Bloodline, 9/10
When Sho was gone, he moved into the courtyard, looking up with a knowing smile. It wasn’t long before the water show began, Satoshi leaping even higher this time, riding the spout of water down into the pool. He deftly snatched the vial from the statue’s hand, jumping from the spout to the edge of the pool and into Nino’s personal space with bouncing, eager steps.
He stunned Nino with an unexpectedly hard kiss, nearly knocking him back against the courtyard wall. But he welcomed the greeting, returning Satoshi’s kiss with everything he had. It had not even been a full day since they’d seen one another, and yet it felt like so much had changed. Sho was right - Nino’s life had been threatened that day. It made the moments he had with Satoshi all the more precious.
“She’s truly gone,” Satoshi said, pulling back and pointing at him with the vial of kerida blossom. “I watched the carriage vanish into the distance myself!”
No wonder he was in such a merry mood. The woman who’d made it her life’s work to torment him had been banished once again.
“Your brother played a crucial role in that,” Nino admitted, snatching the vial from the god’s hand and heading inside. “But she really dug her own grave.”
“Don’t jest about graves,” Satoshi chided him, dutifully waiting by the curtains for Nino to fetch another towel for his wet feet. “I will not truly be satisfied until I know she’s in one. Permanently.”
Nino returned, kneeling down again. But this time he lingered, gently rubbing the towel over Satoshi’s feet, feeling his hand rest on his shoulder to keep his balance while he lifted them in turn so Nino could dry the sole of each foot. When he was finished he looked up, seeing a hungered look in Satoshi’s dark eyes.
“I have double the guards posted outside my chambers tonight,” Nino told him. “We’ll have to have quiet study this evening.”
“Then we should locate ourselves as far from your door as we can. Perhaps I’ll let you draw me a bath…”
Nino got to his feet, shaking his head in amusement. Once a stubborn god, always a stubborn god. “We will work in here, but we work quietly. And we will work, Satoshi.”
“If you don’t make my language sound like a cat’s howl, I might reward you,” Satoshi teased. Nino deliberately sat across from him at the table, if only to keep some distance between them for the time being.
It was a rather charged meeting of the minds that night. Satoshi had brought another bundle of papers Jun had given him, but he scrutinized each of them closely before deciding which word and associated syllables and sounds Nino was to learn next. He stumbled his way through pronunciations of various body parts. Elbows, arms, necks. Feet, ankles, knees.
Eyes.
Lips.
Mouths.
He could see that Satoshi was just about to get up when he held up a hand. “Not just yet,” Nino said. “We’ll do some combination words. I won’t allow you near until I’ve learned six new words for curse.”
Satoshi scowled at him, greedy. Nino always liked this part of budding love affairs. Seeing how long resistances could endure before giving up and giving in. Satoshi, being a god, likely wasn’t used to such…games of endurance.
But he obeyed as best he could, helping Nino to construct words from disparate parts. He tried a few phrases, combining ‘curse’ with one of the words for ‘end’ or one of the words for ‘stop.’ Satoshi shook his head. These weren’t the right words, not yet. He’d definitely know if Nino’s tattoos no longer held sway over him.
Another lesson over, the curse still stood. But that just meant that more lessons would be required until they found an answer. With the long days ahead, learning his place at court, he’d at least have something to look forward to.
Speaking of things to look forward to…
He got to his feet, taking Satoshi by the hand and pulling him to his bedroom, shutting the door. In the candlelight, they undressed one another, slowly, purposefully. He pressed a kiss to Satoshi’s bare shoulder when he’d managed to strip the worn cotton shirt from him.
“Tell me something.”
“Yours to command,” came the grouchy response.
He smiled against Satoshi’s sun-kissed skin. “I remember some stories from when I was younger.”
“Mmm.”
“Keep in mind that I never believed in gods in the first place. But I remember one story I heard, I was trying to listen in on some pretty older girls outside my parents’ tent one night. I’m fairly sure it was a cautionary tale meant to scare girls into avoiding strange men who sought to steal their virtue.”
Satoshi tilted his head back, letting Nino kiss along his shoulder, leaving a damp trail up his neck.
