Peace Maker - Chapter 233

Silence.

Boris looked down at Dominic who laid beneath him, low pants leaving his lips before turning back to the door. A thought crossed his mind. ‘What if I ignore it?’ he pondered, his eyes drifting back to Dominic, ‘I don’t know what’s going on right now, but this is the lightest I’ve felt and I don’t want to… stop.’

He stared at Dominic for a moment as the person knocked on the door three more times.

“Boris?” Dominic called out lightly, his head tilting to the side slightly as he searched in Boris’ eyes, “what are you-”

Boris flinched, immediately jumping off Dominic and shuffling away from the couch, his head lowered to the ground as his heartbeat sped up. He watched through the corner of his eyes as Dominic stood up from the couch slowly, glancing at him for a moment before turning away, his hand covering his nose and his mouth. There was a pink blush across his face.

Boris turned around and began walking to the right side of the room whose walls were basically tall windows that looked out into the kingdom, peering out into the dots of light on the dark streets. His hand unconsciously rose to his lips as he brushed his finger against them. They tingled. This wasn’t a dream.

Reality slowly started to sink in on him.

‘What?’ he wondered, his hand running through his hair, ‘what the fuck did I just do??’ He leaned his head against the windowsill and silently screamed in his head. ‘WHAT DID YOU JUST DO BORIS?! ARE YOU INSANE?! WHAT- WH- how?’

“Boris?” a voice called out behind him, to which he nearly jumped out of his skin. Kalmin eyed him up and down, “are you ok, your honor?”

Boris held back another flinch when his eyes drifted to Dominic who stood behind Kalmin, his hair in a disheveled mess. His heart skipped a beat and his hand rose to grip his chest momentarily. ‘Why does he-‘

“Is there something wrong?” Kalmin asked, his eyebrow raising suspiciously.

Boris shook his head, the emotions on his face slowly melting away into stoicness while inside his mind, he panicked. “Nothing’s wrong, Kalmin. Is there something that you wanted to say?”

Kalmin observed Boris for a moment before turning back to Dominic, a little sigh leaving his lips “I’m quite offended, your highness.”

Dominic, who stood with one hand crossing over his body to hold the arm of the other, flinched slightly as he locked eyes with Kalmin. “Offended by what?” he chuckled.

“Well, of course, not to throw any shade or to place me on a high pedestal,” Kalmin began, turning to signal at Boris before switching back to Dominic, “But I would have thought that MAYBE his royal highness would have thought to visit me, maybe, first rather than his substitute”

Dominic giggled, his tense shoulders lowering slightly. “Really now?” He teased, his blonde eyebrow’s raising, “it does seem like you are trying to throw some shade though, Kalmin. Quite frankly, anything that comes after a, ‘Don’t mean to-‘ would end up being just the slightest bit petty.”

Kalmin thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement, a little chuckle leaving his lips, “I suppose you are correct in this case. I was your loyal subject from a time far before his honor came into your favor. I may or may not have thought that you would come to visit me first.”

“You make it sound like I am a king and you are my concubines..” Dominic giggled, “I hope you don’t mean that?”

Kalmin rolled his eyes as he shrugged his shoulders. “As much as I would love to be part of the council, I’m also not one of those people who push heavily for your marriage, your highness. And I most certainly do not want to be part of your harem.”

He walked over to the couch and plopped down on it, groaning in exhaustion.

Dominic’s head automatically turned to Boris who was already glancing at him and they exchanged a stare for a moment before turning back to Kalmin, a small blush on Dominic’s face. ‘Am I the only one that’s… taken aback by this??’ he thought to himself as he looked at the couch, ‘We- we did that… kissing. My first kiss on this couch that he’s sitting on at this moment.’ A shudder runs through his body but he pushes it away immediately.

He was sensitive now. His body flinching at every breeze he may have actually felt or just imagined, his body on high alert. He could still feel the hand holding on to  his waist, the way his hand slid onto his back and held him up on that couch, the way he had pressed forward into his lips so passion- his thoughts were snapped into reality when he suddenly found it uncomfortable to stand.

He turned around immediately and sat down on the couch on the other side of the table, crossing his legs. ‘What in the world-‘ he thought to himself as he nearly allowed his eyes to venture to his legs where he felt a hot sensation from. ‘Fuck..’ he thought to himself as he faked a smile between him and Kalmin who had begun talking about something he barely heard.

