When Nikkol woke up, he stayed exactly where he was, his arm still around the sleeping prince.

He knew that he was late to training, but he didn't care at the moment. A feeling of being removed from the rest of the world existed while he still laid under those covers.

Setial was still asleep, face and body relaxed like he didn't have a problem in the world. Nikkol knew that as soon as he woke up everything would come crashing down and he'd be upset and stressed like he was the night before.

So Nikkol lay there perfectly still, trying not to wake him, trying to give him a few extra minutes of peace.

He couldn't delay the inevitable any longer when Setial began to open his eyes.

The first thing the prince did was look up at Nikkol, whose breath got caught in his throat because in the lighting, his cloudy grey eyes looked like pure silver.

The moment broke when Setial's tired eyes moved around to look around his room. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Nikkol asked, voice soft.

"Like I have a lot I need to do today." His voice was rough and grumbly.

Nikkol smiled and how he sounded and placed a light kiss on his forehead. "Yeah, I bet you do."

Setial looked towards the window then back at the guard. "Don't you have training?"

"Yeah, I'm already late. I should probably get going to that." Nikkol started to get up and out of his bed, but didn't make it far as a certain someone he was tangled up in didn't move.

"Just stay here a few more minutes."

Nikkol smiled and obliged, knowing exactly what was waiting for him when he left.

And he knew exactly what very well.

It turns out that a giant change in the royal family affected his job very little. Herval briefly mentioned it in his daily announcements and they saw a bit more foot traffic due to a lot of people being in town for the announcement, but everything else was exactly the same, Setial didn't even pass by.

Before he knew it, his shift was over, having passed unusually fast.

Since no prince had come by and taken him away, after carefully putting away all his armor and slipping into more comfortable clothing, Nikkol decided to go to the tavern and see Edgal, who he hadn't even seen in the morning due to his tardiness.

As soon as he stepped into the tavern his eyes found Edgal's. He was sitting, facing the door, with his arm around a pretty lady. Maryal, Sir Kethal, and Donal sat with them. Nikkol quickly walked over.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Edgal said as soon as he sat down across from him.

"Hey buddy," Nikkol nodded his head in greeting towards Sir Kethal, "been a while since you came around here."

"Started to think you died there on us." Donal said jokingly.

Maryal elbowed Donal lightly. "Of course he didn't die. If he did there wouldn't be updates every day about how the prince is stealing you away." He teased, now leaning towards Nikkol.

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Sir Kethal asked.

Nikkol, not wanting to go through all this again, turned towards Edgal and the lady, his best friend eyeing him knowingly. "I don't think we've met before." Nikkol said to the lady, who's cheeks turned pink when he addressed her.

Despite her bright cheeks, she boldly sat up straighter and introduced herself. "I'm Anaiah, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Anaiah, that's a pretty name, I'm Nikkol." He flashed her a smile, darkening her face even more.

She turned towards Edgal. "That's Nikkol? You never told me your friend was so handsome." She had turned back to Nikkol at this point.

Edgal pulled her even more into himself, giving Nikkol a playful glare of protection. "Don't even think about it, this one's mine."

Everyone at the table laughed loudly, Nikkol feeling very happy to be in such a relaxed atmosphere. Of course, he knew the question would come up again, so he had to change the topic. "So what do you guys think of our new prince?"

"He's certainly very strange." Maryal said, his position being on the opposite end of the hall and closer to the throne room so he saw a lot more of him than Nikkol.

Sir Kethal nodded in agreement. "He's Noberian you know. Can't tell by looking at him, but I've seen him do the wind thing."

"What wind thing?" Edgal asked, voicing Nikkol's thoughts too.

"You know how the people of Nobera are rumored to have magic and can control the wind and blast people with air?"

"No?"

"Well turns out they can!" Nikkol had actually been told stories as a kid of the powers that Noberians had. He'd always thought they were made up. "And he has purple eyes! I'll bet he's full of magic."

"Purple eyes?" Donal asked, his tone bored. He was stationed all the way out in the front of the castle close to the entrance.

"Yes, I've never seen anything like it!" Sir Kethal insisted. "And his hair is blonde, he's so strange looking!"

"I don't think we should be talking badly about our future King." Anaiah spoke.

"I'm not talking badly, just commenting on how he looks."

Seeing how this could lead somewhere badly, Edgal decided to redirect them. "Hey, Sir Kethal, that lady over there has been eyeing our table for the past few minutes."

All of them turned to look. Sure enough, at a table close to the door a few women sat and were looking right back at them.

However, Nikkol's attention got caught on something to the right of them. A hooded person had just walked into the tavern. People wearing hoods and cloaks coming into a place like this was nothing unusual, but this one was different, this one seemed strangely familiar.

Nikkol couldn't place it until the hooded person started scanning the room, giving Nikkol a short view of his face. "Oh Venne." He muttered underneath his breath.

The table he was sitting at had started another conversation about the women, but Nikkol was barely aware. "I have to go." He announced to his friends, not turning away to look at them.

He didn't wait for their responses, instead got up and hurried over to the person, grabbing his arm and pulling him outside. "What are you doing here?" He whisper-yelled once a decent distance away from people, hand still tight on his arm. "It can't be safe for you out here."