“They said that you had to be careful if a stranger came calling. He might be a god in disguise. And if you gave yourself to him, the act might drive you mad.”
“Mad?” Satoshi chuckled, pulling Nino up to kiss him again. He easily opened up his mouth, letting Satoshi slip his tongue inside. Tongue…that was a word he hadn’t learned tonight though. Among a few others.
Nino moved away first, smiling as Satoshi helped to free him from the confines of his linen trousers. “Oh yes, the story said that humans and gods are too different. A human can’t really bear a god’s power.” He chuckled. “I remember one of the younger girls asking what that meant, and one of the older girls said that if a god spilled himself inside you, you’d likely die from the shock of it. And if you survived, it would render you mad.”
Satoshi nearly bent double laughing, struggling with the ties keeping his trousers snug around his hips. “This is what human children speak of?”
“Older children who know the facts of life, I suppose. So tell me, Satoshi…” He waited for the god’s eyes to meet his again. “If I let you come inside me, will I die?”
Satoshi leaned forward, brushing his lips to the corner of Nino’s mouth. “I’m forbidden to harm you.”
“That doesn’t quite answer my question,” Nino teased.
“It has been a very, very long time since I’ve come inside anyone,” he mumbled, pushing his fingers against Nino’s lips to silence him. “So perhaps I’ve forgotten.”
He smiled. Well, there was only one way to find out. And what a way to die, he thought with a soft laugh.
Nino discovered that a god’s anatomy differed very little from his own once they were both free of all their clothes. Satoshi had a small, lean frame as he did, but he was well-muscled, firm and strong. He let his eyes drop lower, drifting down his abdomen, following the soft trail of black hair down, pleased at the sight of the hard, eager cock that proved Satoshi’s desperate interest.
He moved to the bed, saying nothing as he nodded for Satoshi to join him. They lay back against the luxurious abundance of pillows, watching each other for a few moments. He traced his fingers along Satoshi’s arms, down his chest. When he reached along his side, he discovered that a god could be ticklish, too.
He relented, letting Satoshi explore his body as well. He was slow, deliberate, running his fingertips along every inch of skin he could manage as Nino shut his eyes, breathing in the scent of him so close. He groaned a little, sighing as Satoshi’s deft fingers traced inside his thigh, up and down his shaft, thumb brushing over the sensitive head of his cock before moving elsewhere. He only opened his eyes when he felt Satoshi’s fingers trace along the six purple markings on his left arm.
He looked into Satoshi’s eyes, taking a breath. “I could cover it.”
“No,” Satoshi said, shaking his head. “No, it’s part of you.”
Satoshi moved him onto his back, leaning over him, kissing him slowly, almost reverently. Nino had known many pleasurable nights over the course of his short life, but he couldn’t quite remember any like this. He couldn’t remember any nights where he felt like he was being so thoroughly tasted, savored from head to toe.
“Do you have something that will make this enjoyable?” Satoshi finally asked.
He grinned. He’d gone to the rooftop many, many nights in those borrowed servant’s robes to give the impression he was out and about to find his next conquest. It had only seemed natural to have a bit of oil with him for appearance’s sake. He reluctantly pulled away from Satoshi’s soft, lingering kisses and moved to the edge of the bed. This was something he didn’t much care if his new spying servants found. He snuck his hand beneath the mattress and bed frame, grasping for the vial he still kept.
He turned back, holding it with a shy grin. “You don’t need much, it’s a fairly potent mixture.”
Satoshi took the vial, smiling. “This something they teach all healers to make?”
“Not all healers. Just the overly lustful ones.”
Nino learned that it really had been a long time since Satoshi had found himself in bed with another. But since Satoshi had taken it upon himself to teach Nino how to speak the language of the gods, then it was only fair that Nino play the instructor role where he could in exchange.
They took it slow, Nino coating his fingers with the lubricating oil, showing him what needed to be done. It hadn’t been decades for Nino, but it had still been some time since he’d been penetrated. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the cock of a god, so he worked slowly, gently, easing the tip of his finger inside himself. Satoshi was close, watching with those dark, wanting eyes. He encouraged Satoshi to take over, sighing softly when his fingers were replaced inside him with unfamiliar ones. Satoshi kept a hand between his legs, gently thrusting his finger inside him as he curled up next to him, kissing him like each might be their last.
