to it.

Now there was life in his face.

He looked healthier. Younger somehow.

Still annoying, obviously.

But different.

Nansich finally lowered his sword. "Fine. Apology accepted."

Dican’s face immediately brightened.

"Don’t look so happy. That doesn’t mean we’re friends."

His smile weakened.

"And we’re definitely not mates."

That wiped it away completely.

Dican frowned. "But I can feel that you are."

"Well, I can’t."

"My jedi reacts to you."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

Dican stared at him.

Nansich pointed toward him with the Time Sword. "Whatever your body, your gem or your weird alien instincts are telling you, tell them to calm the fuck down. You already have a husband, and I’m not interested in joining whatever is happening between the two of you."

The mention of his husband made Dican’s expression shift.

Bian.

Once again, the name brought with it knowledge but almost no feeling. He knew Bian was his husband. He knew he was supposed to love him. Yet standing here looking at Nansich, the difference was becoming impossible to ignore.

His body had led him through half the palace just to find this man.

When he thought of Bian, there was nothing pulling him anywhere.

Dican didn’t understand it.

Nansich apparently had no intention of waiting for him to figure it out. He sheathed the Time Sword and started walking away.

This time Dican didn’t chase him.

He stood quietly in the corridor and watched the smaller man’s figure disappear around the corner.

His memories were still a mess. He couldn’t remember his wedding properly, couldn’t understand why five years of his life felt like someone had rubbed their hand across a wet painting and smeared everything together. He didn’t even know why Nansich’s face seemed more familiar than it had any right to be.

But the fog inside his head was finally gone.

And for the first time in years, Dican wanted answers.