Chapter 11: Anger

MARCH 23

Dominic's attire was almost as heavy as the atmosphere and his elaborately cleaned shoes showed his reflection almost as clearly as how clearly the tension between him and Boris flared.

Boris, assigned to be by Dominic's side by Kalmin didn't look one bit interested in his current location and placement, and Dominic, who had dressed in one of his finest attire didn't look accustomed to wearing it. Kalmin, the advisor that had firmly protested to be the one to follow Dominic around, was the only one who seemed in touch with what was going on. His smile was ever so bright when dusted off imaginary specks of dust on Dominic's cape.

He stepped back and observed his prince, looking at him up and down for a moment before grinning. "Like a true prince he is..." he muttered.

Dominic smiled, his cheeks heating up a bit from Kalmin's compliment. "Thank you..." he replied.

"Confidently, my prince!" Kalmin exclaimed, clapping his hands to which Dominic straightened his posture immediately.

"Thank you!" Dominic announced, his voice loud and firm.

Kalmin grinned. "That's more like it."

He stared at Dominic for a few more seconds before looking down at the watch on his arm. His eyes widened in surprise and he looked up to Dominic immediately, "I am so sorry your highness, but you must pardon me as I have to go prepare and oversee the first few minutes of the ceremony just in case anything will go wrong."

Dominic nodded his head in understanding and Kalmin turned to Boris, his eyes dimming immediately. Dominic noticed.

"You. Look after his highness until his appearance in a few minutes," Kalmin ordered, "he must be safe and sound until then so do not make me regret allowing you to do this."

Boris made no remark in return and simply rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall to the left of Dominic's position in front of his desk.

Dominic cocked his head to the right but before he could get out a word, Kalmin bowed and smiled. "Then, I will take my leave, your highness," Kalmin grinned, turning around and walking out of the room in such speed that Dominic couldn't even call him back as he stared in astonishment.

There's an air of silence after Kalmin leaves the room and Dominic soon filled the gap with nervous laughter.

"Hahaha... wow... it'll almost seem like he's the one that this ceremony is for as the speed that he's moving and all," Dominic chuckled. His laugh was met with silence. Silence that reduced his nervous laughter to a squeak of air before silence.

His fingers drummed against his table for a moment, it's speed slowly elevating as his patience climaxed.

"So-"

"Please-"

He paused, his head swiveling to Boris. They stared at each other for a moment before Dominic chuckled.

"You go ahead first," he smiled, turning to face Boris in anticipation of what he would say.

Boris stared at Dominic for a moment, eyes holding a strange gaze of amusement for a second before he looked away. "Please... refrain from trying to hold any conversation with me in this time."

Dominic flinched, a heavy load dropping on his shoulders as his head dropped Boris' words. "Ah..." he muttered, his eyes dimming for a second. It was only for a second.

He bounced back, eyes peering up at Boris in defiance. "And I'm supposed to comply with this, why?"

Not a reply, not even a blink of an eye to show that his words were heard.

"Gosh here we go again," Dominic groaned, his body arching over as his hands pressed against the edge of his table. He stood in that pose, as if he was going to push the table, for a moment before looking up at Boris. His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration. "Can we get a moment of time where we're not grappling at each other's neck? A moment of time where I can look at you, and you look at me, and recognize that we are both living breathing humans and not a personification of our titles?"

Not a movement from Boris whose eyes were squarely placed on the windows that showed the kingdom below.

Dominic's jaw clenched in anger. "Boris," he called out. There was not a reply.

His fist clenched. "Boris!" he called out again, his voice louder than the last but to no avail, Boris didn't even seem to recognize that there was another being in the room.

"BORIS!" Dominic exclaimed, his voice echoing off the walls and could clearly be heard even in the halls by the startled maids but somehow didn't seem to reach even a feet in front of Boris.

Dominic's jaw clenched and he reached down to his feet, his hands removing his pair of perfectly polished pointy shoes. He looked up to Boris and in a fit of anger, hurled it at him. "LOOK AT ME, IDIOT!"

The shoe banged against the wall inches in front of Boris' face but yet he didn't blink. His eyes, however, twitching in anger, turned to Dominic, and a once calm jawline revealed veins. "What. Is. It?"

Dominic stood up from his position and glared at Boris, pulling the air out of the room as they exchanged stares for a moment, every atom in the air paused from the intense tension and sparks flying from Dominic to Boris.

Boris scoffed, his head turning away from Dominic in a mocking manner. "So you did all that tantruning just to stare at me? Don't you have something else to be doing? Rehearsing some lines to say to people in the banquet room instead of speaking to me?"

Dominic chuckled, his light-hearted laughter melting away into nothing as quickly as it started. With quick and heavy steps, he stood in front of Boris, his arms pressing into the wall on either side of Boris.

