His Royal Highness remained silent as Çuiren looked down. The longer he stared at her, the more she had to force herself to stop trembling.
The guard frowned as he saw this and whispered into the Prince’s ear.
A hint of mischief flashed in his eyes when he looked back at his trusted guard’s handsome face. He then returned to his loftiness when he looked at the girl in front of him.
Was he testing her? Or was he simply waiting? It was hard to tell when he didn’t show what was in his mind.
Eventually Çuiren couldn’t handle it anymore, the pressure from his amber eyes looking straight into her heart. She kneeled, and in the next moment, as if she could hide her secrets bes that way, she prostrated, forehead against the floor.
U’il-šanad only followed the motion with his eyes, still looking at her, even though he could only see the back of her head and her back.
They remained in these positions for some time.
Pearls and jewel tinkled and U’il-šanad shifted slightly before he held his hand out. The maid offer him a cup of warm water that he began sipping on.
He was making himself at home!
Immediately after Çuiren realised that she was in fact in his home and it would make less sense if he didn’t make himself at home.
He was, after all, only human.
The silence weighed her down until she heard a soft sigh. What exactly made her look up, she couldn’t say, but she met his amber eyes when she did.
Seeing that she had looked up, U’il-šanad leaned back, still watching her.
She saw him move his mouth ever so slightly, but no sound seem to leave his lips.
“Why are you still on the floor? Did His Royal Highness ever ask you to prostrate?” the guard asked.
Çuiren looked towards him, for the first time taking him his appearance for real. He had big, expressive eyes, but below sharp, ink black eyebrows they lacked immaturity and youthfulness one would have expected. He could not be more than twenty, yet by no means younger than the Prince he served.
He held his hands behind his back as he stared down at her from above. Compared to His Royal Highness’ lofty gaze, this young man was looking at her with suspicion.
She had seen those eyes look kind and friendly before as he had smiled, curious and amused just earlier that day. Now, looking at him, his eyes made her more uncomfortable than she already was.
She slowly stood up, not daring to look at the divine who could have been a deity, nor the guard protecting said divine. Instead she chose to stare down at the floor.
“You don’t have to fear me.”
His Royal Highness’ voice was still quiet as he spoke, his tone soft like silk. He moved and the silence that followed his words filled with tinkling while reflections travelled around the room. Some light spots settled on the floor right in front of Çuiren’s feet. She focused on them and their slight sway. One had perfectly enveloped a small drop of red ink someone hadn’t cleaned up, the dot being in the centre of the oval light.
“Meçacuiren.”
She lifted her gaze, fixing it at the the gold covering his chest. She daren’t look at the sole divine Prince anymore, that much was true, yet she also didn’t dare to slight him, especially if he was willing to call her by more than just ‘Çuiren’.
For some reason, she suddenly realised that, ever since the Emperor had told him that he would keep her while the investigation of the rumours took place, he had not once used the suffix that implied she belonged to someone else.
She had not picked up on that until now.
What this meant was that either he was being respectful at this time of living without a certain future — or any future — or he no longer saw her as someone else’s from that moment.
And even when he did, he had shortened her name, just like he had with the teacher’s. That could either be considered rude or…
“Zulaçuiren.”
She startled at the address. Who would ever call a slave ‘esteemed’?!
The moment her dark eyes met the amber of his, he spoke once more, his voice perhaps slightly warmer, slightly less detached.
“You finally look at me.”
Çuiren panicked. “Your Royal Highness if there’s anything you want—”
He raised his hand and Çuiren sucked in the words she wanted to say.
“We are in no hurry. You can take it slow to speak your mind. But I brought you here to tell you something, not to listen to your rambling.”
“…Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
“I know a very many things have happened in the past few days and that you are yet to truly get settled. I am also aware that many things differ between serving someone as one type of slave and another. What’s more, there are differences between elder brother the Imperial Highness and a lowly divine as myself.”