His gaze turned from Kalmin to Boris and he immediately looked away, the sensation growing stronger for the moment in which his gaze was pinned on Boris. Panic ran through his brain as he tried to push down the anxiety from making it to his words.

“His highness?” Kalmin called out to Dominic, his voice cutting into Dominic’s thoughts. “Did you hear my words?”

Dominic shook his head with a combination of a sigh. “I’m sorry I wasn’t following, it’s hard to keep up with anything why your mind is as exhausted as mine is. My body aches too. I can’t wait to sleep on an actual bed.”

Kalmin flinched, sitting up on the couch, “You didn’t have a bed in the army tents?! I thought there was a bed packed exclusively for you, your highness?? Did you not get it?”

Dominic shook his head. “Nono, I did get it, but I didn’t use it.”

Kalmin squinted his eyes in confusion “Why would you not use it then? I remember it being wide, pretty long, and very comfortable so you could be well rested on the battlefield.”

“But that one large bed was only for one person, while it could fit four to five when squished together,” Dominic replied, “so I gave it to others that would need it more than I would. My soldiers that is.”

“What???” Kalmin exclaimed, his body jolting up at Dominic’s words.

“I gave it to my soldiers,” Dominic shrugged, “I could never sleep well at night, knowing that five people that would have to fight in the war continuously would have to sleep on wood or the hard ground while I, one person, would lay on that huge bed hogging it all to myself. So I gave it to the soldiers and slept on something smaller.”

Kalmin thought about it for a few seconds before sitting back in his seat. “Ok then… where did you have to sleep then?”

“On the physi-” Dominic’s lips opened as he spat out the first words before his eyes darting to Boris whose eyes were pinned on his. They exchanged a look for a few seconds before he turned back to Kalmin. “On wood. I slept on something like wood.”

“Your highness!” Kalmin exclaimed in frustration, “how could you? Can you imagine how much pain you would be in each day resting on something like that??”

“I didn’t have to imagine, Kalmin,” Dominic retorted, his voice low and stoic as his eyes locked with Kalmin’s, “I know how it felt.”

Kalmin quivered as he stared into the emerald gaze and slowly slicked back into the couch, his worries suppressed immediately. “My apologies, your highness,” he apologized, lowering his head.

A little smile formed on Dominic’s face. “No worries, I understand where you’re coming from after all,” he chuckled lightly in response.

They sat in silence for a few more seconds as Dominic’s eyes scanned the room, taking in the design. “It looks almost exactly as it did a year ago,” Dominic muttered with a little smile, “everything in the same place, nothing moved around. Except, of course, the papers on the desks, I suppose that was your doing Boris? As you had to work there every day.”

Dominic turned to Boris abruptly, their gaze meeting. Boris’ hand trembled slightly as he nodded his head. He was on guard now, almost every time Dominic would move his head, his eyes would follow and whenever his face would turn directly to him, he would freeze, his eyes momentarily lowering to his pink lips before meeting his emerald eyes again. His heart skipped a beat and he resisted showing any hint of emotion and avoiding Dominic’s eyes.

“Yes, your highness,” he replied, quaintly nodding his head. “I wanted it to remain exactly as his highness had left it, nothing touched.”

Dominic grinned, his head tilting to the side teasingly. “Really?” he smirked to which he watched Boris flinch slightly.

“Of course, your highness,” Boris insisted.

“Then I guess a little sneaky person had been going into my library?” Dominic asked, his eyebrows raising questionably, “I noticed that few books looked like they had been recently gone through. My favorite books especially.”

Boris froze as he remembered the books on the shelves and how they had his fingerprints, along with Adia’s on them. The books that he had read through almost every night reliving Dominic’s presence in the room. ‘He saw it…’ he thought to himself, as his eyes locked with Dominic’s. The emerald gaze was shimmering, almost excitedly. He held back a little laugh when he saw the sparkles in Dominic’s eyes, ‘How cute…’

“Yes your highness,” he nodded, “I remember going through some of the books. They were quite entertaining.”

They remained in eye contact for another second before Dominic’s lips spread into a bright smile.

Thump.

Boris froze, his hand twitching.

“Is it?” Dominic giggled, “I hope you found them to be a nice read.”

‘Oh..’ Boris thought to himself, the ends of his lips itching to smile along with Dominic. ‘I see….’