Tears of the Neko (25 page)

"I'm not making a public accusation, and I'm
not going to demand a confession because we both know that would be
pointless," Damien interrupted. "You are still my brother, and you
are still my family. But, make no mistake, I will
not
have
Kayden feeling threatened in my house. And he feels threatened by
you
. Therefore, you have the option to move out of this
house to the East Wing or finding your own home off of the estate
entirely, because Kayden is my family now too."

Roman eyes flashed wildly and he looked like
he might argue further, but Geoff Brenner arrived at the door,
frowning at him. And a glance around the room at the faces
sympathetic to the little hybrid, he knew it wouldn't matter what
he said now. Even Harrison looked at him like he was ready to punch
him.

"Fine," Roman finally ground out. "I'll
leave, but--"

"I don't want to hear any excuses anymore,
Roman. You've overstepped your authority for the last time here,"
Damien snapped. "Just go."

Roman stormed out, brushing past the guard
captain who was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
Harrison hid his smirk at Roman's banishment behind his hand,
trying desperately not to look too happy.

Damien sighed in frustration. He hated having
to put Roman in his place like that. But he was beginning to think
that Roman was no longer the brother he remembered growing up
with.

"Damien, I'm sorry about what happened to the
boy--" Geoff Brenner started, glancing anxiously at the bleeding
figure curled and shaking on the bed.

"It's not your fault," Damien admitted. "It's
Roman's. Your guard, Nash, only did what Roman ordered."

"Yes, but if I had gone with the boy instead,
or gone there sooner--"

"Geoff, enough," Damien cut him off. It
didn't matter at this point what the captain could have done
differently. "Just make sure Roman leaves."

"Of course, sir," Geoff looked decidedly
upset still.

"And find out about that poison," Damien
growled.

"I have two guards questioning everyone who
was in the kitchen, but some had left already, since they were
done. I'm trying to hunt them down."

"Very good," Damien nodded as his guard took
one last glance at the hurt boy before disappearing out the door.
Another face appeared in the doorway.

"You called for me, sir?" Jacob Arnett looked
nervous as he peeked in the doorway, afraid he was in trouble for
what had happened to the slave.

"Yes, get that damn collar off my boy's
neck," he snapped.

The slave master frowned as collars were not
usually removed unless the slave was being freed. It identified the
slave's home and who was responsible for them. "Yes, sir," he
quickly said, as he moved to unlock the collar on the boy's neck.
He looked sick at the blood seeping through the towel draped over
the little neko's back.

"And where the hell is the doctor?" Damien
roared to the general room.

"I'm right here, my lord," came a voice from
the hallway.

Dr. Reid was rushed in by John Drystan.

"John here told what happened on the way up,"
Dr. Reid said as he settled carefully next to the slight figure. He
gently peeled back the towel to get a look at the shredded
skin.

Kayden whimpered again as the doctor
carefully touched a couple of the more severe lacerations. Damien
petted his boy's head soothingly, wishing he could take away the
pain.

He poked at one particularly sensitive spot
on the boy's side, frowning. "Lucky this one wasn't another inch
over, could have caused serious internal damage to his kidneys. But
it looks like it will be okay."

Dr. Reid heard the Duke growling under his
breath next to him, his face dark and furious.

"Well, it doesn't look like any of them will
need stitches. The bleeding has stopped already. Let me get my
salve. It'll help with the healing and prevent too much scarring.
But he'll be in pain for a couple days."

"Can you give him something for the
pain?"

The gentle doctor smiled. "Of course. I'll
leave a small bottle with you. It will be best to keep him still
and asleep as much as possible for the next couple days
anyway."

The doctor saw the relief flood the young
duke's face and was surprised by how much emotion he had seen in
just the few minutes he'd been here. He'd been with this family for
years, and he had never seen Damien so upset, except when his
father had died.

He pulled a large jar of salve from his bag,
hesitating.

"It might be best for you to move him to his
own bed," Dr. Reid suggested. "That way he won't be jostled by you
when you are sleeping, and we won't make more of a mess on the
bed."