He motioned toward the maid he trusted most, the one who had been with him since he entered the Palace, and she approached him, taking the cup away from him and placed it aside.. She then stood next to him, hands in front of her.
Had Çuiren looked closely, she would have seen the maidservant’s warm gaze, and the loyalty not from a long bond, but mutual understanding. But she did not look closely. Not at the maid, at least. No, she looked only at the Prince.
“Your Royal Highness is too kind. This much is nothing for someone like me.”
“That is not true.” U’il-šanad shook his head. “Change is never easy, but nothing will always remain the same. Those who you hold dear will leave you, and those you wish to trust betray you. Those you think have nothing to do with you turn out to be your kin, and those supposed to be your kin harms you.”
Two maids placed a table on the armrests, while a slave boy put a selection of brushes, sheets of paper and some prepared ink on it. The Prince’s lashes lowered as he looked expressionlessly on the tools. He then held back the wide sleeve, which showed wide gold bracelets adorned with decoration and gems.
He dipped a thin brush in ink and with confident strokes painted on the sheet in front of him. Çuiren was not certain what he was doing, but she got the sense that he hadn’t finished what he was saying quite yet. Nor did she have a reply.
After an extended silence filled with the sweepings of the brush and jewellery making some melodic, some duller noise, the Prince put the brush down. The maid curtsied and took the painting from him, gently blowing on the ink for him, before she held it for Çuiren to see.
It was a landscape.
“Change is a universal truth. We see this as the sun of Nükiž rises, then falls; the shores of Denaštür ebbs and flows; the sky of Ažbak never remains free of clouds; and Šadiaran is clad in the colour of the seasons.”
She studied the painting where the red sun was rising or setting at the horizon, with water reflecting the light, clouds dotted the sky, and elegantly drooping branches were blanketed by a layer of snow while the pink blossoms were blooming.
On the side was writing, but Çuiren didn’t know what it said.
After some time the maid put it aside, and U’il-šanad continued speaking.
“Within these walls, at this time, only I can protect you. Outside of them, for now, you have no one. This, I wish for you to understand.”
“I under—”
“Within these walls, you are surrounded by predators, but is that any different if you were to leave? This, I wish for you to ponder.”
“Your—”
“Let me finish.” the Prince was silent for a few moments before he continued. “Starting tomorrow you are to resume your education in the arts. I wish for you to be able to sing, dance and recite poetry. This may come in handy.”
Çuiren felt her heart drop. She was to service the prince after all. She had both expected it and been unable to believe it.
But that was better than death. That was still a path to rise higher. Denaštür offered no new life on this land once it was over, and she didn’t want to be a slave once she reached the world of the dead.
She hesitated, then spoke.
“I have one question, Your Royal Highness.”
“Speak.”
“What is it that you want from me?”
U’il-šanad lowered his gaze, his eyelashes casting his eyes in shadow. After a while that was all too long, he looked back at her and replied. “What is it that you want, Çuiren? What do you want me to say? If my intention is not yet clear, then let it remain in shadows until you’re willing to see it.”
Çuiren was silent for a moment, then said: “I have one more question. Will His Imperial Highness truly punish me?”
At this, U’il-šanad burst out laughing, hiding behind his sleeve. The expression turned much warmer when he smiled at her.
“My intent is for that not to happen. There will be no evidence found to confirm the rumour, even if elder brother the Crown Prince tries to create any. The outcome was determined the moment father Emperor placed you in my care.”
He studied her confused expression for a moment before he chuckled.
“While I’ve said this before, should you have forgotten, it may be worth repeating.”
He motioned to the maid, who helped him stand. He slowly walked to Çuiren, and just like he had held her chin when he first studied her face what felt like a lifetime ago, he held it now, making her unable to look away. His eyes curved slightly in amusement and the soft red at the tail end of his eyes turned charming once more. When she didn’t try to look away, the corners of his mouth quirked up.
“Çuiren, remember this one thing: for as long as you serve no one but me, you are safe.”