He was hard, and he couldn’t help stroking his cock in time with the languid motion of Satoshi’s finger inside him. He encouraged Satoshi with soft gasps, his body slowly relaxing and adjusting around the intrusion. He bit his lip, crying out when he felt Satoshi slip another warm, slippery finger into him. It was the most thorough preparation he’d ever experienced, his face flushed and his limbs shaking at the building sensation between his legs.
“Please, when you’re ready…I want you…” he murmured, face half buried against Satoshi’s neck.
“You are certain?”
“Please.”
He felt the absence of Satoshi’s touch keenly, groaning in disappointment. He earned a laugh for that, Satoshi moving over to position himself more easily between his legs. He watched, licking his lips as Satoshi’s poured a little more of the lubricating oil into his palm, slicking it over his hard, heavy cock.
“Eyes up here,” Satoshi said.
Nino looked up, grinning. “Eyes up here,” he replied in the language of the gods.
He moaned a bit when he felt the thick head of Satoshi’s cock press against him. But he didn’t tell him to stop. He shut his eyes, breathing in and out as he braced himself for the first few shallow thrusts of a god’s cock inside his very much human body.
He nodded his approval, and Satoshi moved with a slow but steady grace. Their bodies fit together in a way Nino could not have imagined. Satoshi was on top of him, pushing forward, clearly holding himself back so Nino could be comfortable. He felt Satoshi’s breath against his face. Months earlier, if someone had told him that he was going to be fucked by a god, he’d have questioned the person’s sanity.
But here was Satoshi, cursed by Nino’s own family. A god with power beyond Nino’s comprehension. That same Satoshi cared for him, loved him. The stories said that what they were doing right now could kill him or leave him crazed. But all he knew was that he wanted this. He wanted this so much he couldn’t comprehend it.
He leaned up, bringing his hand to the back of Satoshi’s head and pulling him down. He opened his mouth as he’d so unabashedly opened his heart, tears of happiness, tears of satisfaction slipping from his eyes as he felt Satoshi’s thick cock fill him again and again, Satoshi’s tongue moving in time so that every part of Nino might be full with him. Fuck me, he wanted to say. Fuck me and don’t stop, but those were rather dangerous orders to give to a god who had little choice but to obey your command. He thought it instead, thought of staying in this bed, in their small but shared universe, and never letting him go.
He felt almost feverish, his body so hot, burning with the closeness of the god who could make him feel warm from three floors away. “Satoshi,” he begged him, moving his body, his hips, hearing the god moan as Nino met his every eager thrust.
There were guards outside his door, but they were rooms and rooms away. He wrapped his arms around Satoshi, holding tight to his shoulders. “Kazu,” Satoshi replied, entering him again and again. “Kazu…”
Words failed him in both the common tongue and the language of the gods. Where any normal man might have given in, Satoshi persisted, plunging his hard cock into him without seeming to tire. Nino almost laughed, discovering where human weakness faltered and where a god’s power picked up the slack. Perhaps this was the madness the girls feared when they shared their lustful fairy tales. He knew that if they didn’t stop soon that he’d be sore come morning, no matter how much he’d readied his body for it.
“Please,” he finally said, giving in, clinging to Satoshi. “Please.”
He didn’t quite take it as an order, but understood nonetheless. He felt Satoshi’s movements slow, opened his eyes and looked up to see a smile on his face. Nino traced a bead of sweat along the side of Satoshi’s face.
“If you kill me or drive me mad, I will not forgive you.”
Satoshi grimaced, letting out an irritated laugh that sent a tremor of pleasure all the way down Nino’s spine. And then he gave in, shook off all pretense or politeness. Nino could only hold on, gasping, riding it out. He moaned at the surprising surge of warmth inside him, having received no warning. Payback, he supposed. Satoshi stilled within him, humming in a satisfied way that made him smile, knowing he was the cause of it.
“Not dead,” Satoshi murmured, mouth trailing along his neck before gently pulling out of him.
“Mmmm. No, I’m not.”
“Insane?”
“We’ll see come morning. Might take a while to kick in since I am a sweaty, oiled mess.”
