The Mist and the Lightning. Part 19

“Fuck, they made fun of me! They beat me on the head with a stick, laughed and called me names. All as you just said. They didn’t see me as human because I didn’t look like them. They looked at the chastity belt and called me Prince Arel’s plaything.”

“I can’t fix it, but tell me, tell me, who hit you on the head? Who poked a spear shaft at you and laughed? I won’t leave it like this! I will find and punish everyone, everyone who hit you that night!”

“Humiliate and punish. Shepherds of sheep, why is this your favorite pastime?”

“Who of the sirs poked you with a shaft and hit you on the head?”

Nik didn’t answer him, and Kors raised his voice:

“Who hit you?! Answer me!”

“Do you think I know the black sirs by name? There were many!”

“Oh!” Kors shrank back, but Nik himself moved closer to him, turning his head slightly to the side and pressing his cheek against his chest. He nestled comfortably in his father’s arms.

“It’s all in the past, daddy sir, forget it. And if so, fuck all these puffy true blacks with their fucking world full of stupid rules. I have nothing to be offended by you. I felt good when you didn’t beat me up and tie me up for a long time. I felt good with you and from your care. Even when I was choking on that damn porridge. You called me affectionate words, it was very nice. You gave me a lot of attention. I believed that you love me. I liked being yours. I felt… you know… somehow protected. Under your protection, because I am yours. Your thing that you cherish and protect. And you take good care of your things. They are always good for you.”

“That’s it for things, but you’re not a thing!” Kors said bitterly, holding him tighter. “And I treated you like my own thing!”

“So what? I am nobody, I am a thing. I am not human.”

“You are better than anyone!”

Without letting go of Nik’s embrace, Kors leaned towards him, looking for his lips. Nik immediately threw back his face more and answered, slipping his tongue into his mouth.

When Arel returned in the evening and saw them lying in bed together, he understood everything.

“Congratulations,” the prince said, glancing arrogantly at Kors, “you are starting to succeed.”

“Yes, I’m not such a fossilized fool as you thought,” replied Kors, not without pride.

“I’ll join you now,” Arel said and quickly went to the bathroom, and Kors and Nik looked at each other and began kissing again.

Chapter 14

Kors woke up because of a bird whistling loudly outside the window. He didn’t sleep almost all night, making love with “his boys” who returned to him again, and this magical night was full of love and tenderness. But now he was terribly sleepy. And the bird was whistling loudly, as it seemed to him, right above his ear.

“Piu! Piu! Piu!”

In minimal pauses, the bird took in as much air as possible, and then again emitted a heart-rending whistle, like a children’s squeaker toy, which was sharply clenched in a fist.

“Piu! Piu! Piuuu!”

It was completely impossible to fall asleep again, and Kors opened his eyes in annoyance, involuntarily meeting his gaze with Prince Arel, who was lying next to him, not sleeping either. He looked at Kors with his bright brown eyes, as it seemed to him, a little provocatively, perfectly understanding what Kors had woken up from, and inwardly making fun of him and this funny situation.

“Prince Arel!” Kors was outraged. “It doesn’t fit in any frames! Order the tree to be cut down immediately!”

But Arel only smiled lazily and yawned:

“Why so?”

“Don’t you hear why?”

“We’re leaving soon,” Arel stretched sweetly, so that his joints crunched, “what’s the difference…”

“Well, you know! For me there is a difference! Especially if we’re leaving soon. I want to sleep well before the road!”

“Fuck off from my Whistle.”

“Whistle? Ahhh, that is, it even has a name…”

“Vitor, let’s go for a ride?” Arel said. “Will you go with me?”

Kors glanced at Nik, who was sleeping next to him. His affectionate boy was sleeping so soundly and sweetly, lying on his side, and the “singing” of the bird wasn’t bothering him. Kors admired his relaxed and serene face. Let him sleep, he thought.

“Yes, Arel, I will go with you.”

The morning coolness had not yet been replaced by the midday heat, and they galloped for a long time along country roads, from time to time going off them and simply crossing fields overgrown with silky grass. A light breeze swept it in one direction, then in the other, rolling it like the waves of the sea. Having galloped far away from home, Kors and Arel finally stopped in a small shady grove. Nearby, the skeletons of once solid huts burned to the ground, the remains of a small village, blackened. At one time, the Reds got here. They famously ran errands on the borders of the prince’s possessions.