"It seems like you're not learning enough from Kalmin," Dominic spat, his lips curving up into a deeply infuriated, scrutinizing smile as his head cocked to the side and his eyes deepened to the vivid deep green shade of poison ivy. "You still haven't learned to look at your master when he addresses you."

Boris scoff, his eyes blaring brightly as he looked down at Dominic. "My master? To what pleasure to have to witness the false assumption of a prince thinking he owns a human."

Dominic smiled. "Simply because you haven't lived the life of a scrap in a palace yet, doesn't mean you aren't one. Don't be fooled by the smiles you see on the faces of the maids that address you. They can very well drag you to the pits of hell where you should have stayed from the moment you stepped into this palace."

Boris flinched, his eye twitching. "Really? And I am to thank you for not dragging me to the chambers below the palace?"

"No," Dominic snapped, his white sharp teeth baring for a moment as he observed Boris. "You are to thank me for the fact that you are still alive."

Boris bit his lip, his fists clenching.

Dominic looked down at Boris' fists and looked back up into his golden eyes. They were shining brightly, shaking from holding back. He smirked. "What are you going t do? Hit me?" Dominic chuckled, "go ahead. You have no respect for me after all."

Boris peered into Dominic's eyes for a moment. His fists released and he looked away, his eyes calming down.

Dominic stared at him bewildered for a moment before chuckling and pushing himself away from Boris. "How pathetic."

Boris' head immediately snapped to Dominic's and his hand reached out, grabbing him by the wrist. "Excuse me?!"

Dominic's head turned to Boris, his eyes flashing a warned before snapping his wrist away from Boris' grasp. "So you do have ears after all."

Boris flinched from Dominic's glare. "What is it?" he asked, letting out a deep breath, "what is it that you want from me?"

Dominic turned around, stepping towards Boris, anger flaring on his face. "NO. What YOU want from Me?!"

Boris' head snapped back in surprise. "I must have heard incorrectly. What is that supposed to mean? You assume I would want something from you?"

Dominic laughed obnoxiously, his hands flying up to show just how absurd Boris' words sounded to him. "Do you think I'm blind? Or deaf like you?! I give you an option. I ask you to take this place as a home since you just refuse to believe that you have no home now. I'm being as LENIENT as I have ever been to another that isn't even on my level but yet in 2 weeks of me knowing you, you have managed to frustrate me more than the governors that I listen to argue at a meeting table for hours."

Dominic's finger pressed into Boris' chest, pushing him backward. "You just NEVER want to come to a consensus with me. It's been a flipping WEEK dammit! In between my meetings with my fiance and a coronation right around the corner, I have been tasked to carry thoughts on how to resolve this ever raging fire between us, and yet whenever I find a REASONABLE RESPONSE to your ALWAYS negative arguments you find a way to ONCE AGAIN villanize me for actions I have either already apologized for or things I haven't even committed!"

Boris' jaw clenched.

"What do you want me to do?! Crawl at your feet?! Bestow you with gifts servants living in this castle for ages have never laid their eyes on? You're a freaking SERVANT for goodness sake, and that's a kind way to put it so why do you think you have the POWER, the RIGHT, the JUSTNESS to belittle me every chance you get or make my words seem like that of an ant in comparison you yours?!" Dominic yelled, his words flowing out of his words with a flimsy filter to censor those that manage to reach it before pouring out of his mouth. "LOOK AROUND! THESE HALLS AREN'T YOUR STREETS! YOU CANNOT TREAT ME LIKE ONE BELOW YOU!"

"So what?" Boris refuted, "am I not allowed to feel upset? am I not supposed to resent you?! DO YOU THINK YEARS OF ANGER BUILT UP TOWARDS ONE PERSON CAN BE CHANGED IN A MATTER OF DAYS?!"

Dominic let out a huff of frustration.

"AM I SUPPOSED TO JUST GO FROM HATING YOUR EVERY BEING TO ADORING YOU IN SECONDS?! And so? You may be the prince but you do not govern my being," Boris growled, "You sit there, mulling over, getting upset over actions from one below you. Who's the absurd one here? Someone who hates another just like they've done for most of their lives and the other who's getting upset over an ant screaming at him?"

"IS FRIENDSHIP SO MUCH TO ASK?!" Dominic yelled, his voice towering over Boris.

"WHAT?!"

"IS FRIENDSHIP SO MUCH TO ASK?!" Dominic repeated, "I know we have not been the best kingdom to your people, and me, being the next king in line is trying to think of ways to fix that. starting with YOU! If I cannot make friends with a single person from outside, do you think I can with the kingdom?!"

Boris grunted, his head rolling back and forth on its neck.

