CHAPTER 29
Matthew
The following days were rough. We’d gone directly back to Draelon where Johnathan had strung together meeting after meeting to find our missing soldiers- Stryker wasn't the only one who'd been taken. We were useless.
Theo, on top of that, had come down with a cold that had left his throat itchy and his nose runny and his eyes watering with every cough and sneeze, and had been complaining about it to me ever since. I tried not to get annoyed, but my nerves over the whole situation certainly weren’t helping.
On the fourth day of uselessness and after a morning of attempting to read, to gather some form of information on where the prisoners may be, whilst simultaneously trying to block out Jack, Dean and Alex chatting, Theo emerged from his bedroom and flopped down beside me, kicking me with his bare foot “after careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that I must be dying.
So I thought I'd just lay here with someone who would be so kind as to properly record the time of my death. "
I rolled my eyes, lowering my book to look at him. I hoped I’d never have to see Theo sick again, because he was more dramatic than my four year old brother.
"Theo, you have a cold. You're not dying."
"You can't fool me, Matt," he closed his
eyes. "I'm a smart man. I have thought long and hard and know very well that I'm dying. Now, get out your quill and write this down: 'Grand Duke Theodore Lucas Danes-'"
"You're not a duke," I reminded him flatly.
"No need to tell the news that, Matt. I want the public to properly mourn my passing in the manner I see fit. Where was I? Ah, yes. Theodore Lucas Danes left this world on the twenty second of May -''
"It's the twenty first."
"At least I got the month right. Are you getting all of this?"
"I don't have a quill on me."
Theo lolled his head in my direction and cracked his eyes open to glare at me.
"Then how are you supposed to properly record the time of my death? How will people know to stand for a moment of mischief in the future when they mourn the passing of their fallen emperor."
"I thought you were a duke?"
“Same thing.” He sighed, helplessly looking at Alex and Dean who shrugged at him.
“Alright. What crawled up your arse and died this morning?”
“Nothing.” I replied simply.
“We got a visit from a very pregnant Raven.” Jack sighed heavily “she’s pissed and…pissed. Didn’t help the situation, let’s say.”
Theo groaned “fucking…forgot about that. Raven, I mean.”
I grunted, something finally clicking in my head “me too, to be honest. Hey, uh…you guys clocked onto this?”
Dean and Alex leant forward. I opened my book wide enough for everyone to see, demonstrating a map “Stadal is here.” I pointed “but going north there’s…nothing. Apparently a load of abandoned land. Around these parts there are never abandoned lands. Someone would have claimed it by now.”
“How old is that book, Matt?” Jack sighed whilst Dean frowned pensively.
“Not very.” I replied defensively. I’d looked for it especially. “I know it’s a stab in the dark, but…”
“He may be right.” Dean mumbled, scrambling to his feet. I felt a rush of satisfaction; at least someone agreed with me around here. “Give me that, I’ll show John.”
I handed it to the young man, watching him disappear out of the door.
“We should just send a small team. No charging in there and wreaking havoc.” I murmured.
“I’ll go.” Theo hummed “definitely.”
“You ready for that?” Jack asked slowly, brow furrowing “it’s dangerous shit.”
“Yes.” He replied firmly, immediately followed by a sneeze.
I snorted softly, rubbing my jaw “sure.” Sarcasm laced my tone.
Theo turned to glare “excuse me?”
“John can’t…you’ve not been here long enough to-“
“Fuck that. I’m going.”
“Me and the others can go. There’s no point-“
“Matthew.” He said through clenched teeth, looking betrayed, “don’t patronise me.”
“I won’t be the one doing the patronising when John agrees with me-“
“He won’t.” Theo retorted sharply, getting to his feet and folding his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes “I know he won’t.”
He stormed outside, clearly in a strop with me.
I hadn’t meant it to patronise him, I just…didn’t want anything to happen to him. There was nothing wrong with that, right?
Theo
I left with every desire to prove him wrong.
It didn’t take me long to find Johnathan, smoking by the lake. I came to stand beside him “sir, did…Dean tell you-?”
“Indeed. I’ll hold a meeting about it as soon as I can.” He replied without turning his head towards me, keeping his gaze fixed on the rippling water.
