Chapter 19: Gift.

Dorian stared at Kalon's neck with a hungered look on his face as he watched the arteries contract as they pumped blood throughout his son's body. He felt a feeling of anger start to brew from inside him as he saw Kalon's arms around him and wanted to drain the blood from his entire body and leave him dead on the floor of his palace.

As he looked at Kalon, he began to imagine the scene playing out in his head and felt his head moving closer to the arteries on his neck. But before he could do anything, his body shook a little bit with goosebumps as he remembered the plan that Penrith had come up with.

"No, I have to stick to the plan," Dorian whispered to himself to distract his mind from the fact that there was something within his grasp that would sate his hunger.

'It's been a while since I have been this close to a human without tearing them limb from limb. I should probably head to the farm sometime soon and pick out some cattle.' Dorian thought as he withdrew from the embrace with his son.

He didn't know how much his hunger had grown until he was within arms reach of tasting fresh blood. It took him back for a moment and reminded him that he would need to drink sometime soon before he turned into something much worse than a monster.

"Is everything okay?" Kalon asked, confused by his father suddenly pulling away from the hug. He was sure that Dorian was upset, but there was no sign of sadness on his face as Kalon looked up at him. But instead, it looked like he was angry at something. He wasn't sure if he had done something wrong but just hoped that he didn't.

The last thing he wanted was to make his father hate him before he answered his request.

"It's nothing. I was thinking that it would make me happy to have you and your mother living here again. Of course, you can live here. But the court is a little pressed for time. If you decide to take this job, then they want you to start right away.

But there are some things that we will need to go over back in my office. But first, there is something that I would like to show you. If you don't mind, of course." Dorian said with a smile. His smile was gentle and soothed Kalon's worry.

He smiled upon hearing what Dorian had said.

"Of course!" Kalon said with excitement. But his excitement was directed towards the fact that his father just told him that he could come back home and live within the palace once again after completing the job the court had set for him.

"Then come along," Dorian said and began to traverse the corridors once again before. Kalon followed shortly behind him before coming to a stop at a black metal door.

On either side of the door were two knights that seemed to be standing guard to make sure that no one entered but upon seeing the emperor started to walk towards them, they both bowed their heads.

"Welcome, Your majesty." The guards bowed down, but suddenly the emperor stopped in his tracks. Without saying a word. Both guards looked up to see that the emperor was staring at them with a look of disappointment before one of them spotted Kalon beside him.

He looked over to the over guard with a look of shock on his face.

'Is that the emperor's youngest son? But I thought…' The guard thought to himself as he looked at Kalon before realising where he had gone wrong and why the emperor was giving them a disappointed gaze.

"And your highness." The guard said, which was soon followed by the other one who quickly recognised Kalon as a prince.

"Your highness." The second guard said and bowed his head once again.

Kalon felt nervous as he looked up at Dorian, who had begun to smile.

"That's better. Come on, my boy." Dorian said as he looked down at Kalon, who was worried about the outcome of the situation. Luna had warned him that Octavian had a bunch of the guards wrapped around his fingers, and if he found out that Kalon was back in the palace, he would probably try to kill him.

But he felt relieved that his father was there since his presence alone gives off a safe and protected feeling. He nodded his head and followed Dorian quickly as he opened up the metal door with his hand and stepped into the room.

As Dorian entered the room, the layout came into Kalon's view. It seemed to be a storage room of some kind since there were no windows at all, and many different expensive-looking items were lying around on shelves.

Kalon was in awe as he entered the room filled with gold and other valuable metals that he had never seen in his life. The light from the candles inside the room scattered as it flickered and bounced off the shiny metal and created dancing patterns on the wall.

It looked as though the light was dancing to his young mind, and he hesitated to enter the room but seeing that his father had walked in without thinking twice he followed behind and entered the room as well.

Dorian turned to look at Kalon with a smile and then looked down at the wooden table in the centre of the room.

"There's something that I meant to give you a long time ago. But I never got around to doing it, so it has just been sitting here for the past ten years. I hope that you don't hate it." Dorian hesitated before picking a pendant with a circular red gem up from the table and showing Kalon.

Kalon looked at it for a few moments.

'What is it?' He thought as he looked at it before realising that it was a pendant.

Dorian held out his hand.

"Come over here and try it on." He said with his hand still outstretched.

Kalon looked up at his fathers smiling face and felt happier than he had ever felt before in his life. Not once did he remember getting a gift from either his father or his mother. The closest thing he got to a gift was Octavian's beatings that he never failed to give to Kalon personally every year on his birthday.

Looking at his father, who offered the first gift that wouldn't cause him pain, he couldn't help but tear up a little.

"Oh no, Is it ugly? Don't cry. It's fine if you don't want it." Dorian quickly rushed over to comfort Kalon. He didn't know why he was crying, but he figured that it wasn't a good sign.

'Damn it. I was hoping that I could get him to wear it. But I might have to sneak it into his luggage instead.' Dorian thought as he looked down at the pendant.

"It's not ugly," Kalon said through teary eyes as he looked up at Dorian with a smile.

"I'm just so happy right now." He then bowed his head down and approached his father to put the pendant around his neck.

Dorian smiled at Kalon again before standing behind him and hooking the pendant around his neck.

"Now, I don't want you ever to take this off, okay? It has been enhanced with the power to give you good luck and keep bad dreams from disrupting your sleep. It planned to let you have it when you were a baby, but your mother said she didn't want charity from a monster and wouldn't let you wear it.

I know it probably isn't of much use to you now. But it used to be your grandmothers, and I am sure that if she were still around today, she would want you to have it." Dorian smiled as he lined the pendant up to be perfectly straight around Kalon's neck. All the while, Kalon smiled.

"Thank you. I love it." Kalon said as a knock came from the door behind him.