“You talk a lot after, hmm?”
“I won’t if you don’t want me to.”
Satoshi let out a low little chuckle. “See if you can keep quiet.”
Nino gasped in surprise when Satoshi, hair sticking out every which way and with a grin on his flushed face, took hold of his cock, working him with quick, powerful strokes. It took only a minute before he was moving, thrusting up and into Satoshi’s hand, desperate for the friction. He earned another laugh when he came, dirtying himself further as Satoshi stroked him through it.
When he finally came back to himself, Satoshi was already returning from the washroom with towels and warm water.
He fell asleep to the warm press of cloth along his stomach, to the even warmer press of Satoshi’s lips against his thigh.
“I love you,” he murmured, happily drifting away. Not dead, not mad. But perhaps something new entirely.
-
By day, Nino sat in on meetings, took notes, learned affairs of state. Masaki took over matters surrounding the king’s ninetieth birthday, working with the king’s advisors to plan the event and more importantly, to plan how Nino might be re-introduced to the kingdom’s elites. Sho arranged for an endless parade of tailors to come to Nino’s apartments, draping him in fabric. Poking him with pins.
Thankfully Sho was also available to keep Nino grounded, reporting on the news he’d heard. Things were quieter now that Rumiko and the dark cloud that surrounded her had vanished from the palace. And it was nearly five weeks before Jun finally returned from Katashina-mura, the village that was home to the luxurious estate where the princess was now staying. If Sho seemed a little more nervous than usual about the prince’s return from the east, Nino decided not to tease him about it. At some point Sho would have to admit a few things to himself, now that he didn’t have the fear of death hanging over him. But of course, that was Sho’s business.
It was nighttime where Nino felt safest, happiest. And full of purpose. Another month of language lessons had left him with an even bigger arsenal of words at his disposal. And he suspected he was getting closer. When Nino had spoken one of the phrases that meant simply “I release you,” Satoshi had reacted to it immediately, his eyes filling with tears. Masaki had had a similar reaction, telling Nino it had felt like someone had been squeezing his heart and had loosened their grip just a bit. Initially disheartened, Masaki had enveloped him in one of his gentle hugs.
“I haven’t felt this way in eight hundred years,” Masaki had confessed. “You really can do it, Ninomiya Kazunari.”
They were on the right track. After all these months, and after all those long years, it might truly be possible.
He spent almost every night with his personal tutor, discovering that a god’s stamina and persistence took a lot of getting used to. Sometimes Nino managed to stay awake long enough to watch Satoshi slip away, almost dancing atop a column of water. Other times, bone tired and lips swollen from kisses, he simply fell asleep in his bed, a good night kiss from Satoshi barely registering.
They never spoke about what breaking the curse might actually mean. That, Nino felt, was a pointless thing. Because they hadn’t broken the curse. They worked at it every night, Nino sounding out syllables until his throat was dry, and still they hadn’t broken it. During the day, the king still had the gods doing his bidding. He had Masaki fill fountains, he had Satoshi fill wells. Sometimes Nino was given the assignment instead, either as a test of loyalty or because his grandfather still found him lacking in ruthlessness. Their pain was ongoing, inescapable, unavoidable.
Nino knew what they had together was precious, something he had to cherish while he had it. Of all the humans in all the world, a son of the God of the Waters had chosen to love him. It had been both the most difficult and most fulfilling month of his life, having Satoshi by his side. Satoshi in his bed. But when Satoshi had his freedom, Nino knew that his own feelings didn’t matter.
For eight hundred years, Satoshi had looked off at the eastern sky, longing for home, enduring an impossible situation. A few months with Nino couldn’t really erase that, and so he simply chose not to bring it up. When Satoshi was free, Nino knew, he was free. Free to go home, free to take on the form he was born in, and if that meant returning to the Undersea Palace - a place where Nino couldn’t follow - then so be it. That choice would be Satoshi’s alone to make.
He returned that night from a late dinner in his grandfather’s apartments. The old man was waited on hand and foot by a group of young maids in red robes barely out of their teens. The old man watched them with his half-crusted over eyes, pinching and leering, licking his chapped lips. Nino had barely been able to keep his food down.