"He stays there," Damien stated. "I'll sleep
on the couch or my chair if I have to, but he's staying here."

He could tell he startled the doctor as well
as the servants in the room by his adamant refusal to move the boy,
but he didn't care. He was keeping Kayden where he could keep an
eye on him.

After applying the salve and bandages to
Kayden's back, Dr. Reid added a couple drops of medicine to a small
cup of water.

Kayden whined as he was shifted enough to get
his head up to drink.

"Hey, kitten," Damien said softly looking
down at the unfocused emerald eyes. "I need you to drink this.
It'll make you feel better."

The small head nodded, forcing himself to
take the sips of the slightly bitter liquid. Then he allowed his
head to drop back down. He felt Damien's lips brushing across his
damp forehead.

"Sleep, kitten," Damien whispered. "I love
you."

****

Kayden shifted, drifting in the haze of a
drug-induced sleep. He was curled on his belly, his back ached at
the movement, tight with the healing skin, but it wasn't as painful
as he'd expected. When he squirmed a bit, tentatively stretching
out his arm, he noticed he was tucked in his master's bed, alone.
The bed seemed cold and he whined at the thought of his master not
being next to him.

The tightness of his back reminded him what
had happened--a day ago, two days, ... or more? He vaguely
remembered his master carrying him to their room after he'd been
whipped by the Marquis.

Damien had fussed over him, and Kayden hazily
thought he'd even heard his master crying at some point. There had
been other people in the room, voices all running together. His
master's voice, harsh and angry sometimes, but then soft and
soothing in his ear. He'd felt someone rubbing some soothing salve
on his back and remembered hissing at them in protest.

A firm hand, a hand smelling of sandalwood,
had gentled him, calmed him. He'd been urged to drink a liquid that
made him drowsy, and he'd felt the consoling stroke of a hand on
his head.

Kayden groaned as he rolled over, his eyes
adjusting to the darkness, focusing on the soft flicker of the fire
across the room. It was night, late if the stillness of the manor
was any indication.

As he crawled out of bed to go toward the
washroom, he nearly jumped in shock when he finally noticed the
figure slumped in a chair next to the bed. Damien was sound asleep.
Kayden smiled at the sight of the huge man sprawled out in front of
him.

When he returned from the washroom, he knelt
next to his master, watching the flames play across the planes of
his face. Slowly, he crept his hand across his master's thigh,
stroking softly as he rested his head against the hard muscle. This
was where he wanted to be.

****

Damien suddenly jerked when something
startled him awake. When his eyes adjusted to the low light of the
fire, his gaze immediately fell on the empty bed. He jerked upright
in panic, before he realized that Kayden was sitting at his
feet.

"Kayden!" he nearly shouted, causing the
neko's ears to flatten.

His eyes started to tear at the sight of his
little kitten sitting at his feet again, like nothing had ever
happened.

He leaned forward, gently touching the boy's
face, watching, looking for any sign of pain or fear. There was
none. Only desire, love.

"Kitten," he sighed, brushing his thumb
across the boy's cheek.

Abruptly, the sleek little body was rising
towards him, his small hand brushing across Damien's cheek. Even in
the dark of the fading firelight, he could see the bruises marring
the boy's skin on his wrist. Damien gently laid his hand over the
small one on his cheek, pulling it to his lips. He softly kissed
the tender skin at the pulse point, silently saying his
apologies.

Kayden leaned in for a kiss, tentative at
first, but then hungry, needing. Damien was afraid, scared of
hurting him, scared that Kayden would hate him.

But the boy slowly crawled up his lap,
pushing Damien to relax in the chair. Damien hesitantly caressed
Kayden's hip, wanting to embrace him but afraid to hurt him.

"It doesn't hurt," Kayden whispered against
his throat, attempting to curl into Damien's warmth. "It's just
sore. I've had worse."

Damien released a sobbing gasp, as if he'd
been holding his breath for hours, waiting to know his boy was
okay. Emotions ripped through him at the thought of the pain his
boy had been through for him, and anger that someone had hurt
Kayden even worse than this.

