9 How can anybody live like this?

Everyone in the Emperor's palace knew that former General Hayl Lox had fallen from grace and received a borderline humiliating task of being an attendant to the mysterious Niki Oberyn. Hayl heard servants whisper and snicker behind his back, as he entered into the kitchen to collect the food he had to bring to his new master. He didn't care what anybody thought of him – he kept his head down and was only focused on his task.

Hayl had heard a lot of dirty rumors about Niki Oberyn – many assumed that he was Prince's favorite pet and that he had somehow shamelessly tricked Prince Kai into keeping him at his side for so long. Hayl had a feeling that things might not be as simple as the rumors made them out to be.

He knew that the youth had appeared in the palace around three years ago and since then would always accompany the Emperor-in-waiting to all the important events. However, Oberyn's rooms were not on the East side of the Palace where the Prince's harem resided. That would suggest that his status was very different from that of a simple bed mate.

Be that as it may, Hayl was a man who took all his duties seriously. He carefully picked up the tray with the food and left the kitchen, paying no attention to the curious gazes and the heavy silence around him.

As he was climbing up the stairs, he couldn't help but think of the day when he lost his title. It had all happened so quickly but at the time Hayl knew almost immediately that this was the end of the road for him. It was surprising to see the ruthless and aloof Adnan Minn out of all people suddenly take his side. He never thought that this seasoned General was so naive and that he would further ruin his standing with the Regent in hopeless attempt to help Hayl. He shuddered to think what the Regent would do to General Minn in retaliation for such a blatant display of insubordination.

As he reached Niki Oberyn's room, Hayl put all the unnecessary thoughts out of his mind and knocked on the door. After a long while he finally heard a distracted "Yes?". He pushed the door open... and suddenly froze in shock.

To say that the room he saw was in disarray would be an understatement. Open books, sticks, yarn, stones, dried plants, even bones were scattered all over the floors. It almost looked like something exploded here not so long ago.

Hayl Lox was a military man through and through. Since early childhood he was used to keeping everything in order. His clothes were always immaculately folded and all his things were in their places. He couldn't imagine it any other way. Now seeing something like this truly shook him to his core.

A thin youth with white hair and extremely light complexion was standing at the table, noting something down while studying a long scroll through a magnifying glass. There was a stack of books on the chair next to him – that was probably the reason why he wasn't sitting down.

There were also numerous stacks of books towering on the table – in fact, it looked like the table would crumble under all that weight at any moment.

Hayl looked around in disbelief, and noticed big mountains of scrolls in the corners of the room. He started to suspect that the bed was buried under one of those mountains. It was however impossible to say under which one.

It smelled like dust and candle wax. Hayl was willing to bet there were some old forgotten half-burned candles lying here somewhere in all this chaos.

Not only had he no idea where to put the tray with the food, he didn't even know how to step inside without trampling over something.

Hayl was just about to say something, when he suddenly sneezed.

That finally attracted the guy's attention, and he lifted his gaze to look at Hayl. His unusually big eyes seemed almost completely purple in that light. Hayl's mouth suddenly seemed dry and he subconsciously took a step back.

"Oh. Food," Niki Oberyn said with no expression. "Leave it at the door." He then immediately returned to his scroll.

Hayl would have gladly done as requested – everything in this room made him uncomfortable. But he had received orders – the orders that saved his life in the end. So Hayl was going to fulfill his duties to the best of his abilities. Besides, this person obviously needed help.

"Should I tidy up here a little bit, Master Oberyn?" Hayl asked with a sigh – this place needed more than just "a little bit" of tidying up. It was so painful to look at, Hayl thought his eyes might bleed.

The youth looked up at him again. There was obvious confusion on his thin boyish face.

"Tidy up? Why?"

Wasn't it obvious?!

Hayl stopped himself from saying anything inconsiderate and just pointed at the floor.

"It's a bit difficult to walk here, Master."

"You don't need to walk here," said Niki. Then very slowly in a surprisingly gentle tone, as if he was talking to a child, he repeated:

"You. Can. Leave. The. Food. At. The. Door."

"With all due respect, I am now your servant. And as a servant I can't leave this room in this state, Master. These are the orders from the Regent," said Hayl.

"Oh. You are that General."

"I'm not a General anymore. I am just Hayl Lox, Master."

Niki looked up at the ceiling and stayed quiet for a long time. Suddenly his fine features were lined with deep sadness.

"You've been framed. You know that," he said finally, just as Hayl was about to interrupt the silence.

Hayl suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. Of course, he knew. Of course.

He managed to suppress his emotions and said in a steady voice:

"It is inconsequential. I now have orders from the Regent. Serving you lets me keep my life, Master."

Niki shrugged.

"You can serve. Just don't touch or move anything."

Hayl let out a frustrated sigh.

"Can I move the staple of books next to you, so I can put down the tray?" he asked.

Niki seemed thoughtful for a while, as if he himself had never considered such option.

He then looked around, then again at the books on the table and finally said:

"Just hand me the bread. The rest you can take away."

This person was just too much!

Without saying anything else, Hayl carefully walked towards the table, trying to avoid the scattered objects. Then, maneuvering the tray on his left hand, he lifted the stack of books on the side of the table with his right hand. He then placed the tray next to Niki but kept holding the books.

"I'll just hold them while you eat, Master."