“One day this will all be yours,” his grandfather had said, his fingers running absent-mindedly over the rotted, poisoned skin of his tattooed arm.
He found a scrap of paper on his desk, knowing that Masaki had once again found a way to get Sho to write down a secret message. After so many weeks of study, he didn’t have to think long for an answer.
It was a dangerous thing, but he found himself unable to resist. He tore the paper to bits, scattering the remains in a planter and covering it over with dirt. He washed his hands, heading for the exit. Four members of the Kingsguard trailed him through the halls. Even though the threat of Rumiko had gone, his grandfather had him watched everywhere he went.
He paused at the archway that led underground. “I will be bathing, gentlemen,” he said in the firm voice he’d worked so hard to cultivate here in the cruel palace. “I am not to be disturbed.”
They weren’t going to budge, but at least they weren’t going to follow him inside. He was a Matsumoto, and his own brother was known for hosting his raunchy parties in the baths below the palace. Let the Kingsguard (and through them, his grandfather) believe he was no different in that regard.
Of course, there was only one soul waiting for him, sitting on the edge of the main pool. His trousers were rolled up to his knees, his bare feet plunged into the cool depths.
He crossed his arms, trying not to smile. Warmth still trickled up and down his left arm at the sight of him every time, and Nino now knew for a fact that it was mutual. From the moment Nino had been tattooed, Satoshi had been able to sense him. That too would vanish along with the curse, Nino thought before immediately tamping the sentiment away.
“Dangerous,” he said quietly, though the arched ceilings bounced his voice around. “Meeting here.”
Satoshi grinned in reply, getting to his feet. It left him in awe every time, watching what Satoshi could do with water when he wasn’t being forced. Nino watched him step forward, floating only inches above the pool below, gliding slowly across until he was facing Nino, the water gently rippling in the path he’d left behind.
“I want to try something,” Satoshi whispered, holding out his hand. “Please?”
Nino narrowed his eyes. “I’ll sink.”
“I won’t let you.”
He frowned. “Why now? We ought to study.”
Satoshi floated just a bit closer, until some water splashed over the edge of the pool, brushing against Nino’s sandals. “I don’t want to study. I’d like a night off, just once. Just once I want you all to myself with nothing keeping me from you.”
He cocked his head. “You read those sweet words in a book?”
“One of Masaki’s probably,” Satoshi said with a wink. “He’s a romantic fool, you know.”
Nino sighed, slipping out of his sandals and moving to the edge of the pool. It was only a few feet deep, nothing to fear. He took Satoshi’s hand, trusting him despite his wink. In moments they were moving, Satoshi’s arm protectively around his back as Nino rested his hands on his shoulders.
He could feel the water skimming under his feet, whimpering a bit in fright as Satoshi started to pull them to and fro, picking up speed, gliding all around. As they moved, the water lifted them and lowered them, Satoshi guiding them over the waves he created with only his own thoughts.
“You could open your eyes,” Satoshi teased, his grip firm and strong.
“I’ll vomit on you,” Nino complained. “Slow down.”
They did slow, but mostly because Nino had commanded it. Instead of floating around, Satoshi had them simply sway from side to side, as though they were dancing close just over the water. He cracked open an eye, looking into Satoshi’s. Open, trusting. Amused. Nino lifted his hand, stroking Satoshi’s face.
“I much prefer your other seduction techniques,” Nino told him, fearing every moment that Satoshi might drop him simply to laugh about it. “Where you show up in my room and just start taking your clothes off. Simple. Straight to the point. It’s what I like about you.”
“I want to tell you something.”
He sighed. “And so you brought me down here when my room has such amenities as, oh, let me see…a solid floor beneath your feet. Or a sturdy mattress that’s endured a lot these last few weeks. And if you’re in need of water, you could have a bath…”
“Kazunari, be quiet.”
He shut up immediately. Something was wrong.
“Masaki and I have been talking. At least since the other night.”
“I release you,” he whispered, feeling Satoshi’s grip on him tighten.
“Yes, since the night we heard you say that.”
He waited, still a bit irritated that Satoshi had chosen this venue for what seemed to be an important talk.
“It’s about what he and I plan to do when we are freed.”