"This isn't only about YOU! I need to fix whatever relationship with the people of this kingdom that is left over from my father's reign. I left this palace, to get YOU something after his death. Don't you think I would be traumatized of leaving the castle?! Because the last time I left, it leads to my father getting killed on the same day," Dominic spat, tears forming at his eyes. "I was scared but I went out there in an attempt to get something for you and see what the kingdom was like after my father's death. I feel horrible enough. I feel depressed enough. But now I'm being charged with angering you for things I didn't know I committed."

"It is nOT just me that is angered! People out there on the streets are STARVING! They watch from outside the windows of nobility as they eat feasts and watch their dogs be fed more than they eat in a week. People die, families sold and yet the government is doing absolutely nothing," Boris snapped back in return, "WE HAVE BEEN MAD LONG BEFORE THIS! BUT YOU'RE SIMPLY HEARING OF IT NOW?! DO YOU HEAR THE ABSURDITY OF YOUR WORDS?!"

Dominic took a step back, his face fighting back angry tears. "DO YOU THINK I LEAVE THESE PALACE WALLS ON A NORMAL BASIS?! I'm a PRINCE! I've been stuck in here, BY MYSELF since birth. I played with siblings that have left to rule their own kingdoms and then grew up by MYSELF with NO connection of the outside world! HOW THE HELL WOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE?! YET you march in here expecting me to know all of the sins I committed," Dominic spat, "I tried to accommodate it, I really did but it's so stressful and just when I think things are going to be better, it evolves into a big fire that takes days to extinguish."

Boris scoffed.

"You're the only person I have seen from the outside world come into the palace. The only person I've got to see up close that is, so all this rage, all this fury, is new to me," Dominic explained, his voice dropping as his voice chocked up, "I'm trying to fix it all, starting with you so I can have an advocate to help me with the hell going on out there. I really want you to be that advocate."

He looked up at Boris, his eyes watery from tears. Boris looked eyes with him for a moment and again, he was sucked into them for a moment, his gaze faltering like it did before.

He looked away from Dominic, his lips pressing into a thin line. "You should get another servant then."

It was like a sledgehammer rammed into Dominic. He took a step back, then another, and then another, separating himself from Boris. As he turned around, the first tear fell.

CREAK

The door slid open and Kalmin lowly walked in, his eyes darting back and forth from Dominic to Boris. His eyes widened when he spotted the expression on Dominic's face.

"Your highness!" Kalmin yelped, running to Dominic's side. "Are you ok?!" He asked, his hands pulling out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and using it to wipe Dominic's face.

"I-I'm ok," Dominic muttered, smiling up at Kalmin as he tried to wipe the tears that were slowly streaking down his cheeks. They didn't stop falling.

"Omg, that goodness I decided to come back 5 minutes before your presence is needed," Kalmin muttered. He let out a deep sigh when Dominic brushed away Kalmin's hand and took the handkerchief from his hands.

"I can do it by myself," Dominic smiled, turning away from Kalmin.

Kalmin watched as Dominic wiped away his tears and then slowly turned around, his eyes fixing on Boris. "What did you say?"

Boris simply looked away from Kalmin, refusing to answer his question. His fist clenched.

"I said..." Kalmin muttered, his jaw clenching as he stormed over to Boris. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He snapped, his hands grabbing Boris by the collar and shaking him violently, "WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU INSOLENT BEAST OF A HU-"

"Stop it Kalmin," Dominic interrupted.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HIS HIGHNESS?!" Kalmin screamed, his hands rising to his Boris.

"I SAID STOP IT KALMIN!" Dominic yelled, silencing Kalmin's movement. He wiped the last tear that fell from his eye and placed the handkerchief on his desk. "Let him go."

Kalmin's eyes snapped to Boris before turning to Dominic. "But your highness, he has once again overstepped-"

"Kalmin. Do not make me repeat myself again," Dominic returned, his eyes flashing a warned at Kalmin.

Kalmin immediately let go of Boris' collar and stepped away from him. "Yes, your highness."

"Take me to the dressing maid," Dominic ordered, "I need to get my face fixed."

Kalmin turned to glare at Boris for a moment before turning back to Dominic. "Yes, my prince."

Dominic nodded his head and walked to Kalmin, tapping his shoulder. "Let's go then."

He strode past Boris and as he was lost out of the room, Kalmin stopped him, turning back to Boris.

"What do we do with him?" Kalmin asked.

Dominic looked up at Boris, looking away the moment their eyes met. "He'll find his way to the banquet room by himself." With that, he turned around and pulled open the door, leaving the room.

Kalmin, looking back at Boris for a moment, did the same.

The door slammed behind him and Boris stood quietly for a moment before his body slid down to the floor and he rested his face on his knee.

"Sigh."