Peace Maker - Chapter 215

The room sat in silence as his words lingered in the air.

Boris watched them quietly as they watched him. His head cocked to the side slowly when he noticed the twige of confusion and distrust in their gazes.

He too had had that same reaction when Dominic had brought this up to him. It had been a few days before he left when Dominic had looked up from his desk and glanced with Boris. That wasn’t something that was unusual when they worked, it was the words that came out of his mouth.

‘You’re not ready yet…’ he had muttered, his head tilting to the side as he gazed at Boris. They had turned to face each other and Boris had raised a questionable eyebrow. ‘You need more things… things that can put them in place when they get out of hand.’

Boris chuckled slightly as he remembered that moment.

It was funny how he, himself, hadn’t thought of that despite being the one that was the most worried about it all, and Dominic was the last one he would have expected it from. The ability to be able to pin them down even though he wasn’t there, a way to make them bow down to him even when the original power is not present.

That day Dominic had brought many copies of papers, each of them having a purpose, each of them giving Boris the power to use the council to his own use. ‘It was almost as if he had read the future..’ Boris thought to himself, ‘or maybe he didn’t trust me enough to be able to pin them down.’

Boris held on to the thought for a moment before pushing it away. Dominic had already reassured him.

‘It’s not because of you, but the people you will be controlling. I know how quickly each of their fuses might break and the quickest way to quiet them down. I have to make sure you will be able to do that to them too when I’m not here,’ Boris thought as he recited Dominic’s words, ‘I trust you to know that you will use these for the right purposes.’

Boris glanced down at the sheet of paper where Dominic had signed before he turned back to the council.

He had found the right time to use them.

“I’m supposing this is all of the objections that you have with this topic, right?” Boris asked, leaning forward into the seat a little. “I’d like to move on with this meeting quickly.”

He waited for a second for any objections. There were none.

“Great,” he smiled, nodding at Adia, “let’s move on shall we?”

*

Two hours later was when Boris finally finished the meeting. It was already 30 minutes past the breakdown time of his patience, 20 minutes past the smile he had put on occasionally had broken down and 10 minutes past when his ears had given up in paying attention to the complaints from the council.

Now it was to 11 and Boris was wandering down the halls of the palace, his steps nice and slow as he took his time back to his quarters.

He no longer slept amongst the servers but rather had a whole room to himself. That was a change that had taken place a month after Dominic left when Kalmin realized that the office was not a place to sleep.

Boris walked past the painting of some people whose faces he didn’t recognize but knew the names of.

The place where he slept wasn’t the only change he had gone through. His mind was now filled with knowledge that he didn’t even know if he needed in his mind. Names of nobles, names of noble mansions, names of some people down in history, names of people he was supposed to look up to, and the royal names of Dominic’s siblings.

‘Nobles….’ Boris thought to himself. He hadn’t met any yet.

As much as he would like to ask around and pretend that he didn’t know the reason behind that, he was well aware. Dominic, the prince. From Kalmin he had heard that under Dominic’s order, Boris couldn’t meet any nobles. No one that wasn’t in the palace was allowed in or at least, no noble that wasn’t acquainted with Boris could enter the palace and get the chance to see him.

It was to keep Boris safe.

Boris walked down a hall and paused, glancing at the picture on the wall. Dominic. His royal figure sat in the same painting he had walked past hours earlier but now, it looked different. Boris couldn’t tell whether it was because of the grogginess in his tired eyes but he looked dull. Like every color did in his golden gaze.

Emerald green. ‘Emerald green…’ Boris thought to himself as he gazed into the eyes of the prince painted onto the canvas. He looked away in disdain.

They weren’t the right color. They weren’t bright enough.

“Gazing at the picture of our dear prince I see,” a voice called out, grabbing Boris’ attention.

He turned around to find Adia staring back at him with a questioning gaze.

“I’ve never seen you admire something with such intense eyes before,” Adia continued walking to Boris’ side. She stood next to him and gazed up at the painting.

Boris turned back to the painting and looked up at the painted Dominic.

“I-”

“Do you miss him?” Adia asked, her voice cutting into Boris’ words.

“Excuse me?” Boris asked, turning to lock eyes with Adia.

Adia’s eyes turned to lock on Boris’ golden rays, her deep brown eyes soaking in his color. “Do you miss him?”

Boris stared at her for a moment, slight alarm showing in his golden eyes before the ruffled river in his gaze calmed.

“What makes you think that?” he asked, turning back to the painting.

“What are you doing right now?” Adia muttered, “You’ve been standing in front of this painting for about a good 5 minutes now. Just staring at his eyes.” She turned to look at Boris, her raised eyebrow falling. “Would I be wrong to assume that?

Boris sat there for a moment with an empty mouth, his mind failing to come up with an answer. ‘I miss him..?’ Boris thought to himself, ‘I know that.’

His eyes looked up into Dominic’s green eyes again and a little sigh left his lips. ‘But it feels wrong to admit it. I know I miss him, it’s clear in every action that I do. It’s inevitable seeing how this palace is him and full of his remnants. I miss him, but it feels wrong,’ He looked away from Dominic and his eyes looked down to Adia who locked eyes with him the moment she felt his gaze.

They stayed in contact for a moment.

‘I miss him, yes,’ Boris thought to himself, ‘but it feels wrong to admit that because I don’t know what type of missing she’s talking about,’ he turned back to the painting and took in Dominic’s painted figure.

‘And I don’t know what type of missing I’m feeling.’

“You miss him,” Adia announced with a slight sigh and a nod of her head.

Boris turned to her, his question plastered on his face and words lingering on his tongue. “Why do you think so?” Yet he already knew her answer.

“Your eyes,” Adia replied, turning to face him, “they’re like mirrors. They tell me everything I need to know about the thoughts on your mind.”

“And they say that?..” Boris muttered hesitating a bit before continuing. “That I miss him?” It felt weird on his lips. Admitting that he missed him, saying it out loud and hearing his voice relay it to him.

He could hear it very clearly. The honesty that his voice held when he said those words and he could feel it very clearly too. That light thump he had felt in his chest, like he had forgotten to breathe and it came rushing out in one short hit in his chest, the fact that his heart had skipped a beat.

He could hear it very clearly. The fact that when he said those words, it wasn’t right. The tone that he had said it in didn’t convey what he felt. The casual way he had said it, the light way he had spat it out. It wasn’t how it felt in his mind. It was heavier, like there were chains attached to those words.

Feelings attached to the words that he couldn’t comprehend.

“Yes, they do,” Adia nodded her head, “And I know you realize it too.”

The thump appeared again. Like a quick bandit robbing him of his heartbeat, it swooped in smoothly.

Adia turned to Boris, her eyes piercing deep into his golden eyes. “You yourself know that you miss him. You’ve admitted it to yourself,” she muttered curiously, “you miss him.”

Boris turned back to the drawing, his eyes invading her gaze. It only pulled her in.

She tilted her head to the side. “But why?” she asked, “why do you miss him?”