Nino held in a breath. No. No, he hadn’t wanted to have this conversation. Not yet anyway.
“I thought you should know what I’m planning so it doesn’t come as a surprise. And I thought you should know because I will not allow you to stop me.”
“What…what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill the king. And your aunt.”
Nino took a breath, then another. He spoke again. “Get me out of this pool. Now.”
Satoshi obliged, floating them over to the edge of the pool with little artistry this time. Nino was grateful for solid ground, sitting and crossing his legs to keep from shaking. Satoshi moved to sit in his usual way, hunched over with his feet in the water. They sat there quietly for a few moments.
“Masaki is undecided. He wishes for their deaths, even if he won’t speak the words aloud, but I know him. I know my brother, and what he has suffered at their hands,” Satoshi mumbled. “But he is kind at heart. So that is why I will do it myself.”
“The Kingsguard protect my grandfather. And whatever desert hole Rumiko’s in, I can guarantee there are Kingsguard watching her as well.”
“I am a god, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I certainly haven’t,” Nino snapped. “But there would be consequences, even if your revenge is justified.”
“And what consequences are those?” he replied. “Evil is overthrown. You are free to rule. You are free to change things, make this kingdom a better place.”
“Why not just leave? Why not just get away from here?” He laughed bitterly. “After what you’ve endured, you might have your father send a flood and wipe us from existence, this palace, this entire kingdom. It needn’t be by your own hand.”
“Because I would see the light leave their eyes myself,” Satoshi said. “Then I will know that it is over.”
“And if other people get in the way of it? The Kingsguard, the civilians and servants of the palace? Will they die by your hand as well?”
Satoshi looked at him. “If it comes to that, then yes.”
He shut his eyes, trying to find words. He’d feel no sadness if Kotaro and Rumiko were killed, but Satoshi was no murderer.
“There is a cost to everything. You have the markings of your bloodline embedded in your skin, so you know this better than anyone,” Satoshi said.
“You are good. It is not just your brother who is kind at heart,” Nino said. “If you have to harm innocents to get what you want, it will break you, Satoshi.”
“I am prepared for that.”
He got to his feet. There was no arguing with a stubborn god. “You will come for lessons tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will see you tomorrow.”
He wasn’t surprised when Satoshi didn’t bother to tell him good night.
-
He could sense the shift between them over the next several weeks. Satoshi, unapologetic, was pressing Nino hard with darker words, serious words. They had trouble meeting one another’s eyes - Satoshi who refused to stray from his planned course, Nino who knew that he would be the one to unlock everything so that Satoshi could get what he wanted.
The ease with which they’d spoken had reversed, and the soft moments they spent together in Nino’s bed had lost their innocence. Nino reluctantly accepted that he would be complicit in murder. He could pray all he wanted that only Kotaro and Rumiko would be made to pay for their mistakes. But there was no guarantee that a god freed from eight hundred years of pain, his powers fully restored, would be able to rein himself in entirely.
The language lessons went on longer, the time they spent making love grew shorter. Satoshi, understanding Nino’s disappointment in him, no longer initiated anything himself. Some nights their lessons ended, and he simply departed without a word. And yet on others Nino clung to him desperately, the room filled only with the harsh sounds of heavy breathing, of bodies joining. No sweet words, no declarations of love. He only let Satoshi take him from behind, Nino’s fingers clinging to the sheets as he buried his cries of both pleasure and sorrow in the mattress or a pillow. If he looked into Satoshi’s eyes, he was afraid that he might never again see the innocent look he’d witnessed on the day they’d met. He was afraid that part of him, the part of Satoshi he loved most, had been hidden away, never to return so he might fulfill the mission he’d set for himself.
One night Nino abandoned his rooms entirely, walking the palace grounds to clear his mind. The Kingsguard followed him just steps behind, and he could feel movement in the shadows, could feel the burning in his left arm. Satoshi was watching, Satoshi was close, but he couldn’t approach.
He let out his frustration on the servants who were underfoot throughout the day, poking and prodding at him, inconveniencing him at every turn. He could barely speak to Sho, for fear that he might lose his temper and confess it all. It was best Sho believed that Nino was simply exhausted from matters of state, that the dark circles under his eyes had nothing to do with Satoshi.