I did the same, nerves eating at me as I announced my proposal “I want to be part of the group you send to check it out, sir. Please.”
The commander’s head snapped towards me so fast I was surprised he didn’t get whiplash.
His analysing eyes- much like Stryker’s- scanned my form, darkening.
“Are you sure about that?” Johnathan murmured, taking another drag from his pipe, seeming concerned “it’s not flowers and roses-“
I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, feeling like I was arguing with Matthew about it all over again, jaw clenching and unclenching “sir, if you think I’m not ready, say so. But if you think I’m good enough to do this then please let me do it.”
I was hoping he’d say yes. To prove Matthew wrong more than anything. I was ready. I knew I was.
The commander looked down his nose at me, brows furrowing comically “alright.” He conceded tightly “you’re good enough. But don’t do anything stupid and listen to the others.”
“Got it. Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me, Theo.” He said bitterly “you won’t like what you find, if you find it.”
A slither of dread settled within me.
The reaction I got from Matthew when I told him was worse than expected. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Matthew so pissed off in all the time I’d known him.
It had gone something like this:
“You’re not going anywhere.” he’d growled, tone low and dangerous.
“What?” I had spluttered, taken aback. Not being able to grasp that the other was actually serious.
“You’re not going. Is. That. Clear?”
I’d bristled “excuse me?” I’d asked in a snarl “last time I checked you weren’t my bloody father.”
“I don’t fucking have to be!” Matthew had snarled right back, actually making me jump, more from the surprise than anything “Stryker’s life depends on this and yours does too! You’ll both fucking die! Now is not a time to try and prove yourself, you prat!”
And on and on.
After a good half hour shouting match where I had desperately tried to get my point across- that being that the other had absolutely no right to dictate what I could or couldn’t do- we had finally calmed, since Matthew had backed down when Nico, who had made an appearance halfway through, pointed out that if Johnathan had made the decision then he knew I was good enough and that was all that mattered.
Now we had resorted to staring at each other. It could have been defined as silly and childish if I weren’t still so frustrated with him.
Matthew sighed, clearly picking up on such and stepping behind me to place a hand on my stomach and rest his chin on my shoulder “I’m not happy about this.” He murmured quietly. I leant back against his chest as subtly as I could, unable to resist his touch even through my annoyance.
“Clearly.” I grumbled “but I’m not…I’m not sorry. You can’t dictate me like that.” I squeezed the hand he had on my stomach.
“You’re ill, Theo.”
“I thought it was ‘just a cold’” I sneered back at him before relaxing my tone “Stryker’s gonna be much worse off than this. I’m sure I’ll survive.” With a small, helpless shrug I added “I’m not going alone anyway.”
“I should be there.”
“You can’t, Matt.” I shivered as his hand slipped under my shirt and started tracing my abs. I tilted my head back in an attempt to catch his eye. Matthew met my gaze and held it “I can.”
“John-“
“I don’t care.” He whispered, kissing my jaw. I automatically tipped my head further back to give him access to my throat. Matthew didn’t hesitate, taking advantage and kissing my Adam’s apple, briefly flicking his tongue over the spot before kissing my jaw again.
“Matt.” I murmured “I-“
He kissed the corner of my mouth “hm?”
I shivered again at the feel of his hand, drawing along the lines of my stomach muscles.
“We can’t fuck tonight.”
“I know.” Matthew smiled sympathetically “‘s alright. Not what I’m doing.”
I paused, licking my lips “we…are leaving tomorrow. You-“
“I know.” He whispered, warm breath tickling my ear “and I’ll be there. Just to keep an eye on you. Johnathan will say yes.”
“Lovely to know nobody trusts my ability to fend for myself around here.” I grumbled, growing irritated again.
Matthew’s teeth grazed my neck and I melted back into his chest “I just don’t want you dead.”
Maybe it wasn’t just a woman thing.
“Hmm. I won’t die.”
His hand trailed down to my boxers “I know. Because I’ll be watching you.”
He palmed me and I let out a little whimper “fuck you.”
“Fuck me, you mean.”
“You wish.”
“Don’t tempt me.”