"I'm fully capable of taking care of myself." Setial said, eyes scanning Nikkol. "You look good like this." He stated.

Nikkol looked down at himself. He was wearing nothing special, just loose casual clothing he had laying around. "What are you talking about, I'm dressed normally. And you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"

Setial looked down. "You weren't there. The old guard said that a lot of the guards would come here after their shifts."

"You came here for me?" Nikkol asked, dumbfounded.

"No, I came here for one of the other loud dirty people, of course I came here for you!"

"Loud, dirty people?" Nikkol was slightly offended before he processed the rest of what he said. He came for him. Nikkol felt heat creep up his neck. "Why?"

Setial's eyes darted around, his discomfort that had been there for their whole conversation seemed to grow.

Picking up that he didn't want to speak there, Nikkol spoke again, "Let me go say bye to my friends then we can go to your room."

Setial nodded, following Nikkol back into the tavern and waiting a few feet behind him when he walked up to his friends.

"Where'd you run off to? We were starting to get worried." Edgal said as soon as he saw his friend.

Nikkol shrugged, coming up beside him and slapping him lightly on the shoulder. "Had to take care of something. I actually have to leave now, so have fun you guys!" Nikkol ignored their protests, instead turning to the lady still underneath Edgal's arm. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Anaiah." He bowed, kissing her hand.

Her cheeks flared pink again. "You too." For the first time in their little get together, she sounded shy and quiet instead of her usual bold way of speaking. Edgal looked to her in disbelief then at Nikkol, who winked and turned around, grabbing Setial's arm and pulling them out of the tavern quickly before Edgal could chase after him.

Once they were a decent distance away from the busy tavern area, Setial lowered his hood. Nikkol looked over at him. He looked so strange, not in the way that Ezorah was said to look, but like this whole situation wasn't real, that it was a crazy dream Nikkol was having. If it was a dream it was one the guard was reluctant to leave. The prince certainly didn't look bad, the soft breeze that cut through the cool night air and brushed through his hair gave him a very natural look, like he was a normal person. The moonlight highlighted his features, making him look all the more stunning. Nikkol had a very hard time believing that this was in fact a prince, that this was the same person who dragged a terrified him through the halls not too long ago. "That man you were talking to... was he the best friend that you've mentioned?"

Nikkol couldn't have brought his best friend up more than a handful of times. The fact that he remembered that made his chest feel warm. "Yeah, that was Edgal. He's found himself a new lady friend, or it seems his first real one. He tends to spend one night then never see them again."

Setial nodded, eyes flickering from the road ahead of the to the guard. "And have you ever had a lady friend?"

"Depends what you mean by that. I too have spent a night with a woman only to never see her again, in fact that used to be my favorite pastime. I've never had anything like what Edgal seems to have with Anaiah."

He was shocked when Setial moved closed and slung his arm around his shoulders, almost mirroring Edgal and Anaiah's position except for the fact that Setial was a little shorter than the guard. It still seemed to work though. "Well, you won't be spending any more nights with random women like that anymore."

Nikkol shook his head, leaning it more against Setial's arm, taking it as words of comfort instead of a threat.

They arrived at the castle then had to do a bit of sneaking around to get into Setial's room unnoticed. By some miracle, they managed it, or so they thought, but if one of the guards had seen them, they never said anything.

They walked into the room giggling at their luck before Setial sighed deeply and crashed down on the bed, announcing how tired he was.

"Hey!" Nikkol exclaimed, walking over and grabbing Setial's hands, pulling him into a sitting position. "You don't get to go to sleep yet, you still have to tell me why you were looking for me earlier."

Setial groaned. "Can't we just forget about that and go to bed?"

"Come on, you have to tell me!" A wide smile was on Nikkol's face, he was excited to hear the answer and Setial could see that.

"I didn't have a great day." Setial confessed, looking away from Nikkol's face. The guard's expression naturally faded from excited to listening intently. "Nothing that bad happened, I just... I didn't want to go to bed alone. I wanted you to be here." Nikkol couldn't help the smile from creeping back on. "But you weren't where you normally were and the old guard that stood where you usually do said I'd probably find you at that tavern so I went." The prince wanted his company enough to go actively seek it out, Nikkol's face almost hurt from how wide his smile was.

"All that for me? I must be pretty special."

Setial rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself."

Nikkol chuckled. "You can't come seek me like that every time you don't want to be alone though. Someone would've seen you or you could've gotten in trouble or been in danger."

"You're right. I can't go out like that every time." Setial agreed. "So I shouldn't have to." Nikkol looked at him, confused. "You should just come here to go to sleep. Every night."

The guard's eyes widened. "You're asking me to stay here?" Setial nodded. It was a giant leap from wherever they were at now, but the knowledge of a limited time together and the threat of it ending abruptly didn't make it seem as big as it was. "Of course I will." There was no question about it. Nikkol enjoyed going to sleep and waking up with him. He hated not knowing when the prince would come and get his company, if he would even get to see him that day.

Now he knew he would see him.

Now he would be able to see him every day.