He sat at his grandfather’s side at meetings, knowing that any night he might learn the words that would result in the old man’s death and more importantly, the words that would result in the deaths of any man or woman who tried to prevent it. Masaki was usually in the room, his expression serious. Nino could see in his eyes that he knew what his brother was planning. And Masaki knew that there was nothing he could do to stop it.
-
The celebration for the king was only a few days away when the words were finally unlocked. Roughly translated into the common tongue, it was nearly as vague as the wind blowing down mountains Nino bore on his left arm.
From the river that was choked and its tributaries emptied, I release you.
As soon as the words left his lips, Satoshi let out a gasp. He backed away from the table, hands at his throat. Nino stumbled over to him, watching him where he lay on the floor, body shaking. His eyes filled with tears, and Nino trembled.
“Say…say it again. Please.”
Nino bit his lip, knowing he had to. He couldn’t keep it from him. “From the river that was choked and its tributaries emptied, I release you.”
Satoshi still quaked with shock, and a few terrifying moments passed before Nino watched him shakily sit up again, hand to his obviously aching head.
“Are you…is it over?”
Satoshi was breathing heavily. “I’m close…I know it’s close. Those are the words. Those have to be the words.” He looked up at him, eyes widening. “Kazu…no. Oh no…”
Nino looked down, shuddering in fright. The six tattoos on his arm were bleeding. No, not bleeding. He panicked, falling to his knees. They were oozing ink, thick streams of it burning across his flesh. It ached. Gods, it ached. “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?”
Satoshi scrambled to his feet, running from the room. Nino was shaking, unable to breathe. All he could do was cradle his arm in his hand, watching the purple stain across his skin. There was so much of it, so much of it. It felt the same as it had in his room that day, the needles plunging into his skin again and again and again. But if he screamed, the Kingsguard might come in and so he bit his lip, hard enough to draw blood. What was happening?
Satoshi returned with a wet towel, the dripping cloth held in his shaking hands. “Let me. Please let me.”
He whimpered as Satoshi pressed the towel against his arm, the fabric soaking through in purple in seconds. But it kept coming, spilling onto the table, the scraps of paper, the floor. He was growing lightheaded, the pain consuming him entirely.
“What’s going on?” he gasped.
Satoshi fled, nearly slipping on the ink that was soaking through the tatami floor. Nino heard splashing in his bathtub. He was filling it with water. He could barely keep his eyes open when Satoshi returned, lifting Nino into his arms and carrying him to the other room. He moaned when he entered the water, some of it splashing out and onto the floor. He looked down at his arm, staring at it until he could no longer see it, the water turning almost black.
It was still oozing from his flesh, the poisoned, cursed ink. There hadn’t been this much of it when the tattoos had been given to him, he thought. Why was there so much of it?
Satoshi’s hands were stained as he grasped Nino’s face in his hands. “Kazu. Kazu, listen to me.”
“Are you free?” he mumbled. “Did I free you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t…I don’t know. But I have to find Masaki. I…I have to find him.”
“I will free him too. I will free him.”
“Stay where you are,” Satoshi said, pressing an urgent kiss against his temple. “Stay here.”
When Satoshi was gone, he let the pain overwhelm him, let himself fade.
-
He woke in an unfamiliar bed, opening his eyes to find Masaki sitting on the mattress beside him, holding a damp cloth against his forehead. Light was filtering in from the neighboring room. It was morning. He’d likely been unconscious or asleep for hours.
“Masaki,” he croaked, feeling weak, exhausted.
Masaki offered him a gentle smile, poking his chin. “It’s good to see you awake.”
“Where am I?”
“Much has happened. You are in Prince Jun’s rooms.”
“Jun?” He tried to move, to sit up, but Masaki pressed a hand against his chest, keeping him down.
“Yes, Satoshi and I took advantage of the confusion to bring you here. You are safe here.”
“I don’t understand…”
“The king is dead,” Masaki said plainly, watching him with wary eyes. “Kotaro is dead. The same thing that you endured happened to him when you spoke the words.”
“Dead?!”
