12 [Bonus chapter]I don't want you

The prince flew Adran and Zhakhil off the island to Neladia. It was the nearest kingdom and the knight needed medical attention so he saw it fit to land. He got Adran admitted into the sanatorium and let the physician attend to him.

He and the prince waited outside the room while the knight received the treatment that he needed. The prince kept stealing glances at him every now and then but he ignored him. He had decided that it was best to keep his distance from the prince to avoid a repetition of what had happened earlier to repeat itself.

"I am sorry," Zhakhil let out nervously to him. He felt bad for making his dragon angry with him. It was not his intention to upset Xaddrin, he just didn't want to see the dragon come to any harm at all.

He didn't know how to express what he felt in that moment when he thought that his dragon might get hurt. The knight was in there lives because of him and so he felt that it was only right that he shoulders the responsibility of keeping the dragon safe from Adran.

But in his attempt to protect him, he offended him. Xaddrin kept his eyes closed pretending not to have heard his apology, his silence made Zhakhil more and more guilty of what happened. He had never seen the dragon lose it the way that he did.

"I promise not to do it again. So can you please forgive me," he pleaded. Xaddrin remained unmoved, no response or a sign that he was even listening to him. Zhakhil bit his lip and played with his fingers lightly. He didn't like that his words didn't affect the dragon at all.

Seeing as he loved the dragon with all of his heart, it hurt to be ignored by him. To be treated like air by someone that meant the world to him was heartbreaking to him. He couldn't handle the pain, tears pooled in his eyes threatening to fall.

"Tell me what I have to do to make it up to you," he uttered. He waited for the dragon to speak and tell him that it was alright and that all was well. For him to say that it was nothing and he shouldn't worry about it but nothing. It was as though he was speaking to a rock that neither could reply or had the words to say to him.

He pressed his lips together as tears trickled down his face. He looked in the opposite direction for the dragon not to see him crying, to him the dragon was a scent that lingers that he can't get rid of or avoid.

The subject of his thoughts was seated right in front of him but the distance between them felt like they were both standing on opposites sides of the ocean. With no bridge to connect them.

"When Adran wakes up," his eyes lit u when he heard Xaddrin speak to him. "Go with him back to your palace and take over your father's throne," he added.

Zhakhil's face fell, he couldn't believe the words that the dragon had spoken to him. He was asking him to return to the palace and become king, the way he spoke gave him a feeling that the dragon had no intentions of being in his life anymore. It felt like that moment was goodbye.

But he didn't want to say goodbyes to him, he wanted to be his side forever. He wished for a chance to show his dragon how much he meant to him, but instead the dragon was pushing him away.

"Not all that is inherited should be claimed," he uttered quoting the dragon. Xaddrin shot his gaze up to meet his, he saw the tears in the prince's eyes and felt a pang in his heart. He hated to part ways with him and to see him in pain but it had to be done for both of their sakes. He couldn't have the prince jump into a dangerous situation for him again.

There was just not telling how that would turn out next time, and he couldn't take his word for it that no such thing would happen again. The prince loved him and love had a stupid way of pushing people to do the craziest things.

"I don't want my throne, I wa…" Zhakhil bit his tongue holding back the words he wanted to say to him. Words of desire and yearning, words that express the feeling that he felt for his dragon. Words that he was scared to utter in fear of rejection.

Xaddrin looked at him in anticipation, a part of him wanted the prince to finish what he wanted to say. He wished to hear the prince say with his lips that he wanted him. But another part of him was against the prince confessing to him the desires of his heart, it would only make the parting harder if he did so.

"I don't care what you want," he said coldly. His words were like a sharp nail being hammered in Zhakhil's heart. Zhakhil's lips parted in shock, his heart pained, he clenched his fist and bit his lip in pain. Tears flowed freely from his eyes from the indirect rejection from his dragon.

"You don't mean that," he let out in a pained voice. His heart was racing in his chest with hope that the dragon would take his words back.

"Do you want it in writing?" Xaddrin asked him. Zhakhil felt his lungs becoming stuffy. It was hard to process the different side of the dragon he was getting the pleasure of meeting. He had made a mistake and he apologized for it but why his dragon was hurting him so much for a small mistake was unknown to him.

"I am going with you," he said weakly facing the ground.

"Do I have to spell it to you?" Xaddrin asked. "I don't want you," he stated.