Niki didn't respond – he narrowed his eyes at the books in Hayl's hands but seemingly didn't find anything out of order. He then carefully took the soup bowl in his hands and turned it around as if not quite sure what to do with it.

"There's a spoon on the tray, Master," Hayl couldn't stand looking at this scene anymore.

Niki nodded and took the spoon.

"You don't need to add "Master" to all the sentences you say to me. I can understand them anyway," he said quietly while slowly mixing the soup.

"That's not why..." Hayl was confused. "What do you want me to call you?"

"You don't need to call me anything," Niki answered shortly. He suddenly seemed to have lost all the interest in the conversation with Hayl and was completely concentrated on his food.

"It's so warm," he said, cupping the bowl as if it was the biggest treasure in the world – this person suddenly looked like a ravenous raccoon.

"How long has it been, since you've last eaten?" Hayl was compelled to ask.

"I don't remember," Niki said after finishing the bread.

No wonder he was so thin. And the big cloak he was wearing made him look even thinner and somehow even more tragic. Combined with his melancholic face and big bright eyes, one couldn't help but want to protect this boy.

Hayl watched as Niki finished every single thing on the tray. In the end he even licked the bowl clean several times.

This was definitely no lover of Kai's – if Hayl still had his doubts before, now he was completely sure.

Yet, the mystery remained – why was the Prince keeping this weird person around?

Without another word Niki returned back to his scroll, and Hayl once again felt like a monkey performing tricks, as he exchanged the tray with the stack of books he was holding. Niki neither dismissed Hayl, nor payed any attention to him anymore.

"What are you working on?" Hayl suddenly dared to ask. He somehow felt that this person would not get angry at him. Or at anybody for that matter.

Niki frowned, seemingly annoyed by another distraction, yet he responded in a very gentle tone:

"Kai needs to replenish his spiritual strength, which he lost when he was kidnapped by the savages. I'm trying to come up with an amulet that will make the ritual a bit less painful."

Hayl was surprised by such a detailed answer and also by the fact that Kai Atarian needed things to be "less painful". Hayl knew for a fact – that Prince was as tough as nails.

"You care a lot for His Highness?" Hayl asked, really pushing the boundaries now but still hoping for an answer.

Niki nodded very seriously.

"I would do anything for him."

"Even let me clean up the stuff off your floor?" Hayl teased. "If you remember, it was the Prince who specifically requested that I assist you with your needs."

"All right," said Niki. "But don't touch anything."

"How am I supposed to clean up, if I can't touch anything?" Hayl needed to apply all his restraint not to raise his voice.

Niki just looked at him with his big eyes.

"How about you first tell me, where your bed is?" Hayl asked, after taking a deep breath.

"I don't remember."

"How can you... Never mind. Where do you usually sleep then?"

"There," Niki waived his hand to the piece of cloth lying on the floor amid all this mess. Hayl thought at first it was just a discarded piece of clothing. Now it turned out it was this person's improvised bed. If it wasn't so sad, Hayl would have laughed out loud.

"Is it all right, if I at least put the scrolls on top of the shelves?" Hayl asked. These were the only surfaces in this room that were not touched. Probably because the boy was too short to reach them.

Niki frowned.

"But I won't be able to take them down, when I need them."

"Will you need them today?"

Niki thought for a bit and then shook his head.

"I will put them up very carefully. Just for now. And tomorrow I will make some new shelves for you – just for the scrolls. Would that be acceptable?"

Niki's eyes suddenly shined. He hesitated and then said:

"If it's not too much trouble."

"I am your servant after all."

"Oh," Niki said awkwardly and then begged:

"Please don't mess up the order. The scrolls on the left should stay on the left and the ones on the right should be on the right! It is very important!"

"Trust me, " said Hayl with a warm smile. For some reason his hands itched now to bring order to this place. It was definitely a challenge but there was nothing that former General Lox enjoyed more than a good challenge.

Yet again Niki went back to his research, while Hayl was slowly but thoroughly dealing with the scroll situation. It was almost night time when he finally dug out the bed – it turned out to be covered with a wool quilt. And underneath the quilt were completely untouched bedclothes. It seemed that Niki Oberyn had never actually slept in the proper bed, instead he used it as a scroll storage from the very beginning.

"I'm done. I'll take the tray back and bring you some warm water," Hayl said quietly.

"Mhm," said Niki after a long while, not even looking up.

Hayl left the room and shook his head. How could anyone live like this? Why was this person so neglected? Why didn't the Prince send somebody to take proper care of him earlier?

When he returned with a little basin of water and knocked at the door, there was no reply. Thinking that Niki was probably too engrossed in his work to hear anything, Hayl entered. As soon as he did, he saw the youth curled up on the floor. For some reason he had completely ignored the perfectly fine bed. Could it be that he actually preferred the floor?

Hayl sighed, picked the sleeping guy up and carefully placed him on the bed. He looked at the boy's disheveled white hair and couldn't help but lightly push it away from his brow, revealing a very beautiful but also very restless face.

Hayl extinguished the candles and was about to leave when he heard a quiet desperate voice behind him:

"Please, please... don't go. I don't want to be here alone."

Confused, Hayl turned around and came up to the boy again. Niki's eyes were still closed, yet he was trembling and his lips were moving, as if he was running out of breath.

The youth was just talking in his sleep.

Still, Hayl squeezed his hand and covered him tightly with the quilt before he left.