“I was a few rooms over when I heard him scream. They summoned doctors, healers, the Kingsguard. I watched from the doorway, I watched him die.” Masaki took a deep breath, as though even he couldn’t believe what he’d seen. “His bed, the rugs on the floor…his entire suite was full of ink. I need you to know that he died in agony. He choked on it. There was so much of it that he choked on it, drowned in it.”
Nino shut his eyes at the thought of it. “If the king is dead…”
“…then Jun succeeds him,” came Sho’s soft voice.
Masaki finally relented, helping Nino to sit up in bed. He looked down, saw that his arm was bare. His skin had stained patches, blotches of purple they hadn’t fully scrubbed from him. The outlines of the tattoos remained, but their color had faded to a sickly gray. Sho was standing in the doorway, looking just as tired as Nino felt.
“Sakurai Sho is right,” Masaki said. “You would have been named heir in the ceremony to come, but since there was no official announcement, it’s as though the succession never changed.”
“I have no desire to be king,” he whispered. “Let him have it.”
“The palace is a madhouse right now. Kingsguard and advisors. Some of them have simply fled, others are demanding answers. Jun is trying his best to restore order, but people are frightened,” Sho admitted. “Nino, I cannot stay, I’m sorry. I only wanted to know that you are well.”
Nino raised his hand, shooing him. “He needs you. Go.”
Sho bowed to him, hurrying away.
He looked up at Masaki. “Are you free?”
The god shook his head. “No.”
His heart sank. “Why not?”
“You said the words to Satoshi. But I felt them. I felt them, too. I know that they are right. But when you said them aloud, I believe that they only served to cancel out the existing curse. It is why the poisoned ink drained from you. From the king. And from Jun.”
“Did it hurt Jun?”
Masaki shook his head. “Sakurai Sho found him. He wasn’t hurt. Alarmed, obviously, but not hurt. It simply seeped out of his skin. So that left me and Satoshi convinced that the curse breaking affected you all proportionately. ‘You’ being the members of the Matsumoto family who have been tattooed.”
“Jun never hurt you,” Nino mumbled. “Jun had no power.”
“Exactly. The poison simply left him. You, on the other hand, you’ve been made to use your power many times these last few months. So you suffered. And then as to Kotaro…”
Nino felt a sense of satisfaction, somewhere deep down. He took no pleasure in another person’s death, but it seemed a perfect end for someone so cruel, someone who had hurt Masaki and Satoshi for decades. He had drowned, choking on the curse of his ancestors.
“Where is Satoshi?”
Masaki’s expression was grim. “He is gathering supplies for travel. Since he was unable to see to the king’s end himself, he has decided to find Rumiko.”
Nino shook his head. He had seen her arm. He had seen the things she had done, had learned the sins of her past as well. Her body ought to have been full of poison. Her suffering would have been long and painful, the same as Kotaro’s.
“Isn’t it likely that she’s dead?”
“He wishes to confirm it with his own eyes. Or to complete the act himself,” Masaki said. “But he will need your permission to leave.”
He laughed bitterly. “There is no power in me now, is there? I can’t force him to stay.”
“We are not yet free. Satoshi says you spoke the words twice. The words are right, but the method of their delivery is not.” Masaki sounded ashamed. “I’m sorry.”
Nino met Masaki’s eyes, saw in that exact moment what was required.
Before he could speak, Masaki was shaking his head. “You don’t have to. Your body is weakened, you need to rest. It is likely Rumiko is dead anyway, so there is no reason for Satoshi to leave right away. And with the chaos here in the palace, I don’t believe it is the right time.”
“I promised the both of you that I would free you,” Nino said quietly. “I will not go back on that promise. And I will not delay it.”
“It might kill you,” Masaki interrupted him sharply. “I told my brother the same and still he prepares to ride into the desert. He cares only about his revenge.”
He couldn’t help smiling. “Yes,” he whispered. “That sounds like him.”
Nino reached out, taking Masaki’s hand into his own. It was cool, soothing when he twined their fingers together.
“He only has to wait until I can talk with Jun. Work with Sho, Masaki. Help him. And help my brother.”
“Of course,” Masaki vowed.
“And until then, I will rest.” He took a deep breath, squeezing Masaki’s hand. “I will fulfill my promise, no matter what it costs.”
Part Ten