"Please," Kayden whispered, wrapping his
slender arms around Damien's neck. "Please, hold me."

Damien gripped the boy tighter, caressing the
slender planes of the slight body.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered against the
boy's head, and even he could hear the ragged pain in his own
voice.

Kayden suddenly shifted, turning to straddle
his master's lap, his small hands rubbing up Damien's chest. Damien
felt the neko's tail brushing against his thigh as the boy squirmed
in his lap. Damien trailed his fingers up the boy's bare back and
wondered briefly if he was cold. But Kayden caught him in a fierce
kiss, and he lost all thought.

"I love you," Kayden whispered. "I'm sorry I
hurt you."

"Jesus, kitten, you saved my life," Damien
breathed, clutching the boy tighter. "And I
believe
you. I
made Roman move to the East Wing that's being renovated. I promise
you won't have to see him much, especially alone. I should never
have doubted you."

Damien saw a flash of something in the boy's
eyes, not fear but something else. As if he were hiding something.
"What is it, kitten? Is there more I should know?"

The boy was silent for a long time as if he
were fighting an inner turmoil. Damien wondered how bad it could be
if the boy was afraid to speak to him, but after the way he'd
reacted concerning the accusation about Roman, maybe the boy's
worry wasn't unfounded.

"He said things," Kayden finally whispered
against his chest.

"Who? Who said what?" Damien demanded.

"The stinky one, the other master," Kayden
said softly.

Damien chuckled a bit. "The stinky one?"

He watched Kayden's little nose wrinkle.
"Like Tobacco and... lemon."

"Hmm, Roman does like to chew tobacco and
smoke with his buddies. I guess I don't really notice it," Damien
murmured. "What did he say?"

"He...he said...that one day you wouldn't be
around..." Kayden finally blurted out, digging his hands in
Damien's soft shirt.

Kayden felt Damien become still under him.
"And when did he say this? In the dining room?"

"No, in the dining room he said 'wait until I
get rid of Damien'," Kayden stated.

"What?!" Damien exploded, sitting upright so
fast he nearly threw the neko off his lap.

Kayden hissed, his ears flattening in fear,
his pupils going wide, his body tensing.

Damien immediately recognized his mistake in
scaring the boy and quickly gathered him back into his arms with a
soothing pet. "It's okay, I'm not mad with you. Just--just... what
are you saying?"

Kayden could see his master was having a hard
time wrapping his mind around the thought that his brother might
wish
him
harm, and Kayden wondered if Damien would dismiss
his words as easily as he'd dismissed them before.

"I'm sorry," Kayden whispered quickly, not
wanting to upset Damien further, thinking now that he shouldn't
have said anything.

"No, no, look at me," Damien urged, and
Kayden met his blue eyes. "I want you to be able to talk to me.
Tell me what you've heard."

Kayden squirmed again in his lap. "He wants
to be king. He said... before he whipped me... that I ruined his
plans. I was scared for you."

"Oh, fuck," Damien sighed. "You think Roman
was behind the poisoning?"

Kayden curled into his chest again, nodding
slightly.

"Well, there were too many extra servants
that night--"

"He brought them in," Kayden murmured
softly.

"What?" Damien froze again.

Kayden tipped his head up to face his master.
"Garin said today that t-the m-master, R-Roman, had brought in more
servants for the dinner."

The duke sighed. "Crap, that explains why
there were so many extras around. Geoff said that he couldn't find
everyone who was there. He was unable to determine who might have
done it," Damien sighed. "If Roman is responsible..."

"There's no way to prove it," Kayden finished
softly.

"Yes, unfortunately," Damien stated.

"And he'll try again," Kayden surmised.

Damien smiled as he gently kissed his boy.
"Don't you worry about that. Now we are aware of the threat now,
whether it is actually Roman or not. Geoff has already stationed
more guards at all entrances and our door."

"I can protect you too," Kayden said
playfully.

"No," Damien tucked his finger under Kayden's
chin and tugged gently. "No, I don't want you hurt again. You will
let me and Geoff handle it."